{"id":1467,"date":"2015-05-17T09:00:21","date_gmt":"2015-05-17T13:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/?p=1467"},"modified":"2015-05-18T12:37:34","modified_gmt":"2015-05-18T16:37:34","slug":"expanding-your-mindful-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/?p=1467","title":{"rendered":"Expanding Your Mindful Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Spring has officially sprung and with it the warmer temperatures.\u00a0 It is by no stretch that we have in fact “earned” this delightful weather.\u00a0 Through the harsh winter we have sought solace in the idea that spring was coming.\u00a0 With its arrival I have found myself taking the time a little each day to spend outside.\u00a0 The weather, the beauty of the environment where I am currently living call to me.\u00a0 I hear it in the waking hours as the birds begin their day.\u00a0 I reply to their calling with a walk.<\/p>\n

This mindful practice is something that I have participated in for many years.\u00a0 I have always found the act of walking appealing.\u00a0 You can go at your own pace, set your own rhythm and it beckons one to take note of your environment as you go along your way.\u00a0 Walking can take you on an adventure of the mind, body and soul.\u00a0 It is during my daily walk that I come to my senses.\u00a0 My sense of touch, taste, smell, sight and sound.\u00a0 I use my senses to expand my daily practice and begin my day in mindful awareness.<\/p>\n

Using your senses on a walk is one way to\u00a0encourage the mindful practice to begin.<\/p>\n

Touch- While walking I take note\u00a0of my\u00a0environment the trees with their leaves and the ground beneath my\u00a0feet.\u00a0 I will often reach out and touch the morning dew, rub it between my fingers\u00a0and feel\u00a0the dampness.\u00a0 It helps me get in touch with the idea that this is a new day,\u00a0yesterday has washed away for a new beginning and I am\u00a0refreshed and alive just as the leaves.<\/p>\n

Taste- When I set out on my walk I do so\u00a0after I have taken the time to drink a large\u00a0amount of water.\u00a0\u00a0I\u00a0find that this begins my walk with a cleansed palate.\u00a0\u00a0At times I will bring some miso soup or a tea to accompany me\u00a0on days when I might walk and feel the need\u00a0for warmth to accompany my body\u00a0in its internal morning processes.\u00a0\u00a0As I walk I may pass a stream and\u00a0stick out my tongue so as to taste the wetness\u00a0and flavor of the day.\u00a0 Each day has its own unique taste and can be\u00a0an experience\u00a0in\u00a0identifying\u00a0what sense of taste\u00a0awakens you.\u00a0\u00a0It might influence your choice of a morning breakfast or afternoon lunch.<\/p>\n

Smell-\u00a0The sense of smell is continuously being developed throughout my day but, there is something so refreshing when\u00a0I expose my\u00a0nose to the beginning of a day.\u00a0 Free of foods, perfumes\u00a0or other extra smells my nose\u00a0welcomes the flowers, the leaves\u00a0and barks of trees and the water of salt and fish.\u00a0 These resonate with me\u00a0in a comforting manner as they embrace me with\u00a0“aliveness”.<\/p>\n

Sight- Upon my walks\u00a0I\u00a0look around myself\u00a0and observe.\u00a0 I take breaks and stand in the accompany space and take in my surroundings with my eyes.\u00a0 It feels to me almost like an endless\u00a0walk through an art gallery where the colors and tapestries of the paintings are constantly changing.\u00a0 I enjoy\u00a0by\u00a0sometimes bringing\u00a0my phone with a camera on it and taking pictures.\u00a0 I might share these\u00a0with friends or use it as a picture for my phone.<\/p>\n

Sound-\u00a0My ears are\u00a0open to the sounds of the day and especially when I walk.\u00a0 It helps me to\u00a0take time to be silent in my endless chattered mind when I give myself over to embracing the sounds of the day.\u00a0 I become wrapped in the space and the sounds carry a symphony of their own.\u00a0 I particularly enjoying having these sounds be my first in the morning before I turn on the radio, listen to the news.<\/p>\n

Within all these practices I help to cultivate an awareness of myself through my experience of my surroundings.\u00a0 I begin the day with an openness that gives me an opportunity to bring myself in touch with my mind, body and spirit.\u00a0 Through this I find myself in a place of receiving.\u00a0 Receiving invites new energy and with this I find my day has brought me to an awakening of my spirit.<\/p>\n

What more can we ask for in a morning?<\/p>\n

In health,<\/p>\n

Safara<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spring has officially sprung and with it the warmer temperatures.\u00a0 It is by no stretch that we have in fact […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1467"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1470,"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467\/revisions\/1470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}