Mindfulness is an ancient practice that focuses on awareness and attention. It has gained immense popularity over the last few decades, and today, mindfulness is taught as a non-religious practice.
Mindfulness is paying attention, observing, and being present in whatever you’re doing. When you are actively attentive, you are aware of your surroundings as well as your thoughts, emotions, actions, movements, and the impact you have on others.
While anyone can practice mindfulness, it [1] has numerous benefits and addresses many concerns people face at midlife. It can help you thrive in your old days, and here is how.
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How to Practice Mindfulness
There are various ways of practicing mindfulness. However, all these techniques have the same goals-to help you achieve a state of focused relaxation and alertness by being attentive to sensations and thoughts without judgment. That way, you allow your mind to refocus on what is happening presently. Here are some mindfulness techniques.
Mindfulness Meditation requires you to sit quietly and focus on your natural breathing or a mantra that you repeat quietly. Let your thoughts come and go with no judgment and then return to your focus on a mantra or breathing.
Sensory – It involves noticing sounds, sights, smells, touches, and tastes. You need to name these senses without judgment and then let them go.
Body Sensations – You should notice slight body sensations, including tingling or an itch, without judging them, and then let these sensations pass. Take notice of every body part in succession, starting from head to toe.
Urge Surfing – This involves coping with your cravings, including behaviors and addictive substances, and let them pass. Be aware of how your body feels as these cravings enter. Replace every wish for a desire to go away with the knowledge that it will go away eventually.
Emotions – Let your feelings flood in without any judgment. Practice a relaxed and steady naming of your senses such as anger, joy, and frustration. Accept that the emotions are there without judgment and then let them go.
You can cultivate mindfulness through meditation. Learning to meditate is simple, and you can do so by following instructions on a video or book. However, it might be better to get the support of a group or an instructor to help you remain motivated. Look for someone else that is meditating in a way compatible with your goals and beliefs.
If you have a medical issue, go for a medically oriented program that uses meditation. Ask your doctor about any local groups. Numerous insurance companies cover the cost of meditation instruction.
How to Get Started
Some forms of meditation require extensive concentration, focusing on your breathing, a sensation, or repeating a phrase. This focus allows the parade of thoughts that arise to come and pass. Concentration forms of meditation are like yoga and tai chi, and they lead to a relaxation response that helps reduce your body’s response to stress.
Here is how it works.
Follow the Flow – Once you have established concentration, you should observe how your inner thoughts, bodily sensations, and emotions flow without judging them whatsoever.
Be Attentive – During meditation, you will also notice external sensations, including sights, sounds, and touch, contributing to your moment-to-moment experience. The challenge is detaching yourself from a particular emotion, idea, or feeling. Also, it would help if you didn’t get trapped into thinking about your past or the future. Instead, focus on what comes and goes in your mind as you discern which mental habits give you a feeling of suffering or wellbeing.
Stay with It – Sometimes, the feeling may not seem relaxing. However, over time, it will offer you a key to greater happiness and self-awareness as you continue getting comfortable with a broader range of your experiences.
Practice Acceptance – Mindfulness practice helps you accept anything that arises in your awareness at every moment. Acceptance involves being forgiving and kind towards yourself. To succeed at acceptance, you need to:
- Redirect Gently – If your mind strays into daydreaming, planning, or criticism, discover where it has gone and redirect it to your present sensations.
- Keep Trying – If you don’t achieve your intended meditation, start again and keep trying until you get it right.
Acceptance practice during meditation helps it become easier for you to accept the outcome for the rest of the day.
The Benefits of Mindfulness
Apart from its popularity, mindfulness has numerous benefits for those going through midlife. Some of them [2] include:
Decreased Stress – For decades, people have practiced mindfulness as a tool for stress reduction. The practice is linked with increased positive emotions and decreased anxiety levels. Mindfulness can change how you process your thoughts and feelings.
Reduced overthinking – The process of repetitively going over an idea or thought in your mind is associated with depression, stress, and anxiety. People who practice mindfulness notice less overthinking and decreased levels of depression. They can also sustain attention longer.
Improved Sleep – Do you constantly have to deal with insomnia? Trying to sleep only for thoughts of unfinished projects and other stressful conditions keeps coming up, making you lose sleep? Before you turn to sleep pills, you should consider mindfulness meditation. The practice helps you get better sleep.
Reduced Chronic Pain – Some of us have to deal with chronic pain forcing them to take pain medication. However, there is a better alternative that will not cost you a lot. Mindful meditation is an alternative natural remedy for reducing chronic pain.
Improved Memory: It helps you practice concentration and be in touch with your emotions and memories, thus helping improve your memory even in stressful situations.
More Flexible Thinking – Once you get trapped in rigid thinking patterns, you get more anxious, stressed, and depressed. The ability to do self-observation, flexible thinking, and taking in new information helps improve positive emotion. Mindfulness help disengage specific pathways in your brain that form from previous learning. It also allows input from the present moment. Mindfulness also activates the brain region responsible for more adaptive responses to stressful situations.
Improved Relationships – Practicing mindfulness helps with relationship satisfaction. It can enhance your ability to respond to stressful relationships and help you to communicate your emotions effectively. Mindfulness is also linked with intuition and morality.
In Conclusion
Mindfulness is an ancient practice that focuses on awareness and attention. It has gained immense popularity over the last few decades, and today, mindfulness is taught as a non-religious practice. There are various ways of practicing mindfulness, but all have the same goals-to help you achieve a state of focused relaxation and alertness. Some forms of meditation require extensive concentration, focusing on your breathing, a sensation, or repeating a phrase. This allows the parade of thoughts that arise to come and pass.
During meditation, you will also notice external sensations, including sights, sounds, and touch, contributing to your moment-to-moment experience. Mindfulness meditation is an alternative natural remedy for reducing chronic pain. It helps you practice concentration and be in touch with your emotions and memories, thus helping improve your memory even in stressful situations. It can enhance your ability to respond to stressful relationships and help you communicate your emotions effectively. Mindfulness is also linked with intuition and morality.
