The No. 1 and No. 2 Sneakiest Ways to Practice Mindfulness Most Meditation Teachers Keep to Themselves

You don’t have time to practice mindfulness, right?

I get it.

But, do you have time to go to the bathroom?

Hear me out.

Meditating for twenty minutes every day is not the only way to develop mindful awareness.

One liberating way is to notice you’re alive more often than never — without drawing attention to yourself.

Instead of scanning your calendar for potential pockets of silence and serenity, consider getting a bit of double-duty from your bodily functions.

Goldfish in the privacy of bowls do it

I couldn’t be more serious.

We eventually manage to find the time to attend to the body’s basic needs.

We often fly through the details without giving them a thought — which makes them rich playgrounds for adding a pinch more awareness now and then.

This includes eating, drinking water, and sleeping. It also includes going to the bathroom.

Number one

A full bladder can be an amazing mindfulness teacher.

Notice when it sends sensory signals that it’s starting to fill up.

Notice when it reaches full capacity.

Notice the relief that comes from relieving the pressure.

Number two

You get the idea. You can apply it to bowel-based sensory data, too.

This is a carefully guarded mindfulness secret. You’re regularly sitting on a gold mine of pleasant sensations that go unnoticed. Giving them a brief spotlight can be shockingly satisfying.

I dare you to try shifting your attention from what you’re thinking about in the bathroom to track the physical relief playing out right under your nose.

As meditation teacher Eric Harrison points out,

“Being present is not just about smelling the roses. It is also about smelling the shit.”

The most difficult aspect of mindfulness practice is remembering to do it consistently — and approaching it too narrowly.

Secretly savoring the relief of elimination could keep you quietly occupied for the rest of your life. Nobody ever needs to know.