Mindfulness Meditation
What Is Mindfulness?
Often we get stuck trying to control our thoughts and feelings, but this only has the effect of increasing our discomfort/distress as we’re then struggling to beat normal physiological events.
Mindfulness involves paying attention to each moment whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, whilst being kind to ourselves. This is a process of non-judgementally observing our thoughts, emotions, and sensations as they come and go, with an attitude of curiosity and acceptance.
In other words; noticing what’s going on in your head (thoughts) and what’s going on in your body (emotions) right now, and making some space for that experience.
What Is Meditation?
One of the ways you can start to develop mindfulness is through practicing meditation. This is simply a way of training yourself to direct your attention to the present moment rather than getting pulled away when other things in life distract your mind.
When you are practicing mindfulness meditation, you are simply learning to sit with the present moment, whatever that may be.
Developing Your Practice
You can use this guided mindfulness meditation recording to get you started. Remember that’s you’re not trying to push the thoughts and feelings out, just notice them. Remember, the common pitfalls to watch out for while practicing are:
- using meditation as a distraction technique i.e. waiting until you’re feeling really distressed and then using it to make the experience go away
- confusing mindfulness with relaxation