8 Mindfulness activities to improve emotional health

Mindfulness, or mindfulness, is one of the most useful tools to achieve emotional balance and improve concentration and well-being of people.

Its effectiveness has been scientifically proven, and there is increasing evidence that its use contributes to regulate emotions, reduce stress and anxiety, help you sleep better and promote creativity. In addition, Mindfulness is also enriching for those totally healthy people without psychological imbalances, who simply want to live their life more fully.

This ancient practice allows you to be in the present moment. It is a coping style that boosts personal strengths and that helps to be more aware of the immediate experience with a non-judgmental, open and accepting attitude. Mindfulness helps self-regulate behavior and promotes self-awareness, as well as creating an ideal environment for well-being.

• Related article: "What is Mindfulness? The 7 answers to your questions”

Mindfulness activities for greater emotional balance

But more than a set of techniques to be in the present moment, Mindfulness

It is a philosophy of life, an attitude that must be adopted to reconnect with oneself and be more aware of the reality that surrounds us. It requires practice and will, so it is necessary to carry out a series of activities to improve the ability to be in the here and now with a nonjudgmental and compassionate mentality.

There are many exercises for this purpose. Below you can find a series of Mindfulness activities for children and adults.

• You may be interested: "The 11 best Mindfulness books"

Children activities

Children can also get started in mindfulness practice. In this way, they develop this habit that will help them to know each other better and to relate better to the environment, so that they can be happier in the future.

1. Bee breathing

Bee breathing, or Bhramari Pranayama, is a simple but very effective exercise to focus attention on the breath and to free the mind from agitation, frustration, anxiety and get rid of anger. Since its practice is not very complex, it can be done anywhere and even at an early age. It consists of covering the ears, closing the eyes, and when we exhale the air it is necessary to pronounce the letter "m" until the breath is finished.

It is certainly an easy exercise to practice, although it is necessary to learn diaphragmatic breathing to be able to exhale for longer. The exercise can be done as many times as you want, but it is advisable to start with few repetitions and gradually increase them. The sound that results from this action is similar to the buzzing of a bee, that is why this activity is called "Bee Breathing".

2. The art of playing

To perform this exercise it is necessary to place the children in pairs. One of them is given an object (a pen, a toy, a stone, a ball, etc.), and he is asked to close his eyes. The child who has the object describes it to his partner.

After a minute or two, the same process is carried out, but this time it is the other partner who is in charge of describing the object. Despite the simplicity of this activity, it is ideal to teach the little ones that they can isolate their senses and, if they wish, can focus their attention to live different experiences.

3. Attention to the bell

This exercise has two parts. The first of them consists of ringing a bell and asking the children to listen to the vibration of the sound of it. Little ones should listen carefully and raise their hands when they no longer hear the sound vibration. Afterwards, they should be silent for a minute and pay attention to the other sounds that are heard after the ringing of the bell has stopped.

When the sound ends, the children should be encouraged to share their experiences and say what they heard during this period of time. This activity works attention and mindfulness, and helps connect with the here and now.

4. Become a frog

Children can learn to practice Mindfulness by turning into a frog for a few minutes. Frogs are a clear example of what Mindfulness is. Just like when people meditate, frogs remain motionless for a long period of time. They are rarely agitated, but stand still, watching and breathing calmly, and their tummy moves sharply with each inhale and exhale. By adopting the role of this amphibian, children learn to stay still, breathe in a controlled manner, and observe what happens around him without flinching.

... and for adults

Adults can practice Mindfulness in their daily lives practically anywhere, and anywhere. Now is a good time to focus on the present moment, adopt a non-judgmental mindset, and deal with compassion.

5. Exercise of the five senses

This exercise is simple and can be applied quickly in almost any situation. All that is needed is to be aware of our senses and to experience each of them separately. To carry out this activity, you just have to follow this order:

• Watch five things you can see. Look around you and pick something you wouldn't normally notice, like a shadow or a small crack in the ground.
• Watch four things you can feel. Become aware of four things that you are feeling in the present moment, such as the texture of the pants, the feeling of the breeze on your skin, or the smooth surface of the table where you are resting hands.
• Watch three things you can hear and focus on the sounds around you. For example, a bird, the noise of the refrigerator, or the sound of traffic on a nearby highway.
• Watch two things you can smell. Pay attention to smells that you are generally not aware of and see if they are pleasant or unpleasant. The smell of the nearby pine trees, of the beach if you live on the coast or of a fast food restaurant near your house.
• Watch the taste of your mouth. Focus on the taste of the present moment. You can sip a drink that you have on hand, chew gum, eat something and even taste the taste of your mouth without ingesting anything.

This is an easy exercise to practice that can quickly take you to the here and now. How long you spend with each sense is up to you, but each object of attention should last a minute or two. The idea It is not doing a meditation, but returning to the present with an improved state of consciousness.

6. Active listening: observe non-verbal language

This activity is ideal for developing the ability to active listening, which is a form of communication that requires an effort on the part of our cognitive and empathic capacities, where the receiver is not a mere receiver of the sender's words. Many times we think we are listening when we are actually hearing.

Active listening is not listening to the other person, but being totally focused on the message that the other individual is trying to communicate. It is being in the here and now with full awareness. We not only focus on the words of the speaker, but also on what he tries to convey through non-verbal language.

To perform this exercise it is necessary to put in pairs. One member has two minutes to explain a pleasant experience in their life or an opinion about a recent event, while the other actively listens. What do your eyes, your posture or your gestures say? Do you seem proud when you tell? Does it convey passion? The receiver has two minutes to carefully observe the non-verbal communication of his partner. After finishing the exercise, both share their experience as active listeners.

7. Mindfulness feeding

With the rhythm of life we ​​have today, it is usual that we do not stop for a moment to connect with ourselves, not even when we have a few minutes to eat, because either we turn on the television or we are thinking about what we have to do this same late. Well, it is possible to practice Mindfulness while we eat or have breakfast. PTo perform the mindful eating exerciseYou simply have to pay full attention to what you are going to eat.

You can start by focusing on what you are holding. Observe the feeling of what you have in your hands (for example, a toast or a fork). Once you are aware of the texture, weight, color, etc., focus your attention on the smell. By last, put the food in your mouth, but do it slowly and with full awareness. Notice the taste or texture as it melts in your mouth. This activity can help you discover new experiences with foods that you frequently eat.

8. Attention to the center of the image

To carry out this activity it is necessary to view the audiovisual content shown below:

The objective of this exercise is simple: focus attention on the point that is displayed in the center of the image despite the changing color pattern around you, which can become distracting or thought provoking unwanted. It is an ideal exercise to start in the practice of mindfulness and to begin to become aware of the thoughts that come to mind and of which sometimes we are not aware.

The purpose of this exercise is not to get lost in these thoughts, which can be very pronounced in people prone to anxiety. This experience is similar to the phenomenon of silent fixation that results from staring at a candle flame.

To know more about Mindfulness

Everything related to Mindfulness is very interesting due to the potential contained in this set of simple habits to apply to everyday life, But it is also true that it is not easy to explain what it consists of as an activity and what are the mechanisms by which our quality of work improves. lifetime.

Fortunately, several experts on the subject have been developing training workshops to make this subject more accessible. The M-PBI Mindfulness Training Program.

In this training program that you can take in several Spanish cities, you work with both the theoretical aspects and the practices of this discipline, and is taught to apply them in different contexts, starting from the Stress Reduction Program based on Mindfulness (MBSR) from the Massachusetts Clinic and Experts' Integrated Brief Practices-based Training Program (M-PBI) in Mindfulness.