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Mindful Gardening Mindfulness

Five Senses Scan in the Garden

The five senses scan helps enhance our awareness and presence of the current moment. This exercise is particularly beneficial for stress, anxiety, depression, hyper-vigilance and dissociation. Engaging the senses like this helps us shift focus away from intrusive thoughts and fosters mindfulness, thereby calming and grounding us.

I’m going to suggest some plants to help with the exercises.  I included the Latin names so you can find them more easily online if you want to buy those plants.  I chose (where possible) plants native to the UK so nature can benefit too, but feel free to experiment with others, especially those local to your region. 

Touch

Run your fingers through the soil.  Feel the texture (e.g. smooth, gritty or clumpy), weight and temperature.  Notice how moist or dry the soil is.

Gently run your fingers over the leaves and petals of various plants. Notice how they feel against your skin.

Examine different twigs and stems of plants, noticing the different feels and textures.

Collect small stones or pebbles of different shapes and sizes. Close your eyes and feel the textures, noting smooth versus rough and warm versus cool surfaces.

Sit quietly and close your eyes while focusing on the breeze against your skin. Notice how it feels when it changes in intensity and direction.

Smell

Inhale the scents; wild garlic (allium ursinum), wood sage (teucrium scorodonia) and chamomile (chamaemelum nobile) are native to the UK and will give off a scent for as long as they have foliage. 

Lavender and rosemary give off a scent all year round. 

Some plants give off a beautiful nectar scent when they are in flower; good examples of UK natives are sweet violets (viola odorata), common honeysuckle (lonicera periclymenum) and meadow sweet (filipendula ulmaria).

Sight

Watch the wind blowing through long grasses, such as purple moor grass (molinia caerulea), common quaking grass (briza media) or wavy hair grass (deschampsia flexuosa).  

Watch the light shining on leaves, or how the leaves sway in the wind or bounce under the weight of rain or snow.

Choose a specific colour and look for plants that match this hue. For example, find all the yellow flowers, such as cowslip (primula veris), bird’s-foot trefoil (lotus corniculatus) or meadow buttercup (ranunculus acris).

Observe how pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, interact with the plants and flowers.

Hearing

Listen to birds singing, bees buzzing or wind rustling through grasses, trees or shrubs. Focus on specific plants and animals, and their interactions with the elements (e.g., branches creaking or leaves rustling).

If there’s a water feature (like a pond or fountain), focus on the sounds of flowing or splashing water.

Move gradually around the garden, noting where each sound is coming from. This works nicely if you have a couple of sitting areas. Sit comfortably and choose a calming mantra or phrase (such as “I am here, I am present,” “With each breath, I draw in the beauty of nature,” or “I breathe in calm, I breathe out tension”). Think or say it softly while focusing on the natural sounds around you.

If you get distracted by unwanted sounds (such as power tools or cars), practice gently shifting your awareness back to the sounds you do want to hear.

Try the hearing exercises with your eyes open and then repeat with your eyes closed to see any differences between the experiences.

Taste

Try a small handful of wild oregano (origanum vulgar) or home grown fruit such as wild strawberries (fragaria vesca). Eat it slowly. Focus on each bite, analysing its texture, flavour and aroma.

Create a simple herbal tea using foraged leaves from plants like chamomile (chamaemelum nobile).

Tips: Do one sensory activity from each category daily, for a total of 5 activities a day. Mix and match different exercises each time. It’s better to spend 5 or 10 minutes a day on this than to do it once a week for an hour.

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Mindfulness

Mindful Walking: The Benefits of Going for a Walk in Nature

Introduction

Have you ever tried to clear your mind by stepping outside for a walk?  If so, you’ll know that stresses and distractions can make it difficult to clear that mind.  What can you do about it?  Many people find that using nature as their escape can be very helpful.  But there are some things worth considering before you venture out into the great outdoors.  This post will give you some tips on how to make your walk relaxing, rejuvenating and safe.

