Episode 149 Mindful Moments On The Go | Quick Tips To Bring Ease Into Your Day: Holistic Short By Chris McDonald

Chris McDonald: Are you feeling stressed? In our fast paced world, finding moments of mindfulness amidst all the crazy can be difficult, if not impossible. But fear not, as we're about to unveil in this episode the secrets of cultivating tranquility, even on the busiest of days. Join me as I dive into practical strategies and quick tips for infusing mindful moments into your daily routine.

Discover how to harness the power of your breath. Appreciate the beauty of the present moment, and release stress on the go. I will share my secrets of integrating these mindful moments on the go, no matter how busy your schedule is. In this episode, you'll discover the profound impact these moments can have on your mental and emotional well being.

So whether you're stuck in traffic, waiting in line, or rushing from one activity to the next, this episode is your guide to achieving calm amid the chaos. So tune in and embrace mindful moments on the go, quick tips to bring ease in your day. On today's episode of the Holistic Counseling Podcast. This is Holistic Counseling, the podcast for mental health therapists who want to deepen their knowledge of holistic modalities and build their practice with confidence.

I'm your host, Chris McDonald, licensed therapist. I am so glad you're here for the journey.

Welcome to today's episode of the Holistic Counseling Podcast. As I sip my tea, I'm giving you this solo holistic short, meaning it's an episode that is 10 minutes or under. I do my best with that, especially if you're short on time, which brings us to today's episode. If you're someone that finds it difficult to be still and to Tap into mindfulness.

This one is for you, or if you just struggled to find time for yourself, finding a moment of calm can feel near impossible, but my dear listeners, I'm here to tell you it is possible. So this episode, see it as a beacon of hope for you so that you can reclaim moments of calm. No matter what you have going on in your life and how hectic things are, 'cause I understand that life doesn't always give us that luxury of extended meditation sessions.

Who's got time for hour long meditation? Hour long yoga in one day? I wish we did. Or even hours of solitude and many of us don't have the energy, money. Time to do retreats, or if we do, it's not very often. So how can we bring this to our everyday life? So today I'm unpacking the art of mindful moments on the go.

We'll explore how you can infuse mindfulness into the very fabric of your day. One quick tip at a time. Well, let's just get started and jump right in. The first step is to set the intention. With yoga, we always set an intention for practice and it can help for this each day. So I am setting the intention of being more mindful.

And you can use different words that you can keep it as basic as that. Writing it down can be helpful. You can also give yourself reminders or have an accountability buddy, someone else, a partner, a friend, another therapist to remind you to be more mindful. It can be as simple as that. So let's say you're going about your day and you had that intention, but it gets away from you.

The day is so busy with more things coming up than you anticipated and You had a suicide assessment and you had more clients scheduled than you intended. And then the car is breaking down, all these things piling up. How do you get back to mindfulness? First thing is stop. And I have some questions for you.

And you can write these down or we can have them in the show notes as well. So to be more mindful, to get back to that state, the good news is that you notice you're not, that you're maybe spiraling. So let me get back to mindful state. Asking, am I aware? Or am I just. Getting deeper and deeper into anxiety or stress.

What's the attitude of my mind? What is coming up for me? How can I tune into my hearing? My seeing? And can you change your autonomic state by just closing your eyes? Sticking your head in the freezer? Whatever it takes, right? Doing what you can. When I'm going through my day, I try to just notice my breath.

Where am I? Do I have short breaths? Which might indicate I'm feeling a little more stressed? Or to have longer breaths, which might be that I'm a little bit calmer. Can also check my resting heart rate on my Fitbit if you have one of those or another timer or watch that keeps track of that. You can also just notice feeling your ribs expand.

And then contract back. So just like we do three part breath in yoga, which is breathing from your belly to the ribs, all the way up to the chest, and then exhaling. You can do that same exercise, even just picking one area, noticing your belly with breath, or your ribs expanding, or noticing your chest rising and falling.

You can do this as I talk. It's as simple as that. Getting out of your mind, your racing mind. And into your body, and you can do this with even just slow yoga movements, inhaling arms up, exhaling arms down, doing that several times. You can also do this while eating and just focusing first on the smell before you put it in your mouth, the taste, closing your eyes if that helps you to tune in more, even asking that question, what am I noticing right now?

