7 Mindfulness Exercises to Protect Your Peace This Winter
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Mindfulness is a great way to feel more present, reduce stress and anxiety, and help you quiet your mind of worries. With the hustle and bustle that the winter season can bring, learn how you can protect your peace this winter with 7 mindfulness exercises.
And that is something I think we can all benefit from during the winter when the weather gets cold and there’s a whirlwind of holidays, gift giving, and family visits.
Whether your new to mindfulness or a meditation maven, these mindfulness exercises will help you protect your peace this winter.
First, let’s talk about the many mental health benefits you can receive from meditating on a regular basis.
Mental health benefits you can see from mindfulness exercises:
- Build awareness
- Feel more present in a given moment
- Reduce stress
- Identify and address anxious thoughts
- Build inner peace
How to get started with mindfulness activities
Mindfulness exercises or meditation might feel intimidating if you’ve never tried it before. But it’s actually really easy to get started with a mindfulness practice. Here are the best tips to get started with mindfulness activities:
- Start small: Choose one or two of these exercises to incorporate into your morning routine and then work your way towards doing more.
- Build habits: Make mindfulness a habit and be as consistent as you can to see the great benefits that mindfulness can have on your life.
- Be forgiving: You may find that it’s hard to consistently add one of these exercises to your morning every day. Forgive yourself if you miss a day here and there.
- Be patient: Mindfulness can have great benefits in your life, but with any health change it takes time to see significant results. Be patient and don’t get discouraged if you aren’t feeling the full benefits when you first get started.
Use these 7 mindfulness exercises to protect your peace this winter.
1. Cozy meditation
The first mindfulness exercise to protect your peace this winter is a simple mindful meditation.
New to meditation? Here’s how to get started.
Find a quiet place where you won’t be distracted. To make this a cozy meditation for winter, I recommend a comfortable spot on the couch in some sweat pants!
Feel free to light some candles or sit by the fireplace for an even cozier practice.
Sit down (this can be on the floor, on a chair, etc.) and be sure your body is upright so that you can breathe easily.
Don’t sit up so straight that you’re uncomfortable. The goal here is to eliminate anything about your position that may distract you during the mindfulness practice.
Once you’re comfortable, set a timer for five minutes. Make sure your alarm is a calming sound that will gently alert you that the time is up.
Close your eyes or lower them to focus on a single point to avoid distraction.
Turn your focus towards your breathing. Breathe in and out slowly.
Pay attention to how it feels to breathe in, feeling the air move through your lungs. Then, focus on how it feels to exhale, the air releasing from your body.
Do this repeatedly until your timer goes off.
2. Mindful meal
Winter is often a time of lots of big holiday meals leaving us stuffed and baked goods galore! The season is usually filled with loud family dinners and Friendsigivings galore.
This winter season, make time to have a mindful meal.
Mindful eating is a technique in which you maintain in-the-moment awareness of the food and drink you are consuming.
To practice mindful eating, sit down to eat in a quiet room with little distraction. Remember too put away your phone or put it on silent.
Eat slowly and pay attention to how the food tastes, smells, and feels in your mouth. Chew your food well before swallowing.
Notice your emotions and feelings as you eat. Try not to judge whether or not the food is “good”, just pay attention to how it feels to eat it.
Listen to your body as you eat, and stop as soon as you begin to feel full.
You can do this mindful eating practice with a Christmas cookie, a cup of hot chocolate, or really any food you please!
For more information on mindful eating for beginners, read more here.
3. Practice gratitude
Gratitude is a great mindfulness tool to reflect on your life and be intentional as you start your day. And what better time of year to lean into gratitude than the winter and holiday season.
List out everything you feel grateful for. These things might be small like your morning coffee, your dog, your family, etc. But be mindful and intentional with the items you choose.
If you want to incorporate gratitude into your daily routine, use the Self Care Seeker self care planner to record what you are grateful for, as well as organize daily to-do list, manage self care, and more.
Click here to purchase the ultimate self care planner now.
4. Mindful walk (or snowshoe, ski, etc.)
Another mindfulness exercise to protect your peace this winter is to go on a mindful walk.
To do this, go on a walk with no distractions. That means no phone calls, no music playing through your headphones, etc. Just take in the experience of the walk.
Pay attention to how your feet feel hitting the pavement or snow. Listen to the crunch of snow beneath you or the birds chirping in the distance.
Engage all of your senses during your walk.
You can also do this exercise with any other winter activity, like snowshoeing or sledding for example.
5. Guided meditation using an app
Guided meditation is a form of meditation where a teacher or narrator leads you through meditation via audio or in-person. When you use a meditation app, it will be a narrated audio session right on your phone.
Guided meditation can be really helpful because you will have an instructor explaining what is going on.
For all of my favorite meditation apps, read more here.
6. Mindful baking
Mindful baking is a way to enjoy the process of preparing your food through heightened awareness during the process.
Bake without distractions and really engage all of your senses as your prepare your treats.
Notice how the dough in your hands feels. Pay attention to the smells of all of your ingredients. Take note of how the ingredients look as you mix them together.
And the best part is, when you’re done you’ll have a tasty baked good to enjoy!
7. Music meditation
The last mindfulness exercise for winter is a music meditation.
Think about how often you listen to music passively while you do other activities like drive, exercise, etc.
We so rarely actively listen to music, but it can be really calming to do so.
For a music meditation, sit back with some noise cancelling headphones and really actively listen to a holiday tune or one of your favorite songs.
Notice the different instruments and vocals in the song. How does the music make you feel?
In order to block out all of the distractions around me, I really like to use noise cancelling headphones when I do this mindfulness exercise. These headphones are really great because the music quality is so clear while blocking out all the noise around me.
You can even choose your favorite holiday tunes to use during this peaceful winter mindfulness exercise.
Those are the 7 mindfulness exercises to protect your peace of mind this winter.
Whether you are a beginner at meditation or seasoned with your meditation practice, these mindfulness exercises will help you quiet your mind and protect your peace during this hectic winter season.
While winter can be filled with busy schedules, big family gatherings, and cold weather you can still find a few minutes to engage in meditation activities that will give the hustle a calming vibe.
Great tips!