Mindful Exercises (M.E).

Useful mindfulness exercises and techniques – Specifically useful for if feeling overwhelmed or panicked and can be used individually or simultaneously. 

• Breath counting. (link to be inserted for breath counting post).
• Meditation. (link to be inserted for meditation post – will include links to meditation expert’s pages. eg. Mooji, Sadhguru)
• Sense focus: Observe your five main senses: taste, touch, scent, visual and auditory. Having awareness of your present environment and how you are able to perceive will help centre and ground. The aim is to bring your mind back from any emotion or thought process, to an awareness of the present. Eg. tasting a beverage, touching clothing, smelling incense, seeing clouds move in the sky, or hearing the birds singing.
• Labelling: While holding awareness with your breath, label your thoughts and emotions as they arise, calling thoughts “a thought” and emotions “an emotion”, before letting them pass and immediately resuming attention to the breath.
• Yoga, calisthenics and general stretching movements, along with walking can be great exercises for listening to your body, rather than you mind – feeling and moving in-tune with your physical senses, whilst keeping awareness of breathing.
• Mathematics play/study is an exceptional way to override inner-voice and will help channel the mind out of Ego-based perception, to a linear, un-biased format. Mathematics is calculated with facts rather than opinions, therefore inner-voice will have less power to infiltrate your focus. Stimulating approximately the same brain regions as meditation.
• Depending on your level of emotional extremes – you are welcome to use objects to help you focus and stay in the moment – for example, a stress ball can be great – in this case, a suggestion will be to see the ball as an inanimate companion/friend that only wants to help – even if you don’t feel like squeezing the ball, you can gently hold it, feeling its texture and character – maybe rolling it between your fingers and hands, cradle it if need be. This exercise is valuable – as the way you are treating the object is usually a mirror of how you feel you are being treated, either by yourself or by others, so as you use this technique – be sure to remember to look after yourself and what you need – kindness is a cure.
• Keeping a notebook can be a great release for any inner-turmoil. Feeling totally free to use it how ever you want – may it be writing, drawing, doodling or anything else – having an outlet such as this can expose any negatives in a creative way – it can also be lovely for expressing any other feelings and emotions. This will also be a brilliant tool for later on in your journey so as to see your progress as you develop your mindfulness. Make sure not to destroy anything you create in your book and do not be concerned if any or all of it seems “messy” – be free to express without filters. Note that inner-voice may try to control what you are writing – some ways to override this temptation are to say what you are writing out-loud as you do so – this can overpower the thoughts in your head – bringing your writing closer to a pure stream of conciseness. Another tip would be that if you are struggling to let go of thoughts – try a freestyle doodle – it can be scribbles, something you have drawn before or just a random creation – keep doing this until you are either ready to carry on writing, or choose to rest and recuperate in a still, silent and breathing state.
• Listening: to meditation podcasts or meditation music can help a lot – if you play an instrument or sing – this can also be useful – even if you have never played an instrument or sung before – free styling with the sounds is very releasing – it is important to not perceive any judgement whilst performing these exercises – whether you perceive it to be positive or negative – judgement is unnecessary and in fact will hinder the progress. Focus instead on the sounds with an unbiased observation – just hearing without evaluating.
• Reading a book or text , especially out-loud can help overcome any inner-thought – giving prominence and power to the words being read will prevent focus being drawn to internal monologue. Even watching a program – preferably a documentary, with focused mind will keep thoughts at bay – observing the images, movement and sound without judgement or reiteration.
• If you have something that you can keep with you that measures your heart rate, such as a smart watch – breathing in deeply and focusing on slowing your breath while watching your heart rate slow, will help, if you are watching as your heart rate increases, you can close your eyes or look away while focusing on slowing your breath again, as your breathing calms, so will your heart rate and you will have a visual measure of how quickly you are able to relax. Watching the movement of a clock or listening to a metronome while focusing awareness on your heartbeat and/or breathing will also be of aid.