I Tried Incorporating Mindfulness into My Morning Walks!

Episode 36
Hello, it's Ao😄

It's not every day, but I've been keeping up withincorporating mindfulness into my morning walks
to be more efficient in my activities.That's what this story is about.

Do you know what mindfulness is?

So, everyone, are you familiar with mindfulness?
Personally, I was at the level of 'I've heard of it...'
Something like meditation, right?
Well then, what is meditation?
Closing your eyes and clearing your head?
Something like that.

This time, I'd like to talk about it based on my own interpretation, but if you want to know more about mindfulness, there are plenty of books and articles out there, so please look them up.

My own interpretation

Roughly speaking,
I think it means completely stopping yourself from thinking about things that happened in the past or things that might happen in the future, and facing yourself in the present moment.
That's what I think it is.

It's not really about feelings or emotions, but
I'd say it's about 'placing importance on the five senses.'

What you see right now.
What you hear right now.
Smells.
The sensation transmitted from the soles of your feet and your seat.
Focusing your attention on each one
to feel yourself.

And,
clearing your mind by not thinking about anything unnecessary.
Something like that.

I tried incorporating it into my morning walks

When you try it, it's actually quite difficult.
You end up thinking about all sorts of things.

So at first,focus entirely on your breathing.
Inhale deeply through your nose.
Exhale through your mouth, taking twice as long as you did to inhale.

Do this the entire time you are walking.

The image is,
taking in the fresh morning air and replacing the old air inside your body.

The air inhaled through your nose flows into your lungs, and you exhale the old air through your mouth...
Focus your consciousness on this.

I heard somewhere that, just like ocean waves, no two breaths are the same.
The amount you take in, the flow through your nose, and so on.

It's true that when you focus on this, you can't think about other things.
So if you suddenly find yourself thinking about something else, it's good to practice bringing your consciousness back by focusing on your breathing.

Once you can do that,
on another day, focus on smellswhile you walk.
Depending on the season, you might feel the faint scent of flowers, or the smell of breakfast being made somewhere.
The smell of car exhaust.
Rarely, the smell of 2-stroke oil (lol).

On another day, look aroundwhile you walk.
There are various discoveries.
There are weeds and small flowers.
A ginkgo tree that is only yellow at the top.
A thick trunk with moss growing on only one side.
Focus only on things you see, things you might usually overlook, as you walk.

Also,on another day, focus only on walking.
Right, left, right, left...
Walk rhythmically.
How high are your feet lifting?
What is the sensation of the ground transmitted from the soles of your feet?
The angle of your ankles when you start walking up a slope.

Focus on the present moment

If you find yourself thinking about something while walking again, bring your consciousness back to your breathing.

As I wrote at the beginning, it is important to shut out the past and the future from your head and be conscious of the present moment.
That's how you organize your brain and clear your head.

As you do it every day, you start to get the hang of it.
And you know, it really clears your head.
I think telling your brain that doing this will clear your head also helps with the effect.

Morning walks have various benefits on their own,
(I might write about that another day too)
but if you practice mindfulness at the same time instead of just walking, I think it's efficient because you don't have to set aside extra time for it.

This time, the topic was
Morning walks are even more effective when you do them with a sense of purpose!
.

See you later!
This was Ao😄

#MorningWalk
#Mindfulness
#FiveSenses