Can a 10 Minute Mindfulness Exercise Make a Difference?
As January takes hold and the dark nights and bad weather overwhelm us, it’s easy to end up feeling a bit low. It’s peak time for illness, divorce, and depression….sigh.
Which is why it could be an excellent time to try out a simple mindfulness exercise which could give you a huge mood boost!
I have written before about the many benefits of mindfulness (see Mindfulness and Stress). There is a growing body of bona fide research demonstrating how mindfulness can help with all sorts of stress and depression. In Your Happiness Audit there is a link to a book I highly recommend which will give you some of the sources of that research if you’d like to know more.
But reading about it is one thing, hearing it another, so I’m really pleased to share this BBC link with you for a ten minute mindfulness exercise that it very easy to do and may just become a good habit for 2012. It was part of a happiness challenge the BBC were promoting last year and it’s perfect to do in a spare ten minutes when sitting at your desk. I frequently recommend this to women when coaching and we do a modified version on my women’s courses. It’s not for everyone but if it works for you you’ve discovered a great resource for life!
Here is the link to BBC Happiness/Health/Mindfulness.
Why not try it for just one week and see how you get on? And please do share your experiences with us!
Photo Credit: Tosaporn Boonyarangkul
Take Time to Unwind
Do you sometimes find it hard to relax and unwind? If so, give this is a try:
Think of three words that mean relaxation to you. They might not mean relaxing to anyone else, just to you.
For example, I might say ‘gardening’ as I can find that extremely relaxing. However, I can say with 100% certainty that word would have the opposite of the desired effect on my partner – he’d break out in a cold sweat at he thought of the torrent of requests coming from me to shift earth etc! ‘Golf’ would probably do it for him!
So choose three words that conjure up calmness, relaxation and tranquility for you. They might be colours, or even words you find particularly soothing because you like the sound.
Now, just be aware of you breathing for a moment. Simply notice how you are breathing. Breathe out fully and then take a breath in more deeply than normal. Let this breath out slowly, repeating one of the words in your head. Breath normally for a minute and then repeat with the remaining two words.
You can take a few minutes to do this at your desk any time you feel the stresses coming on, and it could be a really good way of ending your working day, helping you to leave work behind you!
What helps you relax and unwind?
