Brushing Your Teeth

Hi, welcome to this mindfulness activity for brushing your teeth. Who knew something that we do every single day could be transformed into a mindful moment. And that's what makes this activity a great place to start for bringing more mindfulness into our every day. In this practice, we're simply brushing our teeth and that's it. Being fully present with the different sensations that arise through sight, scent, touch, taste and sound. If the mind wanders away from this activity, just kindly bring it back to whatever sensation you're paying attention to in that moment. Before we begin, take a deep breath or two and just take a moment to notice your surroundings. The room that you're in. The lighting. And then noticing your body, your mind. Maybe you're relaxing the muscles in and around the face. Unclenching your jaw. And before you brush your teeth, take three deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth. And as you apply your toothpaste to your toothbrush, noticing what you can see and sense in this moment. Maybe there's a particular sound, scent, texture. As you begin to brush your teeth, notice the toothpaste that you're using. What color is it? Does it have a scent? And what else can you see or sense? Notice the movement of your body. And as you brush your teeth and gums, notice the position of your hands, arms and shoulders. Gently noticing the texture and taste, the presence of your toothbrush as it meets your teeth, your tongue. And with each brush, noticing the bristles making contact with the grooves of your teeth. On the fronts and backsides of your teeth. Maybe your mind has wandered off to your to-do list or what you'll be doing next. So just gently guiding it back to the different sensations. Continuing to brush your teeth as if it was the only thing you had to do today. Taking your time to be fully present and fully here. Just taking a moment to pause before you do anything else. And just noticing how the mouth feels. Expanding the awareness to the rest of your body. I know it may seem a bit funny or awkward to be brushing your teeth in this way, but applying mindfulness to these activities that we tend to do on autopilot helps us to carry this sense of awareness and presence with us outside of our meditation practice. This is meditation in action. So continue practicing this and be sure to check out the other mindful activities that we have in the app....