8 Mindfulness Activities to Start Your Day Off Right

For the beginner, mindfulness can be a difficult thing to wrap your head around. For those of us who are on the go non-stop, taking time to slow down and be in the moment can seem tedious, boring, or even impossible. But incorporating mindfulness techniques into one’s daily routine has been shown to help reduce a number of stress-related mental health concerns, including depression, anxiety, fatigue, and even pain. If you brush your teeth every day in order to ward off gingivitis, why would’t you practice mindfulness to keep your psyche healthy as well?

But really, who has time to incorporate an extra step into their daily schedule? Waking up at 5:00 am to rush to the gym for an hour long session of yoga just seems absurd, especially if you went to bed at 1:00 am due to a screaming baby and have work 8:00 am. The reality is, however, that mindfulness activities are easily moldable to fit into anyone’s schedule. Whether it’s 10 minutes of meditation before you get out of bed or a day-long walk in the woods, you can find activities that fit into your routine and your budget. If you are interested in taking some small steps towards integrating mindfulness into your day, it might be overwhelming to know where to start. Below are some mindfulness techniques that are accessible to everyone.

Meditate

Practicing daily meditation is a simple place to start when incorporating mindfulness into your daily routine. You can do this while in bed, or first thing when you get up. Start by finding a comfortable seated position (you don’t want to risk falling back to sleep by continuing to lie down). If you’d like, you can sit on a pillow or in a chair. Sit up straight with your chin tucked in slightly. Your spine should be in alignment all the way up from your sacrum to the crown of your head. Close your eyes or have a soft gaze, and place your hands on your knees or in your lap, palms up, right supporting the left. You can start your meditation practice by focusing on your breath (no need to breathe in any special way), becoming aware of the sensations in your body, or noticing your thoughts as they pass by. The goal here is to simply be in the moment and practice waving away anything that distracts you from focusing on yourself. If you need a little guidance, there are a number of apps like Insight Timer that offer guided meditations, music, and even live classes.

Have a Sound Bath

A sound bath doesn’t involve a bathtub at all. Unless you want it to (see below). It’s the process of immersing yourself in sound. Not just any sound will do, however - the key to having a replenishing sound bath is listening to calming music. No dogs barking, no New York City traffic, and NO screaming children. The act is supposed to leave your nervous system feeling relaxed and your head clear. Find a quiet space free from distractions and grab yourself some noise-cancelling headphones (or just play your phone on a loud volume). Choose a playlist of calming music, especially anything with singing bowls, bells, or chanting. If you’d like to get more involved, you can even get your own singing bowl for a personalized transportational experience. You can usually find them at any metaphysical store or online. They come in a variety of sizes and materials and make an array of different sounds. Collect a few for a chorus of sound!

Take a Water Bath

I think this one is self-explanatory. At the end of a long week, who doesn’t like to indulge in a hot bath? It’s an opportunity for you to have some peace and quiet and much needed you-time. Turn the experience into a ritual by visualizing yourself shutting away all the day’s stressors as you close the door behind you. Put on some relaxing music (or pull out your singing bowl), sprinkle some bubble bath, epsom salts, or flowers into the water, and light some candles. The experience can be tailored just as you like it. While in the bath, visualize yourself soaking away all your tight muscles and cleansing yourself of any worries or negative feelings that may be lingering in your head. If you can’t (or don’t want to) get in the tub, you can create the same ritual around a shower, foot soak, or facial. Think spa experience in the comfort of your own home.

Do Some Breath Work

Breath work can take on many forms. Some, like Holotropic breath work are best done under the guidance of a certified practitioner, but others are more accessible and can be done by the novice. Generally speaking, breath work is the practice of taking deeper breaths or more conscious breaths than we are used to in order to regulate our nervous system, helping us to relax, ground ourselves, or even enter altered states of reality. An easy place to start is with the Zen technique. This doesn’t require any special training - all it involves is simply paying attention to your breath. Begin by seating yourself in a meditative position like the one described above - cross-legged, back straight, hands in your lap. Relax your jaw and lightly touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Breath in and out through your nose - no need to breathe in any particular manner. Notice where your breath comes into contact with your nostrils and how it feels entering and exiting your lungs. Does your belly fill up with air or does your chest? Focus on your breath. When you feel your mind starting to wander, simply return to your breath. It’s that simple!

Move Your Body

If you are one of those early birds who likes to head to the gym at 5:00 am for some yoga, get after it! If you’re not, there are other ways you can get moving right from the comfort of your own home. Movement is a great mindfulness practice as it allows us to focus on our bodies, helping us understand the way sensations feel, where we hold on to stress, and how the health of our bodies directly affects our emotional health. Stretching, yoga, dance, or your preferred type of exercise are all great ways to move your body and practice being mindful. Tai Chi, which is an ancient Chinese tradition once developed for self defense, is the graceful act of moving one’s energy - or chi - around the body. It is believed that we all have a force field (pool, aura, whatever you want to call it) of energy that flows through and around us. By gently moving it around through Tai Chi, it is believed that we can become more aware of it and then send it to places within ourselves (or even to others) that need a little extra attention.

Journal About Your Day

Whether it’s setting your intentions during the morning or writing a re-cap during the evening, daily journaling can be a great way to focus your thoughts. You can go all out and be as detailed as you like, describing sounds, sights, emotions, and experiences that occurred throughout your day. For those who would rather keep their entries short, bullet lists can be a great way of condensing your ideas into just what’s important. You may choose to list your gratitudes, your feelings throughout the week, or your goals for the month. Find a journal and pen that speak to you so can make the experience even more personalized and incorporate it as a special part of your day.

Create Art

Like journaling, sitting down to create a piece of art can be a very mindful experience. By translating your thoughts into reality with your hands, you are creating an in-the-moment mind/body connection that gives back to you just as much as you put into it. Creating art requires focus and attention, thereby helping you separate yourself from the going ons around you and helping you detach. It also can help sooth stress and boost your mood by allowing your senses to be drawn to color, shape, and texture. You don’t have to be “good” at art to create either! Filling in coloring books or mandalas doesn’t require much talent at all. You can explore with finger painting, clay sculpture, knitting, glass blowing - whatever peaks your interest! The point is to de-stress and stay focused on what’s in front of you.

Spend Time in Nature

This is the Holy Grail of all mindfulness activities (in my humble opinion). When you venture into nature, you can meditate on your steps as you walk or on the beauty around you; you’re bathed in sound (birds chirping, water running); you get to move; you can even create art with found objects. So many cultures incorporate nature as a meditative activity to replenish the soul. In Japan, a practice known as forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku, involves walking in the woods and letting yourself be immersed in the greenery of the trees. Simple as it may sound, it offers numerous physical and mental health benefits, including reduced pulse rate, stress, depression, and anxiety. If you’d like to explore some of the therapeutic benefits of spending time in nature, give me a call and we can discuss the appropriateness of Ecotherapy.

Whether you choose to bathe in sound in the coziness of your own bed or conquer a mountain trail, there are an array of mindfulness activities you can employ today to start feeling energized, grounded, and more aware of your state of being. Give a few a try and let me know how it goes!