Mindfulness Exercises: Training Yourself to Become Present-Centered
83Thich Nhat Hanh on Mindfulness
First, a little background about my expertise and experience with mindfulness. I have a masters degree in social work (MSW) and I spent many hours doing Dialectical Behavior Training (DBT) with people addicted to a wide variety of substances. Mindfulness training is a integral part of DBT and a powerful tool for addicts. As part of our group therapy, we practiced mindfulness exercises weekly.
"We cannot see our reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see."
~Taoist Proverb
The Concept of Mindfulness
First of all it's important to address the concept of mindfulness. It has different meanings for different people, but the basic premise it that you are paying keen attention to being in the moment. It's a present-centered awareness in which you are fully accepting and acknowledging each thought, feeling and sensation in your immediate experience.
If you are in a state of mindfulness, you are not ruminating, obsessing, having compulsive thoughts or worrying about the past of future. You are consciously aware of the present, your mind isn't wandering off in ten different directions. You are fully immersed in whatever your present experience is without distractions. When you're mindful and fully present you enjoy your life more. You notice things you wouldn't normally notice, maybe just small things or even things you've seen everyday, but haven't really looked at. An example would be the blue sky. These are the things that can make you happy in the moment, right now.
The famous Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen Vietnamese Buddhist monk, says, "You come to realize that conditions for your happiness are enough, more than enough, for you to be happy right here... and right now. You don't have to run anymore for other conditions of happiness... If you recognize these conditions, you will stop running."
When many people think of mindfulness the first thing that comes into their minds is meditation. One could argue meditation is the ultimate form of being mindful, but there are many other ways to achieve this desirable, clutter-free state of mind. Let's take a look at some easy and very effective mindfulness exercises.
“Mindfulness isn't difficult, we just need to remember to do it.”
~Sharon Salzberg
Mindfulness Exercises: Simple Practices for the Novice
If you're not in the habit of being mindful, it takes some effort to actually remember to practice this state of being. One simple suggestion is to make an obvious, but simple change to serve as a reminder. My favorite one is to put your watch on the opposite wrist. You will have frequent reminders throughout the day as you check the time. If you don't wear a watch, you can put a rubber band on your wrist, part your hair on the other side, wear earrings if you don't normally or vice versa, etc...
Mindfulness involves practice, it doesn't just come overnight. The more you practice, the better you become. Over time, it can become second nature to you, something's that's ingrained in you like a habit. Now, THAT'S a great place to be! If you're just beginning it will seem a bit foreign and unnatural at first. You will be mindful of your mindfulness!
Practice While You're Eating...
This is one of the best ways to begin. Consider all the sensory stimuli you experience while eating. You look at the food, you smell it, you taste it, you feel its texture and you hear yourself eating. You might even touch it and feel it with your fingers. You also experience a sensation as it goes down your esophagus and into your stomach. All your senses are engaged, aren't they? Fully immerse yourself in all your senses next time you eat.
- Notice the color(s) of the food, the way the plate and your utensils look.
- Smell the aroma of the food. Can you discern certain spices? Does the smell remind you of another food or combination of foods? Can you predict what it might taste like from the aroma?
- Concentrate on its taste. Notice if it's mild or at all spicy. Try to pick out the individual ingredients and spices.
- Notice its texture. Is it smooth, lumpy or hard? Notice how it feels on your tongue, on your teeth and even on your lips.
- Listen to the sound the food makes as you chew. Is it crunchy or quiet?
- Pay attention to how it feels as it goes down your esophagus. Try to feel the food slide down into your stomach.
- Notice the temperature of the food.
- If it's a finger food, take note of how it feels when you pick it up.
"When Walking, Walk... When Eating, Eat."
~Zen Proverb
Turn Chores and Activities of Daily Living into Mindfulness Opportunities
You are going to focus on doing one task at a time... No multi-tasking is allowed! When you're brushing your teeth that will be ALL you're doing. You won't be looking at yourself in the mirror, wiping up the sink or walking around the house picking up. You will be focused on the task of tooth brushing only. You will be engaging as many of your senses as you can, noticing how the brush feels on your teeth, the way the toothpaste burns your tongue a little, how the brush sounds on your teeth, etc... You get the drift.
Do Something Habitual in Slow Motion
Now I realize you can't do everything in slow motion, of course. But, pick something you can, perhaps something you normally rush through and slow it way down. Here are some ideas:
- Walking (of course you may want to do this in private or you could get some looks!)
