Mindful Meditation

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary mindfulness is the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one's thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis. There have been various studies conducted that back up the idea that being mindful is related to a reduction in stress. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD looked through nearly 19,000 meditation studies and found that 47 of them met their strict criteria for well-designed studies. They published them in JAMA Internal Medicine, and suggested that mindfulness and mindful meditation can help ease psychological stresses such as anxiety, depression, and assist with the management of pain. They also mentioned that a substantial decrease in psychological distress was shown in adults and children that practice mindfulness.

Mindfulness is a mental state that can be achieved by your awareness on the present moment. In the moment you can acknowledging your feelings, thoughts, and your bodies sensations to learn to accept the state of being you are currently in. Improved concentration, increased focus and mental clarity, more self-control, the ability to remain objective, affect tolerance and be more flexible, maintaining equanimity, heightened emotional intelligence, and the ability to relate to others and one's self with compassion, kindness, and acceptance; are just some of the many benefits that come with living a mindful life.

AWARENESS

We have learned to be preoccupied with attachments, ideals and materialistic things and thoughts; including memories of the past, worries about the future or reoccurring unnecessary thoughts, judgments and reactions to things we do and see throughout our lives. Through this pattern we miss out on being happy and enjoying our lives, which leaves us feeling empty and unsettled. When we start being are aware of our emotions, actions, reactions and surroundings we become more mindful to ourselves and our surroundings.

BREATH

As you start to bring your awareness inward you can begin to connect with the signals that your body sends you. Connec to your body, your breath, and when your mind begins to wander, the goal is to notice without judgement and redirect the focus back to your thoughts.

Be kind to yourself as you start. It is normal to have the urge to fidget and to narrate your experience as you go through it; notice that and come back to the present moment... Always taking it one breath at a time.

PRACTICE

We are currently living an existence that is basically created in our minds. We go from day-to-day in a disconnected state where not only are we not connected to the world around us, we are not even centered within ourselves.

Practicing mindfulness leads your focus and attention on what is happening in the present moment by grounding yourself in your breath and noticing that there is always something unchanging that notices the never ending changes in everything thats happening within experience. As you train yourself to be mindful and not be constantly reacting to what comes up, you will notice the positive impact it can have on the relationships you have with yourself, your family and your profession.

Being mindful takes practice, and it will not happen over-night. Just like exercise or changing a habit, it is something that has to be trained. Begin with a quiet space that you can be comfortable and ideally undisturbed in. Start by becoming aware of your breath, thoughts and emotions. You can start for a short amount of time, maybe 5 or 10 minutes, and then go up to 20 minutes or more as you advance.

SILENCE

Our current need to quiet our mind so we can hear the wisdom of our heart and soul is universal. Our mind is such a noisy place, but when we can find stillness and silence within, we can develop a connection with our best self. This connection to our higher being brings us peace, allows room for forgiveness and lets us develop compassion for ourselves and others.

It is important to remember that there is no “right way” to meditate, as there is nothing in meditation that we achieve. Meditation is about being mindful of the moment and the experience of the moment itself, it isnt about doing anything, but about simply being.