Walkies

• As you begin to walk, first notice the sensations in your feet against the ground.
• Notice the automatic process and impulse of moving your legs. One leg rising and protruding forward to take the first step, then the next leg ready to follow with the second step.
• Notice the automatic impulses and movements in your arms.
• Notice what muscles tense or relax as you move your body to this thing we call walking.
• Acknowledge the weight of your body shifting between your left and right hip, your left and right leg, as you walk.
• Notice how you are stepping, the quality of each step (whether you are stepping hard or lightly onto the ground) the feel of your feet within your shoes and the ground beneath your feet.
• Become aware of the sensations of the air against your skin as you propel forwards. Notice the difference in sensations between areas that are exposed to the air and areas that are covered by clothes.
• How does the material of your clothing move against your skin as you walk?
• Expand your awareness to notice your surroundings.
• As you walk, what do you see, smell, hear, taste and feel?
• What do you notice around you? If this is a familiar walk, what do you notice that you never have before?
• Expand your awareness so that you remain aware of the sensations of walking and the external environment while you also become aware of your internal experiences, such as your thoughts and emotions.
• What thoughts cross your mind as you walk?
• What emotions are there right now? Are they intense or mild?
• Are these internal experiences pulling you in or can you observe them with a little bit of distance?
• No need to judge these internal experiences as good or bad, practise just noticing them for what they are.
• If, at any point during your walk, you notice your mind wandering to the past or the future or being pulled away from your experience of walking, just gently acknowledge that your mind has wandered and bring yourself back to the present moment and the experience of walking.
• Remember that being pulled away and coming back is the key to mindfulness practice.

You can also move your body with mindfulness in ways other than walking. Bringing mindfulness to running, other types of sport or exercise, stretching or just some simple body movements can be re-energising, assist with maintaining your fitness and help you to cultivate your practice of present moment awareness. Try out the next practice as an alternative to mindful walking.

Mindful movement

• Lie down on your back with your legs stretched out and arms by your side, palms towards the ground.
• As you inhale, slowly raise your arms behind your head and stretch them towards the ground. Notice any sensations in your ribs, shoulders and arms.
• As you exhale, return your arms to your sides and notice the changes in sensations in your body. Repeat for three to five breaths.
• Now, on the next inhalation, bring one of your knees slowly to your chest and squeeze with your arms. Notice the sense of tension.
• As you exhale, lower your leg once again. Then switch legs. Repeat for three to five breaths.
• Now, as you inhale, bring both of your knees to your chest and pull them in with your arms. Lower them gently as you exhale. Repeat for three to five breaths.
• Roll over to the side and gently bring yourself to a standing position, pausing here for a few breaths. Notice the blood flowing through your body as you make this movement.
• On your next inhalation, reach your right arm over your head as you bend to the left and, at the same time, lower your left arm down your body. Exhale, return to centre. Repeat on the other side. Repeat for three to five breaths.
• Standing tall, on the next in breath, sweep both arms outwards and raise them above your head. Reach up high and feel the stretch throughout your arms and torso. On the exhalation, lower your arms to your side. Repeat for three to five breaths.

Mindful meal-time  

• Place your piece of food in the palm of your hand. Notice the weight and how much space it takes up in your palm.
• Take a moment to really see your piece of food in front of you. Explore the colours and textures, moving the piece of food around so you can see any variations.
• Close your eyes and notice what it feels like. Is it firm or squidgy, moist or dry?
• Bring it close to your nose and see if you can notice any particular smell. If there is no smell, notice what that is like and acknowledge the absence of smell.
• Place the food gently between your lips and notice any sensations here.
• Now, without biting, move it on to your tongue and hold it here for a few moments. Notice any changes occurring in your mouth and notice if you can experience any taste.
• Slowly bite in to your food and really notice the movement of your mouth and jaw and the sensation of chewing. Notice if the taste changes as you continue chewing.
• Notice the sensation of the food item moving to the back of your throat before swallowing. Follow any sensations down in to your stomach.
• Once you have finished eating, notice the sensation of an absence of food in your mouth.
• Take a moment to acknowledge how your body is now one piece of food heavier.

