Greetings Everybody,
So let’s discuss the meaning of mindful meditation. Meditation itself as we know comes from a 2,500 year old Buddhist practice. Think of mindful meditation as a form of meditation, kind of like classical music is a form of music. This method of meditation is designed to develop the skill of paying attention to our inner and outer experiences with acceptance, patience, and compassion. The practice of mindful meditation gives us a safe and non-judgmental and welcoming place; it’s somewhere for you to be present in the moment and strengthen your awareness. You are able to strengthen your awareness by becoming aware of the moment either inside or outside and deliberately paying more careful attention to each moment. By doing this it gives you the ability to live your life not on auto-pilot as many of us find ourselves in but in a more relaxed and aware content state.
So what can integrating mindful meditation in your life do for you? Well aside from being more present in the moment so not stuck within the dead past or the nonexistent future it gives you inner peace for something that many of us forget to nurture, our minds. We have all heard the sayings like, “if you want to lose weight you need to exercise”, or” if you want learn how to parallel park then you need to go to an empty parking lot and practice”. The same concept applies to obtaining inner peace as it only comes with practice and mindful meditation is the finest exercise to calming and even understanding your own mind.
By developing a simple awareness of your mind through mindful meditation, we learn to unravel ourselves from our constant thoughts and emotions this leads us to connect with our experience and with others in a healthier and deeper way. Some of the wonderful benefits of mindful meditation include helping to relieve stress, lowering blood pressure, improving sleep and many experts believe that mindfulness can help us deal with painful emotions.
Quick Tips For Practicing Mindful Meditation
• Sit in a comfortable position, you can choose it to be the floor or in a chair
• Now focus on your breathing and notice the sensations of air flowing into your nostrils and out of your mouth, or your belly rising and falling as you inhale and exhale.
• Once you have focused your concentration, next begin to become aware of any sounds, sensations, and your thoughts.
• Now start to embrace and reflect each thought or sensation without judging it good or bad. It is only natural that your mind will start to race when this happens return your focus to your breathing. Then expand your awareness again.
Practicing mindful meditation on your own may at first seem like a daunting task, many of us fear being alone with our own thoughts as they can bring back painful memories or even lead us to over think of what is to come in the next meetings at work, but the task of mindful meditation is only there ultimately to help guide you to being a calmer and more self-aware individual. If you have questions thoughts and comments please feel free to contact me.
May you all be well in spirit and health,
~Peter Lorean CLC, CHt
References
Help guide.org. (2016). Benefits of Mindfulness. Retrieved from http://www.helpguide.org/harvard/benefits-of-mindfulness.htm