If you haven’t tried mindfulness before, you might be unsure about how to practice and whether or not you are doing it correctly. There’s good news. It’s hard to practice mindfulness incorrectly as long as you listen to the body and mind and respond with a trusting, non-judgmental attitude.
Breathing Meditation
By far, the simplest and most effective mindfulness practice is a breathing exercise. Breathing is something we do without thinking, but it can be harnessed as a powerful relaxation tool helping us to reduce stress and improve life quality at any moment. So, how can we practice breathing?
When you were a baby, you breathe into your belly naturally - all babies do this; it is called diaphragmatic breathing. In the course of development, we somehow lose this ability and breathe into the chest and lungs instead. Bring attention to your breath and belly breath.
Body Scan
John Kabat Zinn is the progenitor of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). He developed this program at the University of Massachusetts in the 1970s in his stress reduction clinic. One of the founding practices - and one of the most successful ones - was a body scan meditation.
A body scan meditation can be quite long and intense, especially when you have a lot of stored stress or physical pain. It’s best to find a body scan guide for formal practice, but if you want to try it today, simply turn your awareness towards any aches or pains in the body and accept it.
Eating Meditation
Most of the time, we eat unconsciously. Many of us eat even when we aren’t hungry, underappreciating our food along the way. But eating can be a joyful experience full of awareness and flavor. Mindfulness can also help us make better choices about our food.
Practicing mindful eating is quite straightforward. When you feel hungry, take a few breaths and reflect on that feeling, where it comes from, and how authentic it is. Allow yourself to choose the food you will enjoy and take your time eating it. Make eating mindful and stay in the moment.
Color Meditation
Maybe you have a favorite color, something you always choose for clothing or interior decoration, or maybe you haven’t thought of it before. Color meditations can be a powerful and personal way to practice mindfulness. Start by learning about the symbolism of the colors.
Colors and meditation have a long history; they stretch right back to the ancient yogic traditions of India. Over the years, red has become associated with the root chakra, green with the heart, blue with the throat, and so on. Use this color comparison to make subtle color distinctions.
Mindful Walking
Whether you are going for the train in the morning, walking home from work in the evening, or taking a weekend stroll in the park, there is never a bad time to practice mindful walking. In some ways, walking is the perfect way to practice mindfulness; it combines light movement with breathing and attention to put you in a relaxed and creative state of mind. A healing state.
Breathing Meditation
By far, the simplest and most effective mindfulness practice is a breathing exercise. Breathing is something we do without thinking, but it can be harnessed as a powerful relaxation tool helping us to reduce stress and improve life quality at any moment. So, how can we practice breathing?
When you were a baby, you breathe into your belly naturally - all babies do this; it is called diaphragmatic breathing. In the course of development, we somehow lose this ability and breathe into the chest and lungs instead. Bring attention to your breath and belly breath.
Body Scan
John Kabat Zinn is the progenitor of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). He developed this program at the University of Massachusetts in the 1970s in his stress reduction clinic. One of the founding practices - and one of the most successful ones - was a body scan meditation.
A body scan meditation can be quite long and intense, especially when you have a lot of stored stress or physical pain. It’s best to find a body scan guide for formal practice, but if you want to try it today, simply turn your awareness towards any aches or pains in the body and accept it.
Eating Meditation
Most of the time, we eat unconsciously. Many of us eat even when we aren’t hungry, underappreciating our food along the way. But eating can be a joyful experience full of awareness and flavor. Mindfulness can also help us make better choices about our food.
Practicing mindful eating is quite straightforward. When you feel hungry, take a few breaths and reflect on that feeling, where it comes from, and how authentic it is. Allow yourself to choose the food you will enjoy and take your time eating it. Make eating mindful and stay in the moment.
Color Meditation
Maybe you have a favorite color, something you always choose for clothing or interior decoration, or maybe you haven’t thought of it before. Color meditations can be a powerful and personal way to practice mindfulness. Start by learning about the symbolism of the colors.
Colors and meditation have a long history; they stretch right back to the ancient yogic traditions of India. Over the years, red has become associated with the root chakra, green with the heart, blue with the throat, and so on. Use this color comparison to make subtle color distinctions.
Mindful Walking
Whether you are going for the train in the morning, walking home from work in the evening, or taking a weekend stroll in the park, there is never a bad time to practice mindful walking. In some ways, walking is the perfect way to practice mindfulness; it combines light movement with breathing and attention to put you in a relaxed and creative state of mind. A healing state.
No comments