What is mindfulness?
It’s pretty likely that you’ve heard of mindfulness before. And chances are that you may have an image in your mind of what practicing mindfulness looks like.
But if you’re curious, I’d like to take a little of your time to talk through what my understanding of mindfulness looks like.
Mindfulness is a non-judgemental awareness and acceptance of one’s physical, mental, and emotional experiences. Being able to notice your thoughts and feelings without the need to change or alter them.
Please note that being mindful is not having a mind or body devoid of thoughts or feelings. You can still practice mindfulness while having thoughts that just keep coming. The goal is not to have a completely blank mind, but to be able to notice your experience and accept it for what it is in the moment. You can still practice mindfulness and be frustrated with being cut off in Atlanta traffic.
So why is mindfulness helpful?
The Mayo Clinic reports several major health benefits from regular mindfulness practices, including:
- Improving anxiety and depression symptoms
- Stress reduction
- Improved sleep/reduced insomnia symptoms
- Increased focus and attention
So how do I actually practice mindfulness?
A couple of the most common ways to practice mindfulness are guided meditations and body scan exercises.
There’s no shortage of guided meditations on Youtube and across the internet. One resource that I find myself recommending regularly is the UCLA Mindful app. The app offers several guided meditations and body scans, all for free, all in one place.
But I also think that it is important to find the resources that work for you and are meaningful. Important aspects to look for are fostering awareness of your experiences, and non-judgemental acceptance of those experiences.
References
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/meditation/in-depth/mindfulness-exercises/art-20046356