Mindful dishwashing can decrease stress and calm the mind, a new study finds.
People in the study focused on the smell of the soap, the feel and shape of the dishes to help them enter a mindful state.
Doing the dishes in a mindful way also increased the pleasurable feeling of time slowing down, the researchers found.
Mr Adam Hanley, the study's first author, said:
"I've had an interest in mindfulness for many years, both as a contemplative practitioner and a researcher.In the study 51 people were split into two groups.
I was particularly interested in how the mundane activities in life could be used to promote a mindful state and, thus, increase overall sense of well-being."
One group did the dishes in their normal way — most likely while letting their minds wander to the usual anxieties.
The other group were encouraged to focus on the sensory experience of washing the dishes.
The mindful group showed a 27% decrease in nervousness.
They also reported a 25% increase in mental inspiration.
This was an impressive result given that people were only washing dishes for six minutes.
The study's authors write:
"It is interesting to note that a task potentially construed as unpleasant or a "chore" can be experienced as reducing nervousness and being inspirational by simply shifting one's approach to the task and quality of attention.Why stop at mindful dishwashing?
That mindfulness practices elevate mindfulness, encourage positive affect, and decrease negative affect is well established; however, that these changes were associated with the coupling of a mindful practice with an everyday task is a novel finding."
Mindfulness can be incorporated into almost any ordinary or even extraordinary activity.
Here are a few suggestions: Mindfulness Meditation: 8 Quick Exercises That Fit into Your Day
The study was published in the journal Mindfulness (Hanley et al., 2015).
It has been well understood by enlightened cultures around the world that mindfulness in mundane tasks can free and elevate the mind.
We of the western culture have shunned those beliefs in favor of the more 'logical' sciences.
It's funny to me how we are seeing a return to these original old world values and practices.
It's like we are a culture of rebelling teenagers that shun the wisdom of their elders because we want to "do it our own way".
Imagine where we would be today if we had decided instead to use the wisdom of the ancients and improve upon it.
We waste so much time relearning things that we already know.