Columnist Nozaina : Mindful activities relieve stress and help to enjoy present moments. These practices are gaining popularity to soothe anxiety, ease stress, and be more engaged and present. Researches reveal that mindfulness meditation is beneficial for issues like chronic pain, anxiety, and depression. Incorporation of mindfulness activities into daily routine can be simple, no matter what your age.

Activities for Adults

Meditation is a well-known and common mindfulness activity for adults. It may seem unreachable. It can be straightforward. These workouts transform everyday experiences into mindful moments.

Create a gratitude list. It helps to improve positivity and well-being by helping to focus on what you are thankful for. Add 3-5 items to your list every day and build it into your daily schedule to stay consistent. The first thing you can do in the morning is to list things you are grateful for.

Walking meditation is a form of meditation you can practice while walking. You can do it almost anywhere, whether hanging out with kids at the park, walking to work, or strolling around the neighborhood.

Mindful eating is a way to turn something you do daily into a mindfulness exercise. You can make mealtime healthier with simple practices such as chewing slowly to taste every bite.

• Put your mobile phone away or turn off the TV while you eat
• Eat with non-dominant hand
• Eat the first few minutes of the meal in silence and focus on the aroma, texture, and flavor of the food

Gardening is the best way to practice mindfulness and connect with the environment. Involve yourself in simple tasks like watering flowers or planting seeds. Place your hands in the soil and feel its texture. Is it fine or rough? Is it dry or damp? Is it cool or warm?

If you are driving, you can engage with the process by focusing on the texture of the road and the sound of the tires. Turn off the music, keep your phone silent, and enjoy the ride.

Focus on one task. Single-tasking is the opposite of multitasking, if you are working on the computer focus on one task. Close all the browser tabs that are not relevant to the project you are working on.

Activities for Kids

One of the best ways to introduce mindfulness activities to kids is to make it a game. The freeze game is the funniest way for kids to start acting mindfulness and increase awareness of bodily sensations through movement. It includes moving around, shaking, stomping, wiggling, or dancing until you say ”Freeze”. Once everybody stops moving, inspire children to pay attention to the sensation that they feel in their bodies. You can repeat this game, play music, and pause when time to freeze.

Kids love a scavenger hunt. This activity boosts mindfulness by engaging all the senses. Provide a safe environment for exploration. Here are some steps:

• Name a thing that kids enjoy feeling with their hands.
• Name an object that catches their attention when they look around.
• Name an object that they hear when they listen with their ears.
• Name an aroma that they notice when they take a sniff.

Monkey See, Monkey Do is a great mindfulness game for kids that helps them increase body awareness and think about how they move in space. Adults take on the role of the monkey and lead the kids to different positions. Try to shift your weight in unexpected ways, such as lifting one foot in the air, getting on all four, and standing on one foot. Ask kids what it feels like to be at each point. Does it give them a big stretch, or is it hard to balance? When kids get moving, giggles will to be expected arise. Just go with it. You can ask children to pay attention to how their breath changes when they laugh.

Dragon breathing is the funniest way to get kids to practice deep, slow breathing. To optimize the fun you can make up or read a short story about dragons to get everybody’s imagination flowing.

• Instruct the kids to take a deep breath to fill their chest and belly.
• Then instruct them to breathe out with a long slow exhale.

Activities for Teens                                         

One of the great entry points in the world of mindfulness for teens is music. Teens need a space and favorite music where nobody interrupts them.

Shaking is the funniest way to blend movement and mindfulness that does not require music. This is also called trauma and tension-releasing exercise.

Puzzle is the greatest technique to sharpen the mind. It requires presence of mind, focus, and attention while being rewarding and fun.

2018 research revealed that mindfulness meditation helps to decrease the stress marker in people with generalized anxiety disorder. Body scan meditation is the simplest relaxing way to calm body and mind. Tracking is a somatic experiencing technique that helps you to feel present and grounded in the space you are in. This is done by observing the objects with mindfulness and looking around the room.

Box breathing is also called four-square breathing. It’s a technique that involves taking full breaths to calm the nervous system.

Anxieties often involve fear and resistance toward anxiety itself. One way to relax the anxiety is to accept it. When you do it you easily let go of shame and self-blame. Mindfulness should be a group activity. Mindfulness activities with others can be a great reflection tool.

Laughter is the best medicine. Laughter yoga is a group activity that focuses on playfulness and joy. If you feel music is a healing tool, you may benefit from sound healing. It can come in several sizes and shapes from music therapy to gong baths.

Basic breathing is a simple meditation that uses breath to settle the mind.

• Lie or sit in a relaxed position.
• Note your breath on the inhalation.
• Note your breath on the exhalation.

When the mind starts to wander, guide it back to focus on your breath.

Start from 3-5 minutes and lengthen your practice with time.