What is Mindfulness?
What is Mindfulness?Mindfulness is a practice that originated from Buddhism. According to Buddhism is mindfulness is a way of life, where you are present in the moment, aware of what is happening around you and keep your focus on what you are doing right now. It sounds simple, but is in all its simplicity pretty hard. We spend most of our thought either to remember the past or to imagine the future. At the same time dangers that constantly thoughts through our head as we allow ourselves to be carried away by. An effective way to train one's ability to be in the moment is by meditating.
Mindfulness really reached the Western world since the psychologist Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979 introduced reading Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). It was followed by psychological experiments demonstrated that mindfulness meditation had a beneficial effect in connection with the stress and the relief of chronic conditions. Other experiments have demonstrated that people who cultivate mindfulness meditation on average is a little happier, a little healthier, have a slightly more rewarding relationships and living a little longer than the rest of the population.
My Mindfulness practice
For me, mindfulness meditation a way to fall back on during a sometimes hectic everyday life. I meditate for 20 minutes every night, and 3 minutes a couple of times during the day. The small meditations I use, if I'm feeling stressed or confused if I'm waiting on something or as a short break. Every time I meditate, I start by observing my thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations. I accept everything that is present and try not to change anything. Then I focus on my breathing. Each time I notice that my thoughts have led me away from my focus dishes I quiet my focus back on my breath. I'm experiencing the mind slowly calms down and that an inner peace arises. Even 3 minutes can make a big difference.
Bring mindfulness into your life
If you want to learn about mindfulness, there is an ocean of possibilities of fluctuating quality. Below you will find my recommended ways to get acquainted with mindfulness. I hope they can inspire you and arouse your curiosity.
Read the power of now
A good place to start is to read the book power of now. The book is well written, easily readable and thought-provoking. When I read it, I read few pages every day and thought a little more than what I had read before I went to bed. Every time I put the book away from me, I felt a little more present and present, than I was when I collected it up. You can buy it here and reserve it at the library here.
Try mindfulness meditation
Maybe you could like to meditate, but have no desire to sit in a back-breaking position on the floor? Maybe you are sure that you can't figure out how to meditate? Mindfulness meditation can easily take place on a Chair. The most important thing when you meditate is to relax and accept what is happening. An important part of mindfulness meditation is to note that it has been in the grip of his thoughts or daydreaming. Every time it happens you can wish congratulations because you yourself are aware and then slowly move your focus back to the meditation.
If you've never tried meditation before I would recommend to try it. Maybe just an evening or a weekend. It will give you a much better understanding of what meditation is than i am able to give you here.
Do you live in Copenhagen, may I recommend that you try the two hour guided mindfulness meditation in the Center for wisdom and compassion. It takes place every Tuesday at noon. 19-21 at Nybrogade 26A, 1. Sal in Copenhagen K and costs 50 kroner per. time. You can read more here.
Do you live outside of Copenhagen, you can search on the net. There are a great many places in the country that offer different kinds of mindfulness meditation. If you are curious, you can start with primarily a non-committal course on a weekend or evening. It will probably be enough to quiet your curiosity, or perhaps cause you to become even more curious.
Make your own mindfulness ritual
Another option is to develop your own little personal mindfulness ritual;
- Note what you think, what you feel and what feelings you have in your body. There is tension in the body? Are there certain ideas in his head?
- The right focus against your breath and note every inhalation and exhalation. Maybe it helps you to count your breath: 1 inhalation, exhalation, inhalation, 2 2 1 exhalation. Every time you notice that your thoughts are starting to wander, leads you calm your attention back to the breath, without criticizing yourself.
- Right your attention out against world and resume quietly what you were doing.
Use these three steps to inspiration and play a bit with to find out what works best for you. You can choose to have open or closed eyes. You can use it on the job, during a meeting, in the queue at the supermarket and when you need to regain sight in stressful or unpleasant situations. A simple little ritual on a few minutes during the day can make a big difference.
Complete an induction training with daily meditation in 8 weeks
If you want try out mindfulness with daily meditation, I recommend that you choose an introductory course, which included a daily meditation. Such courses are carried out by the participants meet for teaching and common meditation once a week. Other days of the week to meditate in on their own, according to the instructions you have received on the latest øvedag. This is both the most challenging and the most rewarding, of the options I've described. A number of scientific experiments involving brain scanning has shown to you with 8 week mindfulness meditation, can achieve a good part of it, which can be measured with people who have been meditating for several years. Therefore, the items most induction training with daily meditation 8 weeks.
Induction training at 8 weeks offered a number of places in Denmark. Try searching on the Internet with the word mindfulness 8 weeks Copenhagen, where Copenhagen is replaced with the location in Denmark, where you are located. If you are more into a tutorial, you can complete an 8 week induction training on the basis of a book. I can recommend Mindfulness-A guide to finding peace in a hectic world. This book is built up, so you read a chapter a week for 8 weeks. In addition, meditate you every day, in the light of the latest chapter you read, with guided meditations which are available on a companion CD. You can buy the book here and reserve it at the library here.
Find inspiration on the Internet
There are a variety of resources on the Internet by fluctuating quality. If you'd like to try you in the small on their own, this is a golden opportunity. There are both free apps and audio files with guided meditations, on Danish.