I inadvertently added a physical mnemonic to my routine recently, and I think it made it work even better (and had a surprise but coincidental bonus with a related item).
When I read the mnemonic for 断, apparently I only skimmed it, because I realize now the image I came up with in my head was slightly different than the one offered. My lion was not standing on his hind legs. He was holding the axe in his mouth, and in order to cut the plants, he has to shake his head side to side. I was really amused by that image, and absentmindedly shook my head side to side and pictured myself as a lion with an axe in my mouth. I continued to do the physical head shake with each review, and I feel like my recall was faster than usual for new items, presumably because using body movements really strengthened the visual in my head).
The bonus: today when I got the word 断る using that kanji, I was slightly bummed to find the meaning was not “to cut off”. But then I realized that my side to side head shake already works perfectly for refusing to do something. I mean, if you shake your head side to side with an axe in your mouth, that is a pretty strong refusal. Strong enough you might start a coat war.
Anybody else do physical mnemonics? I need to find ways to add more. 