- Brushing you hair
- Washing your hair
- Cleaning something, like a dish or a table
In slow motion you are forced to be mindful in your movements and more aware of your dormant senses. It will be much more difficult for your mind to wander since you will need to be deliberate. If you're walking in slow motion, you will need to pay attention to your balance since you're more likely to fall. You will be more acutely aware of how your muscles are working. You will feel the impact of each step you take on your feet... on both the soles and the heels. You will notice what your arms are doing.
After you finish the slow motion exercise, repeat the task at normal speed. Take notice of the differences you experience, what senses you are using more or less.
Mindfulness Through Imagery: A More Advanced Exercise
First choose a song to listen to and get it all queued up... Choose one that affects you on some emotional level. Next, think of an image that's soothing to you. It may be a place you love, a person, your pet's face or maybe a brain snapshot of a special day. Take a minute to really plant the image in your mind's eye. Now play the song. Your task is to keep the image you've created in your mind the entire duration of the song.
This activity is at the very core of mindfulness. You are exercising your ability to focus on what you want to while filtering out what's unwanted. This is a very powerful and difficult task, one that will take some practice to master.
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Thanks for sharing this information, I believe everyone will get benefit from it.
Thank-you for providing specific examples with steps as I think that really helps a person achieve this. I have Native American friends who teach this, and this really helps support what I'm learning from them.
Nice hub. Thanks for sharing.
I've been trying to practice mindfulness for some time now and it is so easy to forget to do it. Thanks for these ideas to keep focused. Great hub.
Thanks for a great reminder as it’s so easy to forget mindfulness and get caught up in thoughts. My experience everything feels so much more vivid when I stop and just focus on what’s here now.
Congratulations on getting hub of the day - even if I am a day late. It’s great to see this subject getting the accolade, and your suggestions are great. A useful hub in today’s hectic times.
Hello, I just listened to a piece on NPR about mindful eating and thought it would be great to research for an article. You did it well! Enjoyed this article immensely. Thank you for providing it.
Very useful hubpage ;)
I should do this.
This Hub looks like just the thing I've been looking for in terms of advice. Bookmarking so I can read it tomorrow... See what I mean? Seriously though. I really have been looking to read up on this topic - and congrats for getting Hub of the Day!
Great Hub, very useful information, it seems so easy, yet it is quite a task if you are in a quick get it over with mode.. it does create a greater value in life and the beauty of moments.. I have to share those ideas with a few people I know, thanks so much for the insight, it is so helpful to have it written so clearly..
Very good hub, wordscribe. You deserve to be recognized with Hub of the Day for your writing about mindfulness.
Next question: Since you're experienced in Dialectical Behavior Training, will you be writing more hubs in greater depth about DBT and possibly its use as therapy for bipolar and BPD disorders, including success rates?
This would be a bit difficult for most of us who are used to multitasking. I can see the advantage though of this present-centered awareness. It might even lower my blood pressure and slow down my erratic heartbeat!
Really awesome hug thought I've ready only halfway and bookmarked it for reading later today! Votes up :)
Oh! CONGRATULATIONS on getting Hub of the day!
Fantastic Hub! Absolutely True, and it gives plenty of information! WE do need to concentrate and be aware of what we are doing everyday. Even with chores as you mentioned. Loved this Hub. VOTED UP! and USEFUL!
This is a good hub. Most of the ToDo items you mentioned here are all that I do not do. Like noticing my food plate and the food aroma. Multitasking is what I do all the time.
Its good to realize that we have gotten so busy with our lives that we stop noticing small small things around us. I will try and follow all you said here... Thanks for this post.
and congratulations on getting the Hub of the Day! :)
Staying present in the moment isn't easy but it is an important skill to learn. This has been a good reminder, thanks for writing it.
I really enjoyed reading your hub. When you wrote about achieving a "clutter-free state of mind" I could grasp the concept fully. I want that kind of peacefulness in my life. I think I'll look into mindfulness excercises a little further. Thank you for your information.
My husband and I have been working on this. I shared with my facebook friends and will be back to read thoroughly.
Congrats on getting Hub of the Day! Great topic for a hub. I definitely need reminders to engage in some of these behaviors more often.
I often joke with my friends when they ask me, "how are you doing?" I respond, Everything is wonderful as long as I don't focus on the future or the past!"
Living in the present, doing everything with grace, and allowing spirit to guide me has changed my life, it's abundantly magical!
Thank you for this beautifully written hub!
I will be back often. ;)
Great piece of advice. It is usually advised to be in the present but seldom do we do it.
