Your daily routines can be perfect opportunities for you to practice meditation. Whether it be washing or eating or any other way to care for yourself, practicing your meditation can make your routine more enjoyable while simultaneously helping you develop the calm and self-control of the frequent meditator. With the right tub and the right techniques, a tub meditation can be an intensely refreshing way to prepare yourself for a busy week. Follow these 5 techniques for a broad sensory experience!
Sight
Meditation can be done with the eyes open or shut. Even a sight-focused meditation can be done with the eyes shut! Your eyes continue to send an image to your mind even while closed, so a closed-eyed meditation is a great time to focus on the dim light your eyes perceive through your eyelids. You can also dim or shut off the bathroom lights to focus on the sight of darkness. Try opening your eyes and just letting the sight of the room fill up your focus and awareness. Lying back in your tub can help relax you and eliminate distractions so you can focus on your vision.
Hearing
Silence, white noise, and music are all great ways to mix up a hearing-focused meditation session. Dipping your eyes beneath the water in your tub can be a powerful technique to let the white noise of the water swallow up your attention, leaving you calm and relaxed. Soft, slow music while you bathe can make for a beautiful experience and a beautiful meditation focus.
Smelling
Bath fragrances, candles, and food can all leave your bathroom suffused with pleasant smells to focus on. Find a comfortable position in your bathtub, close your eyes, and let the smells in your nose push away intrusive or cycling thoughts.
Taste
We're so used to eating our food quickly and efficiently that it can be quite a break from our usual habits to simply focus on the flavor of something without quickly consuming it. Relax in your tub and put a small piece of chocolate in your mouth. Close your eyes, and let the flavor fill up your attention without chewing or moving it around your mouth. Coconut, honey, and carrots can be other great choices for this exercise.
Touch
The water of your tub is constantly stimulating every inch of your submerged body. We usually ignore most of the feeling of water touching our skin in the water, but try to notice and focus on more and more of the feelings that your skin is experiencing. You can also focus on how the surface of the water floats gently up and down against the cross-section of your skin that lies on the edge between the water and air.
With these techniques and many others, bathing can become your go-to activity for developing your meditation!