If you have ADHD, focusing on your breath might sound like an impossibility. The concept of clearing your mind, not getting distracted and only focusing on one thing might even make you laugh.
Traditional meditation is a great concept. This is the "focus on your breath" kind - where you are encouraged to let distractions go by gently acknowledging them and then coming back to your breath over and over and over.
It is also a great concept that traditional meditation could retrain an "over-active" ADHD brain to focus more often, maybe even creating this habit outside of the meditation itself, creating a bit of a slow-down effect through the rest of our lives.
This is entirely possible.
If you have ever said "meditation doesn’t work," and you have ADHD, I have good news for you.
There are multiple ways to actively meditate, whether you are moving your body or staying generally still. The trick is to let your active ADHD mind go - within the container you create:
Walking - concentrate on the feeling of the weight in your feet with each step. Notice where you place your heel and roll to the balls of your feet and toes, left foot and right foot, so on… notice the movement of your arms as they sway, back and forth with your pace and your steps…notice your body moving up and down as you walk… you might notice that even visualizing this helped you meditate on it.
Yoga - yoga is a powerful form of body meditation. As you move through each pose, concentrate on placement of your feet, alignment of your limbs, notice where you feel the concentration of energy and send your focus there - meditate on the spaces you feel intensity - feel them release. This can be done whether you are doing a Power flow or a Yin series.
Visualization - using our active ADHD mind to let it go and visualize a myriad of things. What if you were a bird? Imagine sitting on the top of a tree near your house, or in your favorite city or vacation destination - what do you see? What kind of bird are you? What color are your feathers? If you take flight, how big is your wing span? Where do you fly? See the roads, trees, water, cars, people, beaches, ocean, and other creatures. Go with it! Let your mind take you away.
Breathing - you CAN work with your breath to meditate but you don't have to shun other thoughts. Most humans only breathe with 20% of their lung capacity - our breaths are short and shallow. A great way to expand the awareness of your breath is to take slightly deeper and deeper breaths one after the other; challenging yourself to inhale just sliiiightly more each time - and noticing where you are breathing - in to your chest? Or your belly? Try moving the breath through your belly instead, and see how your nervous system responds…
Book a Discovery Call and let's explore what we can do together to support you thriving with ADHD!
Erin
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