Before heading out

  • Plan your route.  Make sure your walking route lets you experience a natural landscape.  Examples include nature reserves, forest trails, coastal paths and riverbanks.  Each landscape has its own sensory benefits, such as a gentle breeze, birdsong or the sound of running water.  Experiment with the different settings to see what works best for you.
    For safety, choose well-trodden paths or even marked trails (such as a public footpath) to avoid getting lost or encountering hazardous terrain.  Be aware that even public footpaths can lead you into unpleasant or dangerous terrain, such as a path overrun with thorns or a field with a vicious bull.
  • Wear Appropriate Footwear: Choose comfortable, supportive shoes designed for walking or hiking.  I have joint hypermobility, so I wear a nice, strong pair of hiking boots with insoles, even for short walks.  Being physically comfortable helps your mood.
  • Check the Weather Forecast: Check the weather forecast and dress accordingly.  If necessary, wear layers for changing conditions.  You will likely be warmer during the walk than you were beforehand; I’ve headed out in a raincoat, hat and gloves before, only to end up sweaty and having to carry it all back.  On the other hand, I’ve been caught in a thunderstorm clad in nothing more than shorts and a t-shirt!
  • Take some essentials: Water, sunscreen and insect repellent can make a big difference.  For shorter walks, these might be overkill, but I’ve headed out several times for a “10 minute walk”, only to be still out there an hour later!  It is a good idea to take your phone with you, even though this can lead to unwanted interruptions; switch it to silent if you don’t want to be disturbed. 
    Don’t be tempted to doomscroll or phone people for a long chat during your walk!  The idea is to have your phone in case you need to speak to someone or use a map/route guide (for example, if you get hurt or lost).
  • Inform Someone: Let a friend or family member know you’re going out.  Ideally, tell them your planned route and expected return time. 
  • Bring Someone With You: Maybe ask someone like-minded to join you on the walk.  You can encourage each other to focus on the sights, sounds, feelings, smells and even on the tastes and textures of things like blackberries that you might forage.

During the walk

  • Walk at a Comfortable Pace: Maintain a steady, leisurely pace that feels comfortable, allowing your body to move without strain.  You want to get the benefits of exercise without injuring yourself.
  • Be Aware of Your Surroundings: Notice the colours, sounds, and scents of nature.  Focusing on such things as birdsong, flowers, trees, drifting clouds, a sunset or the sound of snow or fallen leaves crunching underfoot can create a very pleasant sensory experience.  Take deep breaths and fully engage your senses. 
    Awareness can also help keep you safe.  The weather forecast sometimes gets it wrong, animals (such as cows with calves) can appear unexpectedly and maps can be out of date.  Change your route or head back if things become precarious.
  • Stop every now and then: Although walking can be very good exercise, stopping to take in a nice view or enjoy the sounds of the wind rustling in the trees can be very calming.  You can focus on the feel of your feet against the ground and your own breathing.  By doing so, you’ll be practicing a very calming mindfulness exercise.
  • Take Slow, Deep Breaths: Inhale deeply through your nose, hold for a moment, and exhale slowly through your mouth to promote relaxation.
  • Visualize a Peaceful Place: While walking, imagine yourself in a serene setting, focusing on the feelings of calm and contentment that brings.
  • Limit Distractions: Keep your phone in your pocket or bag (unless you really need it for safety reasons) and focus on your surroundings or your thoughts to foster a sense of tranquillity.

After the Walk

  • Congratulate Yourself: it can be nice to appreciate the effort you went to, fostering a feeling of achievement.
  • Stretch: Perform gentle stretches to relieve tension in your muscles, particularly in your legs and feet.
  • Check for Injuries: Inspect your feet and body for any signs of discomfort or injury.
  • Rehydrate: Drink water to replenish fluids lost during the walk.
  • Rest and Recover: Allow yourself some downtime to relax and recover from the activity.
  • Reminisce and Reflect: think about the most enjoyable parts of the walk.  If you went out with a walking partner, relive the best parts together.

Now that you know the key components of a rejuvenating nature walk, you’re ready to step outside without worrying about the burdens of everyday life.  Incorporating these techniques into your walk can enhance your relaxation and enjoyment of the outdoors.

