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What is mindfulness?
We’ve all heard the increasingly trendy word ‘mindfulness’ but what does it actually mean? Well, essentially being mindful is all about creating a greater sense of awareness – bodily, emotionally and environmentally. Originally an ancient Buddhist meditation technique, it has now evolved into a widely known method of relaxing and calming the mind.
It’s about being present in our body and how we are feeling, focusing on the present moment rather than being absorbed in the past or rushing towards the future. Mindfulness is about the here and now.
It is often said that one of the main causes of depression is thinking too much about the past and one of the main causes of anxiety is that we are too busy worrying about the future.
Mindfulness aims to bring us back to the here and now. It encourages us to focus on what is coming through our senses – our sight, hearing, feeling, smell and taste.
Benefits of mindfulness:
• Relieves stress
• Contributes to the treatment of depression and anxiety
• Boosts creative thinking
How does mindfulness work?
Mindfulness aims to make us more aware of how we are thinking and feeling it can help us to:
• Notice how we think and react to feelings and situations
• Realise that our thoughts come and go and don’t define us – we are in control of our thoughts our thoughts don’t control us
• Recognise negative thought patterns
• Create space between our thoughts and our actions
Mindfulness is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for many mental conditions such as depression and anxiety as well as for chronic pain and stress.
One study found that practicing mindfulness resulted in a smaller volume of grey matter in the amygdala, a part of the brain that is involved with initiating our stress response. As this part of the brain gets smaller the pre-frontal cortex, which is associated with concentration and decision-making, becomes larger. This is thought to be the reason why mindful individuals have an increased sense of well-being and decreased likelihood of experiencing depression and anxiety.1
What’s more, BBC’s Trust Me, I’m a Doctor Mental Health Special episode found that in comparison to yoga and being in nature mindfulness was the most effective way to combat stress. While all three methods were effective at reducing stress, mindfulness showed the most significant at reducing stress levels.2
6 simple ways to become more mindful
1) List what you sense
This technique is an extremely easy and beneficial way to bring mindfulness into your day. Listing the things you can see, hear, taste, smell and touch can help reduce stress and anxiety by bringing you out of your head and connecting you to the environment you’re in. Whenever you feel caught up in your head list 5 things that you can see, 5 things that you can hear, 5 things that you can feel, taste and smell.
2) Spend time doing nothing
We spend so much of our time planning, organising and squeezing the most that we can out of every moment of every day, and while this seems like the most productive use of our time it can become easy to get carried off in the rush of everyday life. Try to fit in at least 5 minutes a day where you do absolutely nothing. Use this time to notice how you’re feeling, the world around you and your thoughts.
3) Mindful eating
Listen to what your body is saying, mindful eating is about not over indulging and giving your body all it needs nutritionally to be healthy. Pay attention to the taste, smell and texture of your food, chewing and eating slowly has great benefits for our digestive system too!
4) Mindful movement
This can involve anything that makes your body feel good – think of it as a moving meditation. Pay attention to your feet and legs, how your foot feels as it touches the ground, pay attention to each little movement the foot goes through to take another step.
5) Say goodbye to multitasking
Do one thing at a time, and do it slowly. Making your actions, words and movements more deliberate will bring your attention to what you are actually doing and not let it get carried away on what needs to be done.
6) Stop worrying about the future
Worrying about the future and potential ‘what-ifs’ means that you aren’t being present and that you aren’t enjoying the present moment. You can’t control what will happen in the future, just like you can’t change the past, letting go of the worry and the need to control situations will help prevent us from experiencing burn-out and emotional fatigue as well as bring us back to what is actually happening in the here and now.
Feeling stressed?
It can become easy for life to become overwhelming, our increasingly busy lifestyles leave little or no room for relaxation. Gradually incorporating mindfulness into our daily lives is a great way to combat the stresses that can leave us feeling emotionally drained and low in mood. See my top 3 stress busting tips below:
1) Talk it out
Whether it’s with friends or a healthcare professional talking about what is causing your stress can take a heavy load off your shoulders. Even if you don’t feel like talking will solve the stress expressing how you feel can help you to establish an honest connection with others, and most importantly, yourself.
2) Herbal help
My second tip is to get a helping hand from a natural source, herbal remedies are a great natural way to reduce stress. I’d suggest our own Stress Relief Daytime, a natural herbal tincture that contains valerian and hops and doesn’t have the same drowsy side effects as other stress relief products.
3) Have fun!
This is the most important and best way to combat stress! When we feel stressed we get so bogged down by our thoughts, which tend to go round in circles when we are feeling this way, that we forget to have fun! Our thoughts become heavy and serious and so we begin to feel this way too. Bringing back some laughter and fun can really help to lighten the emotional heaviness that stress can cause.
1 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0064574
2 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09dcvl0/trust-me-im-a-doctor-mental-health-special#
