Five Minute Mindfulness

Over the past few months I've been posting some of the different ways in which we can use mindfulness to help keep our minds in the current moment. Staying in the present moment helps combat the stress which comes when our minds run on ahead of us and imagine all sorts of outcomes to our various problems.

Today's is a walking meditation. It's not a walk in the conventional way and doesn't need much space as we aren't doing it for exercise or necessarily for the pleasure of being outside.

It's not intended to be a 'lose yourself in a good walk'. That can be very helpful sometimes in its own way to deal with stress, but it can also be a time when our troubles run over and over in our heads while we are walking.

So here's how your observation my go. 'Raising my right foot from the ground by lifting my heel. Feeling pressure on the ball of my foot, propelling my foot forward. Preparing to set it down heel first, as my other foot lifts from the ground by its heel...... and so on. And there's a second foot to factor in as both are involved in the process of walking.

A walking meditation can be done in the hallway of a house or up and down in a largish room, if you can't get outdoors. Ideally though, it's pleasanter to do it outside.

Because you'll be closely observing your steps, it's not a good idea to practice on the way to the shops! You should be so closely observing each step that you don't focus on what's going on around. If you really concentrate on the whole process of walking, there isn't time to think of anything else.

It is good if you can do this outdoors. You can progress round in a circle, circumnavigate the perimeter of your garden and perhaps change direction every so often if you wish, or you can just set a short course up and down your garden path and factor in the movements you make to turn around at each end of your course.

As always, if after a minute or two, you discover your mind has wandered back to your problems, just consciously let your thoughts go again, and go back to the observation. It isn't failing for this to happen. It's perfectly normal for our thoughts to try to interrupt our mindfulness.

I'd say that five minutes is the very minimum time to gain any benefit and, of course, if you can, continue for around 15 minutes, or longer if you are finding it helpful.

Best wishes, be well and be happy!

Photo: Will Truettner Unsplash