Mindfulness is a way of paying attention to the present moment, using techniques like meditation, breathing and yoga. It helps us become more aware of our thoughts and feelings so that instead of being overwhelmed by them, we’re better able to manage them.
I was first introduced to the idea of mindfulness by a teacher who said that I would find it useful. He made the whole class do 10 minutes of mindfulness mediation at the beginning of the lesson a few times which I found useful so I decided to try doing some at home myself.
Why use Mindfulness?
Practising mindfulness makes you more aware of your thoughts and feelings. Often you find your thoughts and feeling being caught up in a stream; becoming entangled in patterns and we become unaware of the constant stream. Through mindfulness, we can train ourselves to manage the stream of thoughts, especially to recognise when these thoughts are taking over and that ‘mental events’ do not have to control out outward actions. Mindfulness can help deal with underlying problems and thoughts by making us aware of them so we can deal with them more productively.
Mindfulness can also be used as a therapy to treat anxiety disorders. In this type of therapy, you focus on the sensations in your body you recognise as being anxiety. You focus on these symptoms and fully experience them then instead of avoidance, you open up to try and acknowledge that they are not literal or true.
Realising the experiences and sensations you feel during anxiety can enable you release over-identification of negative thoughts.it reliefs anxiety as it helps practising responding to the sensations of anxiety by letting these thoughts go. You learn that anxiety is only a reaction to perceived threats and that it can be controlled by you. You are forced to have a positive reaction to the perception of threat which can help you overcome the fight or flight response.
How to Become Mindful
There are three formal mindfulness practises:
Yoga – moving through a series of postures that stretch the body and emphasise breathing awareness.
Meditation – you sit silently and focus on breathing and body sensations, focusing the mind if it wanders
Tai-chi – you perform a series of slow movements while being aware of breathing
You can practise mindfulness in everyday life. You can notice the business of your mind. You just need to observe them, not alter them or fight them. This takes a lot of practise as our minds are used to reacting to our thoughts
Mindfulness can be practised, whenever, wherever but if you have been you have been "trapped" in reliving past problems or "pre-living" future worries, this is a good time to be mindful.
I was first introduced to the idea of mindfulness by a teacher who said that I would find it useful. He made the whole class do 10 minutes of mindfulness mediation at the beginning of the lesson a few times which I found useful so I decided to try doing some at home myself.
Why use Mindfulness?
Practising mindfulness makes you more aware of your thoughts and feelings. Often you find your thoughts and feeling being caught up in a stream; becoming entangled in patterns and we become unaware of the constant stream. Through mindfulness, we can train ourselves to manage the stream of thoughts, especially to recognise when these thoughts are taking over and that ‘mental events’ do not have to control out outward actions. Mindfulness can help deal with underlying problems and thoughts by making us aware of them so we can deal with them more productively.
Mindfulness can also be used as a therapy to treat anxiety disorders. In this type of therapy, you focus on the sensations in your body you recognise as being anxiety. You focus on these symptoms and fully experience them then instead of avoidance, you open up to try and acknowledge that they are not literal or true.
Realising the experiences and sensations you feel during anxiety can enable you release over-identification of negative thoughts.it reliefs anxiety as it helps practising responding to the sensations of anxiety by letting these thoughts go. You learn that anxiety is only a reaction to perceived threats and that it can be controlled by you. You are forced to have a positive reaction to the perception of threat which can help you overcome the fight or flight response.
How to Become Mindful
There are three formal mindfulness practises:
Yoga – moving through a series of postures that stretch the body and emphasise breathing awareness.
Meditation – you sit silently and focus on breathing and body sensations, focusing the mind if it wanders
Tai-chi – you perform a series of slow movements while being aware of breathing
You can practise mindfulness in everyday life. You can notice the business of your mind. You just need to observe them, not alter them or fight them. This takes a lot of practise as our minds are used to reacting to our thoughts
Mindfulness can be practised, whenever, wherever but if you have been you have been "trapped" in reliving past problems or "pre-living" future worries, this is a good time to be mindful.