It can be helpful to do this practice very slowly to begin with, but it is not necessary to eat slowly in order to eat mindfully. Perhaps, when you feel ready to do so, try to eat a meal mindfully, without changing the speed you would eat at normally. Mindfulness in this way, and in many of the other practices throughout the book, not only helps us to notice our internal body cues to feelings of fullness and hunger, but also helps people to resist cravings.

Here are a few other ideas for switching up your routine that take little time out of your day and that demonstrate kindness to the needs of your body.

• Take the stairs instead of using the lift.
• Walk to the next bus stop.
• Park in the furthest car park space.
• Take a stretch or do some gentle yoga when you wake up.
• Get up and move about after every 20 minutes of sitting still.
• Try jogging on the spot during TV ads.
• Play outdoors with your children.
• Do something different with your body while watching TV – sit on the floor, walk around while you are on the phone.
• Learn a new recipe, incorporating healthier ingredients.
• Swap fizzy drinks for water flavoured with cucumber or lemon slices.
• Choose foods with the least number of ingredients.
• Notice the smell, colour and textures of your food before eating.

Duvet-diving mindfulness

This takes about 60 seconds – or all day, if you want:

• Get yourself comfy and allow yourself to settle into this moment, in your bed.
• Notice the position of your body, just as it is.
• Become aware of the contact of the duvet with your body.
• Become aware of the sensations where your body makes contact with the soft bouncy mattress.
• Observe any warmth, softness and cosiness around you.
• Observe any restlessness or fidgeting in your body.
• Keep returning to these sensations of warmth, softness, cosiness, developing an interest and curiosity in them.
• Be aware of thoughts arising, perhaps urges to fall asleep or get up, try staying just as you are and watch those thoughts and urges drifting around.
• Bring your focus of attention to now, the sensations, softly held in your duvet.
• There you are, in your bed, aware of postures, all sensations, emotions, thoughts.
• Just for this moment, there is nothing else to do.

Short-term pain or discomfort

Short-term pain, discomfort or even illness, although unpleasant, often are tolerated, but have a sense of transience so, unless recurrent, are not as distressing as long-term illness because usually we relate to them differently. We can be dismissive and stoic, ‘carrying on’, especially when we have so much to get done, knowing we will probably get over it soon (although this can be very damaging if we do this too much). We can use over-the-counter medications, do some simple stretching or use other ways to take care of ourselves and, sometimes, this is sufficient to ‘make it go away’.

The desire to take away pain is a natural and quite instinctive approach, but often we do not even notice that we are doing it. Our bodies have a helpful way of continuing to niggle at discomfort that needs more attention, even when we might be ignoring it. A very itchy mosquito bite, calling to you to please, please give it a scratch, for example, or an injury reminding you not to put too much weight on that part of your body, or perhaps a persistent cough.

With even the most paltry amount of mindfulness, usually we learn what to do pretty quickly, often quite reactively – ‘surf’ the urge to scratch, keep weight off an injury, get out of the cloud of toxic smoke. However, what if the discomfort keeps on going, the bite does not stop itching, the injury does not heal, the cough comes back? Then we can find ourselves beginning to build stories to go with the discomfort: the bite becomes a tropical disease, the injury a permanent disability, the cough cancer – oh my, I will never be able get everything done in time now and will just get busier and busier.

These stories may or may not be true. Usually, they are catastrophic, dramatic and unbearable and we, again, instinctively want to get away from them and our pain as quickly as possible. We create suffering through our habitual responses to pain or discomfort, when we have pain and suffering, life can feel really appalling.

This can even become cyclical: pain arises, we push it away, it arises again, we tell ourselves a ‘danger story’; now we experience mental suffering and physical pain, we push it away, pain arises, the story-telling becomes more embellished, we suffer more, we attach to our stories emotionally and they feel true, this is verified to us through the experience of physical pain, the pain becomes more threatening, our body becomes more tense, further pain arises, etc. In fact, it is entirely possible to have physical pain that is totally stress-related.

