Mindfulness Exercises to Reduce Stress and Anxiety

It is the age of hyper-connectivity and everything is just around the corner. Stress and anxiety have become our uninvited guests and they almost live in us. However, with the frantic pace of present-day life it is easy to fuzzy, overloaded and momentary disconnected. On the other hand, the long-lost art of mindfulness has paved a way for more peace and serenity in present life. Through the practice of staying in the present, we learn to control our stress and deal with anxiety. Our daily life becomes more and more relaxed, and we even enjoy things more.

What is mindfulness? It means that you understand the way of knowing things mindfully with the attitude which is open and unbiased. Instead of always being perplexed by the past or anxious about the future, it is the mindfulness that allows us to cherish this particular moment and respond to it skillfully. While we are aware, we can notice the little beauties and gratifications that we are too busy to see when we are preoccupied. We do ground ourselves, become less impulsive, and get better at making smart choices. Luckily, we have a lot of easy mindfulness practices to develop the capacity of staying in the moment.

1. Breathe In, Breathe Out: The main part of this exercise is to turn your whole attention to the movement of your breath, in and out. While thoughts come up observe them without judging and analyzing them, simply notice them and then return to breaths. Whether 5 mindful breaths or just simply stopping and taking a deep breath, the mindset can be rebooted on an overwhelmed mind.

2. Body Scan: Here, you will work through the process of steering your attention onto each and every body part – starting from the tips of your feet and up to the peak of the head. Put yourself in the situation and feel any kind of tension, relaxation, warmth, or etc. that you may notice without trying to change anything. The body being the expected focus of the exercise, you are being led to the physical now.

3. Walking Meditation: For once, you do not need to look at the watch or your smartphone to remind you to change places and thus, you can take this as an opportunity to practice mindfulness. The only thing to do is to be in the moment of each footstep. As you begin to walk, feel the different ways your weight shifts and how the ground under your feet feels. Make use of all the senses to live through the trip and enjoy the road not just the destination.

4. Eat Mindfully: When is the last time you were gorging on a meal, absentmindedly consuming, without paying any attention? This meal experience, then, provides an opportunity to eat a small piece of food allowing you all the time you need to fully examine and appreciate the colors and textures of the food, the aromas, and the interplay of flavors.

5. Listen Closely: The human brain endlessly chattering inside our heads about our thoughts and is prone to crowding out any background sounds. And with this exercise, slowly step back from the inner voice and instead listen to the sounds that are around you - the music, traffic, birds, wind in the fan. Just don't use any labels or analyzes them and only receive the audio data.

6. Gratitude Reflection: Take notice of five small blessings you sincerely appreciate in that moment and soak yourself in the positive emotions that they evoke. Studies conducted on the recent past found that gratitude on a daily basis not just can make your mood better but also resilience and sleep quality.

7. Mindful Observation: Choose a natural object, for example a flower, leaf or a stone and look at it giving it your entire attention for about a minute or two. Pay attention to the colors, forms, patterns, textures, angles and profiles that you usually do not notice as you rush by them.

8. Distancing From Thoughts: When you become tangled in the pitiful thoughts of the future or repetitive thoughts about the past, view them as temporary mental happenings which are just like clouds passing in a spacious sky. The mind is immaterial and the thoughts are temporal, you are not the mind. You are the consciousness that the thoughts contemplate in you.

9. Body Scan Meditation: Choose a meditation app or recording with a "body scan" meditation that will take you through your body releasing any physical tensions with little by little breathing into and out of any tense area.

10. Loving-Kindness: In this compassionate practice, you'll be sending the universal metta phrases such as “May I be peaceful and safe. May my loved ones be happy and healthy. May all beings in the world be safe and happy” first to yourself, then to your loved ones, and finally to the whole world. Become a spectator of yourself by sending love even to those individuals who may be difficult to love.

You can experiment some of these mindfulness exercises at almost any time and place - while washing dishes, a traffic light, or even a shower. The key is to keep guiding your meandering awareness by the present moment with patience and compassion towards yourself. During the period of your enhanced practice, you will find that your general mood will be more balanced and you will have the ability to enjoy the little things in life and as a result, you will have more appreciation for life. Then, don't hesitate - it's time to feel the inner changes that mindfulness may offer.