Mindfulness exercises

Mindfulness exercises you can try

If you want to try mindfulness, you don't need any special equipment for the following exercises:

Mindful eating. This involves paying attention to the taste, sight and textures of what you eat. Try this when drinking a cup of tea or coffee for example. You could focus on the temperate, how the liquid feels on your tongue, how sweet it tastes or watch the steam that it gives off.

Mindful moving, walking or running. While exercising, try focusing on the feeling of your body moving. If you go for a mindful walk, you might notice the breeze against your skin, the feeling of your feet or hands against different textures on the ground or nearby surfaces, and the different smells around you.

Body scan. This is where you move your attention slowly through different parts of your body. Start from the top of your head and move all the way down to the end of your toes. You could focus on feelings of warmth, tension, tingling or relaxation of different parts of your body.

Mindful colouring and drawing. Rather than trying to draw something in particular, focus on the colours and the sensation of your pencil against the paper. You could use a mindfulness colouring book to or

download mindfulness colouring images⁠

Mindful meditation. This involves sitting quietly to focus on your breathing, thoughts, sensations in your body or things you can sense around you. Try to bring your attention back to the present if your mind starts to wander. Many people also find that yoga helps them to concentrate on their breathing and focus on the present moment. For more information on meditation and yoga, see our page on

types of complementary and alternative therapies⁠

The above examples are not the only ways you can practise mindfulness. So many activities can be done mindfully. Different things work for different people, so if you don’t find one exercise useful, try another. You can also try adapting them to suit you and make them easier to fit in with your daily life, such as mindfully cooking dinner or folding laundry.

Some people find practising mindfulness in nature can have extra benefits – for suggestions, see our page on

ideas to try in nature⁠

. For more general examples of exercises to try, see our page on

relaxation exercises⁠

"The mindfulness colouring really helps me unwind and relax in the evening. It promotes better sleep and I go to bed feeling ready to rest rather than anxious and wired."

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