How to Start Practicing Mindfulness

Mindfulness is an evidence-based method for reducing stress and anxiety, enhancing resilience, and maintaining mental well-being. Even short meditations can turn a bad day around, ground us in the present moment, and help us approach life with gratitude and kindness. Practicing Mindfulness was created by the founder of One Mind Dharma. He developed these 75 essential exercises to offer practical guidance for anyone who wants to realize the benefits of mindful meditation.

Mindfulness is a natural quality that we all have. It’s available to us in every moment if we take the time to appreciate it. When we practice mindfulness, we’re practicing the art of creating space for ourselves—space to think, space to breathe, space between ourselves and our reactions.

When we practice mindfulness, we’re practicing the art of creating space for ourselves—space to think, space to breathe, space between ourselves and our reactions.

What You Need to Know Before Practicing Mindfulness

1. You don’t need to buy anything. You can practice anywhere, there’s no need to go out and buy a special cushion or bench—all you need is to devote a little time and space to access your mindfulness skills every day.
2. There’s no way to quiet your mind. That’s not the goal here. There’s no bliss state or otherworldly communion. All you’re trying to do is pay attention to the present moment, without judgment. Sounds easy, right?
3. Your mind will wander. As you practice paying attention to what’s going on in your body and mind at the present moment, you’ll find that many thoughts arise. Your mind might drift to something that happened yesterday, meander to your to-do list—your mind will try to be anywhere but where you are. But the wandering mind isn’t something to fear, it’s part of human nature and it provides the magic moment for the essential piece of mindfulness practice—the piece that researchers believe leads to healthier, more agile brains: the moment when you recognize that your mind has wandered. Because if you can notice that your mind has wandered, then you can consciously bring it back to the present moment. The more you do this, the more likely you are to be able to do it again and again. And that beats walking around on autopilot any day (ie: getting to your destination without remembering the drive, finding yourself with your hand in the bottom of a chip bag you only meant to snack a little from, etc.).
4. Your judgy brain will try to take over. The second part of the puzzle is the “without judgment” part. We’re all guilty of listening to the critic in our heads a little more than we should. (That critic has saved us from disaster quite a few times.) But, when we practice investigating our judgments and diffusing them, we can learn to choose how we look at things and react to them. When you practice mindfulness, try not to judge yourself for whatever thoughts pop up. Notice judgments arise, make a mental note of them (some people label them “thinking”), and let them pass, recognizing the sensations they might leave in your body, and letting those pass as well.
5. It’s all about returning your attention again and again to the present moment. It seems like our minds are wired to get carried away in thought. That’s why mindfulness is the practice of returning, again and again, to the breath. We use the sensation of the breath as an anchor to the present moment. And every time we return to the breath, we reinforce our ability to do it again. Call it a bicep curl for your brain.

If you are a complete beginner to mindfulness, I’d recommend our article What Is Mindfulness? which includes a full definition and lists significant benefits of mindfulness.

At its core, mindfulness is an activity that needs to be practiced regularly and with intention. With these cornerstones in mind, let’s consider a few ways to introduce mindfulness into our daily lives.

Start with a daily routine

The first step is to introduce a daily routine. Like any exercise, mindfulness benefits from regular practice. Researchers often use a mindfulness intervention plan that takes place across many weeks (Mackenzie, Poulin, & Seidman-Carlson, 2006; Hofmann, Sawyer, Witt, & Oh, 2010).

Decide on an uninterrupted time of day that you can set aside to practice mindfulness, and keep that time in your schedule.

Mindfulness is a way of perceiving, thinking, and behaving

You would be forgiven for thinking that mindfulness is just an activity; in fact, mindfulness is a way of perceiving and observing, and it can be developed using various tools. Some of these tools include meditation, exercises, and breathing.

Commit, commit, commit

The most important step before embarking on this journey is to commit to it. Some meta-analyses have highlighted varying effects of mindfulness interventions, and the authors posit that this might be because the participants are not engaging in their mindfulness homework exercises or engaging for too short a period to see results (Khoury et al., 2013).

Knowing this, before you begin, you have to commit. Next, we’ll explore why you should start a mindfulness routine and how to live a mindful daily life.

5 Reasons to Start Practicing Mindfulness Today

At this point, you might think that mindfulness sounds like it requires a lot of effort.

Beginning a mindfulness habit is work, and it will be difficult in the beginning, but this habit will become easier over time and with more practice.

Additionally, mindfulness has numerous positive benefits (Davis & Hayes, 2011). The benefits of mindfulness are emotional, cognitive, interpersonal, professional, and practical.

