This month, we’ll be focusing on another mindfulness practice that encourages you to turn inward and pay attention to the sensations in your body – specifically, your heartbeat. This is a great exercise to engage in when you may be feeling stressed and would benefit from taking a break from the same. And it can easily be accomplished in three simple steps:
- Pause whatever you are doing, and do jumping jacks for one minute.
- Next, sit or stand while placing a hand (or both hands) over your heart.
- Pay attention to your breath and how your heartbeat feels. How fast or slow is your heart beating? How short or long are your breaths? Try elongating your breaths – in and out – and continue to notice your heartbeat. Continue to do this until you’re ready to return to whatever you were doing previously.
This exercise offers you the opportunity to take a break from feeling stressed, engage in a short burst of energy, and redirect your focus to your body to feel grounded again. You can do all this in less than three minutes! When will you set aside three minutes this month to feel the beat?
Take good care of you,
Education Embedded Counselling & Wellbeing