7 Minutes of Mindfulness to Ease Holiday Stress
Holidays are a time of joy, laughter, and making memories which are all things to anticipate with gladness! At the same time, you may be the person responsible for creating the memories, decorating, cooking, buying the presents, wrapping them, packing to go out of town, moving the Elf, and making all the other magic happen.
I absolutely love the holidays, but there are elements that can be exhausting and stressful! This doesn’t have to be the case if we remember the “reason for the season”. Maybe you’re like me: you know all that, but it’s easy to forget in the moment.
If you find yourself in a frantic space as the holidays draw near, stop for seven minutes and use these mindfulness tools to center yourself.
1. Breathe and Center - 2 minutes
Just breathe. The most simple, natural, life essential thing we do – and usually we are doing it unconsciously. It’s this simple:
- Bring your attention to your breathing as you inhale and exhale
- Notice how your breath affects your nose, throat, chest, back and stomach
- Continue to deepen your breath - longer inhale, pause, longer exhale, pause
- Return your focus to breathing every time your mind wanders to other thoughts or feelings
2. Body Scan - 3 minutes
Sometimes we’re unconsciously holding tension in our bodies from stressful thoughts or painful emotions. Simply bringing awareness and breath into these areas can release that tension and stress. Since mind/thoughts, physical body, and emotions all impact each other, this will serve to both decrease physical pain and reduce mental and emotional tension. It’s this simple:
Continue breathing deeply. Focus on one part of your body at a time, noticing how it feels as you inhale and releasing tension as you exhale. If you find an area that’s especially tense, stay there for several breaths.
Scan through the following muscle groups and body parts:
- Head - face, muscles in the forehead, around the eyes, mouth and jaw
- Neck and throat
- Shoulders - top, front, sides and back
- Chest and stomach
- Back - upper and lower (maybe in two parts)
- Arms - down to hands and fingers
- Hips - glutes, sacrum, pelvis, hip flexors
- Legs - upper and lower
- Feet - ankles to toes
3. Gratitude Journaling - 2 minutes
Now that you’re relaxed, it’s time to focus. Take two minutes to list all the things you are grateful for. It’s most effective to physically write this down, but notes in a phone or mental thanks will still work.
Some ideas to spark gratitude:
- People you are grateful for, present and past
- Basic provisions you are grateful for
- Humorous, silly, or funny moments
- Moments you’ve been able to care for yourself
- Your priorities in life
- Your immediate environment - what are you seeing, smelling, hearing
- The small things you take for granted