Emotional benefits

Regular mindfulness meditation results in reduced depressive symptoms, negative affect, and rumination (Chambers, Lo, & Allen, 2008; Hofmann et al., 2010; Khoury et al., 2013). Rumination is persistent worrying about the following:

• Past events
• Negative emotions
• The causes and consequences of these emotions (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2000)

Rumination is often linked to increased depression and anxiety (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2000). Read our related article on Mindful Thinking, where we discuss four ways to stop ruminating.

The positive effects of mindfulness on reducing negative affect and other conditions like depression and anxiety are not limited to only one study. These findings are also supported in a meta-analysis by Hofmann et al. (2010).

In that meta-analysis, which contained 39 studies, the effect sizes for the differences in the psychological state before and after the mindful therapy were large for clinical participants and moderate for nonclinical participants.

These results suggest that therapeutic interventions based on mindfulness are not only successful for clinical populations, but the benefits extend to nonclinical populations.

Cognitive benefits

Practitioners of mindfulness have better working memory than nonpractitioners (Chambers et al., 2008; Corcoran, Farb, Anderson, & Segal, 2010), which allows for better emotional regulation.

Participants also report that their attention improves significantly after regular mindful meditation compared to before they began mindful meditation (Chambers et al., 2008).

There is also some laboratory evidence that suggests that people who have a longer mindfulness habit are better at ignoring emotional distractions than people whose mindfulness habit is shorter and those who do not practice at all (Pavlov et al., 2015).

These results suggest that the benefits of mindfulness are cumulative and will continue to improve over time.

Interpersonal benefits

The benefits of mindfulness flow to other spheres of life, including relationships.

There is some evidence that regular mindfulness practice can improve relationship satisfaction and communication through a variety of paths (Barnes, Brown, Krusemark, Campbell, & Rogge, 2007), specifically:

• Responding to relationship stress in a positive way
• Better identification of one’s own emotions
• Better communication of one’s own emotions
• Better conflict resolution
• Improved empathy

Professional benefits

It should come as no surprise that the benefits of mindfulness are not limited to interpersonal relationships. For example, the ability to communicate clearly and respond more effectively to stressful situations should translate from personal to professional contexts (Dekeyser, Raes, Leijssen, Leyson, & Dewulf, 2008).

Employees who practice regular mindful activities experienced higher job satisfaction and lower job stress than a control group who did not participate (Hülsheger, Alberts, Feinholdt, & Lang, 2012).

Practical reasons for practicing mindfulness

The final reason to practice mindfulness is a practical one. Methods to improve mindfulness are often easy and inexpensive. The only ‘cost’ is that of time and effort.

Steps for a Mindful Daily Life

Although mindfulness is fostered through regular practice, it is also extremely important to try to incorporate mindfulness into all aspects of your life.

It can be difficult, but we’ve made a list of steps to help:

Make the time

Set aside time each day that you can formally practice mindfulness. Ideally, this daily slot should occur at the same time each day and for the same duration so that it becomes a habit (Khoury et al., 2013).

Studies that have used a mindfulness intervention have done so over several weeks, with one or two sessions each day. Sometimes interventions are only five days a week (Mackenzie et al., 2006), and sometimes they are six days a week (Parsons, Crane, Parsons, Fjorback, & Kuyken, 2017). The length of each session varies between 10 minutes (Mackenzie et al., 2006) and 45 minutes (Kabat-Zinn, 1990).

Perform an exercise

During the time that you have set aside, perform one of the following exercises (Davis & Hayes, 2011): a body scan, deep breathing, or mindful meditation.

• Body scan: During the body scan exercise, try to focus inwardly on your body and the way that it feels. Your task is to develop an awareness of sensations in your body. Breathe deeply, and remain aware of your bodily sensations without trying to change them.
• Three-minute breathing: During this exercise, the participant is guided through three points where they become aware, focus their attention on their breathing, and extend their attention. Focusing on one’s breath is meant to act as an anchor.
• Mindful stretching: For this exercise, start by following one of the mindful stretching videos listed below. While in the stretch, focus on your breathing, and think about how your body feels. Try to focus only on the activity of stretching and avoid other distracting thoughts.
• Mindful breathing while focusing on your breath: Sit somewhere quiet in a seated position. While seated, focus on your breathing. Inhale deeply for three seconds and slowly exhale for three seconds. Use your breath as your anchor; when you find your thoughts wandering, come back to your breath and inhale deeply for three seconds, followed by a deep exhalation for three seconds. In many exercises, the time limit for this exercise is three minutes.
• Mindful meditation: This is a particular type of meditation where you learn how to practice mindfulness. During this type of meditation, you will be seated for 10–30 minutes and practice focusing on only your breathing. This is very similar to the previous two exercises, except that your body is not moving, and the time is longer.

