3 simple ways to sparkle mindfulness into your day
How often have you rushed out the door and into your day without even thinking about how you’d like things to go?
You don’t have to follow that pattern. Learning to pause to practice mindfulness for just a few minutes at different times during the day can help your days be calmer and more in line with how you’d like them to be.
I would love to share with you and explore together these three super simple daily practices which I use for bringing more mindfulness into my daily life:
Mindful Wakeup: Start with a Purpose
Intention refers to the underlying motivation for everything we think, say, or do. From the brain’s perspective, when we act in unintended ways, there’s a disconnect between the faster, unconscious impulses of the lower brain centers and the slower, conscious, wiser abilities of the higher centers like the pre-frontal cortex.
Ask yourself: “What is my intention for today?” Use these prompts to help answer that question, as you think about the people and activities you will face.
Ask yourself:
-How might I show up today to have the best impact?
-What quality of mind do I want to strengthen and develop?
-What do I need to take better care of myself?
-During difficult moments, how might I be more compassionate to others and myself?
-How might I feel more connected and fulfilled?
I love these simple because they have been really helping me to feel align with my day purpose and even entire week.
Mindful Eating: Enjoy Every Mouthful
It’s easy enough to reduce eating to a sensation of bite, chew, and swallow. Who hasn’t eaten a plateful of food without noticing what they’re doing? Yet eating is one of the most pleasurable experiences we engage in as human beings, and doing it mindfully can turn eating into a far richer experience, satisfying not just the need for nutrition, but more subtle senses and needs. When we bring our full attention to our bodies and what we are truly hungry for, we can nourish all our hungers. Try this:
1. Eat according to your hunger. mindfully choose what to eat, when to eat, and how much to eat.
This simple practice can help you tune in to your real needs. Create a little plan a day before or in the morning with 3-4 meals and times for those meals.
It took me years to figure this out, but after I made some important changes I feel that my entire way of eating and even more importantly feelings after eating completely transformed.
I really carefully choose the products I eat, times I eat and portions I create. and yes, it requires effort, but it’s so worth it, because everything what you consume influence your health and the way how you feel in your life.
2. Practice peaceful eating without any distractions. No phones, no emails, no tv, to do lists.
I know-Easy to say, hard to execute!
Focus and enjoy your meal. Think how does your meal taste, smell, look. Feel how fortunate you are to have this amazing food in front of you! All of these little practices will help you to become present, grateful and in love with this particular moment in your life.
Mindful Breaks: Pause to rest and rewire your brain
Take a break. Truly pause to rewire your brain.
When you are constantly in “go” mode your body and mind don’t rest, and remember that rest in your life is as important as productivity.
Mindfulness practices like yoga, meditation, breathing slow brain.
So during the day schedule in your calendar time for meditation/yoga practice/ reading/ tea time/walk with dogs.
I promise you that those breaks where you mindfully pause will make you feel more productive and effective in long term run so much more than rushing and chasing every task all day long!
Sparkle these three simple mindful practices to invite more presence, calmness and health into your life!
With Love,
Anna Owsian
Yoga Teacher & Founder of Private Yoga Studio in Los Angeles