Categories
Mindfulness

The “5 senses”, Proprioception and Mindfulness

Our 5 senses?

Common belief is that we have five primary senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. However, those five senses are only a fraction of our sensory capabilities. We actually possess several more senses, including vestibular (balance), interoception (awareness of internal body signals such as hunger or thirst) and proprioception, which will be explained below. These other senses contribute significantly to our understanding of ourselves and our environment. Nevertheless, the perception of “five senses” persists, mostly due to cultural simplicity and educational traditions.

Exploring our other senses reveals a more intricate and fascinating interplay between us and the world around us. Proprioception is a crucial yet often overlooked sense that plays a significant role in our overall awareness and mindfulness. Understanding proprioception can enhance our mindfulness practice.

What is proprioception?

Proprioception is the sense of being in our body in a place. It involves sensory receptors located in muscles, tendons, and joints that send information to the brain about body posture, movement and balance. Proprioception helps us move through space confidently without needing to look at our limbs constantly.

Consider the following two examples:

  • Walking on Uneven Ground: When walking on a path with rocks, grass and roots, our proprioceptors help us adjust our foot placement without needing to look at every step. This helps us move smoothly and safely.
  • Stretching or Yoga: During a yoga pose, such as a downward dog, proprioception helps maintain balance by understanding how our body is oriented and if we need to make any adjustments to hold the pose effectively.

Proprioception and Mindfulness

Mindfulness emphasises being present in the moment, focusing on bodily sensations, thoughts, and feelings. Proprioception enhances this experience by helping us focus on our body and feel physical sensations. In a lot of ways, it is the most important sense during mindfulness practices such as meditation or mindful walking.

Benefits of Integrating Proprioception in Mindfulness Practices

  1. Enhanced Body Awareness: By sharpening proprioceptive skills, we become more attuned to physical sensations. This helps us engage more deeply in mindfulness practices.
  2. Improved Focus and Concentration: Proprioceptive exercises can help reduce distractions during mindfulness practices by grounding us in the present. When our body is aligned and understood, our mind can focus better.
  3. Stress Reduction: Being aware of proprioceptive feedback can help us relax. For example, recognising muscle tension helps us release that tension, thereby promoting a sense of calm.
  4. Mind-Body Connection: Proprioception fosters a strong connection between mind and body. As we become more aware of our bodily sensations, we can better understand how emotions manifest physically, which then lets us regulate them.

Research Supporting the Link Between Proprioception and Mindfulness

Various studies show the relationship between proprioception and mindfulness. Research indicates that mindfulness practices enhance body awareness and proprioceptive acuity, leading to improved psychological well-being (Keng et al., 2011).

Additionally, research on trauma and proprioception suggests that enhancing this sense can help individuals reconnect with their bodies, fostering healing. By integrating proprioceptive awareness into mindfulness, practitioners can develop a more profound sense of safety and security in their bodies, essential for trauma recovery (Levine, 1997).

Conclusion

Proprioception is not just a basic sensory input; it serves as a foundation for enhancing mindfulness practices. By developing a keen sense of body awareness through proprioceptive training, we can deepen our mindfulness practice, promote emotional regulation and foster a stronger mind-body connection. As we continue to explore the interplay between these two elements, the potential for personal growth and healing becomes increasingly clear.

References

  • Keng, S.L., Smoski, M.J. & Robins, C.J. (2011) ‘Effects of mindfulness on psychological health: A review of empirical studies’, Journal of Clinical Psychology, 67(2), pp. 124-133. doi: 10.1002/jclp.20758. Available at: https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=91248 (Accessed: 12 November 2025).
  • Levine, P. A. (1997). Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma. North Atlantic Books.

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General

Hyperventilation and what to do about it

Have you ever hyperventilated?  It’s not a pleasant feeling, and you won’t forget it when it happens.  A really bad attack can feel as if we’re suffocating and/or about to die.  So what is going on and why does it happen?  More importantly, what can we do about it?

