4 ideas to help you explore mindfulness
What is Mindfulness and why is it suddenly everywhere?
Mindfulness is not new! I need to get that out there first because I feel like sometimes people think it is.
What is perhaps new is that we are suddenly aware we need something to help us all cope with things and mindfulness is a nice easy to remember phrase that we can work with.
To me Mindfulness is best put simply as being in the moment as it happens.
Teachers and students can benefit from this as can we as individuals in our own daily lives.
This last year I’ve practiced a number of different Mindful activities some along side my students others on my own for myself.
Here are four Mindful activities I recommend you explore to help you live more in the now, recognise things which are truly important to you and to help you filter some things out of your life while embracing and celebrating others.
- Mindful movement (Yoga)
- Mindful Art
- Meditation
- Mindful Strategies
1. Mindful Movement (Yoga)
My working day begins at 5am when I wake and then drive to work, I found it useful to reserve the first 30minutes of my work day (at work in our mindfulness/fitness studio) to practice yoga.
This gives me 30 minutes to centre my mind and body after a long drive to work and before the routines of the teaching day began. There are lots of ways to start doing yoga one successful way is to try some of the great YouTube videos or Podcasts and play them through your mobile device (this means you can do this anywhere!).
Check out the 30 day yoga challenge as your starting point:
2. Mindful Art
Don’t dismiss this as simply colouring in!
As I said at the beginning this is about being in a moment, filtering out everything else and enjoying one single experience you’re ‘living’ in that moment.
There is a reason Mindful colouring books are on the shelves of many shops!
Here’s a short video I made to work with my students, it’s actually a great activity to do yourself or with children outside of school. Watch the video then find a calm quiet space to focus on you, the page and your pen!
3. Meditation
Meditation is about quieting the mind and centring yourself. This was not for me when I first thought about it. I imaged someone sitting crosslegged chanting…what a silly impression that was!
For me meditation is now something I strongly recommend especially if like me you’re the kind of person who’s mind seems to always be active and needs to be calmed in order to find the focus you need!
Check out this lovely introductory video to help you explore meditation for yourself:
4. Mindful Strategies
As part of this academic year at Aureus School I’ve shadowed the wonderful Julie Hunter as she delivered amazing mindful strategy morning sessions to our students. These sessions have helping students to explore some of the science behind their feelings and emotions and helping them develop practical strategies which can help them ‘manage themselves’ in difficult situations.
For more information on mindful strategies for students check out https://mindfulnessinschools.org/what-is-b/b-curriculum/
Be mindful my friends!
Thank you for taking the time to read this post.
Have you read a book called “The power of now”? Author Eckhart Tolle suggests that a good way to attain what you define as mindfulness is to always be aware of what happens around you and never on autopilot. He said that you should watch the world in a different way, inspect in detail everything. You shouldn’t judge, you shouldn’t get frustrated. Just be a spectator. He also suggested that whenever you catch your mind thinking of something that isn’t who you are, you should again spectate without judging. Over time you will reach mindfulness. I’ve been trying this for a week or so and I certainly achieved similar results with meditation.
Sounds good I’ll check it out thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing this post too
I met a woman from Norway recently who had taken up mindfulness, and to me it seems the idea is growing.