A Mindfulness Practice for Chaos
As I write this, there is so much happening all around me, even though I am sitting at my desk quietly. We are all impacted by so many variables every day between the actions of the government we live within, the news, the landscape, the weather, the ecosystem we live in, the environment we work in, the places we recreate and run errands, the strangers and friends we encounter, the people we live with, our moods and needs.
It can feel chaotic sometimes to be in the midst of it all and to try to find a place that we can respond to the world around us without feeling overwhelmed, numb, or reactive. Mindful awareness, mindfulness, grounding, or curiosity are all different ways we may speak of the same thing; finding a place where you can reconnect to the present moment, to be attuned, to feel more capacity to navigate whatever is at hand. Mindful awareness does not always make things feel simple, painless, straightforward, or comfortable but rather invites you into space to reconnect to yourself in the present. Below is a practice that you can try on to begin to experiment with mindful awareness and see how it impacts your ability to be in the present in a world that often pulls us out of it.
Mindful Awareness Practice
Find a position where you can be aware and present. This could be moving, standing, sitting, lying down, or a multitude of other positions, just choose one that allows you to have the most present moment awareness.
As you find your position, notice if you can pay attention to the inhale and exhale of your breath. You don’t need to alter your breathing or judge it, just be aware of it.
Inhale. Exhale.
As you begin to notice your breath, see if you can also notice the presence of the Earth underneath you. If you are somewhere that feels disconnected from the ground, notice how all of the layers underneath you connect to the Earth at some point. For example, if you are in a high-rise building, see if you can notice how the floor underneath you connects to the floor underneath and so on, until you reach the concrete and the soil underneath. The Earth is there.
Connection to Ground & Earth
As you feel into your sense of ground, choose one of your senses to engage with from here. This could be sight, sound, taste, touch, or smell or your awareness of the position of your body (proprioception). See if you can allow yourself to tune in fully to this one sense and notice where you are drawn. Allow yourself to land wherever you are drawn (i.e. you see something you are curious about, you hear a sound that is pleasant, you enjoy the temperature of the air). See if you can stay with this and just be aware of it for a few breaths. If your mind wanders or your attention is pulled away, just acknowledge it, validate to yourself that it is completely natural, and then return to what you have noticed with your senses. Try this for a few breaths.
Sight. Smell. Taste. Touch. Hear. Proprioception.
You can see if you are drawn to any of your other senses and engage in the same way, pausing for a few breaths on what you notice, before coming back from the mindfulness practice. Slowly begin to return your awareness to the rest of your environment by scanning the setting you are in.
Check-In: What do you notice? How are you feeling now? Do you feel any more able to connect to yourself, others, or the world around you?