Note: before reading on, please note that breathing issues can happen due to a range of conditions. The information on the rest of this page only applies once you have eliminated any physical causes.

Why do we hyperventilate?

When we need to respond to a threat, our body reflexively supplies our muscles with more oxygen to prepare for physical activity, either to fight the threat or run away from it.  This makes perfect sense from a survival point of view.  However, most stressful situations in the modern world (such as being stuck in traffic when late for work) do not need nor benefit from us running away or physically attacking someone or something! 

As such, physical activity that would use up the excess oxygen does not occur, and our body ends up saturated with too much oxygen and too little carbon dioxide.  When this happens, we can feel short of breath, leading us to gasp in air even more quickly, which then makes us frightened and saturates our body with even more oxygen.  This can trigger a vicious circle of fear or even a full-blown panic attack.

What can we do when this happens? I’m going to give a very brief overview of two techniques I have found helpful: controlled breathing and muscle relaxation.

Controlled breathing techniques

We can use controlled breathing to counter this reaction, thereby inducing a calmer feeling, reduced serum cortisol levels, lower heart rate, lower blood pressure and a generally more relaxed experience.  The technique typically involves sitting in a quiet place, noticing the rise and fall of the ribcage, and controlling the speed of each breath in and out while saying calming things to ourselves. 

Some people find a timed breathing exercise helps, where we count while focusing on the breath.  For example, the 4-4-8 exercise, where we inhale through the nose for a count of four, hold the breath for a count of four and exhale to the count of eight.  By so doing, we allow the body to rebalance the respiratory gas disparity, thereby stopping the hyperventilation vicious circle and relaxing mind and body.

Systematic muscle relaxation

We can also use systematic muscle relaxation alongside (or instead of) the breathing technique.  In this technique, we work throughout the body, tensing and then relaxing each muscle/muscle group in turn.  One method is to start with the fists then work to the forearms, shoulders and the rest of the body.  As well as being relaxing in its own right, the technique allows a client to learn to the difference between tense and relaxed muscles, thereby recognising when they are tense, relaxed or anywhere in-between.  The technique is simple, easy to remember and can be done anywhere to help someone relax; for example, a person having a stressful day at work could retreat to the toilet for 10 minutes to carry out the exercise, which allows for a degree of discretion and privacy.

Closing comments

Now you know a bit more about hyperventilation and techniques that can help relieve it, you can hopefully look into the subject more deeply and perhaps practice the techniques.  I do offer sessions on both controlled breathing and muscle relaxation techniques, so feel free to contact me if you would like to explore these options further.

Categories
Mindfulness

Mindfulness: some final thoughts

If you’ve been looking at my last few posts, you might be wondering where I’m going with it all.  Why am I spending a lot of time discussing meditation?  Why mindfulness?  Why am I examining sound effects and music?  Meditation and mindfulness are so similar to self-hypnosis that it’s worth looking at the whole area together.  I run mindfulness group sessions and, where appropriate, I teach people self-hypnosis or how to meditate under their own initiative.  Learning these techniques is empowering and can substantially improve the following:

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Stress

For example, see this study, which was based on the bemindfulonline course, found that people who took the mindfulness course reported a 58% reduction in anxiety, 57% reduction in depression and 40% reduction in stress.  Based on these figures, and my own experience, this course is worth looking at; I took it in 2020 and noticed a big difference over several weeks.  I still do some mindful activities every day, and my mood has increased significantly.

Once the course is finished, it can be beneficial to continue practicing mindfulness.  The course authors have both published at least one book each, and I found both books accessible, easy to follow and useful.  For example, this audiobook is really good, as Tessa herself narrates it, and I find her voice calming and relaxing.  Ed’s book is also excellent, but I can’t find an audio version of it as of Feb 2022.

As well as the books, mindfulness group sessions can be a nice place to share the space with other like-minded people while encouraging each other and potentially making new friends.  I run these periodically and I’m always open to considering running such groups on demand.

Now that you know even more about mindfulness, you’re ready to start giving it a go in your own way.  Because we’ve looked at a range of research studies, we can conclude that mindfulness is a credible self-care option.