Act mindfully

Choose one activity during the day that you will perform mindfully, that is, with complete awareness. The best type of activity is one that would usually be done automatically; for example, driving, showering, cooking, eating, exercising, or walking. Here is an example of how to act mindfully while eating.

Mindful eating: When you take your lunch break, practice mindful eating. Do not rush through your lunch so that you can get back to your desk. Instead, take the time to enjoy your lunch. Focus on the texture of your meal, the effort that went into making it, and the flavors of the food in your mouth.

Actively reflect on how eating your lunch makes you feel. Are there any ingredients in your meal that you especially enjoy?

What are the benefits of meditation?

Meditation has been studied in many clinical trials. The overall evidence supports the effectiveness of meditation for various conditions, including:

• Stress
• Anxiety
• Pain
• Depression
• Insomnia
• High blood pressure (hypertension)

Preliminary research indicates that meditation can also help people with asthma and fibromyalgia.

Meditation can help you experience thoughts and emotions with greater balance and acceptance. Meditation also has been shown to:

• Improve attention
• Decrease job burnout
• Improve sleep
• Improve diabetes control

What are some examples of mindfulness exercises?

There are many simple ways to practice mindfulness. Some examples include:

• Pay attention. It’s hard to slow down and notice things in a busy world. Try to take the time to experience your environment with all of your senses — touch, sound, sight, smell, and taste. For example, when you eat a favorite food, take the time to smell, taste, and truly enjoy it.
• Live in the moment. Try to intentionally bring open, accepting, and discerning attention to everything you do. Find joy in simple pleasures.
• Accept yourself. Treat yourself the way you would treat a good friend.
• Focus on your breathing. When you have negative thoughts, try to sit down, take a deep breath and close your eyes. Focus on your breath as it moves in and out of your body. Sitting and breathing for even just a minute can help.

You can also try more structured mindfulness exercises, such as:

• Body scan meditation. Lie on your back with your legs extended and arms at your sides, palms facing up. Focus your attention slowly and deliberately on each part of your body, in order, from toe to head or head to toe. Be aware of any sensations, emotions or thoughts associated with each part of your body.
• Sitting meditation. Sit comfortably with your back straight, feet flat on the floor, and hands in your lap. Breathing through your nose, focus on your breath moving in and out of your body. If physical sensations or thoughts interrupt your meditation, note the experience and then return your focus to your breath.
• Walking meditation. Find a quiet place 10 to 20 feet in length, and begin to walk slowly. Focus on the experience of walking, being aware of the sensations of standing and the subtle movements that keep your balance. When you reach the end of your path, turn and continue walking, maintaining awareness of your sensations.

2 Useful PDFs for the Classroom

If you are interested in introducing mindfulness into the classroom but don’t know where to begin, Teaching Kids to Thrive will provide you with more information that is classroom specific.

Mindful Classrooms is also an excellent, detailed guide for introducing mindfulness exercises into the classroom. It belongs in every teacher’s top drawer.

6 Tips for Being Mindful in the Workplace

The workplace presents unique challenges.

• In our workplace, we often have to deal with strangers. Because we do not know them, we might misinterpret what they say. Furthermore, there is an unspoken rule of conduct about how we should behave in the workplace.
• A workplace hierarchy with a structured set of rules and codes influences our behavior.
• Some of the emotions we deal with may be deemed inappropriate for the workplace.
• We may work in a high-stress environment where we have to make decisions with severe consequences.

For example, certain types of behaviors and emotional responses toward a client are inappropriate and can cause employees emotional distress. We may have to sit stoically through an uncomfortable/unfair reprimand or restrain our disapproval of company decisions.

We often have to ‘keep calm.’ Being able to implement mindfulness in the workplace can be the solution when facing these challenges.

Here are some tips and interventions for mindfulness at work.

Tip one: Use a metacognitive strategy

In situations that would typically provoke you, try the following three steps.

1. ‘Step away’ mentally from the situation.
2. Experience the situation.
3. Do not evaluate the situation.

Specifically, try to look in on your thoughts and feelings without reworking the narrative of the situation (e.g., “But he placed the wrong order” or “I’m trying my best without support”). By adopting a meta-stance (Hülsheger et al., 2012), you can observe the situation without reacting to it.

Tip two: Acknowledge your feelings

The above technique is also useful during periods of stress or panic, especially when a deadline is looming. Try to step away from yourself mentally and observe your feelings and thoughts.

