Stress is found everywhere in day-to-day life, and places challenges or demands on ourselves. Too much stress on anyone can create negative patterns in the mind, such as overthinking, anxiety, and even depression. To prevent or combat these thought patterns, mindfulness is a psychological process that seeks to bring one’s attention back to the present.
If you feel stressed or haven’t had a moment to yourself, here are just five simple mindfulness exercises to help bring calm and awareness to your everyday life!
1. Breathing Exercises
Sit either in a straight-backed chair or cross-legged on the floor. Close your eyes and bring all your attention to the sensations of breathing. Start by breathing in and out slowly. One breath cycle should last for approximately 6 seconds. Feel the movements of your diaphragm when breathing deeply in and out.
2. Physical Exercise
The hormones realised into the body during exercise help to create a focus in the mind, bringing everything to the present moment. The best forms of exercise to heighten mindfulness are proven to be yoga and aerobics. Even just a short 10-minute session can make all the difference!
3. Emotional Acceptance
Think of the last feeling that you felt today… maybe frustration, joy, amusement or sadness. Do not think of what caused you to feel the emotion, only the emotion itself. Emotions are neither right nor wrong, once they have been they cannot be changed, they simply just were. Observe without judgement your emotions and accept that they are something of the past.
4. Mindful Observations
This exercise is simple but incredibly powerful because it helps you notice and appreciate seemingly simple elements of your environment in a more profound way. Choose a natural object from within your immediate environment and focus on watching it for a minute or two. Allow yourself to connect with its energy and its purpose within the natural world.
5. Uplifting Your Hope
Close your eyes. Imagine a world where people can change. A world where someone can become more compassionate, resilient, reflective, and aware. Imagine this world and its viable future. Open your eyes and realise that the imagined world is in fact ours.
By trying even just one of these mindfulness exercises, you’re helping yourself bring balance back to your life by centring your mind in the present. Mindfulness is the key to changing your everyday. Want more information? Discover how mindfulness can help you overcome stress and anxiety, be more relaxed, focused and enjoy your life to the fullest. Send Haven Yoga a message here.