Guess what? Mindfulness simply requires attention to the pain and discomfort, to attend to our habitual way of responding. No need to push it away, no need to attach to our stories, just to notice. The pain may or may not disappear, but our suffering can. When we are clear from suffering, we may also find ourselves able to relate differently to our pain once we have noticed just exactly what we are dealing with.

Long-term pain or illness

The biggy here, of course, is long-term health-related issues, which can feel unbearable. But this, too, can be assisted with mindfulness. Unlike our (sometimes) helpful aversion to minor discomfort or pain, which can involve a simple act such as taking medicine or shifting position to functionally aid our bodies, long-term or chronic pain is made extremely difficult to live with when we are so averse to it.

Ignoring, distracting or temporarily suppressing pain or discomfort, when it is chronic, does not work. With chronic pain, the key is to accept and then to explore and investigate our relationship, to be open to our natural attachment to suffering and to cultivate compassion (see more on this in Chapter 10). Mindfulness is not about accepting pain in order to endure, suffer and be wilful. With mindfulness, such as with the following body exercise, you learn about how you are relating to your pain, you can find openness to now, to be in just one moment at a time, to learn ways to live, just as you are.

Body watching

This is a quick exercise to help you to begin to develop a more helpful relationship with your body and any experiences of discomfort and pain. Wherever you are, whatever you are engaged with – be it on the train, preparing a report for work, getting the children ready for a bath, writing an email or checking your mobile phone – take three minutes to tune into your body.

• Tune into any bodily sensations that you can notice as you continue with your task.
• Acknowledge and label them like a curious scientist might – ‘There is a tightness in my chest’ or ‘There is an ache in my head.’
• If your mind comes in to judge this, try to acknowledge your thoughts and return to just noticing and observing the sensation.
• Finally, notice your posture and stance, scanning your body from head to toe, observing the body in its entirety, whatever you may be doing.

This practice can be done at any time during any activity you may be doing. If you like, you could take some more time to try out the next body scan practice. This will help you further to cultivate present moment awareness in relation to your body and the forever changing sensations that pass through it. Practising this exercise regularly will strengthen your ability to open up to painful sensations in your body, rather than persisting to struggle with them, which, invariably, will lead only to more suffering on top of any bodily pain you might experience.

Body scanning  

The purpose of this practice is to cultivate a non-judging awareness of your body, moment by moment. Allowing any thoughts, feelings and urges simply to come and go, rise and fall, as you remain aware of your body throughout.

• Sit or lay somewhere comfortably. Close your eyes or droop your eyelids and let your gaze rest on a still object or spot in front of you.
• Begin by bringing your awareness to your feet. Allow your feet to take centre stage in your awareness right now.
• You may notice a sensation at your feet, perhaps the sensation of your feet against the floor or touching the inside of your shoes. You may notice an absence of sensation at your feet. Either is fine, the presence or absence of sensation. Remember, this exercise is not about sensation but about awareness of what is, just as it is.
• As you notice your feet in this way, your mind may give you some thoughts, such as judgements, opinions and preferences, about the practice itself or about anything else at all. These thoughts may distract you and pull your attention away.
• Simply notice the distraction, perhaps label the distraction thinking, congratulate yourself for noticing this and then gently guide your attention back into your feet.
• There they are again, the left and right foot, and then there is you, noticing your feet in this moment.
• Next, allow your feet to dissolve from your awareness and bring your awareness to your legs.
• Acknowledge the position of your legs as you sit or lie as you are.
• Notice the sensations or absence of sensations at your legs.
• There they are, your legs, and then there is you, holding them at centre stage in your awareness. Just these legs, just this moment.
• Next, allow your legs to dissolve from your awareness and then bring your awareness to your arms.
• Again, notice the position of your arms, just as they are right now. Notice any changing sensations or absence of sensations in your arms.
• Next, be as curious and open as you can to notice the sensation of air where it meets the surface of your skin. You may notice the sensation of air against your skin on your face, neck, hands or any exposed or other body part. Stay with this for a few minutes and see what arises.
• Next, begin to scan your body from the tip of your head to the tips of your toes. Scan up and down and acknowledge any warmer sensations you come across versus cooler ones. It may be warmer where your body makes contact with the surface that you are sitting or lying on. Or it may be warmer where different body parts are resting against one another. Acknowledging these warmer sensations is much like tipping your hat or nodding your head to a passer-by on the street to acknowledge them – ‘Ah! Warmer sensation, I see you!’ Keep scanning for these warmer sensations for a minute or two.
• Notice where your attention is now. If it is not scanning your body for warmer sensations, then gently bring it back to doing just that.
• When you are ready, bring your awareness to your feet once again, as you did at the start. Maybe marvelling at the amazing ability you have to expand or narrow your awareness at your will.
• So, there they are again, your two feet. With the presence or absence of sensation. Then there is you, observing your feet, in this very moment. Just these two feet, just this one moment.
• When you are ready, bring to mind some of the objects that are around you and gently begin to open your eyes, grounding yourself back into the environment, bringing the same present moment awareness with you as you go about your day.

