Practice of Awe is a mindfulness practice, or more precisely, a micro-dosing mindfulness practice.

AWE is defined as that feeling we get in the presence of something vast that challenges our understanding of the world, like looking up at millions of stars in the night sky or marveling at the vastness of a plain. Feeling awe is described by people with many other words, such as wonder, amazement, surprise, or transcendence.

Many studies found that cultivating mindfulness helps overcome anxiety and alleviate depression.

To help you find awe inside your home, scientist suggest a simple strategy, abbreviated with the acronym AWE itself.

A for Attention:

Choose what you pay attention to. We usually don’t choose and focus on many things around us, keeping our minds wandering.

But you can choose with practice. Whatever you are doing, bathing, reading, writing emails, browsing, watching TV- try to focus on it and live the present moment. Pay focused attention to the things you appreciate, value or find wonderfully amazing.

This will help reduce anxiety a lot.

W for Wait :

After focusing your attention, your mind quiets down. What you need to do next is wait. Wait for one whole inhalation at least to perceive the effect.

A state of coherence will prevail now with sharp senses and quiet mind.

E for Exhale and Expand:

Combine your focused attention with a respiratory pattern in which the expiration phase is as twice as the inspiration phase.

When you do so, you open your gateway to Awe. When you exhale you actually relax and when you expand you in fact amplify your sensations.

Deep exhalation activates the vagus nerve, which stimulates the parasympathetic  system—lowering  pulse rate, decreasing blood pressure, and reducing muscular tension. The contraction of the diaphragm during exhalation sends a message to the brain to release dopamine—enhancing  mood, creating a calming effect, and acting as a pain killer.

It is the contrast between the two states that awakens awe. First, you quiet your mind with focused attention creating a quiet inner peace, you wait, and then you experience your own inner light show sharpening your senses. As this happens, your sense of self becomes less dominant, less central. Instead of feeling as though everything revolves around you, you find yourself part of something larger.

Where to focus

1. Look at  home as a museum

Take a bit of time to wander around  home and stop long enough to appreciate some of the things you have there.

• Do you have a piece of art, a photograph that you can look at attentively?

• Do you have any sculptures, or light fixtures, mirrors, or lamps that have some story behind them?  Or a blanket, pillow, rug, or vase?

• When something attracts your attention, stop, wait, and breathe in slowly while giving your full attention to whatever you’re looking at.

• Notice its qualities, characteristics, and smallest details.

• Does it bring up any memories?

• Who gave it to you, how did you get it?

• What happened to them?

• How did you end up with this piece in your house? 

As you appreciate what you look at, exhale slowly, expand and allow yourself to take in the present moment.

2. Cook like a Zen monk

• Using all your senses, notice the feel, weight of each ingredient, utensil, drawer pull.

• Notice the cold coming toward you from the fridge when you open the door.

• Notice the stove heat.

• Notice all the things you never noticed before during cooking.

• Notice the smell of each ingredient.

• Consciously notice how you are putting one ingredient away and reaching for the next one.

• Notice each movement you make—the stirring, the lifting.

• Spoon your meal onto your plate as though it were a gift to yourself, which it is.

• Sit and eat quietly and consciously.

At any point in the process, attend fully to what you are doing, waiting, pausing, inhaling , exhaling and feeling awe.

3. Shower with your whole mind

Showering is an ordinary activity we do almost every day. It’s a good place for creative thinking but also a great place for an AWEgasmic experience.

• Slip into the stream and notice the sensation of the water bouncing off and stimulating your arms, head, face, back, and neck.

• Turn around and around and stay with the sensation of water contacting your skin.

• Play with different temperatures, hot to warm to cold and back to warm again.

• Notice the sound of the water and the scents of soap and shampoo and the smooth soapy contact of your hands on your body.

When a sensation captivates your attention, inhale, wait . . . then exhale and allow your senses to expand.