What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the practice of being fully engaged in the present moment and recognising your thoughts and feelings without judgement. Being mindful allows you to be free from distraction where you can tune into your thoughts and feelings without getting caught up in the emotions.
Here are our top tips to build mindful practice into your day:
- Keep your mindfulness sessions short, a few minutes a day is a great place to start, then build from there with what suits your lifestyle.
- Try mindful breathing exercises – focus your attention on your breath and identify yourself breathing in and out, over and over. Best of all, breathing exercises can be done whenever you have a free moment.
- Start each day with a quick 5-10 minutes mindfulness practice. This will set the tone of your day and help to get you into an ongoing routine. If you can’t find time in the morning, try finding another time you can consistently commit to.
- Incorporate mindfulness into your daily activities like walking, during exercise, or when you take a shower. Try some breathing exercises or simply take more notice of the activity whilst you are doing it.
- Use guided mediation to help ground your thinking. There are plenty of apps available such as Calm, Headspace etc. These are great to help keep your mind from wandering whilst you mediate.
- Try including mindful activities in your day like colouring, yoga or Pilates.
Incorporating mindfulness into your day can improve your mental health, help you feel more relaxed and more at ease, and can even help to improve sleep quality.
With regular practice, you may also find you’re better able to cope with stressful situations and have reduced feelings of anxiety.
