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Being More Mindful
Becoming more Mindful can start with a daily meditation or quiet reflection that gives the brain a special type of rest during the day and leads to improved performance. Our minds are constantly thinking, and are overstimulated with input. Bring stillness and peace to the brain. Simple breathing and visualization techniques, and focusing on the sensations of your body, helps clear the mind, improves sensory processing and boosts productivity. Here are some easy ways to start. Begin with 3-5 minutes at a time, then increase to perhaps 20. You can do your practice multiple times during the day, but for best results try to be consistent with when you do it.
Different Ways to Observe Your Breath: Take an easy seat. Close your eyes, and observe your breath. What is its quality? Is it smooth or jagged, short or long, easy or hard? Just observe without judgment. Your mind will wonder naturally; that’s what it does. Let it, and favor watching your breath. For cleansing breaths, take a deep breath, and on the inhale say to yourself “I am” and on the exhale say to yourself “calm”. Try pausing between actions by taking a breath. For example, when someone asks you a question, pause first and take a breath, then respond.
Observe Your Thoughts: Close your eyes and watch your thoughts as though you were watching a movie. When you feel like you have become attached to a thought and you start to drive or follow a thought pattern, take a breath and pull back. Imagine you are sitting in a theater watching a movie.
Moving Meditation: Go for a walk, and really focus on each step. Focus on the impact of your foot on the ground. Is the ground hard or soft? What part of the foot hits the ground first? Move slowly and with intention. Think ‘I’m stepping forward now, my heel is touching the ground, and the ground feels soft.’
Practice Being Mindful: Studies show when you practice mindfulness, you actually increase your ability to perceive more. It’s easy to do! Chose a repetitive task you do often, then focus your attention on your senses, what it feels like, what it smells like. For example, folding laundry, focus on the colors of the clothes, the feeling of the fabric you are touching, the scent of the laundry. Move slowly and deliberately. When your mind wonders, bring it back to your senses.
Our minds are constantly thinking, moving from one thought to another often without a particular focus. We may see, hear or smell something that triggers a memory that then triggers a negative emotion. Before you know it, you are in a tail spin of negative self-critical or other depressive thought patterns. It happens so insidiously you are not even aware it has occurred! This is our brains natural inclination towards negative thinking called negativity bias. We developed this bias when we were mostly nomadic and had to be hyper aware of our surroundings lest we get eaten! After a while, by practicing as little as 5 minutes a day you can begin to see results of positivity.
Amazing Health Benefits: Studies show increased immune function, decreased pain, decreased blood pressure and hypertension, lower cholesterol level, increased production of the anti-aging hormone DHEA, more restful sleep, increased positive emotions, decreased depression and anxiety, reduced stress, improved ability to regulate your emotions, improved ability to introspect, increased focus and attention, improved ability to multitask, improved memory, and improved creativity and problem solving. Is that enough health benefits to justify meditating? It even changes the structure of your brain by increased grey matter, increased volume in areas related to emotion regulation and self-control, and increased cortical thickness in areas related to paying attention.
Makes You Wiser and More Social: By practicing observing your thoughts instead of acting on them, it builds skill in being less reactionary. You are able to respond to crisis from a grounded, less-reactionary place. Meditation is like a psychic shower. It is time that you set aside to sort through the stuff (thoughts, feelings, perceptions) accumulated throughout the day.
We often have little control over what happens in our day to day life, but we can develop control and ease over HOW we experience our life and HOW we respond to it. Practicing mindfulness helps develop the skills.
Frequently Asked Questions/Concerns About Meditation and clearing the mind techniques:
Different Ways to Observe Your Breath: Take an easy seat. Close your eyes, and observe your breath. What is its quality? Is it smooth or jagged, short or long, easy or hard? Just observe without judgment. Your mind will wonder naturally; that’s what it does. Let it, and favor watching your breath. For cleansing breaths, take a deep breath, and on the inhale say to yourself “I am” and on the exhale say to yourself “calm”. Try pausing between actions by taking a breath. For example, when someone asks you a question, pause first and take a breath, then respond.