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Mindfulness

Mindfulness, meditation and music

Following up on last week’s post about meditation, today’s post will go into more detail about using sound as part of our meditation practice.  I get asked a lot of questions about using music and sound effects, and I’ll address the most common ones today. 

The first question is: should I use any sound (e.g. music) or not?  One study [1] found that music made no significant difference to mindfulness effectiveness; the meditation was no better or worse when people listened to music.  Although one small study does not give us a definitive answer, we can nevertheless use these results to conclude that using music comes down to personal choice, and will probably not make your practice any better or worse.

The next question is what kind of sound?  This is more complicated, as everybody has different tastes.  I’ve meditated to ACDC and to a one chord relaxation track, and my relaxation levels depend on my mood at the time.  Be that as it may, a study [2] compared the effects of 3 different sound conditions experienced before taking part in a stressful task:

  1. Choral music
  2. The sound of rippling water
  3. Rest without acoustic stimulation

The ‘choral music’ was ‘Miserere’ by Allegri.  Before considering the results, we must bear in mind that one song is not going to be to everybody’s taste (although, to be fair, the researchers did take time to check participants’ musical tastes). 

The study found that listening to music before carrying out a stress-inducing and mental arithmetic task did not create any significant psychological effects between the three groups.  Even more surprisingly, the research found higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the music group, which indicates that they remained stressed for longer than the other groups.  The rippling water group showed the lowest cortisol levels.  However, the researchers did cite numerous other studies (e.g. [3]) that found the opposite; that music was associated with lower cortisol concentrations, as well as lower pain and anxiety.

I will return to this discussion every so often, as there is a lot more to think about than there is room for in today’s blog. For now, we have seen how complex this area is, we have seen research findings that argue the case for and against using sounds, we have seen that the type of sound (e.g. music or sound effects) seems to affect our responses.

You’re hopefully ready to think about this critically and experiment with different sounds (or no sounds at all) to choose the ones that work best for you.  For me, especially having seen such a diversity of research findings, this is definitely one area to which the process of ‘learning by doing’ applies.  Happy meditating!

References

  1. ‘Effect of Music on a Mindfulness Experience: An Online Study’ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0197455621000721 [Accessed 31st January 2022]

2. ‘The Effect of Music on the Human Stress Response’ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3734071/ [Accessed 31st January 2022]

3. ‘Music Therapy May Reduce Pain and Anxiety in Children Undergoing Medical and Dental Procedures’ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2778574/ [Accessed 31st January 2022]

Categories
Mindfulness

Free Mindfulness Meditation Recording Uploaded to Youtube

Staying with the subject of audio recordings, we’ve uploaded a free mindfulness meditation audio onto Youtube.

This could be the first of many. Head over to Youtube and have a look (or listen!)

Categories
Mindfulness

Mindfulness meditation audio recordings

Have you ever tried to meditate?  If so, you’ll know that it’s difficult because our brains are very skilled at wandering, even when we don’t want them to!  So what do you do?  Many people have succeeded by using voice recordings to help keep them on track.  But there are several things you should know before you buy such a recording.  This post will tell you what you need to know to make sure you choose a recording that helps you meditate easily and successfully.

If you’re looking for an effective audio recording, the best way to ensure you end up with something that helps you meditate is by doing these things:

  • Make sure you can preview the track before you buy it.  If you don’t, you might have trouble concentrating.  For example, somebody’s voice might not work for you; the voice might annoy you, the production could be messy or there is music in the background you don’t like.  Any of these things can make you less likely to keep listening.
  • This might sound obvious, but ensure your playback device is compatible with the recording so you can actually listen to the track.  For example, audio tapes are still widely available, which is fine if you have a cassette player.  So read carefully.
  • Make sure you have a comfortable, safe space to play the track in.  Even the best recording in the world will be wasted if you don’t have a place to enjoy it.
  • Don’t listen to the track while you’re driving, especially if you’re tired!

Now that you know a bit more about using meditation recordings, you’re ready to choose the right track for you without worrying that you’re going to waste your money.