Meditation does help with mindfulness as it helps to still your mind for a while. However not everyone likes meditation or indeed some, like me, find it hard. I have a monkey-mind that wanders all over the place and I’m not good at sitting still. There are ways you can practice mindfulness without sitting down to meditate:
1. Mindful walking. By bringing your attention to the physical movement of walking, noticing your breath, the feel of your feet on the ground, the smells and noises around you. Focus just on your walking. Try to clear your mind of anything else.
2. Mindful eating: Eat your meals, sitting down at a table, with no distractions, try eating alone sometimes. Focus on the taste, smell and texture of your food.
3. Relax in a bath. Close your eyes, try to clear your mind. Relax
4. Listen to music. Focus just on the music.
5. Exercise. Don’t think of anything else other than the exercise you are doing. Don’t talk to others, don’t listen to music. Focus on your body, how it feels and how it moves.
6. Yoga: Take a yoga class. A great place to practice mindfulness as you focus on the movements. It’s a non-competitive environment and at the end you do get to practice your meditation, often guided which is helpful to people like me.
7. Give tasks your undivided attention. Let your mind focus on that one thing you are doing in the moment. Do one thing at a time.
Karen is a qualified personal trainer and nutrition coach living in Cyprus near Paphos with her husband Mal and their cat Dave. She has been a personal trainer for 14 years and a qualified nutrition coach for over 2 years. She is passionate about working with people of any age and fitness level to improve their health and wellbeing.
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