This April is not only Stress Awareness month in the US, but today – April 5th – also happens to be World Calm Day as well. Stress management is a matter close to our hearts, as we know from all your survey responses that so many of you use knitting and crochet to relax and overcome anxious times in your lives. Which is why today we’ve asked Meagan Fue from Calm.com – a brilliant app (desktop & iOS) which helps you to meditate in an approachable and bite-size manner – to give us some tips on how to introduce Mindfulness into our daily routines.
Take it away Meagan!
Hey! Meagan from Calm.com here :) We’ve all heard the buzz about mindfulness meditation and its many benefits including lower anxiety, improved sleep, and reduced blood pressure. Many of us want to get involved, but have often wondered, “How do I get started when I’m so busy?” It can be intimidating at first, but we’ve come up with what we believe are some foolproof methods to incorporate mindfulness meditation into your daily routine.
1. Start with an attainable time commitment
Just 5 minutes makes a difference! Length of time meditating is less impactful than frequency – one dedicated hour on a monthly basis will be less effective than 5 minutes of mindfulness practice on a daily basis. The key is daily practice, and making a commitment with ourselves and our well-being to do so. This does not mean overhauling our entire lives to make it happen. Instead, setting aside just 5 minutes to practice mindfulness is enough to make a positive impact.
2. Turn off those digital distractions
Turn off your text message, email and social notifications before beginning your session. A big culprit of distraction these days is the fact that our digital devices are always going off every 10 seconds so we end up devoting much of our time reacting to noise. This takes time away from moments of reflection and remaining in the present. Before beginning your mindfulness session, make sure to turn off your notifications so that all of your attention is focused on you instead of everyone and everything around you.
3. Begin or end your day with Mindfulness
Everyone’s schedule is different but it’s often easiest to start mindfulness before our day begins or right before we retire for bed. It’s usually the time when we psychologically feel most at ease with carving out 5 minutes, since it’s before the kids wake up or after you’ve sent your last work email and turned off your computer for the night.
4. Find a way to develop accountability
One of the most difficult things is doing something beneficial for ourselves as opposed to other people. Making mindfulness meditation into a social activity or a game of maintaining a streak are helpful in developing a habit. Invite a friend over to meditate in-person, join a live meditation session in a group setting, or use an app such as Calm to keep yourself accountable by tracking your meditation streak.
5. Variety is the spice of life – incorporate mindfulness into different activities
The wonderful thing about mindfulness is that we can incorporate it into different activities since it’s the practice of being present, being open, and being accepting of our thoughts and circumstances which are beyond our control. Besides dedicating time to mindfulness practice in the traditional way of sitting with our eyes closed, there are other activities which complement mindfulness practice. These include knitting and coloring in pictures. The bonus of these activities is that there is something tangible to be proud of as well.
Just for today we’re running a giveaway with Calm.com as well! Get use of all of the features their app has to offer for a whole year PLUS their book for free as well. Just head on over to this instagram post and let us know in the comments what is your favourite motivational quote.