Does it bring back any memories or thoughts of other times? You could also use it while, mindfulness while walking, and just noticing how your heel hits the ground, just paying attention to your hip moving, or if you're really having a hard time getting out of your head, counting your steps, one, two, three, four, and keep going back to one, one, two, three, four, or you can go higher numbers, but just tuning in to what is coming up in the moment.

You can also do holistic check ins. I do this for clients. I have them, I have a checklist that they can look up and see, okay, let me check in with myself. What am I feeling right now? What is my energy level? How am I doing? Just so you can tune in physically, mentally, maybe spiritually as well. And that may change during the day.

Maybe you're great in the morning, but by mid afternoon, you're exhausted and just losing connection with all things around you and people. wanting to withdraw. This is good information, but do it without judgment. Just get into that non judgmental mindset. And I know as therapists, a lot of us know there is sensory that we can use.

So with smell, using essential oils, I keep some close to me on my desk that can be helpful to keep things in reach. or a candle, sounds, tuning in, what do you hear inside the room you're in, or outside, and just naming it. So let's say you hear a dog barking, just saying you're mine, dog barking, or a car driving by, just naming it without judgment.

Sometimes I try to change my emotional state by tuning into some music. I do listen to some brain spotting music, which is available to anyone. It's brain spotting music by David Grand on Spotify or YouTube. It's very soothing. Or just put on some spa music with headphones. And listen in while you're working, maybe take a break and just listen to the music too.

You can also go to taste, put a piece of gum in your mouth, notice how it feels, cross your tongue on the roof of your mouth, in your teeth, or a mint that can help wake you up too. Noticing textures of any taste with anything you put in your mouth. How does it feel? What does it bring up for you? Another way to be mindful is just to focus on one single task.

We often have the urge to focus on multiple things, multitask, as they call it. That's just going to make you exhausted and takes you out of the present moment. So right now, if I'm focused on writing this treatment plan, I'm going to notice just the treatment plan. That's hard. And if my mind wanders, I'm going to notice it wandering and gently bring it back.

Even if I have to do it many times, if I'm distracted, it's okay. So being, I guess the word is giving yourself grace, I should say, that we all have days that we're more off or less focused, more stressed. I get that. So just knowing that other people feel the same way too is giving yourself. Compassion. See if you can do a mini meditation is another way to be mindful.

Everyone thinks meditation has to be this hour long gig. Guess what? You can do a few minutes. It still counts. Give yourself that credit. Or consider taking a gratitude break, a pause, even putting your hands in prayer pose where they're in front of your chest. What am I grateful for in this moment? Can shift your perspective, bring more positivity to your day.

Take you out of the stress cycle in your brain and notice how you feel as you tune in and then at the end of the day be mindful on what you accomplished. What did you get done today? What did you do well? And notice how that feels in your body. Can also use some colors to breathe in. So what do I mean by that?

Think of something you want to bring into your life. Let's say it's calm. Then think of a color that goes with it. And then think of something you want to get rid of. Maybe it's stress, anxiety, upset. And think of a color for that. So on your inhale, breathe in what you want to bring in, filling up your entire body, head to toe with that color, using visualization, and then exhaling what you want to let go of.

If that is upset, anger, stress, whatever it is, what color that is, and imagine on the exhale that it evaporates, gone into the air. So try that. Another way to be mindful and what you need and what you need to let go of can be different throughout the day. Well, that brings a close to our holistic short today.

If you are wanting to find more community and you want to join me and some other holistic therapists who are as excited about deepening their knowledge of holistic modalities as you are, Come on over and join my Facebook group, the Holistic Counseling and Self Care Group. This has been a group that's been around for a long time, since about 2018.

And we have some really dedicated people in there who love to connect and support each other. So you can ask any of those burning questions about Modalities, anything holistic related, or if you just need to vent, they're there for you. So if you need that support and connection, come on over. Go to hcpodcast.

org forward slash holistic group. That's hcpodcast. org forward slash holistic group and join us today. And this is Chris McDonald sending each one of you much light and love. Until next time, take care. Thanks for listening. The information in this podcast is for general educational purposes only, and it is given with the understanding that neither the host, the publisher, or the guests are giving legal, financial counseling, or any other kind of professional advice.

If you need a professional, please find the right one for you. The Holistic Counseling Podcast is proudly part of the Site Craft network.