1. The Raisin Exercise
This snack-inspired exercise by mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn allows you to focus more on what you’re feeling.
How to do it:
- Take a raisin in your hand and try to focus on it; notice the texture, the wrinkles, and differences in shade.
- Rub between your fingers and try to find out if it is sticky or if it is hard
- If you can smell, bring the object close to your nose and take time to check for the presence of some odors in it, do not chew it, just hold it in your mouth.
- Swallow don’t chew it immediately if it is on your tongue. How is it? How does it feel as you take each bite very very small bite and start to chew it?
- Pay attention to any flavors, juices or sweetness which increase as you go on chewing slowly and in a controlled manner.
- After you have choked down the raisin, try to notice how it travels down in you.
This exercise makes you to act slowly and is helpful in making you alert, you are able to see things which you do not see when you’re eating carelessly.
2. Focused Breathing
Awareness of breath is therefore a core aspect of mindfulness and meditation programs. This rather simple breathing technique helps ground you in the moment while simultaneously relaxing your body.
How to do it:
- Sit or lie down in a comfortable position where you can sit or lie still and not fall asleep.
- Bring your focus to your breathing and notice how your breath enters and leaves through your nose. Take a few deep breaths without trying to regulate the depth and rate of breathing.
- Pay all the attention towards the sensation of the breaths entering and leaving the nostrils only.
- If the thoughts start to get carried away, kindly remind yourself and focus on the sensations of breathing.
- Spend just a few minutes practicing and always keep focus on every breath that is being taken.
Eliminate any visual stimuli that may affect you during the exercise: look gently into the distance or shut your eyes. Breathe in and out, and become aware of the immediate rise and fall of your belly.
3. Body Scan Meditation
The body scan is a process whereby the focus of attention is moved slowly and methodically over different areas of the body. This promotes better coordination between mind and body and increases one’s consciousness level.
How to do it:
- First, lie flat on your back with your arms to the side or sit up straight without resting against anything. Keep your legs uncrossed.
- If you prefer, you can shut your eyes now and make sure your body is as comfortable as possible, free from any stiffness.
- Begin by focusing on the toes of the left foot – try to feel any sensations that are present in that area, and do not consider them positive or negative. You can try to breathe as if this air is entering and leaving your body through your toes.
- After that, bring the focus up to the rest of the left foot and slowly take deep breaths into this area.
- Then, slowly progress up the left side of the ankle, the calf muscles, knees, and finally the rest of the left leg down to the hip.
- Now, repeat the process with the right leg and then shift focusing on different regions of the torso, arms, shoulders, neck, head, and face.
- Take at least 3-5 slow deep breaths on the body part before moving up. If any part of the body is numb or sensitive then spend more time on it.
The body scan strengthens concentration and facillitates the release of tension in both physical and mental aspects of the body. As with any skill, it is the practice that makes for a better co-ordinate between the mind and the body.
4. Walking Meditation
Learn to pay attention to the way we walk, being fully present in the moment. This form of non-vibratory movement meditation helps you anchor into present moment awareness.
How to do it:
- Start with the feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, arms to the sides and the head up.
- Raise one foot gradually and observe how lower torso changes stance and bears down on the stationary leg
- Step on the foot completely on the ground while paying close attention to each feeling that the sole of the foot has when touching the ground
- When foot hits the ground, transfer body weight to the new foot.
- Go through the same process with the other foot focusing on all the movements and feelings.
- Breathe in sync with walking for a deeper relaxation – start to breathe in when foot is off the ground and breathe out when foot touches the ground.
Walk at natural pace, while observing feet and legs or the entire body, without drawing attention to it. Practice while moving anywhere – up stairs, to home or office, in parks etc.
5. Mindful Eating
Make the process of eating a mindful experience where I focus on the inherent qualities of food with childlike wonder.
How to do it:
- Choose a fruit or a piece of food like an almond or a raisin
- Take an item of yours in hand – feel the colors, shapes, heft of the item. Gradually move it under the nose and smell the fragrance
- Put food in mouth observing first responses - saliva production, fast evaluation of taste
- Do not chew immediately even when the initial burst of taste covers the tongue and the mouth.
- Begin chewing slowly, work through texture/juiciness and consider taste profile as it progresses
- Pay attention to how the feelings of pleasure or disappointment with regard to flavor affects your attitudes.
- Take your time and stay aware of all the feelings in your mouth until the particular fragment of food goes down the throat.
So the goal is not to overcomplicate the experience of eating, but to be completely present at it, a process that is typically done mechanically.
Lifelong Mindfulness Practice
Practicing mindfulness for a few minutes daily—like attempting the above exercises only for 5 to 15 minutes—can bring about deep change in a person over time. But it is more than these techniques because mindfulness is about waking up to aspects of yourself and the world that are already within you and available to you now.
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