Mindful Driving
Here are a few suggestions for practicing meditation and mindfulness as it relates to driving.
(Please note that these practices are intended to promote focus and calm behind the wheel. It is not recommended to pursue any practice that distracts from your safety. Please drive carefully.)
- Before you start the engine, take a moment or two to sit. Become aware of your breath: take a few deep breaths, and feel your body becoming grounded, restful. Notice how you are feeling physically before you start the engine. Where are you tense? Now notice how you are feeling emotionally. Are you calm or already feeling the pressure of having to be someplace? Take notice. Breathe deep, and release.
- Turn off your phone and the music. Just as an experiment, experience what it feels like to have all sound turned off. Initially it might feel as though something is missing, but you will quickly learn that this silence provides you with the opportunity to fill your senses with other perceptions.
- With the distractions turned off, you now have the extra bandwidth, and greater room for attention, to focus on and notice other things. Pay attention to any tensions in your body, such as your shoulders riding high, your hands gripping the steering well, or a clenched jaw. Notice these experiences, and use them as feedback to understand how your body is responding to your mind. Notice your surroundings: How many times have you made this same drive and never realized that there are beautiful wildflowers at each exit? Note how your experience changes and becomes more enjoyable as your muscles let go and you allow yourself the space to see things differently.
- Slow down. It's just an idea. Many people tend to want to push the speed limit, driving just a little faster than the speed limit or faster than the car next to you. Driving at or under the speed limit, even if it means others will pass you, can take away a lot of tension. Move over into the slower lane if necessary.
- Be mindful of your attitude, even before you turn the car on. Are you in a hurry? Are you annoyed? These attitudes often seep into your driving experience, and you become competitive, rushed, and downright aggressive. All of this leads to emotional and physical tension. Make a practice of noticing cars trying to enter the road, and adjust your speed so that you can let them in if it's safe to do so.
- Practice becoming more aware of the traffic around you. Sometimes people are so focused on what's in their immediate sightlines, they forget that others around them are moving and shifting as well. It is safer to develop an all-round awareness, using your mirrors as well as what you can see in front and to the side of you, thus avoiding any surprises that could result in added tension and stress.
- As drivers pass you, even if they cut you off, send them loving kindness. Repeat, "May you be well. May you be happy."
- Use every red light, or any other necessary stop, to practice a fuller mindfulness of your body. When you've stopped, it's safe to let your awareness more fully connect with your breathing. At those moments you can also notice what's around you—the sky and the trees, and other people.
- Before you get out of the car, after you've switched off the engine, sit for a moment and take three deep breaths, really letting go with each exhale. Release any residual tension you may have from the drive to avoid taking it with you.
Workplace Options AWARE & Schuette, B. (Ed.). (Reviewed 2024). Mindful driving. Raleigh, NC: Author.