Learning to be mindful

Learning to be mindful

Practicing mindfulness can help us maintain personal boundaries while enhancing our self-awareness and reinforcing the importance of self-care. Several apps are available that introduce mindfulness principles and offer guided meditations tailored to people’s unique needs and situations. For example, ‘one-minute mindfulness’ exercises can help us recover after difficult meetings and switch off from work-related concerns upon returning home. 

Some brief mindfulness techniques include:

• Deep breathing: Take slow, deep breaths, focusing your attention on the sensation of air entering and leaving your body. This helps calm the mind and centre your focus.

• Body scan: This involves moving your attention slowly through different parts of the body. Start at the top of your head and gradually move down to your toes. You could focus on feelings of warmth or relaxation of different parts of your body.

• Mindful observation: Choose an object in your environment and examine it closely, paying attention to its colours, shapes, and textures. Engage your senses fully in the present moment.

• Grounding exercise: Notice your connection to the ground beneath you. Feeling the support of the floor or chair beneath your feet or body can help you return to the present moment during times of stress or anxiety.

• Mindful eating: Paying attention to the taste, sight and textures of what you eat. For example, when drinking a cup of tea or coffee you could watch the steam that it gives off or observe how hot and liquid it feels on your tongue. Mindful eating can also prevent over-eating by making us aware that we are full.

• Mindful walking: If possible, find a quiet space outside to walk. Notice the feeling of your body moving, the air against your skin, the feeling of your feet on the ground, and the different sights, smells and sounds that are around you.

• Five senses exercise: Engage each of your five senses by noticing five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste.

• Gratitude practice: Take a moment to reflect on three things you are grateful for right now. This can help shift your focus to the positive aspects of your life. More information on gratitude practice can be found in FWB2 Self-confidence and Self-efficacy.

• Mindful meditation: Sit quietly and focus on your breathing, your thoughts, your bodily sensations, and what you can hear around you. You could do a systematic body scan (as above) or choose to explore your bodily sensations randomly as they occur. If your mind wanders, simply notice this is happening and gently try to focus yourself back on the present. 

These brief techniques can be practiced anywhere and anytime to bring more awareness and presence into your day.

There are many mindfulness apps available such as Buddhify and Headspace. Both require subscriptions, but others are available free of charge. At the time of writing this workbook, NHS workers have free access to several wellbeing apps (including Headspace). See here for details.  Insight timer is a free app providing guided meditations for sleep, anxiety and stress (see here).