Instantaneously Mindful: Yawning, Breathing, Savouring
The art and science of mindfulness is grounded in simple, everyday activities. The following three strategies can help you easily enter the present moment and ease anxious habits of mind.
Mindful Yawning
Dogs do it. Lions do it. Even owls do it.
Across the animal kingdom, yawning is a tried-and-true method for awakening the senses, enlivening the mind and calming the brain and body.
Recent research in neuroscience has unveiled that yawning slows down activity in the areas of the brain that generate worries, doubts, uncertainty and procrastination.
It stimulates the insula and anterior cingulate, key nodes of the salience network, which assist in integrating other networks in your brain, helping you to meet your goals.
How do you practice mindful yawning?
First, pay attention to where your yawn begins, feeling all the sensations that accompany your experience of yawning. Rest for 20 seconds. Notice if there have been any changes in your mental state. Yawn again. On the second yawn, notice any physical changes. Yawn a third time, returning your awareness to your mental state or mood.
Many people feel a sense of serenity on the third yawn.
Whenever you feel stressed or worried throughout the day, practice three mindful yawns. Before a test or any activity that involves high degrees of concentration, practice yawning. Yawn before difficult conversations. It will help you to relax and stay present, enabling you to avoid conflict.
Try stretching slowly when you yawn. Combining slow, mindful movement with conscious, mindful yawning helps ground your awareness in how your body feels in the present moment
2. Mindful Breathing
To breathe is to be alive, so it’s no secret why many mindfulness teachers and practitioners favour the breath as an object of attention when grounding the awareness in the present moment.
Conventional wisdom says to breathe deeply to relax. But brain scans have shown that the most effective method of breathing to calm the body and relax the brain is not deep breathing but conscious, regulated breathing.
There’s many ways to breathe in a regulated way. One of those methods is called the square breath.
Inhale, counting methodically to eight as you bring air into your lungs. Hold the breath for a count of eight. As you exhale, count for eight. Hold for eight. And then start again.
If a count of eight is too long, try a count of six. Just make sure to keep the counts even throughout the inhale, exhale, and holds at each end.
As you do with yawning, practice a series of mindful breaths to help you stay awake, aware and alert throughout the day.
The Square Breath
Inhale, counting methodically to eight as you bring air into your lungs. Hold the breath for a count of eight. As you exhale, count for eight. Hold for eight. And then start again.
When you feel yourself getting lost in thoughts, return to the simple act of breathing.
Remember: there is no wrong way to breathe. Mindfulness is a practice of non-judgemental awareness. Avoid evaluating or judging your experience, and that includes your experience of breathing.
3. Mindful Savouring
When life is rushing by and you’re filled with doubts and worries, you can easily forget to savour the pleasurable everyday experiences that make life worth living.
Just as you savour the sensation of breathing or the experience of yawning, you can train your mind to mindfully pause when you engage in pleasurable thoughts, feelings or sensations and learn to take time to delight in them.
Begin by choosing something pleasurable that you experience regularly. It might be a glass of bubbly water tinged with lemon. It might be feeling of a comb running through your hair and massaging your scalp. Even the chore of doing dishes can turn into a pleasurable experience when you savour the sensation of cool water running across your hands and the soft feeling of soap as it suds between your fingers.
Savour not only physical sensations, but memories, thoughts and feelings. When a pleasant memory arises—of the way your grandmother held her cup of tea or how your dog looks when running free—take a few moments to delight in that memory. Don’t limit yourself to happy memories. The salty taste of tears can bring its own pleasure, no?