We know we’d benefit from it, but we just can’t do it! Here are five ways to find your flow state through a more active form of meditation.
This one’s for you if you just can’t sit still! Find your flow state with a more active form of meditation and reap the benefits.
We all know a meditation practice could benefit us greatly, but if you’re anything like me, clearing your mind while sitting perfectly still can be an impossible task. Instead, we’re planning what to cook for dinner, worrying about tomorrow’s team meeting, or reliving every faux pas we’ve ever made, among a buzzing assortment of other thoughts.
As a natural-born stress-head, I’m exactly the sort of person who would most benefit from meditation, but obeying commands to relax my body or still my mind from a soothing voice is a mammoth uphill battle I am yet to win. Our tendencies for distraction are undoubtedly magnified by the digital world we live in – checking our phones every few minutes, responding to the pings of messages or app notifications, craving the next opportunity to scroll our social media feeds. We’re increasingly uncomfortable simply sitting alone with our thoughts.
Fortunately, there are more active alternatives to meditation that suit fidgety types like me much better. Putting aside the standard suggestions of journalling and yoga, we can find mindfulness in other ways.
MAKE IT ACTIVE WITH MINDFULNESS
What we’re looking to achieve is not a meditative state as such but a mindfulness that allows those buzzy thoughts to fade away. The practice of mindfulness aims to redirect your mind, which might be swirling with future worries and past mistakes, to instead focus on the present moment. It grounds you in what you’re currently experiencing and teaches your mind to become still in a different way.
While many find this state sitting cross-legged in meditation on a yoga mat, it can also be found while doing everyday activities like washing the dishes or weeding the garden – whatever works best for you.
Research has shown the potential benefits of mindfulness include reducing stress, alleviating anxiety and depression, improving brain function, slowing cognitive decline, helping to manage pain, and generally fostering a sense of wellbeing. In a recent study, researchers examined the impact of active meditation on women, discovering that active meditation provided a significant improvement in mood compared with breath-focused silent meditation.
An active form of meditation is a great option for anyone who has struggled with practising the stationary forms. And the struggle is common, whether the stillness of it is uncomfortable for you physically or mentally. If finding time is the issue, you might bring mindfulness to an everyday activity such as showering, cleaning, or preparing food. If you find stillness or focusing your mind challenging, perhaps seeking out an activity that absorbs you entirely is the way to go.
Instead of a more formal meditation practice, the gentle flow of moving mindfulness can be a great place to start. Most of us restless types will need to try different forms of mindfulness to find one that resonates with us. Perhaps one of the following ideas could become an active meditation for you.
CHOOSE YOUR CHILL
Images, L to R: Deeana Arts, Rachel Claire, Jess Loiterto on Pexels.
1. Stand-up paddling
Picture yourself atop a board gliding along a tree-flanked river or on still ocean waters, tracing the coastline. Sounds idyllic, doesn’t it? Like something you’d do while holidaying at a five-star resort. But you needn’t be on holiday to indulge.
Stand-up paddling offers low-impact physical benefits of strengthening the stabiliser muscles in your core, legs, and back, together with the mental health boost that comes from spending time around a body of water. Aquatic environments can calm the nerves and improve your peace of mind, and the advantages appear to eclipse even those of green spaces, such as parks, forests, or bushland. Blue spaces have been proven to elevate our mood and reduce stress. Choose a sunny day to also enjoy the wellbeing effects of soaking up a little vitamin D.
2. Music practice
Is it time to bring the case down from the top cupboard shelf, dust it off, and give the old guitar a burl? Maybe you’d prefer to sing along to your favourite song? If you’re looking to meditate in an active way that can be undertaken in the comforts of home, a singalong or playing a musical instrument could be more your speed.
Creating music can bring fuzzy feelings of accomplishment, but it also offers some surprising health benefits. Musical therapy can help with symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as improve your memory. But what if you’re tone deaf? Fortunately, the evidence says you needn’t be a virtuoso to reap the benefits.
3. Art therapy
Getting arty with paints or pencils enables you to play with colours, express your emotions, or zone out while engaging in repetitive motions. It doesn’t have to result in something beautiful (although it might!), the goal is to find mindfulness in the activity and enjoy the process.
You might try an adult colouring book, painting from observation (or even by numbers), idly doodling, or sketching a creation in your mind’s eye. Art therapy promotes mindfulness by occupying your brain and redirecting you from ruminating on the same old worries. It can also bring you into that beautiful state of ‘flow’, where you’re completely immersed in what you’re doing, no longer noticing troubling thoughts or distractions.
4. Sensory play
Invite your inner child to engage with the world and be delighted by what you discover. Sensory play pastimes awaken your senses, gently encouraging you into exploration and following what feels good. Think bubble blowing, oozing slime between your fingers, swinging in an aerial hammock, or making a water xylophone.
It may feel like you’ve gone back to kindergarten, but these activities are given to children (as well as adults with dementia or disabilities) for good reason – they help with emotional regulation and self-soothing. They’re a way to curb and heal distracted, restless, anxious, or overwhelmed feelings.
5. Labyrinth walking
We’re not talking about being trapped in a maze here! Rather, labyrinth walking is a great way to get some gentle, mindful exercise in nature. It involves treading a single-path, circular maze, not one that overwhelms you with too many choices and frustrating dead ends.
A form of walking meditation, this activity is based on ancient spiritual practices of various faiths. The idea was to empty your mind of other considerations and focus on a single question or prayer while walking the labyrinth. From start to finish, this might take five minutes or significantly longer, depending on the labyrinth and your preferred pace for this purpose. You’ll find there are plenty of labyrinths all around Australia if you’d like to try this form of active meditation.
