Mindfulness Daily Check-in September 3, 2017
2 Mindfulness Exercises to This Week
Hey, everyone! Its Labor Day weekend, and I hope that you all are having a good one. We all have different ideas or definitions of what mindfulness is, and sometimes, we find it difficult to form a definition during discussions. Rather than getting stuck on how others define mindfulness, we can create our own definitions based on our experiences as we practice. So, if we are still struggling to define mindfulness or to experience it, these two exercises can help us gain an understanding or develop a picture of what mindfulness means to us.
1. Mindful Breathing
How can breathing lead us to mindfulness? By focusing our attention on our breaths, we tend to slow down and become calmer. Its harder to focus on past or future thoughts when we are focused on something like our breaths and the sensations that come with breathing.
As we breathe in through our noses and out through our mouths, let us completely immerse ourselves in this activity. If our minds wander to thoughts regarding our pasts or futures, thats okay—it will happen. We should just acknowledge that our minds wandered and return our focuses to our breathing.
Notice the temperature of the air as we inhale and exhale; the rise and fall of our stomachs or chests; and any noises that the air makes as it exits or enters our noses. We can focus on these sensations for as long or as little as we like.
2. Mindful Immersion
Sometimes, we focus on getting to the next important thing in our lives, so we miss some of the beauty in what we might consider the mundane or routine activities of life, like doing chores and maintaining hygiene. When we practice mindfulness, we can cultivate awareness in these activities, allowing us to slow down and not be so anxious or feel so rushed by what we have planned.
For example, if we are doing the dishes, we can focus on our senses: the temperature of the water; the texture of the soap bubbles; the sounds of swishing water; the flexing of our arm muscles as we scrub a plate or glass; and the scent of the soap.
Rather than focusing on finishing the routine task, we are developing new experiences as we become more mindful of what a task involves by engaging our senses.
Questions
1.) What are your experiences with Mindful Breathing and Mindful Immersion?
2.) What are some tips or thoughts you want to share with the mindfulness community regarding Mindful Breathing and Mindful Immersion?
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@EmunahHere
Hi Emunah thank you for this check-in
1.) What are your experiences with Mindful Breathing and Mindful Immersion? At first mindfulness was scary
But as I had some friends and 2 counselors daily help me understand and do the skills daily it became easier more comfortable to do. I think it was the focusing on the breathing so closely that got me. As it made me uncomfortable.
2.) What are some tips or thoughts you want to share with the mindfulness community regarding Mindful Breathing and Mindful Immersion?
1. Forgive yourself always and give yourself time. Remember you didn't learn to walk in a day-right? Allowing yourself to be forbiven keeps you open to knew things also keeps your thoughts on "I can do this"
@RumpleSteeleSkin
Hey, Rumple! Thank you for checking-in today
Mindfulness can definitely make us feel uncomfortable. I am happy that you have supportive people in your life who helped you to become more comfortable practicing mindfulness. Support systems are wonderful!
Great tip on forgiving ourselves and allowing ourselves to practice mindfulness over time, Rumple. It is so true that we cannot learn mindfulness over night. It's a life long journey that requires practice throughout our lives. Giving ourselves space to learn and grow is absolutely necessary.
in the beginning my experiences with mindfullness were that i could not focus on the present moment, still today it happens that other thoughts come and go and i let them. today it is more like this when i do grounding or anything else, let my body do the talking and i just listen. looking at nature in particular in a mindfull way is like discovering a new world, seeing the very details of e.g. a bird, a plant, the clouds in the sky...
@amiablePeace77
Hey, Peace! Thank you for checking-in
It can be very difficult to focus on the present moment, especially when we have so much going on in our lives. That's great that you let your thoughts come and go. We will always have past and future thoughts come and go when we are trying to be in the present moment, so it's okay when our mind wanders. We shouldn't be down on ourselves for it. Just aknowledge that it wandered and do some more grounding or a technique that works best for us.
That's awesome that you are mindful of nature! It's so true that when we are mindful, we can have new experiences of things (noticing more details) that we may not have noticed before when our minds were preoccupied with past or future events.
@EmunahHere thanks for this post.
I find that listening is a very powerful immersion to hear the sounds around me. Sight works too to look around the room and just see things even when someone is saying something that I know grates me the wrong way, rather than focus on that thing with tunnel vision I look all around me and get a bigger perspective.
Breathing is a big back up for me. Whenever I feel out of sorts I turn my attention to my breath.
@soulsings
Hey, Soul Thank you for checking-in!
Yes, so true about listening for sounds. We often view sound as noise and distraction, but it is one of our senses that can tune us into the present moment.
That is a good tip about using sight to focus on the bigger picture rather than reacting to a single instance, like a comment, that irked us. I will try that next time!
@EmunahHere
Hello Emunah thanks for the great posts :)
1.) What are your experiences with Mindful Breathing and Mindful Immersion?
mindful breathing is kinda hard for me at the beginning as I had this hard breathing for a moment but it's getting better when i try to maintain myself to keep focus and relax my mind. I personally like to do Mindful Immersion. I used to do this before but just get to know it's part of Mindfulness :D For example when i'm on vacation and looking the scenery from the windows, i just take moment to enjoy it and it helped me to focus on what I'm seeing at the moment. Now i'm still trying to do it on my daily activities.
2.) What are some tips or thoughts you want to share with the mindfulness community regarding Mindful Breathing and Mindful Immersion?
I think we should make time for our self also. We always think and worry about many things regarding life. About how make our life succeed, make our parents happy, or make time for our friends. Chasing about our dreams and what we want to achieve for future. But I think we should care about our self also right in the moment. Take a moment to enjoy and just giving time for us to enjoy what's in front of us.
@InvisibleAngel92
Hey, Angel! Thank you for checking-in :)
I am happy that you found what works and doesn't work for you with regards to mindfulness practice. It can be very difficult to focus on the breath when we have trouble breathing or something else is preventing us from focusing on the breath. It's good to know our limits so we can properly care for ourselves :)
Mindful Immersion is something we've all done at some point or another without realizing that it's a part of mindfulness, so it's always nice to learn that we have already practiced mindfulness before if we are new to the practice.
I definitely agree that we should take time for ourselves! It's so true that we get caught up in our worrying about our futures and pasts that we neglect our present self. Practicing mindfulness is definitely a great way to give attention to ourselves by being present to our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. :)
