A touch of risk and some invaluable you time make double-blade shaving the perfect chance to block out the noise of day-to-day life, writes Simon Sharman.

Mindfulness – essentially being fully aware of everything you are sensing and feeling in the moment – reduces stress, can lower heart rate and blood pressure, and help you perform better under pressure.

But when do you get the time?

There’s work to do, food to buy, emails to send and kids to attend to.

To be a mindful man in the modern world requires a spot of ingenuity.

You need to seize the moment whenever it arrives.

You need, it turns out, a good old-fashioned shave.

RELATED: Three Ways to Practise Modern Mindfulness

The Secret to Mindfulness? An Old-Fashioned Shave | Men's Fitness UK

Be like Bond for a daily dose of mindfulness | Getty Images

Shave of Solace

In the last year I have swapped my go-faster five-bladed cartridge razor for a simpler and more elegant option: stainless steel and double-bladed.

It’s the kind spotted tucked away in 007’s travel bag. A real razor.

Add in a shaving brush and bowl and you have all you need to develop Bond-like style and steely focus.

Your morning shave often becomes an opportunity to run through the million things on your to-do-list, reflect on what you should have told your boss yesterday, or what you could have shouted when that car pulled out in front of you.

It turns into another spin on the roulette wheel of your thoughts and worries.

The idea of mindfulness is to step away from these high-speed thoughts. And you don’t need to be on a mountain top or even sit cross-legged to do it.

You just need to shave like Bond.

Now pay attention 007

My morning shave has become slower and more mindful. It has to. A hurried and absent-minded shave with a double-blade razor will end in blood.

Mindfulness is about focusing on the task and engaging your senses fully in what you are doing.

Here’s how…

The Secret to Mindfulness? An Old-Fashioned Shave | Men's Fitness UK

How to de-stress with your morning shave:

  1. Be aware of the warm water as you wet your face.
  2. Mixing the shaving foam in a bowl, observe how the lather builds to the correct consistency.
  3. Notice the fresh smell of the foam.
  4. Watch as you carefully paint the foam onto your face.
  5. Using short, careful and deliberate strokes, be aware of allowing the weight of the razor to apply the right pressure to the sharp blade.
  6. Hear the sound of the hair being cut, the prickling-electro-static-scrape, then the swish of the water as you rinse the blade in the water.

This takes practice, you will find your mind wandering and thinking about other things – it’s at this point I often nick my face and a bead of blood will remind me to pay attention.

But keep doing this every shave and your focus will improve

I can’t guarantee Moneypenny will ever turn up, but you should start your day less stressed and a bit more focussed.