Mindfulness practice: walking
Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present and aware in the moment. It involves paying attention to your thoughts, feelings, and sensations in a non-judgmental way, and letting go of distractions.
Practicing mindfulness has many benefits to your overall wellbeing. It's been proven to help improve:
Focus & concentration
Relationships
Emotional resilience
Self awareness & self esteem
And the good news is, it's incredibly simple to incorporate into our daily lives. Today we're looking at how we turn a walk into a mindfulness practice.
There are huge benefits to finding some green space to walk in, but in truth, there's benefit in walking wherever you are. You don't need long, just 10 minutes is a win but if you can, aim for 30 minutes.
While you're walking, ask yourself these questions:
What can I see?
What can I smell?
What can I hear?
How does it make me feel?
Observe your thoughts without judgement and take some deep breathes in and out as you walk. Notice the feeling of the ground under your feet as you walk.
If you don't like what you can see, smell or hear then that's fine. There is as much benefit to sitting with the uncomfortable feelings as there is those that calm us. You aren't judging, you're observing and being present.
If your mind wanders, just acknowledge it's happened and bring it back to the questions and your observations.
However busy your day, if you can take 15 minutes to get out for a mindful stroll at lunchtime you'll find it reaps benefits in terms of productivity in the afternoon.
Fancy some mindfulness coaching? Meet our qualified Mindfulness Coach here.