You are performing some kind of movement all day long, even while you are sleeping. Since the movement is already part of your daily routine, it makes sense to build on these routines, a bit at a time, and increase your mindfulness movement meditation.
Start with the visual of lifting, expanding, closing, and lowering your arms with breathing patterns. Lift your arms in front of you and inhale. Extend your arms out to each side and exhale. Bring your arms together in front of you and inhale. Lower your arms and exhale.
Next, add your diaphragm visualization. When you lift your arms, inhale, visualizing your diaphragm descending. When you expand your arms, exhale, visualizing your diaphragm ascending. When you bring your arms together in front of you, inhale, visualizing your diaphragm descending and when you lower your arms, exhale, visualizing your diaphragm ascending.
Once this simple mindfulness technique is more automatic, upgrade to an everyday task. For example, folding laundry. This task involves reaching forward, expanding, bringing the arms together, and lowering them. Washing dishes is another task easily adapted to mindful arm movement and breathing patterns. Or grocery shopping.
Branch out, apply the techniques to tasks more labor-intensive. Raking the yard, sweeping the floor, chopping wood, washing the car. Identify the movements of the arms, pair each movement with a diaphragm visualization, and breathing patterns. Explore slower and faster movement rhythms.
Listen to your mental chatter! Use an Emptying Thoughts method to clear the thoughts so you can focus on mindful movement meditation. When you get tired of focusing, let it go, move on and do something else.
