Mindfulness Exercises To Reduce Stress

Mindfulness practices are quickly gaining popularity as a way of easing stress, soothing anxiety, and the way to be more present and engaged in everyday life. I have written other articles proving that even a simple mindfulness meditation practice once a day can even be beneficial for issues like chronic pain and depression.

There is good news for you, and that you can begin immediately incorporating mindfulness activities into your daily routine because I’m going to show you how to make it incredibly simple, no matter where you live or your age.

Are you aware that almost everything you do can become an opportunity for mindfulness? It doesn’t matter if you’re an adult, a teen, or a child (along with adult supervision).

The everyday mindfulness activities you are about to see offer plenty of openness to slow down, get into the present moment, manage physical sensations, and be more aware of yourself and your surroundings.

We have an ongoing problem in our society of people becoming addicted to mentally escaping their present environment because of the effect of constant concentration splitters, like our smartphones and the constant bombardment with ads all around.

We can get a grip on that bad habit and control its effect, to feel more calm, reduce stress, and significantly improve our quality of life. You should be excited because this is enormous!

Gaining a firm foundation of what mindfulness actually is will be the single most important thing you can do in your life from this day forward.

As I have alluded to in other articles and including here, one of the most common and well-known mindfulness activities for adults is meditation. Of all the mindfulness techniques, it gives us the greatest benefits of mindfulness in a busy world. While it may seem inaccessible, and sadly, too many people not worthy of their time, meditation can actually be simplified to a degree.

Although not a complete substitution, I’m going to show you a way to use your everyday activities, while in motion, to use mindfulness training to reduce stress and anxiety. It’s sort of an on-the-go meditation session that will begin positive changes.

These exercises that follow are meant to transform everyday experiences into mindful moments.

The Gratitude List

We have shown that gratitude wins over affirmations. Creating a gratitude list can help improve well-being and is one of the subvert mindfulness-based therapies that will promote positivity by helping you focus on the things that you’re grateful for.

Try adding 5 items to your list each day and build it into your daily schedule to stay consistent.

You can write your gratitude list first thing in the morning to get your day off to a great start, or list a few things that you’re grateful for before winding down for bed.

Walking Meditation or Mindful Walking

This simple walking meditation helps with breathing exercises and is a natural type of meditation. It is exactly what it sounds like: a form of meditation you practice while walking. It’s best used in a cleared walking area where there isn’t much brush to step over or tree branches to avoid. You want your mind to think very little and not be making decisions.

You can do it almost anywhere, whether you’re walking to work, taking a stroll around the neighborhood, or hanging out with your kids at the park. It’s easy to find a great place. Try to control the urge to listen to news reports or seminar material, so your mind can relax. You want to experience a much-needed calm while doing your walking meditation.

Single-tasking in Your Daily Life

You probably already guessed that single-tasking is the opposite of multitasking. The idea of this exercise requires showing up fully to whatever task you’re working on. Instead of trying to perform like a busy bee and doing many things at once, which can create the condition known as mind wanders, you want to laser-focus. This full attention mindfulness method will immediately begin to calm your nervous system. Your heart rate may even begin to lower.

If you’re doing work on the computer, focus on one task at a time. As much as your mind may not want to, simply close all the browser tabs that aren’t relevant to the project you’re working on. This can help aid in reducing negative thoughts in your self-talk, while freeing up mental space while your mind subconsciously creates laser-focus.

To make this single-tasking practice of mindfulness stronger, focus on:

• you’re mindful breathing using deep breaths or deep breathing

• performing a body scan to see how your body feels in your seat, or how the soles of the feet feel against the floor, whether you’re standing or sitting

• the feeling of the air around you or the body sensations created by clothes against your skin

• the structure and posture of your body.

Mindful Driving

If you’re driving your car, you can begin this process by focusing on the weight of your vehicle underneath you. After that, focus on the texture of the road you’re traveling over. Listen to the sound of the tires against the road and even the shape and feel of the vehicle seat against your back and rear.

After that, you can send your focus out to scan your environment and become aware of other vehicles, lights, and pedestrians. After you’ve done that, focus on the terrain, tree and bush foliage, and the skyline. Think of some items from your gratitude list we created earlier in this article.

While doing any of these simple types of meditation, ensure you keep your phone on silent (unless you are playing a specific meditation audio or video), turn off the music in your vehicle, and save facial makeup application for the parking lot.

Mindful Eating

Mindful eating is a powerful tool that can turn something you do every day into a mindfulness practice with this simple exercise.

The process to make mealtimes more mindful is with a few basic mindful observation eating practices, like listening to the food cook in your pan. Also, slow all mind chatter and concentrate on chewing slowly to savor every bite of your magnificent meal. Many people have lost the full flavor of what they eat because their mind is going so fast, thinking about a vast collection of thoughts and problems, that their taste buds are phased out of the loop.