The intention is not to react to the anxiety but to recognize it, acknowledge it, and disengage from it. Try to avoid forming a cognitive narrative where you judge your feelings and behavior.

Tip three: Mindful listening

Up to this point, both tips have been focused inward by examining your thoughts and feelings. However, these techniques can also be focused outward.

For example, when talking to a client or a colleague, try to listen to what they are saying in its entirety before beginning to formulate a response. Try to adopt the same meta-stance that you would have taken toward yourself and adjust it toward them. This might help you to respond to their messages in a non-reactive manner.

Tip four: Mindfulness exercises

Continue to practice mindfulness exercises at your desk at various points during the day.

1. Before beginning your workday, perform a one-minute mindfulness task at your desk. Set a timer for 60 seconds, and spend that minute with your eyes closed, practicing a few mindfulness techniques such as breathing mindfully or reflecting on your thoughts.
2. At various points during the day, you can implement a three-minute breathing exercise. Set a timer for three minutes and practice deep exhalation and inhalation exercises.
3. Other useful exercises include mindful walking, mindful eating, and a body scan.

Tip five: Avoid judgment

Ultimately, tips 1 and 2 relate to awareness of your thoughts and feelings without judgment.

Awareness is not the same as stoicism; the intention is not to repress your feelings. You will experience feelings. You are human and you must feel, but try to avoid the feedback loop that normally further encourages negative thinking.

Tip six: Introduce a breathing exercise before a meeting

Up to this point, most of the tips have focused on the role and experiences of the employee; however, there is no reason why everyone in a team should not practice a mindfulness exercise.

There is some preliminary evidence that introducing a three-minute breathing exercise before a stand-up meeting results in better decision-making, more productive meetings, better listening, good interactions, and more appropriate emotional responses (den Heijer, Koole, & Stettina, 2017).

This exercise could be completed as a group or individually before the meeting.

How to Use Mindfulness for Stress and Anxiety

Earlier in this post, we touched on the relationship between anxiety, depression, and rumination.

Mindfulness is a very useful tool for combatting anxiety and stress, which in turn can reduce symptoms of depression (Brady & Kendall, 1992). The positive effect of mindfulness as a therapeutic intervention for anxiety and depression has been confirmed through a meta-analysis (Khoury et al., 2013).

Mindfulness-based stress reduction program

There are numerous ways that mindfulness can be used to target anxiety. One such way is the mindfulness-based stress reduction program, which was first created by Kabat-Zinn (1990).

This program is a collection of exercises and tools that can be applied in everyday life. Some of these exercises and tools include:

• Breath-focused attention
• Body scan
• Isolating and paying attention to each sense
• Walking meditation
• Eating meditation

These exercises and tools are a very important contribution to therapeutic interventions in psychology. Since Kabat-Zinn (1990) first developed the program, some of the tools and exercises that make up the program are also suggested as standalone exercises that can be performed at any time of the day and in any context.

For example, if you are feeling very anxious or stressed, try implementing any of these short exercises:

• Take a short break to practice a three-minute breathing exercise where you use your breath as your anchor. Make sure to take a deep inhalation for three seconds, followed by a deep exhalation for three seconds.
• Put aside a minute and practice mindful thinking. Sit in a quiet place, and try to step away from your feelings, observing your thoughts and behaviors. Do not judge your behavior; your intention is only to observe it.

These two techniques can help you during periods of acute stress, but a more powerful device would be to foster a mindfulness habit now (when you are not stressed) so that you are less vulnerable in the future.

Top Strategies for a Mindful Classroom

Mindfulness can be a useful technique for children and is easily integrated into the classroom.

To help you, we have summarized various methods that you can use as inspiration for introducing mindfulness in the classroom.

A quiet place

This exercise is more appropriate for younger children under the age of 10. In the classroom, introduce the concept of a Quiet Place. A Quiet Place is a place that children can access with their eyes open or closed, and in any environment.

This exercise is meant to help children find a place of solitude where they can collect their thoughts and practice deep breathing. I’ve adapted the instructions from Saltzman (n.d.):

Today we are going to learn about a Quiet Place. This place is inside you, and you can go there just by breathing. To start, take some long, slow breaths. This is a good place to go to if you are feeling angry or sad, and it is a good place to talk about your feelings. When you go to your Quiet Place inside of you, you will find that your feelings are not very big. You can go there whenever you want and stay for however long you want.

Mindfulness through breathing exercises

Mindfulness is often taught with breathing techniques that use the breath as the anchor.

Asking children to ‘ground’ themselves with breathing might be too abstract a concept; instead, you could guide them through a calm, relaxed breathing exercise where they inhale for three seconds and then slowly exhale for three seconds.