Those few tactics might do the trick. Will follow them!
Thanks!
I really enjoyed this hub. Congrats! Five months ago I was doing this daily but I stopped. I seem to start feeling better and then end up stopping what was making me feel better. I know I'm human. Still I like your ideas for just picking a certain time of day or certain thing that you do everyday like brushing your hair or teeth and practicing mindfulness there. Thanks again for sharing your expert opinion!
I hate it when I can't respond to all the individual comments here... I couldn't figure out why this hub was getting so much attention at first! Anyway, thanks to everyone for stopping by, reading and taking the time to comment. I'm so pleased to find out this has been a useful hub, guys!
With the amount of tasks we're bombarded with daily, it's important occasionally to be mindful and observant to our actions, this is brilliant practise! Thank you for this excellent Hub! :)
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This is good information wordscribe43, I can see where it would come in handy in your line of work. Congratulations on Hub of the Day. Regards, snakeslane
Thank you so much for this hub! I need to learn when to turn my "muli-tasking" off and these are some very nice tips.
Appreciated this well-written hub on mindfulness. It would seem that the practice of the concept would go without saying, but in our rapid-fire paced lives, nothing could be further from the truth.
Congratulations on receiving "Hub of the Day."
Great Hub! I have heard about this through meditation and yoga but have never really given it a try. I was watching an episode of Psycic detectives on tv once. When interviewing a psycic woman, who has helped police solve numerous unsolved cold cases, she described her experience of the first time she became psycic. She said she use to practice mindful exercises and medetation until one day, while deep in meditation, she describes her experience like someone plugging her into a socket. She heard all sorts of people talking to her and she hasn't been able to turn it off since. Interesting!
I've read the works of Thich Nhat Hanh a while back. But sometimes we get caught up in daily living and forget to be mindful. Thanks for the reminder.
What an awesome hub! I have done some yoga to help me relax and it's amazing that I have to tell myself to relax. It was like I had to learn how to do it, kind of like mindfulness. I love all these ideas, especially the one about the song and doing a regular task in slow motion. It helps you live in the present, which can be hard! Great hub!!
Great topic. As far as becoming aware of being in the present and not distracted by incoming thoughts I have found Yoga Exercises the best route. Concentrating on holding the body in particular positions for longer lengths of time prevent internal or external distractions from becoming truly present and aware in the moment...
Great hub wordscribe43.
This is hard to do.... However, I've done this with food and it seems to work. Food does taste better when you're concentrating on the taste of it, etc. So there is much truth to this theory.
Voted up and congrats on your wonderful hub
John
Thanks for sharing your perspectives on the essence of mindfulness. Being aware of your presence is so valuable in appreciating what you have. Sometimes, the fact that we don't see as many people who are mindful in our daily lives; we sometimes misinterpret those whom to know how to appreciate the present moment.
We think that they are lost in space. Perhaps, they are too slow or without much enthusiasm. Sometimes, mindful people are frowned upon as being lazy and too worry free for their own good. I think we are too quick to ridicule or judge those whom are different from us in many ways. Interesting hub. Thanks for sharing this wonderful information. Great hub. Voted up. Definitely worthy of hub of the day. Congrats!!!
I loved this hub! Mindfulness is so important to living a peaceful and serene life. You give such a clear explanation of it here. Thank you. And congrats on making hub of the day!
Good thought, Hats off to your thinking.
This is awesome. I've learnt a lot from this hub. This is something that some of us need to know but is unknowingly overlooked. Thanks for sharing this.
I have memories of my grandmother admonishing me to 'be mindful'. Although it means much more to me now exactly what it means, I understood that she was telling me to pay attention to whatever I was doing. I love the simplicity of being present, it only requires our awareness to perform whatever it is that is necessary at the moment. It's especially rewarding while in nature or at a job which is very routine. I like how you have given exercises to help one become more present. Nice to see this hub as Hub of the Day! The video is wonderful! I love listening to him.
Great hub. Voted up. Life is all about living in the present and enjoying every moment in life.
I love the idea of these simple ways to find a moment of mindfulness in everyday activities. I need this and will try these right away. Thanks.
A very interesting hub! I was doing some of the things like concentrating on the taste of food, color, smell etc. But I didn't know i was doing something like this. But what i want to add: Doing this and concentrating that you Are, made me in charge of my dreams sometimes. I don't know how true this is for the others, but maybe other hubbers feel the same way like me.