Other mindful eating tips you might want to include in this regular practice are:

Try eating with your other hand (non-dominant hand). It will seem awkward at first, but try it.

Eat the first few minutes of your meal in complete silence. This helps the mind focus on the flavors, smells, and texture of your food.

Turn off your TV or computer audio and visuals and put your phone away while eating.

Mindful Gardening

Through this physical activity and practice of mindfulness, you are involving yourself in a great way to productively connect with nature. Start with a simple task, like planting some seeds or watering some flowers. Stop mind chatter and self-talk. Just relax, focus on deep breathing, smelling all the wonderful attributes of nature around you in your garden spot. It could even be plants in containers on a deck or balcony if you don’t have the property for planting in the ground.

As you work your garden, place your hand on the soil and feel its texture. Is it clay or sandy loam? Is it damp or dry? Is it warm or cool? Allow yourself to enjoy the process as if you were a child playing outside in a sand or dirt pile. If you see a worm, no worries, they are healthy for the soil!

Notice the weather through your five senses. Again, slow the mind of any self-talk or chatter. Notice if there is a chill in the air and notice any breeze in the air. Is there sweat on your forehead from the warmth of the amazing sun?

Notice any other forms of life around your nature area. What kinds of animals are around? Do you notice any chattering squirrels? Are there chirping bird?

Last, let’s cover a topic that seems to be a growing problem in our daily lives today. You probably already guessed it. It’s anxiety.

Mindfulness For Anxiety 

We already know how mindfulness meditation can help reduce markers of stress in people. But it also helps with generalized anxiety disorder. Try the following steps below to calm and ground yourself.

Body scanning

Body scan meditation is a simple, relaxing way to calm the mind and body. It involves using awareness to mindfully scan your body for sensations like pain or tension.

To practice, you simply lie down, relax the body, and tune in to what you’re feeling. For full instructions, benefits, and tips, check out this article.

Tracking

Tracking is another one of the skills of mindfulness techniques that can help you feel grounded and present in your present space. This is done by looking around the room and observing objects with mindfulness.

• Sit comfortably and take a few breaths to relax.

• When ready, begin to slowly look around the room and allow your gaze to land on various objects.

• When you have picked out an object, name the object out loud.

• If you find an object that appeals strongly to you, stay focused on it for a while.

• Repeat this scanning activity until you feel calm and ready to stop.

This exercise may seem incredibly simple — and it is, but it takes little time and helps relax the body and mind.

Box Breathing

Box breathing is a technique that involves taking full, deep breaths to calm the nervous system. It’s also known as four square breathing.

Box breathing is a technique used when taking slow, deep breaths. It can heighten performance and concentration while also being a powerful reliever of stress. Even Navy SEALS use it. 

According to the Mayo Clinic, there’s sufficient evidence that intentional deep breathing can actually calm and regulate the autonomic nervous system (ANS).

This systematic simple technique regulates involuntary body functions, such as temperature. It can lower blood pressure and provide an almost immediate sense of calm.

Here are the procedures to box breathing:

Step 1: Slowly exhale

Sit upright and slowly exhale through your mouth, getting all the oxygen out of your lungs. Feel your stomach being pressed into your backbone as you empty your lungs. Focus on this intentionally and be conscious of what you’re doing.

Step 2: Slowly inhale

Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose to the count of four. In this step, count to four slowly in your head.

Feel the air fill your lungs, one section at a time, until your lungs are completely full and the air moves into your abdomen.

Step 3: Hold your breath

Hold your breath for another slow count of four.

Step 4: Exhale again

Exhale through your mouth for the same slow count of four, letting all the air out of your lungs and abdomen.

Be conscious as you feel the air leaving your lungs. Concentrate on the texture of the air. 

Step 5: Hold your breath again

Hold your breath for the same slow count of four and then repeat this process.

The slow holding of breath allows CO2 to build up in the blood. An increased blood CO2 enhances the cardio-inhibitory response of the vagus nerve when you exhale and stimulates your parasympathetic system. This produces a calm and relaxed feeling in the mind and body.

Conclusion:

Acceptance and Self-Compassion

Stress can certainly shorten our life. Along with anxiety, it can be an evil that nobody can beat unless you know the techniques of mindfulness we covered in this article. One more tip on anxiety.

Anxiety can often involve resistance and fear toward the anxiety itself, which makes it a vicious cycle that’s tough to break out of. One way to relax the hold the villain of anxiety has on you is to accept and admit you are experiencing it. This slows the fighting instinct, which actually worsens the symptoms of anxiety. All you do in acceptance is to involve a simple rethinking of how anxiety is a strength rather than a weakness.

When you do this act of acceptance, you may also find that you can more easily let go of self-blame or shame at having anxiety in the first place. We covered how to ease anxiety using mindfulness earlier in this article, so make sure you scroll up and go over those techniques if you missed them.