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Mindfulness: It's a walk in the park

6th May 2016
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Over the course of this mindfulness series, we will look at how embracing simple activities, such as walking or colouring, can bring space and focus back to the present moment.

Life as an accountant can be tough, especially during the dreaded January self assessment season. However. instead of becoming overwhelmed by life and treating the present moment like something that needs to be overcome, perhaps a daily dose of mindfulness can restore focus and reduce stress.

For example, meditation consultant Wendy Woods believes people who practice meditation (or in this case, mindfulness) for a short period of time will experience the feeling of being “more relaxed, more centred and more focused”.  

And you don’t have to pay an extortionate amount of money staying in a secluded retreat in order to enjoy the benefits of mindfulness.

Earlier this week, I joined a mindfulness group on a park walk. For three laps around the block I suppressed my usual urge to drift into my own anxious thoughts, and instead attempted to find my inner Zen.

Starting off, my inclination was to kick into my usual walking speed. If this sounds like you, recognise this, and reduce your speed.

It doesn't matter where you're walking. In fact, having a destination in mind defeats the purpose of mindfulness walking. Just leave the office and stroll. Even if you can’t leave the office, chances are you will walk around the office – so even in those short spurts, it’s worth adding mindfulness to them.

Don’t worry if you feel like people are watching you, or that you are not doing it properly. It is entirely natural to have these feelings. In fact, these feelings pave the way for the first lesson of mindfulness walking: be non-judgemental.

When you start to become entangled in your own thoughts or drift away from the purpose of the walk, watch these thoughts non-judgementally.

How to walk mindfully

If you sense you’re getting lost in your thoughts, bring your attention back to your breathing. This is your anchor.

  • Try walking slowly- almost ponderously, but not in a way that will cause irritation to the other walkers.
  • Feel the weight of your feet pound the floor…one foot purposely after the other.  
  • Feel the sensation of the wind on your face. How does it feel?
  • Be aware of nature’s sounds: maybe it’s the sound of people bustling past, birds tweeting in the trees or just your own shoes hitting the ground.

Bring your focus to the world around you. What can you see? Try looking on with non-judgemental vision. Don’t label what you can see. Just look around you. Use all your sense to absorb whatever is happening in the present moment.

After 15/20 minutes we came to a gradual halt. Although I worried whether I was doing it properly, within a lap of the park I soon found a sense of space, and upon returning back to the office I felt a renewed sense of focus.

So instead of enduring the struggles of work, why not flee the office and take a mindfulness stroll?

Next week, we will look at the rising trend of mindfulness colouring books, and how simply focusing on colouring can bring focus back into your work life.

Do you use mindfulness? Do you already abandon the desk and de-stress with a walk? Leave your mindfulness tips and techniques below. 

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Teignmouth
By Paul Scholes
11th May 2016 00:25

It's rather daunting to try and summarise my own thoughts and experiences on this topic. Whilst it's been around for perhaps three & a half thousand years, the people who need it the most us "Westerners" have only cottoned onto it in the past few years and, as often happens, it's shot through the media and population and ended up being seen by many as a fad, the latest self-help thing, not helped by hundreds of books & articles all professing to get you up & running and through to enlightenment in X easy stages.

Much the same as with Yoga, the whole practice is based around what is right for you, not anyone else and the moment you see it as a race, struggle, competition or a means to a destination, you've lost the plot. The positive to take from it is that any practice, no matter how small or infrequent, is better than no practice.

If anyone is interested in some light, and often amusing, reading on this, try Ruby Wax's Sane New World, or better still catch her when she does one of her shows.

Richard mentions walking practice and this works for me when walking my dog (she doesn't need to do it, dogs and most other animals always live in the moment) but everyone is different and you can do it anywhere. If you travel by bus or train for example put the phone away and leave the head/earphones at home and just sit and look around you, at the people and scenery, where are you now, what are you thinking now, pay attention, live what's happening, even if it's not good.

One of the principals to think about is that we, in the West, live our lives being anxious about anticipated or perceived bad stuff but then, if we ever experience happiness, adding more anxiety worrying about losing it. Mindfulness practice helps you to learn to just accept stuff, good or bad and to realise it's all fleeting. It's like standing on the shore and deciding to beat back every bad wave that comes at you, but to grab hold of every good one. Eventually you just sit down and let them all wash over you.

Over time it also helps you break your coping habits, your auto reactions to circumstances, especially social pressure and fear, it teaches the brain not to automatically react but to give itself a split second to consider what's happening and its reaction.

For me, the highest goal is just being content every so often, and my preferred practice is sitting quietly and, as Richard mentions, using my breath (the only constant activity in our lives) to bring my wandering mind back to now. There are some great resources out there and I still use the ones recommended to me 3 years ago on the Mental Health Foundation's website.

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/multimedia/podcasts

There are two specifically on Mindfulness but there are several others on wellbeing and stress relief that are worth a try.

For a taster though Mark Williams (who does one of the podcasts above) has a three minute introduction on Youtube where you will also see other related videos (including some of Ruby W's):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CVW_IE1nsKE#at=11

Just breath.

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Replying to Paul Scholes:
Richard Hattersley
By Richard Hattersley
18th May 2016 18:18

I've only just noticed your message, Paul. Funnily enough, I'm reading this on the bus, and as soon as I've finished writing this, I'm putting the phone away and pay attention to my surroundings.

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