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5 Easy Mindfulness Activities to Enjoy in Nature

With summer fast approaching, it’s the perfect time to indulge in some easy mindfulness activities outdoors. These simple activities encourage you to engage with your surroundings, reduces stress, and enriches your overall experience in nature.

Practicing mindfulness, especially outdoors is the perfect way to relax, recharge, and reconnect with the world around you. Whether you’re looking for something to do on your own or with company, here are 5 easy mindfulness activities that you can enjoy this summer. 

1) Grounding One of the easiest ways to practice mindfulness outdoors is by finding a comfortable space and grounding yourself. Grounding is a technique that helps your mind, body, and spirit reconnect with the earth and the present moment. You can do this by taking your shoes off and placing your feet on the grass and take some deep belly breaths.

Grounding, also called earthing, is a therapeutic technique that involves doing activities that “ground” or electrically reconnect you to the earth. This practice relies on earthing science and grounding physics to explain how electrical charges from the earth can have positive effects on your body. 

healthline, grounding: exploring earthing science…

2) Walking Are you familiar with the term “mindful walking?” It’s a practice that includes engaging in all five senses while immersed in nature. Leave your headphones at home and focus on the temperature, the fresh air, the sounds of nature, and the way your body feels as you walk. This simple technique requires nothing but your awareness and it’s a great form of meditation that helps with reducing stress.

3) Observing Rather than checking your phone or replaying an unpleasant situation that happened earlier, take a few moments to observe what’s happening around you. Forget the deadlines and to-do lists and just observe. What does the sky look like today? What shade of blue is it? Is traffic slow today? What can you smell? This practice connects you to the present moment and the more you do it, the easier it’ll be to incorporate into your daily routine. 

The key with this practice is to allow awareness of all of these events to come and go without clinging or attachment. Rather than getting caught up in the “should be’s” of autopilot-thinking, you drop the struggle, and embrace what is. The more you use it, the more connected and present you’ll be, and the less your day will be caught up in the dramas your mind would otherwise create. 

cogbtherapy, using the mindfulness observe skill.

4) Gardening Take advantage of the warm weather by spending a peaceful afternoon gardening. This mindful activity connects your entire body with nature. Whether you’re using your hands to plant some flowers or just admiring the birds singing, it’s a natural stress reliever that promotes a positive mood. 

5) Art Drawing and painting are great activities that encourage you to focus on the present moment, because you’re drawing/painting what’s in front of you. It’s a great way to boost your creativity and imagination. It’s a joy to see people with their sketch books or tiny easels at the park during the summertime. You don’t need to be a great artist to give this activity a try.

Drawing, doodling, coloring, and simply creating something for 20+ minutes reduces cortisol. Previous art experience is not required to reap these benefits. Art doesn’t require thought, it can be a free-flowing creative process. To practice mindful art, you can simply start creating or choose a piece of art as inspiration for your own creation.

thewholeu, Art for self-care and mental health.

Activities that encourage mindfulness don’t have to cost a lot of money or be a difficult thing to make time for. It’s available no matter where you are and all it takes is practice. What are some mindful activities that you like to enjoy outdoors? I’d love to hear your thoughts. For more posts relating to wellness, visit my tag here.

RELATED POST: Simple Ways to Practice Mindfulness Daily

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Comments

  1. I love observing different types of flowers, plants, trees, and birds, especially in the summer season. It’s like meditation to me. Good suggestions, Winnie.

    • That’s wonderful Ranjana. It truly is a form of meditation that leaves you feeling so relaxed and connected to your surroundings. Thank you for reading!

  2. Grounding is something I love the most when it comes to nature. Thanks for the things you mention in your blog post.

  3. These are wonderful ideas for mindfulness activities! It’s always nice going out for a walk in nature, and painting or drawing outside sounds lovely.

  4. I’ve been spending a lot of time in nature recently. The weather here has been excellent, and as summer really gets going, it will be far too hot to enjoy most of the day. So I’ve been trying to get it in while I can. Thanks for these suggestions–will definitely be using while I can!

  5. Walking and observing sound like great ideas for us to try. While we do go for walks, we could pay attention to our surrondings more.

    • It’s great that you go on frequent walks! Mindful walking is such a great practice and it makes you recognize the beauty around you. Thank you for reading!

  6. Lovely blog post, I try my best to take daily walks with my son so that I can have some time with my mind and relax screen free. I suppose my “art” would be in my photography too since I have to slow down and focus on my surroundings and find something to take a photo of, or maybe that’s an excuse since I can’t paint at all haha!

    • That’s wonderful Georgia Anne! Photography is another beautiful form of art that encourages mindfulness. This reminds me to start taking more photos this summer! Thank you for reading!

  7. great post! I think it’s so important to ground in nature and especially when things can be stressful or overwhelming these are really great suggestions. I love being able to go to the mountains to hike or sit by the lake it’s so soothing. Being by water has always calmed me and I found it’s so important that I make time for these things. Thanks for sharing!

    • I absolutely agree Andrea! Being near the water has an immediate calming effect. I’m hoping to spend some time at the beach this summer, as we don’t have one in our city. Thank you for reading!

  8. Going outside to enjoy a walk on a beautiful day or to spend some time in the garden are both such wonderful ways to relax. I find that just putting my hands in the dirt can be a great reprieve from looking at a screen all day.

  9. This is a truly inspiring post to me. I have heard of mindfulness before, but I knew only some bits of information. I love walking in nature and I thought I was paying attention, but your advice is something I wanna try next time. Thanks for sharing!

  10. This is a timely and helpful post for me. I appreciate all the suggestions and will focus my attention on these. Thanks for sharing Winnie!

  12. Great post! Grounding has always been my favorite to do in nature but I’ve never heard of mindful walking. I’m going to give it a try! Thank you for sharing.

  15. Lovely post and all really worthwhile activities to do in nature that are relaxing and can really help with mental health!

  17. I love grounding so much! I didnt know that was the term for it though. I like to take my shoes off and just step on the ground and stay there for a while. It is very refreshing and freeing for me. Have done painting and yes, you’re right, what a way to be present in the moment. I’ll have to try others too. Thanks for sharing these!

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