What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness in May

Throughout May we’ll share a series of articles about Mindfulness, we hope to provide a range of hints, tips and techniques.

So, first of all …

What is Mindfulness?

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

Ferris Bueller

Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.

It can be easy to rush through life without stopping to notice much.Paying more attention to the present – to your own thoughts and feelings, and to the world around you – can improve your mental wellbeing.

Professor Mark Williams, former director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, says that mindfulness means knowing directly what is going on inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment.

“It’s easy to stop noticing the world around us. It’s also easy to lose touch with the way our bodies are feeling and to end up living ‘in our heads’ – caught up in our thoughts without stopping to notice how those thoughts are driving our emotions and behaviour,” he says.

“An important part of mindfulness is reconnecting with our bodies and the sensations they experience. This means waking up to the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the present moment. That might be something as simple as the feel of a bannister as we walk upstairs.

“Another important part of mindfulness is an awareness of our thoughts and feelings as they happen moment to moment.

“It’s about allowing ourselves to see the present moment clearly. When we do that, it can positively change the way we see ourselves and our lives.”

There’s growing research showing that when you train your brain to be mindful, you’re actually remodelling the physical structure of your brain.

How do I practice mindfulness and meditation?

Mindfulness is available to us in every moment, whether through meditations and body scans, or mindful moment practices like taking time to pause and breathe when the phone rings instead of rushing to answer it. We’ll go into specific techniques over the coming weeks.

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