In recent years, mental health care and body balance have once again become a priority in many people’s lives. Achieving a state of permanent well-being in this fast-paced and often stressful world is possible if you know the tools to help you achieve it. 

Being calm and in the present, focusing on your thoughts, and breathing are all part of what is known as mindfulness, a technique that ancient disciplines such as meditation, Tai Chi, or yoga have cultivated and spread throughout the Western World.

Here, we give you the run-down of three new practices that can help you live more connected with the present. But before reading any further, we invite you to do the following exercise. Turn off your phone, pour yourself a glass of Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc, Gran Reserva Malbec, Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon… Whatever your favorite is! Bring the glass close to your nose and capture its aroma with your eyes closed, then take a sip and feel how the wine wets your lips and tongue, then runs down your throat… See? You’re already practicing mindfulness.

Vocal Yoga

This discipline, which is linked to an ancient practice known as sonotherapy (or sound therapy), uses the voice to generate vibration frequencies, which impact the human energy system and help heal the body, mind, and spirit. 

Understanding the voice as vital energy, or prana, songs or primary sounds are performed that can be accompanied by breathing exercises, postures, and other instruments such as Tibetan bowls, tuning forks, and bells. The goal is to reach a state of deep presence, connection, and even trance. 

Among its many benefits, Vocal Yoga can help alleviate stress, increase vital energy and relaxation, strengthen the immune system, release tension, and balance the chakras. Valentina Moyano is a Chilean psychologist, singer, songwriter, and sound therapist who offers online Vocal Yoga courses and workshops. For more information, visit her website www.alquimiadelavoz.com and her Instagram.

Sonic Harmonization

In Santiago de Chile, Andrea Moro is a facilitator of sound experiences that channel energy through reiki, songs, and sounds to offer a journey via regenerative sound frequencies. 

These can be private or group sessions, in which Andrea creates a unique experience tailored to people’s specific needs. This includes reaching a deep state of relaxation, an increase in inner peace, and the healing of physical or emotional wounds. 

Andrea is also one of the creators of Centro Manna, a center focused on nurturing the soul and located in El Arrayán, in the foothills of the Andes in Santiago. For further details visit www.andreamorowinslow.com and www.centromanna.org. 

Forest Bathing

It was in 1980s Japan, with its highly stressed and depressed population, when the answer to the question “what happens to us humans when we are in nature?” appeared as part of the antidote. 

That is how this particular form of therapy was born, and sixty forest bathing trails soon began to be recommended by doctors. But what does this practice consist of? Turning off the phone, immersing yourself in a forest to walk or even sit, paying attention to birdsong, touching the moss on the trees, smelling the aroma of the wet earth, and feeling the leaves rustling, and breathing fresh air. These are just some of the things you can do. 

The benefits of this therapy include a decrease in blood pressure and heart rate, an increase in creativity and concentration, an improvement in the quality of sleep and mood, and a decrease in stress, anxiety, insomnia, and even depression. 

In the city of Pucón, Giovanna Raineri Blanco offers guided forest baths. On her website, www.bosquealma.cl, she explains, “it’s a slow walk that invites us to be in nature from the body and the senses, an invitation to ‘let go of our mind.” For more information, check out her Instagram.