Short Mindfulness Practise

Mindfulness is a practice of being aware of the present moment.
My personal preference for practising mindfulness is to connect to my five physical senses- sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.
This short practice is suitable for everyone, including adults, older children and teens, with easy to follow guidance.
Very helpful for people who don't feel centred or grounded, or for people who feel disconnected from their body.

Transcript

Mindfulness is an awareness. It's an awareness of what's going on right here in this present moment. And the best way that I find to practice a short version of mindfulness is to connect into my five physical senses. So I'd like you to join me now in taking a few minutes of mindfulness together by going through each of our senses. So just taking a seat and keeping your spine straight and dropping your shoulders away from your ears, Allowing your hands to rest in your lap and your feet planted on the floor. And we'll start with eyes open and with our sense of sight. Can you take a look just in front of you wherever you are today and find an object to allow your gaze to rest on. And whatever object it is just take note of its shape and its size. Take note of colors, Materials and textures. Can you see the lines of the edges of the object? Maybe notice the way the light creates shadows. And then if you'd like to you can close your eyes and connect into your sense of hearing. What you can hear. Take a listen and notice sounds that may be close to you in the room. Listen for any sounds that are further away outside or perhaps further away in the distance. Just naming what those sounds are that you hear. Could be sounds from household appliances. Could be sounds from your body. It could be sounds from outside, Bird calls or weather sounds. And then taking your attention now to your sense of taste in your mouth. Maybe take a swallow and just allow your tongue to move around inside your mouth. Feeling the inside of your teeth and your gums. Feeling your saliva in your mouth. Do you notice any flavors or do you notice any areas of warmth or coolness within your mouth? And you might want to take another swallow and see if you notice anything different. And then becoming aware of your nose and your sense of smell. So now taking a few deeper breaths in through the nose and out through the nose. And just see if there's any fragrance there that you smell on the air around you. Any fragrance from your own body products that you've put on today. Or any smells around you in the room. Or if you don't smell anything maybe just become aware of the temperature of the air as you breathe in and then breathe out. You may notice the air is cooler as you breathe in and then warmer as you breathe out. And then finally becoming aware of your sense of touch and with your hands that are still resting in your lap. Maybe just bring your hands together and just subtle movements of your hands against each other. Just feeling into the surface of skin and what your hands feel like. Maybe finding areas of smoothness or perhaps an area of roughness. Just feeling across your fingernails and just allowing all those sensations to really be your focus. And then just letting all of that awareness of those senses go for a minute and returning to take some deep breaths in. In and out through the nose. Just allowing your body to soften. Just allowing any tension in the body to fall away. And maybe just checking in now with yourself and notice how you feel after spending just a few minutes here. Just a few minutes of mindfulness and what has that done to how you feel in this moment. Maybe you feel a bit more connected into your body. Or maybe just a bit more connected into the day. And maybe things have just slowed and slowed down in the speed of the day. And if you like you can continue here a bit longer. Just enjoying this moment of mindfulness. Thank you for sharing this time with me today.