Using imagery might help children to better understand a deep belly breath. To help illustrate, you could use a balloon as an example. Once the children know how to perform these deep breathing exercises, you can introduce this technique before stressful events (like a test) or if two children fight.

PEACE

This exercise might work better for slightly older children over the age of 10.

The idea is that children are introduced to the PEACE concept (adapted from Saltzman, n.d.). Each letter in the acronym represents a different action. Children are taught that when they want to respond to a particular situation, they must perform each action that corresponds to each letter.

Yoga in the classroom

Introducing a yoga session in the classroom could be a very useful way to introduce mindfulness. By linking yoga poses with animal names, children might find it easier to play along.

Many of the yoga poses already correspond with animals (e.g., cat pose, cow pose, downward-facing dog), and with some creative thinking, other poses could be renamed as animals (e.g., balasana, or child’s pose, could be a turtle).

Consider putting aside time before recess or the end of the school day to do 10 minutes of yoga with the children. During this period, also encourage children to breathe deeply or go to their Quiet Place during the pose.

2 Ways to Combine Mindfulness and Gratitude

Mindfulness and gratitude are two tools that work well together. Mindfulness encourages us to focus on the present in a nonjudgmental way, and gratitude encourages us to appreciate things that bring us joy. To foster a habit of experiencing gratitude, we first need to perceive what we are grateful for. To do this, we need to make the time.

One way to combine mindfulness and gratitude is through gratitude journaling. Every day, spend a short period writing down a list of things you are grateful for. This list can include material things, people, thoughts, experiences, or anything else that you can think of.

When writing down the list, spend extra time explaining why you are grateful for that experience and how it made you feel. Do not go overboard – a short sentence will do – but aim to deepen your experience of how you perceived this event.

Another option is to incorporate active gratitude into your mindfulness exercises. For example, mindfulness can help us to perceive negative experiences in a nonjudgmental way.

We can take this experience one step further by incorporating a gratitude element. In a way, we are finding a silver lining in that experience. The intention is not to downplay your feelings of a negative experience; instead, where possible, find opportunities for gratitude.

Our Favorite Mindfulness Videos

To help you start your mindfulness journey, we have put together a list of videos. Some can also be used in the classroom.

Mindfulness meditation

Daily Calm | 10 Minute Mindfulness Meditation | Be Present

 

 

Mindfulness Meditation – Guided 10 Minutes

 

 

If you enjoy these videos, consider subscribing to the Calm channel on YouTube.

Mindful Yoga

Yoga for Mindfulness | 15-Minute Yoga

 

 

Mindful Yoga Flow | 40 Minutes – Full Body Stretch

 

 

Mindful stretching

Mindful Movement 10 Minute Seated Yoga Stretch

 

 

Mindful Stretch | 30 Minute Mindful Stretching for Pain, Anxiety, & Stress

 

 

Body scan

Body Scan Meditation (Tame Anxiety)

 

 

Three-minute breathing exercise

The Three Minute Breathing Space

 

 

Videos for Children

Mindfulness Meditation for Kids | Breathing Exercise | Guided Meditation for Children

 

 

Breath Meditation for Kids | Mindfulness for Kids

 

 

Be the Pond | Cosmic Kids Zen Den – Mindfulness for kids

 

 

Further interest

All it takes is 10 mindful minutes | Andy Puddicombe

 

 

Mindful Work | David Gelles | Talks at Google

 

How Can Mindfulness-X Help You?

At PositivePsychology.com, we have several resources that help you start your mindfulness habit.

Our most valuable resource is the Mindfulness-X course, which will help you further develop your mindfulness skills.

The course is a mixture of theory and practice. You’ll learn a lot more about mindfulness and the scientific evidence that supports its positive effects, but you’ll also learn about different ways to use mindfulness as a tool in your own life and the lives of your clients.

The entire course is online, so you can easily complete it from your home or your office, regardless of where you are based. In total, there are eight lessons, all of which are grounded in scientific research.

Conclusion

You’ve taken the first step toward adopting mindfulness by reading this post.

We hope that by now you’re convinced of the numerous benefits of practicing mindfulness and have a few ideas on how to implement it in your everyday life.

Most importantly, remember that mindfulness is a way of thinking that you are capable of practicing throughout your day. It is not limited to only one exercise, it is not limited to only three minutes, and it is not a switch that you can turn on and off.

With time and regular practice, you will start to practice mindfulness more easily in all activities, and you will see the benefits. Mindfulness is appropriate for people of all ages and in multiple contexts.