#0046: Create mindfulness breaks: From wannabe to authentic creative

3 Mindfulness Practices

>>> go go go >>> productivity >>> efficiency >>> more now >>> can’t stop >>> no time >>> 

Society’s push for worker bees to devote themselves as fast, greased cogs in the ginormous wheel of hyper-capitalism has often been ingrained since childhood. Is it any surprise this environment can leave many of us questioning our creativity? 

Feelings of inadequacy, especially when we open up our tender, creative side to share with others, is nearly universal. That’s why I introduced this series on shifting your mindset from wannabe to authentic creative (#0040) June 30th. 

Since then, I’ve posted on how to:

• Challenge thoughts and emotions (#0041)

• Celebrate vulnerability (#0042)

• Consider yourself a best friend (#0043)

• Compose a self-compassionate letter (#0044)

A lot of mindfulness practices include breathing. Go figure! (Source: Photo by Max van den Oetelaar on Unsplash)

In this post, I’m wrapping up the series with several mindfulness practices that are useful breaks from the stressful rush of daily life. Because, as Ferris Buller said, “Life moves fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Body Scan to Relax

This practice will help release tension in the body and calm the mind in less than 5 minutes.

• Find a quiet place to sit or lie down and, if you want, close your eyes

• Take several slow, even, long, and full (SELF) breaths and feel how the chair, bed, or floor supports your body

• Focus where your feet meet the floor and note the pressure, the temperature, any vibration

• Move your attention up the legs to your pelvis and note the pressure, heaviness, any pulsing  

• Move your focus up to your stomach and note tension or tightness, any holding

• Pause to take several SELF breaths

• Focus your attention on your shoulders and note tightness or raising, any heaviness or lightness

• Move your focus up to your jaw and note tightness or tension in the teeth or facial muscles, any pulsing

• Allow the focus to widen to encompass your whole body as you take several SELF breaths

• Congratulate yourself on a successful body scan!

(Adapted from Greater Good in Education’s Brief Body Scan Practice)

I sometimes find my mind jumping from one thing to another, wondering if I am good enough to accomplish any of the items on the neverending to-do list. (Imposter Syndrome, anyone?) Over the years, I’ve learned that’s when I need to hit pause and take a breath. Or several.

Mindful Breathing to Focus Attention

This practice will settle a scattered mind and calm a speeded-up nervous system in less than 5 minutes.

• Sit in a chair or a cushion on the floor with spine straight yet relaxed (alternatively, lie down on a bed with a straight spine), set a 5-minute timer, and, if you want, close your eyes

• Feel how the chair or cushion supports you, how you can anchor yourself in that support

• Move your attention to your breathing: the inhalations, the exhalations

• Note the parts of your body where you feel the breath, maybe the nose or the collarbones or the abdomen

• Choose one place to observe the breath

• Notice —perhaps after a single inhalation — when your mind wanders, when you start thinking about something else

• Try not to judge, since minds are always working, working, working; recognize and reframe to know you passed the “Are you human?” test

• Label the notion “wandering” or “thinking” and return your attention to the one place to again observe the breath

• Notice the wandering or thinking, label it, and return to the breath

• Return to the breath again and again until the timer sounds

• Congratulate yourself on mindfully breathing!

(Adapted from Greater Good in Education’s Mindful Breathing for Adults Practice)

Ever feel off-kilter? As if the next step will be a stumble, maybe leading to falling face-first in the dirt? Sometimes the lack of balance is an inner-ear infection, but other times? It’s a sign we need to get centered.

Ground and Center to Destress

This practice will refocus your energy and attention on the present, away from stressful past or future concerns, in less than 3 minutes. 

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent (alternatively, lean against a wall for support)

• Rest your palm on your abdomen with the webbing between thumb and index finger at your navel, fingers splayed 

• Focus your attention under the center of your palm about an inch inside your body — your gravitational center

• Gather and generate energy at your gravitational center just as a martial artist would

• Take several slow, even, long, and full (SELF) breaths, centering attention on this point in your body

• Sense how you are grounded in your body and with the earth

• Note how your mind is centered in the moment 

• Congratulate yourself on grounding and centering in the now!

(Adapted from Greater Good in Education’s Three-Minute De-Stressor for Teachers)

Most of the time, mindfulness practices either (A) focus your attention or (B) open your awareness. Additionally, they cultivate 3 skills: 

1. Equanimity (allow sensory experiences to come and go without overidentifying)

2. Concentration (focus on what is relevant at the time)

3. Sensory clarity (keep track of what we’re experiencing at the moment)

As you try out the practices I’ve shared, let me know which ones help in what ways.

Next time: Something completely different