Mindfulness

I think of meditation as a sub-category to the practice of mindfulness.

Do you feel stressed?  Is your mind buzzing about like a bee?   Do you often find that you think of the same thing over and over and over again?

Practicing meditation and mindfulness might help you.  Research has shown that practicing them can lower stress, increase a sense of well-being, and decrease blood pressure.  Does this sound like something that might help you?  Fifteen minutes twice a day is all you need to help improve the quality of your life.

Meditation and mindfulness both attempt to draw awareness from the mind to the body and its surroundings.  They both attempt to increase acceptance to life and decrease resistance from it.  Therefore, the lesser the resistance the less you feel stressed, anxious, and fearful.

Meditation

The first thing to do is find a place where you can sit and be quiet.  You can sit in a chair or on the floor.  Don’t lean your back against the chair.  Straighten your back, but don’t make it rigid.  Fix your gaze about at a 45- degree angle looking down.  That will help to reduce stress on the neck.  Try to get comfortable.  Don’t cross your legs, but keep your feet flat on the floor.

If you’re sitting on the floor then find some pillows to sit on.  It helps to find a soft blanket  to rest your legs.  Make sure your shoes are off and that you’re wearing comfortable pants.  The body should be leaning slightly forward.  Cross and tuck the legs.

Bring awareness to the body.  Check-in with it and try to make any adjustments to further comfort.

Now bring attention to the breath.  Most people find it helpful to focus on the breath as it passes through the nose, but you can also bring awareness to the rising and falling of the chest.   As you connect to the breath, you connect to the body.  As you connect to the body, you connect to the world around you.  If you are a spiritual person, connecting to the body allows you to connect to spirit.  Remember that as the chest rises and falls so, in turn, does energy, alertness, stress, the sun, the moon, the days, and the seasons.

As you focus on the breath the mind wanders.  Simply notice that and return to observing the breath.  Don’t control your breath.  Just observe it.  Don’t judge yourself for being distracted.  Just notice it.  It’s part of the process.

As you continue to notice the breath you might notice sounds around you.  That’s fine.  Continue to observe the breathing in and out of your breath.  Bring the focus of attention from the wandering mind back to the breath.

Congratulations, you’re meditating!

Mindfulness

If you don’t have time to sit for 15-20 minutes then perhaps you have time to practice mindfulness.  You can practice it while getting dressed, taking a shower, eating, cooking, moving, cleaning, driving, riding, etc.  Mindfulness can be thought of as meditation in motion.

My understanding of mindfulness is that it brings into awareness any one of the five senses – sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell.  Pick a sense.  Any one will do.  What do you notice?  Pick a part of the body.  Any one will do.  What do you notice?  What do you notice the eyes telling you?  What do you notice the ears telling you?  Are you warm or cold?  Is the light bright or dark?  Is your body telling you that it is comfortable or in pain?  Just notice it.

Notice when awareness has been drawn back to thinking.  Simply return it back to seeing or hearing, etc.  Don’t judge yourself for being distracted.  It’s all part of the process.

Congratulations, you’ve practiced mindfulness!