10 Mindfulness Tips

Belly breathing.

One of the simplest ways to get out of our busy heads and find the present moment is by tuning into our breath.

Try taking 10-15 long, slow belly breaths, really extending the exhale. Put your hand on your belly and feel as it inflates and deflates like a balloon. This style of mindful breathing sends a signal to our brains that we are safe, switching off ‘fight or flight’ mode when we are stressed.

Practise yoga.

Revered for its physical benefits, yoga is now also being recognised for the positive physiological effects this ancient practice has on not just our body, but our minds too.

Yoga is more than just movement, it encourages us to be mindful by tuning into our breath as we hold the long, slow poses. This slow breath and movement co-ordination stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for our ‘rest, digest and repair’ response, and is where we feel present, calm, relaxed and welcome healing.

Mindful eating.

Many of us eat the same way we do everything else amid a busy day...mindlessly, whilst rushing and probably multitasking. Mindful eating is simply paying attention to our present moment experience, whilst being fully attentive and engaged with what we are eating, using all our senses. And bringing our minds back to our food when our thoughts start taking over.

There are many benefits of mindful eating, including that we simply enjoy our food more and we can digest the nutrients more efficiently. But also, it creates purposeful space for us in our day to enjoy a mindful moment, giving our busy brains a break from the onslaught of 21st Century Living. Mindful eating is an invitation to slow down – an opportunity to create a positive shift in brain chemistry that leads to physical and emotional health benefits.

Mindful colouring.

The science world is firmly on board with mindful colouring. Research has shown it can help to lower stress and anxiety, increase focus, enhance creativity and even slow our heart rate.

There’s something about the small, repetitive strokes and use of colour that calms the brain and participants report finding it very hard to think about anything else whilst they are colouring – it really encourages our minds to be present, resting and restoring our mental and emotional energy amid a busy day. Keep a mindful colouring book in your drawer at work or home and pull it out for 10 minutes of colouring every time you feel mentally fatigued or stressed. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes.

Spend time in nature.

Spending time in nature can help relieve stress and anxiety, improve your mood, and boost feelings of happiness and wellbeing. Whatever you call it – forest bathing, ecotherapy, mindfulness in nature, green time or the wilderness cure - humans evolved in the great outdoors, and your brain benefits from spending time in nature.

Whether watching a sunset, sitting by a stream, walking the beach, camping in the bush or even eating your lunch in the garden or park during your workday, make some time each week to leave your phone inside and mindfully connect with the great outdoors.

Take regular brain breaks.

Our brains are overloaded and overwhelmed with information. Try to schedule in mindful ‘brain breaks’ every few hours, where you are stepping away from their computers and phone and stopping the input of information. These breaks only need to be 5-10 minutes. But most of us go, go, go through the entire workday. Treating our brains like machines. They simply aren’t designed to operate in this way and this is what leads to overwhelm, as our brain’s cant keep up with the processing of information.

When on your brain break, try something mindful like stepping outside and engaging your five senses, mindful colouring or eating or talking to a colleague. Our brains aren’t actually even resting, we’re just giving them a chance to catch up and upload the information from the past few hours, organise it, commit it to memory, embed learning and start to have space to problem solve or get creative.

Meditate.

Meditating is a form of mindfulness where we set aside time to intentionally focus on an anchor, such as our breath, or a guided meditation (there are some great apps for this such as Calm and Headspace). No longer reserved for the yogis and spiritual among us, meditation is now a daily habit of many highly successful people. Study after study has revealed the proven benefits of meditation, with brain scans showing that a regular practice can positively change the structure and function of our brains.

Just a few of meditation’s many benefits include decreasing anxiety, stress, and depression. Increased awareness, focus and memory. Better quality sleep and improved immunity. Studies suggest about 20 minutes a day will reap the best results.

Practise gratitude.

We all know that being grateful is good for us, but did you know there is strong scientific evidence to suggest that a regular gratitude practice can have a profound and positive impact on our brain? Our brain has an inbuilt negativity bias. This means we are more sensitive to unpleasant news and events. It also means we don’t pay as much attention to and tend to forget life’s more positive experiences.

By regularly and mindfully pausing to express what we are grateful for, it rewires our brain to scan for and notice the good. It feels good while we are practicing it too. Our brain is flooded with the chemical dopamine, which rewards us by giving us a natural high.

Go slow and tune in.

It’s easy to get caught up in the rush these days, doing things quickly and constantly feeling busy. But rushing sends a signal to our brain that we are running from danger, sending us into ‘fight or flight’. When we’re rushing around all day at a million miles an hour, we also start operating on auto-pilot and living in our heads – we become disconnected from ourselves, our senses and the people and world around us.

Mindfulness encourages us to slow down and smell the roses. It asks of us to notice tastes, sounds, smells, feelings and sights that we would usually take for granted, but which are so special. Moments we want to be in the present for like sunsets, enjoying a cuddle with a loved one, soaking up how good your body feels in the bath or the taste and smell of a beautiful meal.

Don’t multi-task.

As women, we tend to pride ourselves on multi-tasking, but research shows that switching between tasks causes stress in the brain, is more likely to lead to mistakes, takes up more mental energy and actually takes us longer to complete the tasks.

Mono-tasking, or doing one thing at a time (including on your computer – no tab switching!), makes us feel calmer, makes us more efficient and helps us stay present and mindful.