Take a Mindful Walk: 5 Tips to Create 5 Minutes of Peace
How often are your days filled with too much chaos to enjoy a moment for yourself? We’ve all been there. Sometimes it feels like there are not enough hours in the day. The hustle and bustle of our daily lives can sometimes seem to leave us with not a single second of spare time for ourselves.
From balancing family, friends, personal goals, careers, errands and so much more, the day-to-day can become a blur. As a medical copywriter and a nurse, I know just as much as anyone the importance of taking time for our OWN mental and physical health.
But sometimes it just seems impossible.
Lately, we’ve been more exposed to practices of mindfulness, or meditation. And taking time to address your mental health is more crucial now than ever. How do you get started? There are many ways. But I’m excited to share with you one of my favorites.
Taking even five minutes out of your day can change your outlook and help to improve your mental health. If you can carve out these few minutes of your day for a walk outside, it can help to completely shift the way you’re feeling.
What Is a Mindful Walk?
First off, walking is exercise. Believe it or not, you don’t need to knock out an hour lift session or run a few miles to get your heart rate up. Walking can exercise your body in more ways than we realize. Walking increases your heart rate, improves your blood flow, and works to lower blood pressure. It boosts your energy level by releasing hormones and delivering oxygen throughout the body.¹
We know walking as exercise is good for the body physically, but doing it mindfully can help promote mental health at the same time. Getting out in nature and actively taking moments to appreciate this world is so often overlooked. But it can help to put your busy life in perspective.
Studies show that walking mindfully in nature can be an effective way to improve psychological functioning and help maintain mindfulness practice.² Mindfulness and meditation– like anything– are things you need to practice. And the more you are consistent with it, the more your body recognizes its benefits.
Practice makes perfect.
If meditating in stillness is a challenge for you– or you prefer to kill two birds with one stone– practicing your mindfulness WHILE exercising on a walk is the perfect solution.
5 Steps for Bringing Mindfulness to Your Walk:
1) Breathe
Before beginning your walk, take a moment, close your eyes, and take a deep breath. Inhale, and exhale. You don’t need to do a full meditation. Just one deep breath can ground you.
As you continue to move through your walk, take note of your breathing. Always come back to the breath regardless of your pace. Like any other exercise, breathing is one of the best things to focus on as you move your body.
2) Unplug
Turn your phone on silent, or even better don’t bring it. Take this moment for yourself alone, with no distractions. Take out your headphones to minimize distraction. You may usually walk or run with your favorite jams, but this time– enjoy the silence.
Disconnecting from your phone in this modern world may seem like an impossible feat for you. But for these few mindful minutes, it can be so beneficial. Research shows that unplugging from your phone– even for short periods of time– can help to maintain healthier habits. Some habits reported from one study include an increase in feelings of happiness, a decrease in back pain, and even improved sleep.³
3) Use Your Senses
This is the most important part of making your walk mindful.
Open your EYES- what do you see? Trees, cars, grass, water, or other people around you. Take in all your surroundings and think about this incredible world you’re living in.
LISTEN. The birds chirping, a car passing, or the rustling of the leaves will never occur in the same way you’re hearing them right now. Hear the sounds around you and pay attention to each of them.
Take note of your other senses. Appreciate any smells or even feelings that you get during these moments alone in nature.
4) Appreciate Your Body
You are moving! Your brain is telling your legs to carry you forward. Every step on the surface. What an amazing gift to have a body that can function and keep us moving forward without even thinking twice about it.
Pay attention to your footfalls and feel grateful for each step. Notice how your foot feels as it makes contact on the surface. Pay attention to this and feel it as a grounding technique.
You are planted on this earth for a reason, and make sure you can feel this.
5) Feel Yourself at Peace
Take a moment to recognize how this walk can calm your body down and quiet your mind. Feel the release of any stressors and just BE in this moment. Try not to think of your to-do list or a conversation from earlier. Just feel your body responding to taking these few minutes out of your schedule for yourself.
Keep using these mindfulness techniques throughout your day. As you find yourself in difficult situations, think back to the simple moments during your mindful walk. And hopefully, you’ll be able to calm your mind to face whatever adversity may come your way.
Mindfulness and Your Health
Mindfulness is a key component of your health. And by walking mindfully, you’re exercising your mental and physical health. You’re making your body physically stronger while also cultivating a stronger mindset. This will take you so far in life.
Working as a nurse and a medical copywriter, while also balancing my family and personal life, I understand why balance is essential. Taking even 5 minutes out of my day to take a mindful walk in nature can work to change my mental outlook and re-ground me.
I recommend at least trying this out. You never know the benefit it may bring to your personal life.
With my health background, I strive to provide education and tips to help promote the well-being of others. Check out further content on my blog. Or visit my website to learn more from work I’ve done for healthcare providers and wellness brands. Everyone deserves to be their best and healthiest selves.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5010615/
https://repository.usfca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1231&context=thes
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