I am trying to be more present. It has felt almost impossible to quiet my mind recently and to sit with myself and my thoughts. But as someone with anxiety, I am trying to be more in the moment and have been adding things to my mindfulness toolbox.
Many of my practices are standard mindfulness practices, such as gratitude journaling, meditation, and breathing exercises. But I also practice mindfulness in other ways, such as dancing and reading, specifically reading out loud.
I have always loved reading out loud. I won’t claim I’m always very good at it, but I always loved it. As a child, I’d read to my parents, pets, and toys. As teens, my friends and I would take turns reading the Drivers Manual to each other; not because it was fun, but because it was NOT fun. We needed some way to keep ourselves paying attention to what we were reading. I did this again in graduate school when I’d read some of my more boring assigned reading out loud to my pet bird.
As an adult, I have, of course, read out loud a lot for work in the form of Storytime, but I also read out loud in writing groups, to the congregation of my church, or sometimes even to my friends.
I had never considered this an act of mindfulness. It was either for fun or because I felt like my attention span needed an extra boost (something my constant doom-scrolling has contributed to).
Reading wasn’t always something people did silently to themselves; it used to be a social activity. We shared the day’s news around a dinner table, bar, and stories were often told during teatime or by the campfire. I’m making the argument that we could bring that tradition back.
Elaine Smookler, a registered psychotherapist and mindfulness teacher, says, “Mindfulness is about engagement. It is about awakening to the moment.” And oftentimes, we think of mindfulness as engaging with ourselves, but we should be thinking about it as engaging with others, too, as being present with the ones we care about. Reading aloud can be a powerful instrument of connection. What if we read “bedtime stories” to our partners? What if we read some poems to our friends at brunch? In our book clubs, we all commit to reading the same book – yet we do the reading part alone. If you’re already part of a book club, you might suggest reading the first few chapters of the next book together.
This doesn’t mean you can’t read aloud by yourself. Reading aloud alone can be a powerful way to connect with the voice of the author you’re reading – and your own physical voice. Pick a favorite poem, speech, or monologue – how does it feel to connect with it in this way?
And if you’re still not convinced about reading out loud, reading quietly to yourself can be a mindfulness tool, too!
There is this odd pressure when it comes to reading. We can become so focused on reading as many books as possible—like it’s a competition. Reading as mindfulness means taking your time and enjoying the reading journey instead of just focusing on getting to the end.
Here is a simple reading meditation, something you can do the next time you read to connect with the act of reading and be present.
- Consider the format you’re reading from. Is it a hardcover, paperback, or an e-reader? How big is it? If it’s a physical book – what do the pages feel like? If it’s an e-reader – notice the brightness of the screen.
- When reading, focus on how your eyes move across the text. Read with intent. With each sentence, think, “Have I read all of the words?”
- Throughout your reading, notice your breathing and your heart rate. Do they change in response to the content you’re reading?
- When you’re finished – think about how that chapter, book, poem, etc., made you feel. Take a moment to summarize your thoughts and feelings. Feel free to journal them if you want.
With any mindfulness practice, it’s suggested that you start small. Just as you’d start with shorter meditations or simple breathing exercises and work your way up to longer ones – you can do that with reading aloud, too.
April is National Poetry Month. A way to celebrate as well as start a “reading as mindfulness” practice (whether aloud or quietly to yourself) would be to read some poetry. For folks just wanting to start getting into poetry, I will oftentimes recommend Haiku. There is Haiku for all types of readers, and many people already have an entry point of having to write some 5-7-5 (five syllable, seven syllable, five syllable) Haiku in school. Often written in just 3 lines – Haiku is a great starting place for reading poetry aloud. I like to suggest reading them twice through – the first time just to get an overall feeling for the poem, and a second time to just let each word sink in.
If you think you are ready to jump into a “reading as mindfulness” practice here is a list consisting of some books of haiku, essays, and short stories to get you started: Reading as Mindfulness | JCLS