Simple Mindfulness Exercises for Every Day

Over the last few years Mindfulness has become to the awareness of general public internationally, although its roots can be traced thousands of years back. But what is Mindfulness exactly and how do you exercise it?

A useful definition of Mindfulness comes from Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn who developed his first stress-reduction programme in the 70s. He regards the practise as “the awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally, and in the service of self-understanding and wisdom.”

In other words, mindfulness practises aim to bring our focus more to the now, rather than be occupied by the past and/or the present. This helps us to adjust the ways we experience and appreciate the world around us, and not to get caught up and consumed by something we cannot have any influence over.

Mindfulness is often practised in a seated position, on the floor or on a comfortable chair. Lying on a yoga mat is also an option but if you choose this, try not to fall asleep during your practise. There are also other alternatives, such as walking meditations in the nature that can make practising mindfulness more approachable.

In this post and the next I am sharing four simple mindfulness exercises. Some of you might be familiar with one or several of them as especially the body scan is often used in yoga classes. You can practise any of the four on their own, or combine two or more, as you prefer. You can choose any location where you feel comfortable to soften your gaze, or even close your eyes. Breath as you feel the most comfortable: Lengthening your inhales and exhales is always an option but if this does not feel comfortable or seems to take your main focus, just breath normally.

The length of the practise is up to you: Even two minutes is better than nothing so see what fits into your day and mood at a given moment. Practising Mindfulness is not a linear process so do not worry if sitting still does not come easy, even if you had a great session the day before – This is absolutely normal.

Exercise 1: Focus On The External Sounds

This exercise invites you to observe all the different sounds around, noticing them and then moving on to the next sound your hear, and the next, and so on… The point of this exercise is firstly of course to observe the soundscape we live in: The loud, obvious sounds (hello police sirens of Central London!), the quiet, obvious ones (aircon in the summer, anyone?), the “oh what is that” ones…

But can we also calmly observe the sounds that are not neutral to us: The person sitting nearby with a habit of chewing their food or sipping their drink in a way that just grates us, the colleague who has phone mannerisms that do not sit well with us or the road works from the street below?

We usually have very little control over (all) sounds in our environment, just like we can have little control over various events happening around us. So rather than getting irritated by, say the colleague with a habit of loudly slurping their lunch soup, this exercise can help us to distance ourselves from them by simply acknowledging them, letting go and moving on, rather than getting “stuck” and annoyed.

Exercise 2: The Body Scan

Staying with the “outside body”, the body scan invites us to connect and feel into the physical form of ourselves. A technique often used in yoga classes, there are several different variations of body scan out there, all just as valid. They all have the same purpose though: To learn to become more aware and reconnected with our bodies, without any judgement or need for comparison (to others, to what we think our bodies used to be…) During body scan (just like with other mindfulness practises) we are not trying to “fix” or change anything but to bring attention to the real-time experience and present moment.

Personally I like to conduct the body scan lying down but it can equally be done sitting in a chair or on a mat. As mentioned earlier, eyes can be closed or just relaxed and softened.

1. If comfortable, you can start by drawing your attention to your breath, the inhales and the exhales, without changing anything. If you find your breath a little short and it feels relaxing to extend your inhales and exhales, you can do that. You can also use the first moments to notice the touch points of the body with the ground/yoga mat/seat beneath. You can observe things such as the weight, pressure, heat or breeze on the skin, vibration…
2. Bring your attention to your body parts, one by one. You can start from the forehead and the space between the eye brows, to see if there is any tension that you can let go of. Bring your attention to your cheeks to see if they can be softened, and relax the jaw by separating the teeth at the back of your mouth.
3. Continue by working through the body parts (or focusing on one particular area), one by one: the right shoulder, upper arm, forearm, wrist, hand and fingers, followed by the left side, moving to your chest and belly, upper back, middle back and lower back, hips and so on. Try not to rush through for the sake of “lets get over and done with it” but allow your focus to rest on each body part at least for few breath cycles (inhale/exhale.) What do you feel?
4. Sensations that can come up might include tightness, pressure, tingling, buzzing and/or temperature changes – or something else. What if you don’t notice any sensations or things feel neutral?  Just simply notice that, too. There are no right answers. Just tune in to what’s present, as best you can, without judgement or expectation.
5. If, and when (because it is bound to happen), you start your mind wondering to other things (lunch, how Game of Thrones season 8 is really not that good, summer holidays or the lack of them…) notice that too. Gently guide your awareness back to your body or your breath. Drifting attention might happen over and over again and it is absolutely fine so please, do not feel bad about it. Just by noticing the change in focus and re-tuning it helps to create new pathways in our brains and that is a scientific fact!
6. Once you have gone through the whole body, part by part, take a moment to observe the body as a whole. At your own time, you can then gently start blinking your eyes open and ease yourself back to the daily activities (or to sleep.)

Why not try out the above, and let me know how you get along/if you have any questions. In a day or two I will post the second part of Mindfulness exercises, be sure to check those out too!