Mindfulness is a way of life. For some people.
But for most people it’s simply a tool to help them cope with challenging aspects of life.
And that’s exactly how I use it in my Bee Empowered tinnitus course.
I know that if I want to help people using mindfulness, one of the key things has to be that everything I teach can be included in an average day, without adding more stress or requiring much time.
That’s why one of the exercises I use is mindful walking.
The purpose behind my Bee Empowered course is to stop tinnitus being such a thief of our time, energy and focus. It’s not unusual to feel like tinnitus demands our attention 24/7. We try to read, and all we can hear is tinnitus. We try to concentrate on work, and all we can hear is tinnitus. We try to listen to friends in a café, and all we can hear is tinnitus. We try to sleep and, yes, you’ll know this, all we can hear is tinnitus.
Learning how to focus away from our tinnitus is the goal of the course. We do that by using mindfulness to improve our attention regulation – that is, our ability to focus where we want, rather than where tinnitus wants.
Mindful walking is a great place to start
Most of us walk somewhere every day. It could be from our home to the bus stop or train station to get to work. Or it could be from our armchair to the kettle to make a cup of coffee. It doesn’t matter how long the walk is, or where it takes place, we can still do it mindfully.
I don’t know about you, but I find it surprisingly easy to walk in a distinctly un-mindful way! I can be thinking a hundred thoughts as I wander around my house, and it’s not unknown for me to walk into the door frame or a piece of furniture on my way from one room to another!
Mindful walking helps me to reduce the number of bruises I get! More importantly, it helps improve my focus, which is key to managing tinnitus.
How to practise mindful walking
This is me demonstrating mindful walking in a field while Ziva (my dog) did zoomies around me:
As you’ll see we focus on the feel of our feet as they connect with the ground, noticing each step as we place the heel down first, then move to the ball of the foot, then push away through the toes.
We are also aware of the feel of the surface we are walking on. If we’re walking in the house we might notice the difference in texture between a carpeted area and a hard surface. And if we are outside we might notice the difference in texture between paving stones and tarmac or gravel.
Every time our focus wanders from our mindful walk to tinnitus, or to what work we need to do that day, or to phone calls and messages we haven’t returned, we simply bring our attention back to the physical sensations of walking.
And we do that with kindness. After all, we’re learning a new skill here and, like any new thing, it takes time and repetition to improve. So, rather than huffing at ourselves for getting distracted, or allowing the self-critical voice in our head to tell us that we’re rubbish and we’ll never be able to do this, we simply shrug our shoulders, and bring our attention back to where we want it – the feel of our feet.
Give it a go!
It’s so easy to practise mindful walking. It doesn’t require any particular clothing. You don’t have to go anywhere special to do it. It can be as long or as short as you want/need. And you can do it any time of day or night (yes, even during those 3am bathroom trips!).
So why not give it a try. If you do, I’d love to know how you found it. Let me know!
Lisa x