JULY Mindfulness Month - Week One
At Chirobalance we are all about helping you heal, get out of pain and have a great life.
What we are finding is that patients who have something that regularly helps them ‘TUNE-IN’ to the moment and ‘TUNE-OUT’ from daily demands get better faster and stay that way longer (and often they are a lot happier about life too).
Most of us know we need to BE PRESENT more but we get busy with life and it falls off the radar.
Research shows we are most effective, happiest & heal the fastest when we are focused on the present but the majority of people spend most of their day focused on the past or the future!
This is why we benefit from a PURPOSEFUL 5-MINUTE PAUSE. This is so simple but often the hardest thing to do.
Five minutes of no talking, no devices, and no distractions! Here are some tips to help:
- Schedule a time to do it
- Make it the same time every day (if the same time doesn't work, decide the night before when will suit for the following day)
- Choose one option below (or your own idea), stick with it for 7 days to really get an idea of how it feels (often it will feel strange for the first couple of days).
- Join on the Chirobalance Mindfulness Facebook Page to get regular reminders and tools during July. Also post your Successes, Challenges or Questions.
Five ways to have a PURPOSEFUL 5-MINUTE PAUSE
- Connect with nature: Spend the 5 minutes being with natureSit still outside in the fresh air. Having your bare feet on grass or sand is also great (but not very realistic in July in Wellington!)
- If it’s too cold to be outside, look out your window at the view or look at a blazing fire
- On your drive home, park your car in a scenic spot and sit there for 5 minutes
- Guided Meditation: This helps focus your mind, try one or more of these:
- Female Voice: The Five Minute Miracle - Daily Guided Meditation.
- Male Voice: Calming 5 minute Meditation.
- One of my favourites is Sarah Blondin (8 minutes but worth it!).
- If you don’t like these, google ‘5 minute guided meditation’ and find one that suits you.
- Mindful Colouring or Drawing
- Buy a colouring book or Google ‘free adult colouring pages’ and print one that inspires you to colour.
- Get a blank page or canvas and paint or draw.
- Listen to relaxing music
- It is often relaxing to get ‘lost’ in music. Alternatively if you already know how to play an instrument, you can often get lost playing it (don’t use this 5 minutes to attempt to learn an instrument!)
- Simple & Repetitive Crafts
- Crafts can be a very mindful and calming, weaving, knitting and beading are popular. They are simple and repetitive, so it’s easy for all learners to give them a try.
Commit to giving this 5 minutes each day for the entire week, it will be worth your while. Join our facebook group to get notified about Week Two's tool- Mindfully Scheduling your day for best results. Give yourself the gift of being the best version of YOU!