Mindfulness Exercises for Daily Life

Often people wake up in haste and rush to work without even thinking about what they’re doing or what they would do during the day. If something unexpected comes up completely out of the routine like you forget to bring some important documents or someone does something wrong; then it would result in the form of rage, frustration, and anger. Today, we’ll discuss some of the top mindfulness exercises that you practice in your daily routine life.

Mindfulness Exercises 

You don’t have to follow the routine patterns in yours. If you’re mindful of your actions and practice it daily even for a few minutes, then it would improve your focus in life and you can perform routine functions better. Some of the main mindfulness exercises that you can practice in your daily life are as follows;

Mindfulness Wakeup

You perform unintentionally; and then there is a disconnection between the lower center (unconscious) and higher center (conscious) of the brain. It’s significant to keep in mind that the unconscious brain is impulsive faster, and the conscious brain is slower.

Usually, your unconscious brain is in charge of your life in terms of behavior and decision-making. It allows conscious thinking to become aligned with the primal emotional drive that the unconscious mind cares about.

When you’re intentional of your actions by keeping the primal motivational drive in mind, then it helps you to strengthen the bond between the lower and higher centers of the brain. While doing so, it changes your daily life in terms of responses, actions, words; and helps you in a difficult time by making you more compassionate and mindful. Before checking your phones, some of the exercises that you should perform in the morning are as follows;

• Sit in a Relax Posture: sit in a relaxed and straight posture, but your body shouldn’t be stiff, close your eyes and feel your seated body
• Deep Breathing: Inhale and exhale through your nose and mouth, let your breathing makes its own rhythm, and pay heed to the expansion and contraction of your chest and belly
• Ask your Intentions: you should ask yourself that how you want to make the best impact on the day, what quality you want to build, how to better take care of yourself, become more compassionate, or connect with yourself
• Set Day’s Intention: whatever you think is significant, set your goal for the day, like being calm, happy, or patience
• Keep checking yourself: you should take a break, remind yourself of your intentions, be conscious and mindful of your intentions

Mindfulness Eating

Eating is a very joyful activity that human beings usually engage in. if you’re mindful of every bite, chew, sip, and swallow, then you can make it a much better experience. It would help you not only to satisfy your dietary and nutritional needs but also to sense the experience of it. Some of the things that you should keep in mind while eating are as follows;

• Breathe before Eating: you should calm down your body and mind, pause, and slow down. It’s better to take ten deep breaths before start eating, and then slowly begin your meal
• Listen to your body needs: after taking deep breaths, you should sense your body and stomach, and feel that how much hungry you’re. If your body has an appetite, then don’t think about whether it’s the right time or not,
• Eat relevant to your appetite: if your stomach is hungry and you have an appetite, then you should be careful about what to eat, how much, and when to eat. It would help you to eat relevant to your body needs
• Eat Peacefully: you should slow down and keep breathing deeply while eating your meal, it would help you to digest your food easily
• If you don’t Like, Don’t eat: you should be mindful of your first three bites; feel the flavor, texture, taste, and enjoyment you’re receiving from the food. Choose to eat whatever you like.

Mindfulness Pause

According to an estimate, autopilot controls our moods and behavior approximately 95%, and it works fast. It’s because the brain doesn’t have to process millions of sensory inputs, it just has to follow the pattern of habits. The default autopilot brain works so fast and efficiently because it knows what to do before processing it.

Mindfulness is contrary to the autopilot mode. Its focus is on slowing brain activity and making intentional decisions and actions. However, it requires a lot of practice to do so. Once you slow it down, then it becomes much stronger. Every time we do something out of routine, then it activates and stimulates the neurons in our brain that aren’t impacted by the fast mode.

The fast autopilot brain offers various shortcuts to our life. The mindful brain slows down everything, and it knows what to do. Now, the question is when we should use the fast or slow brain, and when we need it. You should put your slow brain in the controlling seat, but it’s not easy. You can do it either by eliminating the distraction on the slow brain, or you should put hurdles in the way of a fast brain. Some of the things to keep in mind are as follows;

• Set Reminder: if you plan to meditate, then put the mat on the floor where you can see it while passing by, it would remind you
• Refresh Triggers: sticky notes may work for a week or two as a reminder, after that the old brain would gain its control. Therefore, you should keep revising your notes
• Develop New Patterns: you should develop new patterns like “if this happens” and “I’ll do this.” For instance, if the phone starts ringing, or the office door opens, then you should take a deep breath.

Mindfulness Workout

It doesn’t matter whatever physical activity you’re performing like swimming, running, dancing, weight lifting, or bike riding. Your focus should be on breathing and mastering the skill of mindfulness, instead of just doing the physical exertion and burning calories. The shift in focus would make you feel strong and better. Some of the main steps that are better for your nervous system, body, and mind are as follows;

Clarity of Objectives

As you get ready for the exercise or go out for a walk, your focus should be on enjoying the scenery, sunrise or sunset, breathing, and feeling the sensation in your body. If you’re going for a swim, then your focus should be on the surrounded water, water waves, and paying attention to every stroke

Warm-Up

You should warm up your body by jumping up and down or stretching; make sure to match the breathing rhythm with body movement. It would develop alignment with your brain, nervous system, body, and heart rate.

Rhythm

You should start the work and try to develop the rhythm with body movement. if you find it difficult to maintain the rhythm, then only focus on the breathing

Challenge yourself

You should challenge yourself in terms of running more, doing extra push-ups, lifting heavy weights, and trying to do it repetitively. Observe your feelings and how alive your feel while doing so.

Cool Down

Don’t finish the work out in haste, do it slowly and steadily. You should observe the movement of your body, and try to breathe in and drink in from the environment and surrounding

Rest

You should feel the sensation of inhale/exhale in your body; acknowledge that feeling and try to remember them, and it would help you to feel alive

Mindfulness Driving

Heavy traffic and crowded road make the driver stressed and impatient, and it triggers the response of fight or flight. It aggravates as the traffic becomes worse, and emotions are very high while driving. However, it doesn’t have to be like this, and you should reframe your mind. It offers you a great opportunity to practice mindfulness, calm down your body, mind, muscles, and nerves in order to sense the emotions of others and restore balance in life. Some of the steps to keep in mind;

Deep Breathing

You should fill your lungs with oxygen, pause, and then exhale. It would help you to lower the stress level in the highest of stimulating traffic so that you can choose clearly

What you need

Ask yourself what you need at this time is to feel relieved, safe, ease and calm down at that particular moment in time. Once you recognize what you need, it would

Give yourself

If your body needs ease, lower stress, and a sense of relief, then you should give yourself by easing the tension in your body. It’s better if you phrase some phrases like “can I be happy” or “can I be at ease” and it would bring your mind to it.

Acknowledge others like you

You should acknowledge the fact that other drivers on the road are like you, and they want the same thing as you do like feeling safe, happy, ease, and relieved. If you find any one of the drivers that are singing, smiling, or humming, then it would calm down your mood.

Deep breath

You should practice the abovementioned techniques in just 15 seconds; look around, acknowledge others, and offer them what you want, and take a deep breath. Whenever you feel stress and anxiety in the traffic, practice it

Conclusion: Mindfulness Exercises for Daily Life 

After an in-depth study of mindfulness exercises to practice in your daily life; we’ve realized that being mindful plays a significant role in our lives. If you want to practice it, then keep in the abovementioned guidelines and be consistent.