Mindfulness is a technique for living in the here and now. This can include mindfulness meditation during an activity or a meditation where you are focused on your breathing. I often say that mindfulness is a technique where practice helps. If you find it difficult to be mindful, I have listed activities especially for you that encourage mindfulness.
In this article, I discuss activities that encourage mindfulness and why they help you to be mindful.
Dutch society is increasingly busy and many people feel like they have to do everything. You have to have a full-time job, you have to be on social media, you also have to show there daily how great your life is and before you know it, your day is full of things you 'have to' do, but don't really want to do at all.
It's not for nothing that social media also gets a lot of criticism about the pressure it creates to have the perfect life or at least exude it. This can be incredibly stressful. This is precisely why I want to encourage you to turn off that computer, laptop or smartphone for once.
Maybe at first it feels a little empty and you get that feeling you used to have as a child. You want to do something, but you don't feel like doing anything. Now that's called boredom. Instead of going out to eat or immediately crawling back to that computer to keep your mind busy, find another activity, like knitting, coloring, painting, building and creating.
Perhaps you have even started practicing mindfulness, but find that it makes you restless and that you can't do mindfulness meditation for more than two minutes. In that case, you may need to apply mindfulness meditation at a different time and with a different activity than, say, housework.
Especially for the beginner, and the advanced mindfulness meditator who wants a little more variety, I've looked up several activities that work well to stimulate mindfulness and arouse it without having to put in a lot of effort.
Knitting for mindfulness
Most people who knit can tell you that this is an incredibly relaxing activity. You have to pay close attention to making the stitches the right way, and if you are making something other than a shawl with a regular pattern, you also have to be careful not to do it wrong.
Because of the focus you need when knitting, you are automatically in the here and now. You feel the yarn slip off the knitting needles and through. You also feel whether the loops are too tight or too loose. The yarn also has an unfamiliar scent when you are just starting to knit.
Thus, very many senses are activated to bring your knitting to fruition. This makes it very difficult for your brain to wander with thoughts. If this does happen, you notice it immediately because you no longer hear the ticking of the knitting needles. You have then stopped knitting.
Even if you only knit for 10 minutes a day, it can be very helpful to be more mindful and is a good exercise in mindfulness.
This is also because knitting can bring up all sorts of emotions, if you are just starting out this will often be frustration. Fortunately, the result of a knit, especially when you are starting out, is not always the most important thing, making it easier to distance yourself from the frustration and thoughts that come with it.
This is exactly what you also do during a mindfulness meditation when thoughts come to you.
Knitting and the meditative state
In the process, the repetitive motion creates a state of meditation that works well for mindfulness and is also similar to meditation in yoga. Once mastered, the activity can lower your heart rate and blood pressure . In addition, it then also reduces your blood cortisol levels, an important indicator of stress.
So by learning knitting, you learn more about mindfulness meditation and letting go of negative thoughts. Once you get the hang of it, and with simple things it can be quite quick, you will enter a meditative state.
In the process, it also boosts your self-confidence because you have mastered something new and all your creations serve as proof that you can do something.
Coloring books for adults
Don't grow up, it's a trap! This is a slogan now often found on trendy clothing in English, and it is sometimes somewhat true. As a child, it is still easy to become totally absorbed in an activity. If all goes well, as a child you have absolutely no worries. You probably don't even know what money is, a resource that can still cause you some headaches as an adult.
Adult coloring books help you relive that feeling a little again (1). They are trickier than coloring books for children so you have to be just as focused again to color within the lines. There is also more variety in how you use your colors together.
According to American art therapists, creating something helps you express feelings that are difficult to put into words, and in a group setting it also helps improve social skills and helps you see reality, the here and now. In addition, it can reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms.
For example, research conducted in 2005 shows that people experience much less anxiety while coloring mandalas. These are round geometric shapes.
As with mindfulness meditation, and other forms of meditation, the coloring book helps you stay focused in the it and now. In doing so, it also helps if you can't draw a picture by yourself, since the design is already there. You just have to color it in.
It is indicated by medics though, that if you really suffer from mental symptoms therapy works better than just using a coloring book, but to relax and to start mindfulness and practicing it is definitely a good first step.
Painting for more mindfulness
Painting is another technique that can be used for mindfulness. Who does not know the television movies of Bob Ross explaining in his soothing voice how to create the most beautiful nature paintings only to completely ruin them at the end, but then you know all the techniques needed for a beautiful lake, forest or mountain landscape.
Another great thing about art is that it activates parts of the brain other than your logic and reasoning, which are those thoughts that can bother you so much. So by painting, you activate other parts of your brain which makes all those disturbing thoughts just do nothing for a while. Because your brain is still busy, but with something from the here and now.
The right side of the brain is often for creativity, intuition, visualizations and emotions. The left side of your brain is mostly associated with logic, reason, structure and planning all those things that can go wrong and then cause stress.
Especially when painting something after the fact, it can be very helpful to be in the here and now. After all, the colors have to be mixed well, and if it only looks a little bit, that's quite an accomplishment too.
Going to a museum
Making art is good for mindfulness, but so is seeing art. By breaking your daily routine and going to a museum for once, you are forced to live in the here and now. You went to that museum and you start looking at art and forming your opinion about it.
The great thing about art is that you don't have to be positive about everything. You can also think a sculpture, painting or piece of scaffolding is total crap. It doesn't matter. Your reaction to art is a good way to learn how thoughts come to you and that you can also allow negative thoughts to come to you without it being a big deal and that you can let them go by the time you get to the next art object.
Going to the museum is a way to arouse emotions in a safe environment, where you learn to be mindful of those emotions and the thoughts the artwork evokes in you. Automatically, you are also observing more.
You can also use those techniques of observing and distancing yourself in everyday situations where emotions and thoughts run away with you. So this is a good way to encourage mindfulness.
Want to learn more about how mindfulness works and what other mental techniques cause you to experience less stress and other negativity? Then come to a seminar or check out Hypnosis Institute Netherlands' training courses.
Also pin this handy infographic as a reminder:
Sources:
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/06/health/adult-coloring-books-popularity-mental-health/index.html
