Mindfulness can enrich our everyday life – but many find it difficult to live more consciously. Five tips to break the routine.
Anyone who deals with their own mental health has certainly come across the term “mindfulness” – also known on social media and in English as “mindfulness”. Mindfulness describes a state of mental presence. When a person is conscious of their physical and mental state and does not allow themselves to be overly distracted by their emotions and thoughts, they practice mindfulness. However, this exercise is often difficult for many people to implement in their stressful everyday life – with these five tips you can still practice mindfulness every day.
Conscious breaths
A first exercise that can be easily integrated into everyday life is abdominal breathing. Many people only breathe into their chest, but for more relaxation you should try to breathe into your stomach from time to time. This type of breathing has a positive effect on the body, for example it can lower blood pressure and aid digestion.
It is best to take five to ten minutes to practice abdominal breathing immediately after getting up. To do this, lie straight on your back and stretch out your legs. The hands are placed on the abdomen and then one tries to inhale and exhale deeply into the abdomen. You can feel with your hands whether abdominal breathing is successful. Anyone who finds abdominal breathing difficult can get help in the form of apps or a therapist.
The way to work
In the big city in particular, the majority of people use public transport to get to work or to their next doctor’s appointment. If you look around the subway and the like, you’ll quickly notice that almost everyone wears headphones. Regardless of whether you prefer to listen to music or follow a podcast, this type of side entertainment should be avoided every now and then. How about taking off the headphones and listening to the sounds around you instead? How many different sounds can you identify at once? Birds chirping, laughter, construction site noise, footsteps – there is usually a varied background noise.
Conscious eating at lunchtime
Nowadays, many working people are so stressed that they even skip their lunch break at work. However, this should only be the exceptional case. The best place to practice mindfulness is around the dinner table, preferably at lunchtime.
At the next lunch break, the food should be consciously perceived. Try examining the color and shape of your food – you can also enjoy the smell. After that, chew slowly, noticing the taste and maybe even categorizing. Sometimes the taste of the food also changes after chewing for a long time: what tastes salty at the beginning can taste sweet in the mouth after a while. All of these things can be noticed during the meal and yet we often miss out because we are stressed. Consciously breaking this cycle with lunch is a good mindfulness exercise.
A walk to end the day
To wind down after a hard day, a walk is recommended. It doesn’t matter whether you just walk through the park for 20 minutes or stroll through the city for a whole hour – walks have a calming effect. As on the way to work, it is also advisable to leave the headphones at home and consciously perceive the surroundings. There is usually no time pressure on a normal walk. Just letting yourself drift and not just being aware of the sounds, but also of the weather, the temperature and the images is good practice here.
Consciously enjoy entertainment
We’re masters of multitasking these days, but that doesn’t mix well with mindfulness. Anyone who sits in front of the television in the evening and follows a series or a football game may find themselves scrolling through social media from time to time. However, consuming different media at the same time can overwhelm our brain – we can neither process the exciting series nor the Instagram reel properly.
Concentration should be on one task. Watching an episode of your favorite show first and only then scrolling for a few minutes on Instagram, TikTok or similar is more beneficial for mindfulness. In addition, it is also advisable not only to fall back on digital media for entertainment. Reading a book or keeping a journal can also be entertaining and requires more presence.
