Mindfulness Explained

"I used to think mindfulness was just sitting in silence with no thoughts, my god I was so wrong"

If you've come across the concept of mindfulness meditation, also known as mindfulness, and are intrigued by its potential benefits, you might be wondering how to incorporate it into your life. Let's delve into how mindfulness practices can positively impact your creativity, cognitive thinking, memory, reactivity, and more.

Mindfulness Unpacked

Mindfulness is a form of meditation that involves focusing intensely on your present sensations and feelings, free from interpretation or judgment. It incorporates techniques like breathing exercises, guided imagery, and other practices to relax both your body and mind, ultimately reducing stress.

In the hustle and bustle of our lives, excessive planning, problem-solving, or dwelling on negative thoughts can be mentally exhausting. These habits not only drain your energy but also contribute to stress, anxiety, and even symptoms of depression. Mindfulness exercises offer a way to redirect your attention from these draining thoughts, allowing you to engage more fully with the world around you.

The Benefits are endless

The benefits of Mindfulness are truly endless and more and more research is constantly being conducted, but for a brief overview -

Research into meditation consistently supports its effectiveness across various conditions, including stress, anxiety, pain, depression, insomnia, and high blood pressure. Preliminary findings even suggest benefits for conditions like asthma and fibromyalgia.

Engaging in mindfulness can provide you with a more balanced and accepting perspective on your thoughts and emotions. It has also been shown to enhance attention, reduce job burnout, improve sleep quality, and even contribute to better diabetes control.

(If you would like to know more in-depth knowledge I have an entire blog dedicated to mindfulness benefits here)

Incorporating Mindfulness into Your Life

Now, let's explore some examples of mindfulness exercises, tailored for the dynamic lifestyle

1. Activate the senses: Ever driven home from work to have a sudden realisation that you don’t remember the drive home? Or feel like you are just moving through the motions of life without really being present? When we are in constant states of stress our bodies switch into auto-pilot to keep us safe. We can bring ourselves out of the dissociative state by tapping into our senses.

Ask yourself what can I touch, sound, sight, smell, and taste in this moment? Whether it's savouring your favourite meal or enjoying the breeze during a walk, be present and engaged.

2. Actively Practices Gratitude: How often do you stop and think about what you are grateful for in an everyday moment? We have so much to be grateful for from our lungs oxygenating our blood and our hearts beating and feeding our cells. There is a constant wealth of things happening in every moment that we often don’t notice until it is taken away.

Bring an open, accepting focus to everything you do. Find joy in the simple pleasures of life, fostering gratitude for the present moment.

3. Self-Compassion Awareness: Treat yourself with the same kindness you'd extend to a good friend. Accept and appreciate who you are. This doesn’t come naturally to most people, as we are innately We are social and status-seeking animals. We often go with what the majority thinks and align our behaviours with our pack in an effort to not get left behind. Making us naturally think about and prioritise our peer’s needs.

You can practice self-compassion awareness, through intentional check-ins throughout the day. Catching yourself and realigning any thinking patterns that habitually put your needs beneath someone else, or discredit your own experiences.

When negative thoughts arise, take a brief pause. Sit down, take a deep breath, close your eyes, and focus on your breath. Even a minute of this practice can provide clarity and calm.

4. Breath Awareness: Your breath controls your autonomic nervous system and is directly linked to activation of the vagus nerve ( the motherboard of your system) Maintaining a deep, slow breath rhythm through the nose will ensure the body remains in a recovery state for optimal function of the digestive system, immune system, cognitive thinking and reactivity response.

For those seeking more structure, consider exercises like:

- Body Scan Meditation:

Beginning with the soles of the feet, allow yourself to image a bright nurturing light warming the soles of the feet and with every deep breath imagine shifting the light up through the calves, back of the knees, thighs, pelvis etc.

Paying deliberate attention to each part of your body, cultivating awareness of sensations, emotions, and thoughts associated with each area.

- Sitting Meditation:

The goal of sitting meditation isn't to be completely free of thoughts. This narrative creates more thoughts and we find ourselves in a spiral of “thinking, about not thinking”.

When you begin practising sitting meditation, your goal should be to become aware of thoughts, and sensations in the body.

Sit comfortably, focusing on your breath. If distractions occur, it is okay to acknowledge them and gently redirect your focus back to your breath. When you do notice any thoughts, refrain from judging and labelling them as good or bad. Just accept that this is how you are feeling and continue to bring your focus back to your breath each time.

This is training your brain to remember that “You are the thinker of your thoughts, You are not your thoughts”. Slowly learn to regain control of your thinking patterns to be completely present.

-Walking Meditation:

Ditch the technology and go for a solo walk. Becoming aware of how it feels to walk, the movement, your legs moving one in front of the other. Cultivate some gratitude and amazement for your body’s ability to do that. Notice your surroundings the texture of the path, the trees. Notice sounds etc.

This is an active meditation, Active meditation is the true aim of yoga. It is the ability to always remain in a meditative state, even while talking walking, eating, working etc. Meditation is often understood as sitting quietly in a meditative asana and following a set technique. This is the other kind of practice, called passive meditation

-Listen to a Guided Meditation

You can find a wealth of guided visualisations, and meditations across the internet via youtube, and downloadable apps like smiling mind, Headspace or Insight Timer.

You can follow @morningmindfulness_ on Instagram to keep up to date with the latest FREE guided mindfulness exercises like our 15-Minute Morning Guided Meditation.

Making Mindfulness a Habit

The frequency and timing of your mindfulness practice depend on the chosen exercises:

- Simple exercises can be integrated into your day, anytime, anywhere, with outdoor settings offering additional benefits.

- Structured practices may require dedicated quiet time. Consider incorporating these into your morning routine to set a positive tone for the day.

Commit to practising mindfulness daily for around six months, allowing it to become a seamless part of your routine. View it as a commitment to self-reconnection and self-nurturing, contributing to a more balanced and fulfilling life.

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