First, you need to understand what mindfulness is.
Mindfulness is being aware of the present moment, being IN the present moment with your senses, thoughts, feelings and body.
Meditation can take many forms: simply thinking, pondering, watching your breathing, prayer, focused movements, visualizations, guided meditations, eating or walking and more.
There are apps that can guide you through all of these or classes to take or audios to download.
My favorite is teaching this to a group – its seriously fun!
There isn’t one way to do it and there isn’t a wrong way. There isn’t a necessary time length or special pose you need to be in.
Just be where you are.
Seriously think about that.
Are you here? Really here right now?
(Listen to a favorite song of mine, “Be Where You Are” by Birdtalker)
If you are doing anything else, you aren’t here. If you’re judging yourself in anyway, you aren’t here. If you’re thinking about the past or future, you aren’t here.
It’s impossible to stay completely present for very long and actually that isn’t even the goal.
The goal is to focus on what is really happening and watch your thoughts without judging them.
Don’t worry, this takes time and compassion for yourself!
Ok, so now what is Mindfulness meditation?
It is a specific time of meditation, not the type where you follow a visualization or a voice guiding you to relax or breath in a certain pattern.
It is simply following your breath in and out, paying attention to it.
In and out . . . In and out
You are watching your mind and body and observing what is happening.
When you notice your mind is off thinking about something else, you notice that it happened without making it mean anything.
Then, you simply bring your focus back to your breath.
In and out . . . In and out
When you notice an ache, pain or discomfort, you resist the urge to change positions or scratch or rub the area right away.
You lean into it mentally, observing it more closely, watching the pain as it increases and decreases, watching your thoughts about it – noticing and not making judgements.
You are practicing the art of mindfulness and over time you find that you apply it during the rest of your day,
allowing urges to come and go, watching emotions rise and fall,
and summoning greater courage with pain and chronic illness or difficult people or simply with yourself.
You learn how to stop or ride the stress response cycle and reduce how often your body is in it.
This is also applied with a body scan, walking and yoga meditation.
Are you ready to learn how to be more mindful daily? Or how to practice mindfulness mediation? Or find out how this can help you daily?
Listen to a podcast I gave about mindfulness and check out my mindfulness resources page or let me teach you.
I’m doing free sessions for missionaries and parents. Schedule a time for a FREE session. Have a quick question? Shoot me an email at info@jillfreestone.com. I’d love to hear from you.
