It's crucial to listen to the silence on a regular basis. Our lives are filled with distracting and random noise. Finding a way to stop distracting yourself in order to hear the voice within and learn to trust it is vital to living life more calmly. It's likewise useful to practice being in the here and now. The practice of mindfulness may brings advantages to your emotional and physical health, as well as to the relationships in your life.
Mindfulness is an amazing tool to manage stress and improve overall wellness, it can be used at virtually any time and quickly brings lasting results. Sound great? Here are some practical ways you can practice mindfulness in your daily life.
Deep Breathing
Normally we need no prompting to breathe, however, focusing on the breath is a fast way to bring your mental awareness into the present. Taking the time to stop, and focus on inhaling and exhaling, activates a relaxation response via the vagus nerve. This is a form of meditation and can change you from a stressed to a relaxed state, very quickly.
Breathe from your belly instead of from your chest, and try to inhale through your nose and out through your mouth. Centering on the sound and rhythm of your breath, particularly when you are upset, may have a calming effect and help you stay grounded in the here and now.
Body Scan Meditation
Another form of meditation to bring the mind into the present moment is a body scan meditation. Slowly move your attention from the parts of your lower body, pausing to really feel the sensations going through that body part. Moving from the toes to the head, scan the body and bring a sense of calm through focus.
Listening to Music
Listening to music has a lot of advantages — so many, as a matter of fact, that music is being utilized therapeutically in a fresh branch of complimentary medicine known as music therapy. That’s part of why listening to music makes an excellent mindfulness exercise.
You are able to play soothing new-age music, classical music, or a different type of slow-tempo music to feel calming effects, and make it an exercise in mindfulness by truly centering on the sound and vibration of every note.
If additional thoughts creep into your brain, congratulate yourself for noticing, and gently bring your attention back to the present moment and the music you're hearing.
House cleaning
Housecleaning The term "house cleaning" has a literal meaning cleaning up your actual house as well as a non-literal one doing away with "emotional baggage”, letting go of things that no longer serve you, and both may be great stress relievers! Because clutter has several hidden costs and may be a subtle but significant stressor, house cleaning and decluttering as a mindfulness exercise may bring lasting benefits. To bring mindfulness to cleaning, you first have to view it as a positive event, a drill in self-understanding and stress relief, instead of merely as a chore. Then, as you clean, center on what you're doing as you're doing it — and nothing else.
Honoring Your Thoughts
A lot of stressed and busy individuals find it hard to stop centering on the rapid stream of thoughts consuming their mind, and the idea of sitting in meditation and holding off the onslaught of thought may really cause more stress. If this sounds like you, the mindfulness drill of observing your thoughts may be for you. Instead of working against the voice in your head, you sit back and "honor" your thoughts, instead of becoming involved in them. As you notice them, you may find your mind calming, and the thoughts becoming less stressful.
Make Time For A Hobby
Hobbies can be a rewarding and satisfying way to lead a fuller and healthier life, and they can lead to an increased sense of well-being. Nurturing our creative side by practicing a hobby is a powerful way to relieve stress.
A study stress levels found that gardening led to decreased levels of cortisol our stress hormone. It also seemed to improve quality of life more than the conventional occupational therapy.