Last Updated on July 21, 2023 by cmv
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the practice of training your attention to focus on the present while observing your thoughts and feelings with a calming acceptance. Meditation is also a mental exercise for the purpose of reflection and contemplation and therefore can be a mindful practice. So what does this really mean? You can use mindfulness in various ways but basically you’re getting out of your head and into your present moment. You can do this as a meditation on breath and/or things around you, or as another mindful practice focusing on touch, taste, smell and/or vision. It’s about experiencing what you’re doing in the moment and focusing on just that.
Why do you need Mindfulness Meditation?
Not being in the here and now, your mind can take on a life of its own, wandering through old memories, recalling old feelings and ruminating endlessly on things you could have said or done better. You may be feeling agitated or even anxious and in need of a way to calm your mind and body. The focus of mindfulness meditation is to train your brain to stay in the moment and get out of the past or future. To do this, you are taught to let go of the regrets of the past as well as anxieties about the future. Other benefits of mindfulness meditation include
- Being more present. When you’re in the moment and purposefully paying attention, your brain can function at a higher level. Mindfulness not only helps you regulate your emotions and gain a deeper understanding, but when you’re fully present you can be better focused on your tasks ahead, track your mood and create an environment that suits you best.
- Making better decisions. Meditation helps us acknowledge, without the need for someone telling us, the thoughts that are wise and helpful and the thoughts that are not. Observing your mind helps begin a mindful transformation to live with greater wisdom through making better decisions, which in turn brings greater happiness.
- Creativity: Meditation techniques can promote creative thinking. With a focused shift of thinking, you’re able to open doors to new avenues allowing you to conceive new ideas. It’s like allowing the clouds to part so you can see clearly.
- Reduces pain and stress: By changing your relationship with your thinking patterns, mindfulness meditation offers ways to ease or minimize the sensations associated with pain and stress. Rather than being focused on pain or ‘lost’ in thought, you learn how to transition your thinking to other things in the present moment. It helps you become unglued from the pain and stress.
Mindfulness meditation is known to help with struggles such as anxiety, depression, addiction, eating disorders, self-worth, trauma, chronic pain, and a host of other issues. To learn how to implement mindful meditation into your life, reach out to one of our trained therapists and schedule an appointment today.
