Mindfulness is key theme for Mental Health Awareness month 2015

[content_block id=2008] Do you want to?

reduce your stress and anxiety levels
achieve the things you want to as well as those you have to
find balance in work and play and in your mind and body
to wake up in a morning feeling less exhausted and more energised
develop strategies to overcome insomnia and procrastinating
address and develop tools to tackle negative thinking patterns
have a more comfortable relationship with food and kick old habits such as overeating, over monitoring your food intake and obsessive calorie counting
stop comparing yourself to other people and people pleasing
work on your low self esteem issues
understand why you talk yourself out of doing incredible things because you are afraid to discover if I’ve got what it takes

If your answer to one or more of these questions is yes then you may benefit from Mindfulness.

So what exactly is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a scientifically based tool designed to help reduce stress, panic attacks and anxiety and has been widely approved by the international medical community. It teaches greater awareness of our thoughts, feelings and sensations through simple techniques like meditation and gentle movement. And you don’t need to sit cross legged in the mountains to do it!!!

The ability to achieve a successful work life balance in order to live more creatively and fully has never been more important than in today’s society. Unless you take more quality time on your own, you will always experience emotional and physical difficulties from the beginning of your working life until the grave.

What are the benefits of Mindfulness?

It provides you with a range of tools to help you:

rebalance the nervous system
teach you how to regulate your emotions and moods more effectively
overcome exhaustion, insomnia, procrastination and low-self esteem
accept yourself for who you are
achieve greater success levels in work and relationships
reclaim your capacity for fun, humour, excitement and joy

How does Mindfulness work in practice?

Practice the three minute mindfulness breathing space meditation below not cross legged on a mountain in the Himalayas at your desk or sat upright in a chair at home, in your business hotel or on the bus or tube if you live in London.

Free meditations from Mindfulness

Tips for the 3 minute breathing space mindfulness practice

Whilst listening to the 3 minute mindfulness breathing space, just allow your thoughts to rise, plateau and fall and imagine that they are part of a film/tape or actors in a play coming and go or clouds in the sky and that you have the option to press the stop button at anytime.

Most importantly, remember that thoughts are not facts and are only your own interpretation of emotions and feelings and other people’s actions and so when you next experience a negative automatic thought write it down and ask yourself what evidence is there to support this thought and what evidence is there against this thought.

1. Regardless of what happens (eg if you fall asleep, lose concentration, keep thinking of other things), just do it! These are your experiences in the moment. Just be aware of them.

2. If your mind is wandering a lot, simply note the thoughts (as passing events) and then bring the mind gently back to your breathe
3. Let go of ideas of “success “, ” failure “, ” doing it well “, or “trying to purify the mind “. This is not a competition. It is not a skill for which you need to strive. The only discipline involved is regular and frequent practice. Just do it with an attitude of openness and curiosity.

4. Let go of any expectations of what the 3 minute mindfulness breathing space will do for you. Imagine it as a seed you have just planted. The more you poke around and interfere, the less it will be able to develop. So with the 3 minute mindfulness breathing space , just give it the right conditions – peace and quiet, regular and frequent practice. That is all. The more you try to influence what it will do for you, the less it will do.

5. Try approaching your experience in each moment with the attitude: “Ok that’s just the way things are right now “. If you try to fight off unpleasant thoughts, feelings and body sensations, the upsetting feelings will only distract you from doing anything else. Be aware, be non-striving, be in the moment, accept things as they are. Just do it.

Focusing on the breath fills some people with a sense of dread so are there any alternatives to the three minute breathing space?

Yes try this sounds and thoughts mindfulness meditation instead:

Free meditations from Mindfulness

Before beginning the sounds and thoughts mindfulness meditation, as above read these tips first:

Just allow your thoughts to rise, plateau and fall and imagine that they are part of a film/tape or actors in a play coming and go or clouds in the sky and that you have the option to press the stop button at anytime.

1. Regardless of what happens (eg if you fall asleep, lose concentration, keep thinking of other things), just do it! These are your experiences in the moment. Just be aware of them.

2. If your mind is wandering a lot, simply note the thoughts (as passing events) and then bring the mind gently back to the sounds around you.

3. Let go of ideas of “success “, ” failure “, ” doing it well “, or “trying to purify the mind “. This is not a competition. It is not a skill for which you need to strive. The only discipline involved is regular and frequent practice. Just do it with an attitude of openness and curiosity.

4. Let go of any expectations of what the sounds and thoughts mindfulness meditation will do for you. Imagine it as a seed you have just planted. The more you poke around and interfere, the less it will be able to develop. So with the sounds and thoughts mindfulness meditation, just give it the right conditions – peace and quiet, regular and frequent practice. That is all. The more you try to influence what it will do for you, the less it will do.