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You Don't Have to Close Your Eyes to Practice Mindfulness
- Calm with Character
- Mar 18, 2022
- 2 min read
Mindfulness is often thought of as meditation and sitting still that requires time and dedication. Sitting still with our eyes closed may feel overwhelming, especially for students with trauma or anxiety. However, it is a lot more than that. Mindfulness is the act of being in the present moment and letting go of thoughts about yesterday or what will happen tomorrow. Trauma-informed practices with mindfulness involve creating a sense of safety for students, so they can freely practice the activities.
Students can practice mindfulness without closing their eyes or forcing themselves to sit still. This is very important for students who need the added sense of safety. Give students the option to keep their eyes open or closed during your mindful breathing activities. You can also do different focus activities. Guide your students to be in the present moment with mindfulness activities such as nature walks where they are focused on the presence of finding different elements of nature. Ask students to take a minute to notice everything the color red in their surroundings. Guiding students through the five senses in a mindful breathing activity is an exemplary way to show students how they can practice breathing and be in the present moment without the pressures of meditative stillness. Try this activity with students:
This is such a grounding read — and honestly something so many of us students needed to hear! The idea that mindfulness doesn't require perfect stillness or closed eyes makes it feel genuinely achievable on a busy day. As someone juggling multiple deadlines, I used to dismiss mindfulness entirely because I couldn't "switch off." But the five senses breathing exercise described here is something I could actually do at my desk between study sessions. Interestingly, this connects to broader conversations around workplace wellbeing too — even when researching HR Dissertation Topics, themes like employee mental health and stress management keep coming up as deeply relevant areas. Platforms like New Assignment Help UK have helped me manage academic pressure more calmly,…
This post genuinely changed how I think about mindfulness! As a student, I always assumed I was "doing it wrong" because sitting still with closed eyes just made my mind race even faster. The five senses breathing activity is something I actually tried during a study break today, and it worked beautifully — just noticing colours, sounds, and textures around me brought me back to the present without any pressure. Honestly, student life can feel overwhelming, especially when deadlines pile up alongside personal stress. That's exactly why platforms like New Assignment Help UK provide assignment samples for students, helping reduce academic anxiety so there's actually mental space left to practice habits like this. Mindfulness doesn't have to be perfect or…
This is such a refreshing reminder! I used to think mindfulness meant sitting cross-legged with my eyes shut, so I never felt like I was "doing it right." Learning that you can be mindful while walking, eating, or even just breathing with your eyes open completely changed things for me. As a student constantly juggling deadlines and relying on an Assignment Helper to stay organized, I rarely paused to just be present. But lately, I've started practicing open-eyed mindfulness during study breaks — simply noticing my surroundings — and it genuinely reduces my stress. Thank you for making mindfulness feel so accessible and human!
I love how this highlights mindfulness as a flexible practice you can fit into daily life, not just formal meditation. I found a similar approach useful when tackling an affordable assignment; staying present and organized helped me focus, especially while using a NEBOSH exam preparation service to manage complex requirements efficiently.
I really appreciated the point about practicing mindfulness even with your eyes open; it resonates deeply with staying present in everyday tasks. Maintaining that focus has even helped me approach complex academic work more calmly. On a related note, I found that affordable research proposal editing through Academic Editors helped me keep my submissions precise without losing that mindful clarity.