Mindfulness in Daily Life

You can practice mindful awareness throughout your day.

1) Eating/Chewing: count the number of times you chew each bite. Before a bite, notice the color, shape, smells; think about where the ingredients for this bite started and how they arrived on your plate. During a bite, notice the texture, taste, temperature. After a bite, be conscious of swallowing, and the path of food into your body.

2) Washing dishes or scrubbing: watch the soap bubbles, notice textures of soap against dishes, of the dishes, glasses or pots and pans, of the patterns and designs that your sponge or cloth make against the dish or counter or floor.

3) Lifting weights: If you lift weights, you know how much more effective your weight lifting will be if you lift slowly and with focus.

4) Drinking water: how much water do you drink? Could you remember and be aware of that? We are often dehydrated without knowing it. What can you do to be aware of your need for water?

5) Sitting: are you aware of how you sit? Could you be more conscious of how you sit and then feel more relaxed or refreshed by changing the way you sit? Listen to a Feldenkrais Awareness through Movement exercise from Utah or the UK.