Take 5 & Try a Mindfulness Training Exercise
Set aside just 5 minutes out of your daily routine and try being fully present in your world as you engage all of your senses. Watch how even a short period of time can start you on the path to some interesting discoveries and revelations. After all, it’s one thing to read about these things and another entirely to experience them for yourself.
5 Minute Mindfulness Training Exercise
Go outside. Stand there for a minute and take notice of how the ground feels beneath your feet. Is it hard or soft? How about the air? What is that like? Is it warm? Cold? Does the air feel heavy or light (and later think of how that might change based on the time of day). Is there a breeze? What direction is it coming from?
Next, gaze up at the sky. Just a sky right? No, look again. Is the sky clear or cloudy or a mixture of both? Can you see the outline of the moon? Any planes flying by?
Look around you. What do you “see” every day that you are not really seeing at all because you are busy going from your front door to your destination. How much of your world are you tuning out and don’t even realize it? Take it all in for a moment and then begin to walk – slowly and mindfully.
As you walk, try not to focus on just one thing but instead just gaze out as if looking through a wide angle lens and take in as much as you can. Without turning your head or moving your eyes from a forward gaze see how much you can see to your left and right and top to bottom. Just walk slowly for a few minutes and feel, hear, see, smell and taste whatever you are able.
Maybe you’ll catch the scent of a flower or some other aroma in the air. Don’t label it good or bad, just take notice of it. Maybe as you slowly walk you’ll feel the sun on your face or a slight breeze or a few raindrops and the feel of it on your skin.
Does the air have a taste to it? Try to notice if it does. What sounds can you hear during your walk? Later think back to how you likely hear those same sounds every day yet rarely even notice them because you have grown so accustomed to hearing then it’s as if they almost don’t exist. Keep your gaze very open and just drink it all in.
Notice how relaxing walking slowly and mindfully can be. It’s like a walking meditation when done properly, when your mind is fully engaged, rather than being off in a hundred different directions thinking about everything other than what you are actually doing.
This exercise doesn’t need to be limited to 5 minutes. in fact, we’ll bet you do it for longer once you get started. Ideally, we begin to be more mindful throughout the day by being more aware and fully engaged in every moment. The exercise is just to get you started and give you a taste of what you might be missing out on.
As you begin to integrate the concept into your daily routine – paying attention more all the time, that is when you begin to get the full benefit. That is when you will have no more lost moments in your life. You start to learn, there is no doing this then doing nothing and then doing something again where there are these big holes where you are not involved in your world, your life.
Start out doing this each day for at least 5 minutes and that time will likely extend itself as you start develop a healthy and rewarding habit!
Again, there is no substitute for having your own experiences so go ahead and try it. After, why not come back and share your mindfulness training experience by leaving us a comment about it? We’d love to hear from you.