Ever wondered why sitting still in search of mindfulness never worked for you?

Here is why.
There is no such thing as stillness.

In fact, mindfulness is the very act of acknowledging that movement is always within and around us.
It sure is encouraging to witness the global surge of interest in mindfulness. However, many who seek to improve their wellbeing through stillness could not quite seem to resist the urge to move.

Perhaps it is time we consider that practising mindfulness is to accept and at times, positively alter the motion of our thoughts, actions and environment. Instead of striving for the mythic state of stillness, maybe we could acknowledge the wide scale of expression within our movements.

Whether it be the full body euphoria from a rave session to the subtleties of your chest rising and falling whilst waiting for a bus, movement can be made mindful wherever attention is placed. In other words, a mindful movement is less about getting out of our heads and into our bodies, but more tuning our heads back into our bodies.

Here are several prompts to incorporate mindfulness into your daily life of motion :
- What are the common gestures you make during a conversation?
- Which side shoe did you usually put on first?
- Can you pick up objects using your non-dominant hand, perhaps using the feet for the adventurous? - Do your eyes usually lead the movement of your head or the other way round?

Mindful movement entails paying purposeful attention to the gradual unfolding of your body as you move, whilst observing (non-judgmentally) the simultaneous unfolding of your experience.

In the month of mindful movement in collaboration with Scentered, I would like to share a simple mindful movement exercise you could try at the comfort of your own home :

1. Imagine you’re lying on a frosted crystal plane.
2. And that the perspective of your mind’s eye is looking from underneath the plane.
3. What is the imprint your body is making?
4. Which parts are the imprints clearer?
5. Which parts fainter?
6. Which parts left no imprint?
7. Begin to move in any way, considering how your bodily imprints may change as you move.
8. Gradually come on all fours, eventually walking, all whilst maintaining the same awareness.

Above is simply one of many exercises featured in classes which I offer across wellness studios in London and beyond. So if you’d like to experience this through my guidance, feel free to join my classes here!

Practising mindful movement will ultimately help you to feel more grounded and calm, whilst giving you peace of mind when training and enduring physical activity. I highly recommend Scentered’s Escape range as a way to ease your mind and elevate the quality of your mindful movement practice.

Discover the full Escape range here.