Mindfulness Moment: A Guided Meditation

Today we're bringing you a guided meditation focusing on your five senses to help with mindfulness! 

If you need help, call out 24-hour helpline at 1.800.928.8000 or find out more at www.newvista.org.

Transcript

Nicolas Scott
Hello friends, and welcome to The Good Ahead Podcast. We wanted to start off Season 2 with a focus on mindfulness. Mindfulness is about being in the present moment, letting go of the worries of the future or concerns of the past. It’s about bringing our attention here in this time, in this place, and feeling the experience of now. Mindfulness has been shown to improve sleep, lower stress and build immunity.

We've prepared a guided meditation to help you practice mindfulness today. Enjoy.

Katie Ghiardi - 00:38
Welcome to your mindfulness moment. I'm New Vista Wellness Leader and PR Coordinator Katie Ghiardi, and I'll be guiding you through a short five senses meditation to recenter yourself in the present moment.

First, take a moment to find a comfortable seat. If you're in a chair, plant both feet flat on the ground and sit up straight. If you're seated on the floor, option to use a cushion or pillow for support. Once you've found a comfortable position, let your hands relax on the thighs or the knees and allow the eyes to close or soften your gaze, keeping your eyes open, whichever is more comfortable for you. Settle in here by taking a deep breath. In through the nose. Out through the nose. Continue this as you notice the sensation of the air moving through your nose as your chest and belly lift and then moving out of your nose as the chest drops on your exhales.

Let's move our attention to our sense of sight. What do you see now? If your eyes are closed, maybe you can see the sunlight on the eyelids. Or if you're in a dark room. Notice the darkness. If your eyes are open, what falls within your line of sight without moving your head? Can you see the cracks in the floor or the colors of your rug? Notice the little things that you may walk by each day without noticing.

Take stock of that as you continue to breathe.

Now, let's move on to our sense of hearing. What can you hear? Are there birds chirping outside? Can you hear cars on the street? Really plug into the sounds happening around you no matter how small. See if you can identify them.

Then let your attention return to the sound of your own breathing.

Next, we'll focus on our sense of touch. Take a moment to feel the sensations in your body. Are you holding onto tension anywhere that you can release? Maybe your forehead, your jaw, your shoulders? Focus on the feel of your hands on your legs. Focus on the feel of your seat on your chair or the ground. Your feet on the floor if they're there. Use the breath to work on releasing any tension here. Remember, there's no judgment for whatever we're feeling. We're just noticing.

Now, moving on to our sense of smell. Take an inhale and see if you can identify the sense in the air around you. Maybe nothing sticks out to you. And that's okay. If that's the case, bring our focus to a pleasant scent.

Maybe coffee brewing or fresh flowers. Just imagine that scent. Just something that brings you some peace. Settle on that thought and stay there for a moment. Then finally, we move on to our sense of taste. Maybe you taste the coffee you drank or the food you ate recently. Maybe you taste the minty flavor of the toothpaste you use to brush your teeth this morning. If there's no taste, notice that to allow your focus to be here.

Bringing your awareness back to the breath, we'll take a big inhale in through the nose. And this time out through the mouth. Allow the eyes to blink open if they're closed and begin to reintroduce movement back into the body, maybe rolling the shoulders up to the ears, stretching out the legs, just beginning to welcome yourself back to your room, back to your space.

Thank you for joining me for this short mindfulness moment. You can do this five senses activity on your own. Any time you feel like you need to recenter.

Nicolas Scott - 05:12
You can find guided meditations like the one you just listen to or other mindfulness activities on the myStrength app. You can download it as an app on your mobile device or log in through your web browser. New Vista provides free access to the app with the code ‘seethegood’. Find out more at newvista.org/myStrength.

This podcast is brought to you by New Vista, a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic serving Central Kentucky in the areas of mental health, substance use, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and primary care. We see the good ahead for everyone in our communities. If you need help, call our 24-Hour Helpline at 1.800.928.8000. Or visit us at newvista.org.

Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.