Observe Your Thoughts: Close your eyes and watch your thoughts as though you were watching a movie. When you feel like you have become attached to a thought and you start to drive or follow a thought pattern, take a breath and pull back. Imagine you are sitting in a theater watching a movie.
Moving Meditation: Go for a walk, and really focus on each step. Focus on the impact of your foot on the ground. Is the ground hard or soft? What part of the foot hits the ground first? Move slowly and with intention. Think ‘I’m stepping forward now, my heel is touching the ground, and the ground feels soft.’
Practice Being Mindful: Studies show when you practice mindfulness, you actually increase your ability to perceive more. It’s easy to do! Chose a repetitive task you do often, then focus your attention on your senses, what it feels like, what it smells like. For example, folding laundry, focus on the colors of the clothes, the feeling of the fabric you are touching, the scent of the laundry. Move slowly and deliberately. When your mind wonders, bring it back to your senses.
Our minds are constantly thinking, moving from one thought to another often without a particular focus. We may see, hear or smell something that triggers a memory that then triggers a negative emotion. Before you know it, you are in a tail spin of negative self-critical or other depressive thought patterns. It happens so insidiously you are not even aware it has occurred! This is our brains natural inclination towards negative thinking called negativity bias. We developed this bias when we were mostly nomadic and had to be hyper aware of our surroundings lest we get eaten! After a while, by practicing as little as 5 minutes a day you can begin to see results of positivity.
Amazing Health Benefits: Studies show increased immune function, decreased pain, decreased blood pressure and hypertension, lower cholesterol level, increased production of the anti-aging hormone DHEA, more restful sleep, increased positive emotions, decreased depression and anxiety, reduced stress, improved ability to regulate your emotions, improved ability to introspect, increased focus and attention, improved ability to multitask, improved memory, and improved creativity and problem solving. Is that enough health benefits to justify meditating? It even changes the structure of your brain by increased grey matter, increased volume in areas related to emotion regulation and self-control, and increased cortical thickness in areas related to paying attention.
Makes You Wiser and More Social: By practicing observing your thoughts instead of acting on them, it builds skill in being less reactionary. You are able to respond to crisis from a grounded, less-reactionary place. Meditation is like a psychic shower. It is time that you set aside to sort through the stuff (thoughts, feelings, perceptions) accumulated throughout the day.
We often have little control over what happens in our day to day life, but we can develop control and ease over HOW we experience our life and HOW we respond to it. Practicing mindfulness helps develop the skills.
Frequently Asked Questions/Concerns About Meditation and clearing the mind techniques:
- It’s religious/need to say weird things. Not necessarily. Just focusing on your breath is very beneficial and is not associated with any religion.
- I can’t clear my mind & Do I have to have an empty mind? That’s ok, and is expected. Just let it flow, you are still benefiting from being still, and sorting through all the stuff you are thinking about. Focus on how you feel after instead of how you feel during. Eventually you will experience little slivers of rest, ease or expansion, and overtime those slivers will increase in size and frequency. Maybe a master meditator might be able to empty their mind, but certainly not for most of us. Most of us have lots of stuff going on. In meditation, we practice drawing our mind back to a focal point away from the chatter of our brains, but we may have to draw that attention back a 1000 times in a 10 minute meditation!
- I tried it and I hate it. There are lots of different types of meditations. Try a different one; you may find one that works.
- You have to sit funny. You don’t have to sit at all. Find a position that works for you or try a moving meditation. Just don’t lay down, you might fall asleep!
- Can’t sit still/hate sitting still: Exercise before sitting. Exercising helps to move out the kinetic energy in our bodies, loosens joints and warms up muscles so it is easier and more comfortable to sit.
- I don’t have time. If you ask people who meditate often they will say they don’t have time to skip their meditation. Meditation has increased their productivity and mental health so much that they really feel it when they skip it. When finding time, think of all the time you spend reading Facebook, surfing the internet, and watching TV. Even a short 5 minute practice can begin to lower your blood pressure and have beneficial effects on your body and mind. Do you have five minutes for mental well-being?