Activities that promote mindfulness

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 becoming 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 have to show everyone there every day how amazing your life is, and before you know it, your day is filled with things you “have to” do, but that you don’t really want to do at all.

It’s no surprise that social media also faces a lot of criticism for the pressure it creates to have the perfect life—or at least to project that image. This can be incredibly stressful. That’s exactly why I want to encourage you to turn off that computer, laptop, or smartphone for a change.

At first, it might feel a little empty, and you might get that feeling you used to have as a child. You want to do something, but you don’t feel like doing anything. That’s what we now call boredom. Instead of going to eat or immediately crawling back behind that computer to keep your mind occupied, try finding another activity, such as knitting, coloring, painting, building, and creating.

Perhaps you’ve even already started practicing mindfulness, but you find that it makes you feel restless and that you can’t sustain a mindfulness meditation session for more than two minutes. In that case, it might be necessary to practice mindfulness meditation at a different time and with a different activity than, for example, doing 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 all sorts of emotions can arise while knitting; when you’re just starting out, this will often be frustration. Fortunately, the result of a knitted piece—especially when you’re just beginning—isn’t always the most important thing, which makes it easier to distance yourself from the frustration and the 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 addition, the repetitive motion induces a meditative state that is well-suited for mindfulness and resembles the meditation practiced in yoga. Once you’ve mastered it, the activity can lower your heart rate and blood pressure . It also reduces your blood cortisol levels, an important indicator of stress.

So, by learning to knit, you’ll learn more about mindfulness meditation and letting go of negative thoughts. Once you’ve mastered it—which can happen fairly quickly with simple projects—you’ll 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 often found in English on trendy clothing these days, and there’s some truth to it. As a child, it’s still easy to get completely absorbed in an activity. Ideally, as a child, you have absolutely no worries. You probably don’t even know what money is—a source that can sometimes cause you headaches as an adult.

Adult coloring books help you relive that feeling a bit again ( 1). They are trickier than coloring books for children which again requires you to be just as focused 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 significantly less anxiety while coloring mandalas—which are circular geometric shapes.

Just like with mindfulness meditation and other forms of meditation, the coloring book helps you stay focused on the here and now. It’s also helpful if you can’t draw on your own—after all, the design is already there. All you have to do is 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 associated with creativity, intuition, visualization, and emotions. The left side of the brain is primarily associated with logic, reason, structure, and planning—all the things that can go wrong and 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 these techniques of observation and stepping back in everyday situations where your emotions and thoughts get the better of you. So this is a good way to foster mindfulness.

Would you like to learn more about how mindfulness works and what other mental techniques can help you experience less stress and other negative emotions? Then come to a seminar or check out the courses offered by the Hypnosis Institute of the Netherlands.

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