Experiential Learning through Mindfulness

Stressed out, overwhelmed, distracted, or looking to find more satisfaction in your daily life? If so, you may benefit from mindfulness and meditation techniques to alleviate stress, find balance, and achieve more focus and calm in your life. Mindfulness meditation is a very personal form of experiential learning, enabling heightened awareness of your present moment experience and increased self-acceptance and self-understanding. What you learn by paying attention in this way reverberates outward to other areas of your life.

Start with Mindful Breathing:

The guided meditations below on mindful breathing and other topics can help you get started. These free meditations below range from a few minutes to 20 minutes or more.

• UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center [Start with “Breathing Meditation”.]
• Self-Compassion, Kristen Neff, PhD
• Guided Exercises by Tara Brach, PhD

Take a Free Course Online:

If you want more, here is a free, self-paced courses online:

• Self-Guided Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Course

Read More about Mindfulness:

Learning about the benefits of mindfulness is a great way to build your motivation to keep practicing. Consider trying one of the books below, or go to your favorite bookstore and browse. There are lots of books out there, so find one that resonates with you.

• Meditation for Beginners, by Jack Kornfield. A very accessible introduction, with guided meditations on compact disc.
• Real Happiness, by Sharon Salzberg. A 28-day program for meditation.
• Mindfulness in Plain English, by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana. A monk’s non-religious introduction to mindfulness. A free web-based version is also available here. 

Hear What Other Have to Say:

You might like to hear what others have said about their experiences practicing mindfulness:

• Mindfulness: Youth Voices (video): Youth and young adults discussing their experiences practicing mindfulness, and how mindfulness has benefited different aspects of their lives.
• Mindfulness: Teens Talk (video): Teens Talk About Using Mindfulness in Daily Life.

Try a Meditation Timer:

A number of smartphone apps are available that include guided meditations, instructions, and bell timers, such as this one:

• Meditation Timer Free – (iOS) Free (or try their “Pro” version, which is $1, but has no advertisement).

There’s also this web-based timer:

• Medivate Meditation Timer – Free web-accessible timer.

Click here for a colorful flyer containing these meditation techniques!

Diaphragmatic Breathing / Box Breathing

• sit comfortably and plant both feet on the ground
• place both hands on your stomach, above your bellybutton, below your ribcase (this is where your diaphragm is)
• while breathing, try to keep your whole body still and only move your hands by pushing out your stomach as you breathe in
• slowly inhale through your nose, hold for 4 seconds, then slowly exhale through your mouth 
• do this about 3 to 5 times, and then notice how your body feels
• repeat as needed until you feel calmer and more relaxed

5-4-3-2-1- Sensory Grounding

• pause and look around the room you are in
• slowly name 5 objects you can see, 4 you can hear, 3 you can touch, 2 you can smell, and 1 you can taste
• this activates the 5 senses, which can help ground us in the present moment
• this can be done in any order!

Rainbow Grounding (ROY-G-BIV)

• look around the room you are in, same as above
• name one object that’s the color RED, then one that is ORANGE, then YELLOW, then GREEN, then BLUE, then INDIGO, then VIOLET
• tune into your body and notice how you feel after you’ve identified all of these colored objects

“A calm and concentrated awareness of one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions.”

-Thomas Roberts, The Mindfulness Workbook

“Awareness that arises through paying attention on purpose in the present moment, non-judgmentally.”

-Jon Kabat-Zinn