Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the meditative practice of becoming aware of the feelings and sensations you are experiencing in the present moment, and acknowledging those feelings and sensations without judgement.   

In these times where all of us are subjected to a daily bombardment of light and noise, there is profound calm to be found in the process of awareness and act of acceptance.

There are a host of positive health benefits associated with practicing mindfulness regularly. It might seem quite obvious that mindfulness practice reduces stress and anxiety, but we should never take for granted the value of stress and anxiety reduction. In addition, mindfulness has been shown to improve attentiveness. Moreover, mindfulness has even been shown to improve your body’s immune system. And if that strikes you as hard to believe, we know that our minds and our bodies are an interconnected system even if we don’t always realise it. After all, what happens when you feel nervous? You get butterflies in the stomach. What happens if we are scared to give that presentation in class? Our hands shake, or our throat gets dry, or our legs go weak. 

So if the benefits of mindfulness include greater awareness and acceptance, reduced stress and an improved immune system maybe we should give it a try.

There are two different approaches to mindfulness practice. The first is called Formal Mindfulness. This is where we consciously engage in a purposeful mindfulness activity. 

The most well known way to do this is through guided meditations. Calm is a wellbeing and mental health platform (available as an app) that has provided a number of ten minute guided meditations. Over the next week, participate in one each day. You can try all of the options below and if you find one that truly works for you, you can stick with it.

Enjoying nature is one of the most powerful wellbeing and mindfulness habits you can develop. Forest bathing is especially powerful. Forest bathing is not hiking, or jogging or camping. Rather forest bathing is the conscious act of being present in and at one with nature around you. 

When you were listening to the guided meditations above, did your ear focus on the sound of water running through a creek? Did you find it soothing? Imagine the benefits of sitting yourself or lying down in the forest, breathing deeply, and truly engaging all your senses becoming acutely aware of the sight, sounds, taste and touch of nature. 

Of course, not everyone is lucky enough to have easy access to nature, and sometimes travel is difficult too. If you find yourself struggling to get into nature that’s ok. See if you can improvise. Is there’s a park or a close?

Savouring is another powerful form of mindfulness that helps us pay attention to, and truly appreciate, the positive things in life. When we do it well, savouring allows time to slow down, for distractions to melt away, and for all our senses to be activated.

Have you ever enjoyed a magnificent meal? Did you enjoy it so much that you wolfed down the food too fast? When you reached the last couple of mouthfuls did you deliberately slow down to really allow the experience to last so you could enjoy every second? That’s savouring. 

Have you ever watched the sunset? Did you sit down and make yourself comfortable so you could enjoy it? Did you watch it silently without any other thoughts popping into your head? That’s savouring.

Have you ever relived a beautiful memory? Did you let it play in your mind from beginning to end? Did you remember the sounds, sights, smells? That’s savouring. 

How can we train ourselves to be savour those moments? 

• In the moment, you can nudge yourself to stay focused on this experience 

• In the moment, you can tell yourself how lucky you are to have this experience.

• In the moment, you can allow yourself to laugh and smile

• In the moment, you can invite others to share the experience with you

• Afterwards, you can talk to a friend and share the experience, really delving into the details of the story  

• Afterwards, you can take a memento, like a photo, and allow yourself to revisit the experience

• Afterwards, you can journal about it, being as detailed as possible
  
  

It's important to be kind to yourself when savouring, and not allow yourself to be swept up by others thoughts or even cynicism. So try to avoid immediately switching to another task and try to avoid thinking about how the experience could have been better. 

The more you remind yourself in the moment and the more you track the experience later, the more natural this process will become. You’ll find yourself able to stay in the moment for longer. 

Snap & Share

If you like to take photographs of your experiences and share them on Instagram, you’re in luck because recording and sharing are two great ways to savour. However, everything in moderation! We’ve all been to museums, galleries, and shows and noticed that many people seem to be enjoying the experience exclusively behind their screens. Spending the entire experience trying to find the perfect photo to share with strangers online is a sure fire way to decrease your happiness. 

But if you capture a few moments of the experience, share it with people you care about and then revisit it with them (or with yourself), you’re doing it the right way.

Revisiting/Reliving

Find a nice quiet spot and make yourself comfortable. Set a timer on your phone for 8 minutes. Then put your phone away. Close your eyes. And in your mind relive the experience you want to savour. Play the “film” of that experience in your mind, remembering sensations, what you thought and how you felt. 

If you do this exercise frequently, you’ll be amazed how much of the experience you’ll retain and how easily you’ll be able to remind yourself of all those positive thoughts and emotions you experienced. 

Journaling Exercise

As an exercise in savouring, take some time to imagine your most perfect Saturday. Write a journal of that day. Include where you went and what you did but focus on the special moments of those experiences and how they made you feel. 

The other type of mindfulness is called Informal Mindfulness.

Informal mindful practice is when we weave opportunities to be fully present and aware into our existing routines and habits. The great thing about informal mindfulness is that you’ll most probably have several opportunities a day to practice it, which gives you many chances to boost your daily happiness.  

Informal mindfulness includes going for a walk. The next time you take a walk, especially in nature, don’t put on a podcast or play some music. Instead pay attention to the sights, sounds and smells of nature. You’ll be amazed how awe inspiring you’ll find the smell of rain, the sun rays through the foliage, the scurry of a squirrel up a tree, and the bend of the leaves in the wind. 

Drawing and painting are also opportunities for informal mindfulness. The next time you draw or paint at school or college truly pay attention to the rhythm of the brush strokes you’re making, the texture of the paint, and the colours on the canvas.

Sitting for a few moments after you wake up is an especially effective form of informal mindfulness. We often wake up, resist waking up, then haul ourselves out of bed and into the high anxiety of getting ready to go to school or college. Sit up, take a few breaths, scan your body for how it feels, pay attention to the fabric of the curtains or the wood on the floor. 

Even onerous tasks can become opportunities for informal mindfulness. Ironing your clothes can be a dull and boring job, but next time pay attention to the slow circles you make across the fabric, listen to the steam, pay attention to the smoothness of the fabric. 

Listening to music is incredibly beneficial. Make a playlist of your most mindful music: the songs or pieces that draw you in and fully immerse you in every movement and inflection.