Mindful March Week 2: Tune into your senses

Welcome to Mindful March with Manchester Mind. Each week on our social media channels for #WellbeingWednesday, we are focusing on a different way that you can bring some mindful awareness into your everyday life. Hopefully by carving out some small mindful moments each day, you will find a greater sense of calm and focus.

If you missed week two you can catch up here:

Week 2: Tune into your senses

We can spend so much time up in our heads, worrying about the future, or obsessing about the past. This can elevate feelings of anxiety and stress. Why not try this short senses meditation to tune you into what is actually happening right now – using the senses to focus the mind on something other than your thoughts.

Here is how to do it (written instructions also below):

Look around you, note what you can see. You might focus in on one particular object, or note a few. Notice colours, shapes, textures. Bringing a curious attention to whatever you see around you.

Then focus on the sense of feel or touch. You might focus on touching one object – perhaps the one you were looking at, or touch a few things around you. You could focus on the contact between your body and whatever you’re sat on, or the feel of the feet resting on the floor.

Moving onto the sense of hearing, begin to listen to the sounds around you. There might be a few different sounds, there might be gaps in between them. Listening out and focusing on the sense of hearing, as best you can.

Coming into the sense of smell, take a deep breath in through the nose and see what smells come your way. If you cannot smell anything, that is okay, just noting that there is not much to smell.

Finally, focusing on the sense of taste. If you have got a drink around you, you might like to take a sip and notice the flavour, or maybe you can taste the last thing that you ate or drank. If there’s no tastes to notice, just note that.

As we come to the end of the practice, notice how you feel now after a few moments getting touch with your senses.

Missed Week 1? Catch up here.