The Mindful Shower

Tips + Tools for a Mindful Start to your Day

In our family home, bath time with the kids is a time for being present with each other in our hectic go-go-go lives.

It’s loud with giggles and squeals.
It’s full of bubbles and splashes of water.
It’s filled with scents (current fave is the Root Beer Bubble Bath).
It’s filled with textures.
Nobody leaves dry (especially the clothed adults) but everyone (usually) leaves with a smile on their face.

Shower time for the adults in our house is much quieter… but it still involves fully engaging our senses! The mornings are a time for mom and dad to have our first mindful moment, setting the tone for the day.

Kids or no kids, you too can benefit from setting a mindful tone for the day, to lower your cortisol levels and awaken the senses for the day ahead.

How can you sprinkle your shower with mindful awareness?

• Breathe: When you first step into the shower, take one deep inhale through the nose to the count of 4, hold for 7, and take an extended exhale through the mouth to a count of 8. Sigh as you exhale. Do a few cycles of this breathing exercise to start your shower time. This is your moment, here and now, you have nowhere else to be.

• Smell: Use a toxin-free body wash and soap bars to engage your senses. My husband and I are currently loving the Vanilla Coconut Everything Wash, and the Juicy Orange Natural Bar Soap. You can also put a couple drops of organic essential oil on the floor of the shower. Close your eyes and inhale the aroma deeply.

• Feel: Notice the glide of the soap bar, or the the gritty exfoliating effect of a Soap Sack or Body Scrub along your skin. Notice the temperature of the water and how it varies head to toe. Notice the texture of your hair between your fingers as you wash it.
• Listen: There are layers of sound in the shower… the sound of the water coming from the shower head, the sound of lathering shampoo in the hair, the sound of treating your skin with a scrub.

• See: Watch the bubbles forming on your skin, the water cascading down your body and swirling down the shower drain.
• Mind The Mind: It’s easy to think of a million things in the shower… from the emails awaiting you in your inbox, to what to make for breakfast, using those minutes you’re in the shower to plan your day or rehearse events of the previous day. The mind will naturally wander in the shower, it takes practice and anchoring into your senses with the tips above to start to be more mindful in the sensual experience of a shower.

Mindfulness practice doesn’t have to be quiet, and it doesn’t have to be done on your own. Mindfulness is about tapping into your senses and noticing what’s going on within you — mind+body+heart — and around you in your environment.

Gather your mindful showering tools and have a calm yet rejuvenating start to your day tomorrow. If you’re looking for more mindful living for real life tips, find @wholistichealthyyc on Instagram, or visit www.wholistichealthyyc.com.

Guest Contributor: 
Sally Powis-Campbell, a local Registered Psychologist, Yoga Teacher, Meditation Guide, Author and Public Speaker who is passionate about helping people infuse mindfulness into their everyday lives.