Have you ever been around those people who are playing the same complaints over and over in their mind and saying it too? This mindfulness exercise is great training for relief of WORRY and resentment. Your mind can cause such fatigue and lock you in to your PROBLEMS.. Try it. Relief follows.
Excellent article. I will try this. Voted up!
Congratulation for the hub of the day. This is a great hub and a lot of tips to be mindful. Thanks for sharing.
Lovely hub thanks. I have been practicing mindfulness for tow years, taught to me as part of CBT therapy. I think it is a technique everyone could benefit from in this busy world.
Voted up.
Interesting hub, rightfully advocating the value of mindfulness.
Although simple in its concept of staying in the moment, it can be much more difficult to regularly put into practice; most of us spend our time anticipating the future or ruminating about the past, and these habits can be hard to eliminate.
Voted up.
Some people live in the past, while others are constantly dreaming of the future that sometimes they tend to forget the value and the blessings of today. This is nice hub in keeping your mind and living in the present.
Glad to see this subject as a hub of the day :) I particularly enjoy using Taiji as a context for mindfulness. It is amazing too how something so simple, ie paying attention to what is present, can be so difficult!
I loved this hub about mindfulness, you focused major emphasis on movement, and I use to do Thai chi many years back, which helps to do the same as you've suggested towards the end of the hub, I also learned how to meditate while I was in the Navy years back.
Awesome job here this one is getting voted up & shared outside of hubpages, congratulations on earning the hub of the day award, you truly deserved it here.
"Tip" I only found one minor typo in it, early in the hub directly after 'premise', but no matter this hub was totally awesome indeed.
Outstanding hub!! I will be following your hubs for sure.
This is very interesting and useful hub! Sometimes I find myself or, rather, my mind wandering and worrying too much trying to solve many things at once and end up with nothing. I will try your advice on focusing on one task at one time and, hopefully, I will come up with some positive outcome! Voted up:)
Some good advice here..Congratulations on Hub of the Day!
I think that 'being mindful' while eating also involves sitting at the table to eat, and not eating on the couch in front of the TV, as many of us do...as I'm sort of 'trapped' into doing, as hubby insists on the TV..so in order to eat together.... ...
At any rate, I feel that kind of mindfulness goes a long way to being aware of your surroundings, and if you are aware, you notice others, and you are less likely to become a victim, as you will notice when things seem awry, and be ready to defend yourself or run.
Slow motion? Hmmm... maybe I should try that, and see if it turns off my "klutz" gene...
Voted up and shared.
brilliant hub wordscribe, congrats on winning the hub of the day. this hub is of paramount importance especially for writers since we need a fresh mental exercise more than a physical that keeps freshness in our writing. Voted up. thank you for sharing beautiful tips of mindful exercises!!
Thanks, Simone! I expect you to be good and mindful when to go to work on Monday... I'll ask your coworkers if need be. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Wow, this is one of the best, succinct guides to mindfulness I've ever read! I love the tricks you've outlined- slow motion, putting one's watch on a different wrist... love it! I'll spend this weekend trying to boost my mindfulness using your advice. Thank you!
A handy hub with good tips. I've been trying to tune out the clutter in my head recently. Sometimes are easier than others, when I'm out on my bike or running I find it easy - which is probably why I enjoy doing them - but the rest of the time my thoughts are busy and all over the place. I think we all would benefit from being in the here and now.
Alphagirl, isn't that the truth? We are constantly racing around from place to place, worrying, stressing and otherwise NOT living in the moment or enjoying. I still have to remind myself to slow down, enjoy and be mindful. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Hi Marlin,
Thanks for stopping by. Being mindful is a really powerful tool, isn't it? In fact, it's something all writers should aim to practice. And you're right, it's a great way to get in touch with those "old tapes" that play over and over again in our heads. Anyway, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment.
This is a great hub and something that I like to practice for myself. There is a lot of good information on how to become aware. I know that technique also makes us mindful of old programs held deep withing the subconscious mind that we wish to change. And you're right it takes practice. Great job on this article. I know it will help anyone who reads it.
I love this. It reminded me of just being in the moment when most of us are racing and multi-tasking. Thanks for reminding me. I studied martial arts as a kid. That requires being mindful of what you are doing. The wrong move can put you in a vulnerable position. Taking time to breath will help our circulation. Great hub!
Trionoide 2 months ago
Thanks for the idea with the watch. Although mindful aware I often forget in the hectic of work. I practice mindfulness most grequently when walking e.g. walking down the corridor at work, but best of all getting out of the car when returning home. Those steps from car to door have already slowed and calmed me down by the time I get in the door.