Mindfulness Exercises For Stress Reduction, Balance, Focus

I teach mindful movement class based on the Feldenkrais Method (TM). Mindfulness practice is about practicing how to be in the moment and how to bring your attention to the moment.

Mindfulness practice combined with movement makes it even more powerful, and in my opinion, it makes it very real because our body, thoughts, feelings are all constantly changing and moving. Thus, I teach mindful movement class called Awareness Through Movement.

Here’s a simple mindful exercise you can try:

Sit on the front of a regular chair with both feet on the floor. Close your eyes. Shift your attention to your feet and notice how your feet are touching the floor (are feet flat, turning?), how close/far apart they are. Notice your sits bones. Can you feel which sitbone you are leaning more on? Are you sitting more the back of your sitsbones or front? Slowly and gently shift your weight on pelvis forward and back several times (10~15 times) and pay attention to notice how your weight shifts on your sitsbones. And, slowly and gently shift your weight on pelvis side to side so you shift onto one sitbone and onto the other alternately. Do this several times (10~15 times). When you are done, notice how you are sitting now. Do you notice any changes in how you sit on your sitsbones? Has your posture changed?

What happens when you pay attention to your body and movement is that you direct your attention to yourself in the moment so your brain is fully engaged. When you are fully attending to yourself, you’ll begin to notice the way you use your body (the way you breath, sit, stand, walk, etc). This is the moment when subconsious becomes conscious.

To become mindful, you have to slow down what you’re doing so you can pay attention to what you’re doing. Then, you will really know what you’re doing.

Once you really know what you’re doing with your body, then you can pay attention to other things and people and will start to notice things you really haven’t before.

This practice helps reduce stress, improve balance, and focus because you’re shifting the brain’s attention to this very moment from other distractions. This calms the brain and nervous system. This balances autonomic nervous system. As a result, you feel more relaxed and less stressed.

 Get help to move more mindfully and feel more calm and balanced.

Movement is essential to our life. Improving movement quality is directly related to quality of our life. Teaching people to move well is my passion. Sign up for Trans4Move Newsletters that will teach you how to improve your movements, functions, and your life!

My name is Taro Iwamoto. I am a Feldenkrais practitioner and movement expert. I help people develop new and more efficient movement patterns and expand movement options in order to overcome injuries/pain and move beyond limits. Feel free to post in the comments section below and feel free to share this with your friends!

If you’re interested in mindfulness practice, you might find this interesting and helpful:

https://inlpcenter.org/mindfulness-certification-training-for-individuals-and-coaches/