I am not someone who does well with mindfulness or "being present." I struggle to keep my thoughts and body still.
This is, of course, something I've known about myself for a long time, but it didn't really hit home until a Skype call a few weeks ago. I'd put my laptop up on the kitchen counter so I could clean up after dinner and put dishes away while we spoke – something that felt totally normal to me in any real-life conversation, during which I buzz around my apartment doing things, but which my friend found disorienting (and, I'm afraid, probably rude). So I stopped and stood in front of the computer, unsure what to do with my hands when they didn't hold anything. I tucked my hair behind my ear, untucked it, retucked. "Are you done now?" she asked politely.
All of this is to say: if you have a similar problem, have I got the mindfulness exercise for you.
Put on a song you love and dance it out. That's it. You can do this sitting in a chair, standing up, however is most comfortable to you. The focus isn't on "performance" so much as it is on what makes you feel good. Musicality, not technique.
I like midtempo hiphop or indie electronic for this, something with an emphatic drumbeat that starts out slow. (Like "Closer" by Tegan & Sara, for example. A faster song like Janelle Monae's "Americans" also works for this, since it starts with that gorgeous, synthy choir.)
The quieter start is important for this, because (in my experience) it serves two purposes:
allows you to ease into the movement, and
requires you to be more present in your body, since the music isn't overwhelming.
Focus on one body part at a time during the slow intro. Isolate as much as you can, paying attention to each. Let yourself move in a way that feels natural, whatever form that takes. What does this feel like? Observe the sensations of letting yourself open. Then, when the chorus picks up, let yourself go.
-HL