Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the practice of awareness. It involves being fully present in the moment through our senses (sight, touch, taste, smell etc).
A lot of our distress results from our thoughts being in the past or the future and mindfulness aims to keep us in the present moment so that we can live fuller lives.
Most of us go through our days on autopilot with an automatic stream of thoughts. Emotions can easily attach to these thoughts, particularly fear, anxiety, worry and anger. Mindfulness assists in observing the thoughts without attaching emotion or judgement.
The benefits of mindfulness include:
- Increase in concentration
- Increased management of stress
- Improved relationships
- Emotional regulation
- Increased immune function
- Improved wellbeing
- Increasing enjoyment and contentment
- Prevention of burnout
- Improved sleep
- Improved pain tolerance
Mindfulness can be practised in many ways and it does not have to be strict meditation. Mindfulness can be experienced through yoga, qi-gong, tai chi, walking, playing with a pet, music, cooking, or any mindful activity such as exercise, colouring in, breathing exercises or focusing on the task at hand.
With mindfulness, thoughts don’t stop- they continue to float by without emotional attachment. The goal is to bring our attention back to the present moment if our thoughts are distracted. For example, when you start to think about all the jobs you need to do this afternoon, you bring your thoughts back to the present moment. What can you smell? What colours can you see around you? Can you pay attention to your breathing?
This can be challenging at first but with practise it becomes easier and the benefits will follow. Mindfulness builds like a muscle; from one or two sessions you may not notice a difference. However with persistent practise improvement and benefits can be seen. Generally with a short (5-10 minutes) daily or second daily practice, improvements may be seen within 8 weeks.
Mindfulness Apps to get started: Headspace, Calm, Buddhify, Breathe, Aura, Wildflowers.