Mindfulness For People Who Hate Meditating
What do you think of when you hear the word mindfulness? Did you find yourself rolling your eyes? If so, you’re probably picturing someone meditating for hours, able to clear their mind of any and every thought. And chances are, you’re not the type of person who feels able to do this.
Mindfulness Myths
If you’ve shied away from mindfulness practice, these thoughts may feel familiar to you:
I don’t have the time to just sit and do nothing
There’s no way my mind is going to be quiet
What’s the point?
It sounds boring
If this sounds like you, good news is that mindfulness doesn’t have to be like that, and there are ways to incorporate mindfulness practice into your routine without it being a huge time commitment, impractical, or downright boring.
What is Mindfulness?
Before we get into the how, let’s explore the what. Mindfulness is all about being present in this very moment, tuning into your inner experience as well as the environment surrounding you. Sounds simple, right? That’s because it is!
However, how much time do you find yourself actually being mindful? Like present, in the moment, and not daydreaming about all of the things you have to do, scrolling through your phone, or getting caught up in the endless distractions of life. For most, the answer is not much. Society overall tends to spend little time just being present, as it is so easy to get wrapped up in all of the external noise.
What’s the Benefit of Mindfulness Practice?
Mindfulness practice allows you to be with yourself, noticing your present experience and connecting with what’s around you.
This can help you to:
Lower anxiety and overall stress
Identify and understand our emotions
Feel in control of our responses to situations
Manage pain (physical or mental)
How to Practice Mindfulness
Thankfully, you don’t need to carve out hours of your day or totally clear your mind in order to practice mindfulness. It’s actually something you can do anytime, anywhere.
Let’s practice:
Start by taking a deep breath.
Look around the space you’re in and notice:
What can I see around me? Is there anything that pops out
What can I hear?
Are there any smells that I can sense?
What can I feel in the space– body contacting the earth, clothes on my skin?
Now, turn inward and ask yourself:
How does my body feel? Is there anywhere that feels tense, tight, jittery, still?
What are my thoughts like? Do they feel quiet? Racing?
Can I find myself thinking about anything in particular?
What emotion(s) can I notice?
Spend some time here, noticing what happens. You may notice a shift in how you’re feeling, you may notice yourself distracted, you may feel really antsy. There’s no right or wrong here, whatever you’re experiencing is fine.
Sitting in the moment, see how it feels to welcome what is here.
This can look like:
Stillness, you are welcome here
Distraction, you are welcome here
Knot in my stomach, you are welcome here
Again, there’s no right or wrong. You don’t have to try to make something happen or change your experience. You can just allow all of this to be.
When you’re ready, you can come back to the space around you, breathing and bringing movement back to your body.
Ask yourself:
How was that for me?
Was there anything that felt surprising to me?
Is there anything that I need right now?
This is just one of the thousands of ways we can practice mindfulness. And this practice can be shortened into quick check-ins, where throughout the day you can pause to notice what’s coming up for you. The key to mindfulness practice is to find something that works for you, and to work to accept what is. Know that your present experience is valid, and you can sit with whatever is showing up.
I would love to hear what your experience was like with this practice and if there are more mindfulness practices you’d like to hear about!
