How you didn’t even realise you were practicing mindfulness

I thought that in order to engage with mindfulness I was going to have to join the ashram and throw on the robes. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

I wasn’t until I read Thich Naht Hahn’s Mindfulness book along with Eckhart Tolles Power of Now that I began to understand that I was already experiencing moments of mindfulness.

To put it simply, a moment of mindfulness is when you are totally present in the moment. You are not dwelling on the past or the future. You are exactly in what you are doing at that moment. As Thich Naht Hahn puts it, ‘wash the dishes for the sake of washing the dishes’. For example, while you wash the dishes you could be aware of the finer details. The water running off the dishes. The feel of the dishes in your hands. The warmth of the water. You are totally in the moment of washing the dishes. You aren’t thinking about your mortgage, your relationships, your work. You are present.

Now this idea of mindfulness may seem a bit ‘out there’ for some people, but if you really think about it, you would have experienced these types of moments.

Another example would be when you witness a stunning sunrise or sunset. The ‘holy s***’ moment when you glance up at that spectacular view. Again, you are totally present and experiencing it for the moment that it is.

In sport you could say this is when an athlete is ‘in the zone’. Things are flowing and you are totally in the moment of competition. It is a place where great things happen, as you aren’t concentrating on elements of your game that don’t serve you. It could be an opinion someone had in the past, a result that happened before or the thought of what might happen in the future. Again, neither of these serve you well to be in the moment and take you away from focusing on what you are meant to be doing right then and there.

So how do you start to gain more awareness of being mindful? Or how long should you be mindful for?

For me, I was never going to be able to start being mindful or start a meditation practice by sitting down for over 10 minutes and being with my thoughts. As an athlete, I wanted to get up and move. However, the sooner I realised that you could have pockets of mindfulness throughout the day or you could do tasks in your day mindfully, it all changed.

3 ways to start a mindfulness practice:

1. Breathe

It sounds stupid, but breathe. Our breath is the easiest thing to access for us as we have to do it in order to stay alive! However, bringing more awareness to our breath can be incredibly mindful.

Breathing through your nose, start by simply noticing the coolness of the air on the inhale and the warmth of the air on the exhale. If you begin to lose focus, simply return to these two things. The coolness of the inhale, the warmth of the exhale. You could do this literally anywhere, anytime.

2. Move

Whether it’s going for a run or a yoga practice. When we move it can be a great form of a mindfulness practice. Most people will say that “exercise is my meditation”, which effectively is true. Whether it’s lifting weights, running, swimming, cycling, those moments when you are ‘feeling the burn’ in the muscles, you are being mindful of your body. You’re feeling it. Again, I’m sure you aren’t focusing on whether you left the iron on in those moments.

“Whether it’s going for a run or a yoga practice. When we move it can be a great form of a mindfulness practice.”

If it’s something less intense, like walking or yoga. Be mindful of the feeling of your feet connecting to the ground. The feeling within your muscles as you move your body. The areas you feel strong, tight, weaker, stable. Constantly asking yourself “how does this feel?” will open up to a mindful movement practice.

3. Listen to music

Find a song that you are into at the moment. Now really listen to it. Try to hear the beat of the song, the instruments being played, whether you can hear the strings on the guitar being plucked, the drums being beaten. Focusing in to finer detail allows you to open up to a much more mindful view.
Give these a go throughout your day, or even try to turn other tasks that you have during the day into a more mindful practice.

Like I’ve said, it doesn’t have to be 20 minutes sitting in a quite place. Break it up throughout your day. Making your everyday tasks more mindful.

If you are interested in starting your own mindful practice, opening up your mind, breaking out of habits that you don’t like, improving your performance, contact me for coaching at
lewis@thesportyogi.com

 

You can also gain free access to online classes by visiting www.thesportyogi.com

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