After a long year living in isolation, far removed from what we’ve ever experienced before, returning to normality can leave many of us feeling stressed.

Most of us don’t have five minutes to sit down and relax, let alone 60 minutes or so for a yoga or meditation session. But it’s essential for our well-being to take a few moments each day, to create mental spaciousness and create a positive mind/body balance.

Try using these simple mindfulness exercises today; in the office or at school. They will leave your mind feeling clear and refreshed!

Mindful Breathing

This exercise can be practiced sitting down or standing up, it can be practiced anywhere at any time. Perfect for those with limited free time!

Start by focusing the attention on the breath, relax and breathe in and out slowly. One cycle should last for around 6 seconds. Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, letting the breath flow naturally in and out of the body, like a calm evening tide.
Let go of thoughts and the to-do list, which takes our attention away from the present moment. Simply letting ourselves be still for one minute.
Bring unwavering focus to the breath; following each inhalation and exhalation through the body. We can imagine on the inhale, pearly white iridescent light flowing and illuminating all throughout the body.

Mindful Observation

This is a simple yet incredibly powerful exercise! It allows us to connect with the beauty of the environment, something which we can take for granted, when we’re on the train or bus commuting into work.

(Note: Its not advised to practise this while operating machinery)

Choose an object within your immediate environment. This can be anything i.e a pen, flower, or even the clouds. Focus on a watch it for a minute or two.
Look at the object as if you’re seeing it for the first time, notice all the small details which make it unique. Allow yourself into the totality of its presence, connect with the energy, role, and purpose in this world.
Simply relax into a place of inner peace for as long as your concentration allows.

Mindful Awareness

This exercise is designed to bring awareness and gratitude for simple daily tasks and the results they achieve.

Think of something which happens more than once a day for example, opening a door; Stop for a mindful moment… Observe feelings, the location, where does this door lead?

Similarly, opening a computer at the start of the day; take a mindful moment to appreciate the hands, which enable this process and the brain which facilitates your navigation.

Touch point cues dont have to be physical ones; for example, each time a negative thought takes over the attention, stop. Simply observe this thought, label the thought as unhelpful and let go of the negativity. Or even, before each meal, take a mindful moment and send apprechiation.

Instead of going about our day on autopilot, we can cultivate purposeful awareness of each moment and the blessings they can bring into our lives, if we just take a mindful-moment and observe.

Mindful Listening

This exerice is designed to allow us the listener, to open our ears to sound in a non-judgemental way. Unfortunatly as humans we assign meaning and lables onto our past experiences, this influences so much of what we hear and see on a daily basis, however when we listen mindfully, we can achieve a neutral, non-attached awareness which allows us to hear sound without preconception.

We can make a selcetion of a piece of music, we’ve never heard before. Be creative in the choice, for example; browse old record collections, dial the radio or ask a friend for a favourite track.
Set ourselves up in a comfortable seated position; free from any distraction. Gently close the eyes and allow your mind to observe the waves of this beautiful the sound journey. Free from judgement of the; genre, title or artist name.
Dance among the sound waves… let go of your dislike and give yourself full permission to climb inside the track.

In Summary

Engaging in stressful thoughts and feeling can exhaust us of our energy. By practising these mindfulness exercises, rather than being led on auto-pilot by emotions influenced by negative past expereinces and fears, we’re harness the abitiy to stay in the Present moment and deal with lifes challenges in a clear-minded, calm and confident way.

In turn we can develop a fully conscious mindset that frees us from the imprisonment of unhelpfull, self limiting thought patterns and enables us to focus on what benefits our minds and emotional wellbeing.

Written by - Lola Hampson-Ghani