People often report how they feel relaxed, calm or tranquil after doing an exercise like this. How was it for you? If you did feel relaxed, it is important to remember that you did not do a relaxation exercise but an exercise of the mind, called resting in awareness and, in this case, of your body. If you did feel this way, it is likely that you were less caught up in any thoughts or other distractions and, instead, more present to your unfolding experience moment by moment, using your body as an anchor to the here and now.

Bringing mindfulness to our body in practices like these helps us to recognise how we are more expansive and greater than the forever changing experiences of our body, including sensations and emotions and thoughts in our minds. The truth is that your body does change, it is always changing. It is not the same body you had as a young child. You may have had things cut out or put into your body. The skin on the surface of your body changes. You may have grown hair in places and lost hair in others. The temperature of your body can change day to day, moment to moment. It can feel hot, it can feel cold. Your body can feel tired and lethargic and it can feel energised at other times. Your body can hurt and feel painful, it can feel weak and, at other times, it can feel strong and relaxed.

The experiences and sensations of your body change, just like the ever-changing thoughts in your mind and emotions passing through you, but the you that notices and is aware of all these changing experiences never changes. That remains stable, unchanged and constant.

Mirror, mirror on the wall …

• Whenever you next find yourself near a mirror, preferably in private, stop and take a good look at yourself.
• Look deep into your own eyes and notice how they shine like the stars (because they really do).
• Remember to breathe.
• Notice what thoughts may arise, perhaps judgement, criticisms or appraisals.
• See if you can let go of the content of these thoughts and, gazing deeply at yourself, marvel at your amazing capacity to have thoughts and intelligence.
• Looking into your eyes, breathing, take a moment to wonder at your body’s wisdom in allowing you to see, to breathe and to be as well as you are (however well that may be), sustaining your life.
• Take this moment to appreciate yourself in whatever ways you wish. You might even like to try a sneaky smile and see that miraculous person just in front of you smiling right back at you.

Managing conflict

• In the midst of the conflict, notice that you are breathing. Notice the quality of your breath. Follow your breath a few times. Notice any sensations around your heart – is it beating fast, slow?
• Notice how you are feeling. Anger, resentment, disappointment? What lies beneath this feeling? Invalidation, rejection, vulnerability?
• Accept this feeling with care and kindness. You do not have to like it, just be willing to have it.
• What is this feeling telling you that you want and need? Perhaps you want to be treated differently, be understood, be respected, accepted, loved?
• Bring your attention to what the other person needs, perhaps asking them, if necessary. See if you can acknowledge your pain and the pain of the other person. This person, just like you, can feel sad, angry and hurt at times.
• Notice any thoughts arising. Let go of any judgements that your mind may be producing, perhaps about how you and the other person feels. How you or the other person should feel and behave.
• Listen to the other person. Bring your full awareness to what is happening right now. There is nothing else but this.
• Once the conversation has ended, acknowledge how you are feeling. Accept this feeling with care and kindness. You do not have to like it, just be willing to have it.
• Bring your attention to what you appreciate in the other person and yourself.
• Congratulate yourself for being fully present with this other human being.
• Perhaps, even if you still feel angry, you could repeat these few words silently if you wish with the other person in mind, ‘may you be well, may you find release, may you be happy’.