Mindfulness is not meditation, as I tell my clients. It can be mediation, but I share other, easier examples of mindfulness with my clients during our sessions, if they are interested. Holding an ice cube, drawing pictures with the non-dominant hand or just observing your surroundings. I use a book called Mindfulness On the Go, by Jan Chozen Bays. It is helpful to spend a few minutes talking about how these examples can help us slow down and “let go of busy.”
From the book, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy by Germer, Siegel and Fulton:
You are using both awareness and attention to read these words. Mindfulness is the opposite of being on autopilot. It is paying attention to what is salient in the present moment. When mindfulness is transported to the therapeutic arena, its definition often expands to include non judgement: “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non judgmentally to the unfolding of the experience moment to moment”(Kabat-Zinn,2003, p.145).