For Mindfulness to cause benefits, it is enough to practice some exercises for 5, 10 or 15 minutes a day; Although whoever wishes, I can put it into practice for longer.
The important thing in practice is not the exercise that is being exercised itself, but the attitude and the fact of managing to maintain full awareness while practicing and, above all, maintaining consistency over time.
In this article we will see some Mindfulness exercises for beginners perfect to start including these kinds of activities in our habits.
Mindfulness exercises recommended for beginners (very easy)
Mindfulness could be considered as a way of life that consists, among other things, of maintaining mindfulness or full awareness in the present; When we put it into practice we must be consciously and intentionally attentive to what we do at that precise moment, without judging and with full acceptance and openness.
There are a series of Mindfulness exercises for beginners that can be put into practice at any time and that can start practicing without having experience, either with the help of a professional who can teach basic guidelines and guide the process until the person has acquired a certain level, as well as with the help of various mobile applications or specialized web pages. Below we will explain what these Mindfulness exercises for beginners consist of.
1. Mindfulness in the present moment
The first of the Mindfulness exercises for beginners that we want to recommend is a task as simple as maintaining one’s full attention in the present moment; In other words, all the person has to do is focus fully on the daily living tasks they are doing (e.g., showering, cooking, cleaning the house, etc.), so that by paying full attention to Those experiences acquired greater richness at an experiential level.
It is important that the person make all their senses available to these experiences paying attention to the smells, textures or different sensations you experience through touch, hearing, sight and taste, in case you do the exercise while you are eating and, in case your mind wanders, Invite yourself, warmly and calmly, to return to the full experience of the present moment.
2. Static Meditation Mindfulness
One of the most advisable Mindfulness exercises for beginners is static meditation, a very useful tool that is usually used when practicing it, in order to know more deeply one’s thoughts, as well as emotions and any type of sensation that they could provoke in us.
This exercise is usually performed while sitting in a chair, although it can also be performed sitting on the floor, usually on a mat, in a position in which the person is comfortable (e.g., lotus position).
Once the person has found a position in which they are comfortable, The goal is to focus on your breathing, taking slow, deep breaths and, in case your attention wanders to another stimulus, you must return the focus to your breathing.
Another variant of static meditation consists of the person, being in the same position, focusing on more complex elements such as thoughts and emotions; although we will talk about these variants in more detail below, requiring greater mastery.
3. Mindful attention to thoughts and emotions
This Easy Mindfulness Exercise Could Be Helpful on those occasions when a person is immersed in negative ruminative thoughts or you are experiencing emotions that cause you discomfort, with the aim of being aware of the way your mind wanders and thus being able to understand that those thoughts are a product of your imagination.
In the case of emotions, the objective is for the person to let these emotions be present in their own consciousness from a point of view of acceptance, without trying to avoid them or force them to change, being a useful exercise in those moments when That person is experiencing unpleasant emotions and tries to avoid them without success.
To perform these Mindfulness exercises on full attention to thoughts and emotions, after having carried out an exercise that allows you to induce a state of full consciousness in breathing and relaxation, The person must allow a worrying thought to remain in their consciousness so that you can locate the sensations you experience as a result of said worry and then give a name to said state of worry (e.g., despair).
From the moment in which the above has been done, the person must allow the emotion experienced to remain present while at the same time concentrating on their breathing.
4. Body scanner
The body scanner basically consists of scanning each part of the body itself focusing at all times on the sensations perceived in them.
A good example to put the body scanner into practice would be to start by focusing on the sensations perceived in one foot, continue moving up the sensations perceived by each of the parts of our leg and then move to the other foot and, immediately afterwards, go up. the leg until it has been completely covered.
Once we have finished with the lower extremities, we will continue focusing on the abdomen, the chest, the upper extremities (hands and arms) and, finally, we will focus on the sensations perceived in the head; continuing to become aware of our entire body; We should preferably do all of this while keeping our eyes closed, although if someone is worried about having their eyes closed at all times while doing the body scan, they can do the exercise with their eyes open.
Notably This exercise should be done in a position where you are comfortably (e.g. lying or sitting in a chair), and it is also advisable to wear comfortable clothing.
5. Mindfulness with simple yoga exercises
Other Mindfulness exercises for beginners would be a table that should include simple yoga postures with the aim that the person pays full attention to the bodily sanctions they experience while putting these exercises into practice, and can be combined with static meditation.
Therefore, this series of exercises, which as a whole could be called “conscious yoga”, is another way of practicing full attention or full consciousness, which is precisely one of the fundamental objectives when putting into practice Mindfulness, so that when we put yoga exercises into practice we should not focus on anything other than the sensations in our body while we are performing a yoga posture.
To do this, we can look for a specialized book, mobile application or with the help of a professional. If you choose to do it without the help of a professional, it would be advisable to carry out simple poses, such as a transition from mountain pose to chair pose, the most important thing being that we maintain full attention in the present. Although with the help of a professional it will be more likely that we will be able to acquire a more advanced level in this practice and live a more enriching experience.
You may be interested: “The 6 psychological benefits of yoga”
6. Conscious walking
The last of the Mindfulness exercises for beginners that we want to recommend is conscious walking, in which the person must simply walk while focusing their attention on the stimuli and sensations that are arising in the here and now, whether taking a walk or on the way to work. Thus, we are not focused on worries or any issue that comes to mind, but on each step we take, on the sensations we experience and on what happens around us while we walk.
The main goal of mindful walking exercise, as well as informal meditation practice (e.g., mindfulness in the present moment) is to take you off autopilot while performing a series of routine tasks, in order to be fully aware in the present moment while performing a simple action.
In this way, you can discover what are the key situations for the ruminative thoughts that generate discomfort to appear and thus be trained to tolerate the experience of that precise moment and focus on what is happening around you, even with sufficient practice those ruminative thoughts will stop. of causing that discomfort.
