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Mindfulness

I believe taking time out for your mind and body are important because of the busy lives we all lead. Technology does have its advantages but one main disadvantage is it’s hard to get away from it and switch off.  Taking a little bit of time for your mind and body seems a small but important thing to schedule into our hectic lives. If you lead a busy life then maybe 15-20 minutes mindfulness a day may suit however if you lead a highly stressful and extrememly hectic life then actually maybe an hour a day might be beneficial for you! No, that wasnt a mistake, I did get that the right way round, the more stress, the more you are heading to burnout, the more mindfulness you might need.

What is mindfulness? 

Mindfulness is simply paying more attention to the present moment – to your own thoughts and feelings, and to the world around you. It has numerous benefits for your mental wellbeing. It could be described as reconnecting with your body, moment to moment awareness or just being free from distractions.

What are the benefits of mindfulness?

People who welcome it into their lives often describe heightened levels of happiness, patience, acceptance, and compassion, as well as lower levels of stress, frustration, and sadness. Other benefits you might see from mindfulness are improved concentration, mental clarity and emotional intelligence. Experiencing this calmness may also encourage kindness, acceptance and compassion to yourself and others.

From a more science-based outlook it has been said to reduce stress, enhance self-awareness, help fight addiction and even help control anxiety or stress.  It may enhance your ability to deal with illness, facilitation of recovery and help improve general health.

While all of these benefits of mindfulness can be experienced by children as well as adults, there are some benefits that have been found specifically in young people. These are outlined in the next section

So, if you would like to maybe try a little mindfulness, click here for apps to try

1. The Headspace app, available for iOS and Android, is a popular app which guides you through daily meditation. The app is free to download initially but then it will ask you for payment after this but it can a good long term commitment app.

2. The Smiling Mind app is a completely free app. It is available for both iOS and Android, as well as in web form. Smiling Mind has modules available for personal well-being, for education, and for the workplace. You can practice your daily meditation and mindfulness exercises from any device. it is a unique tool developed by psychologists and educators to help bring balance to your life. They suggest just 10 minutes a day can make a difference.

3. The Insight Timer app is targeted at both experienced meditators as it lets you set a timer for meditation sessions, or for beginners who can find a vast collection of music, nature sounds or talks. It has helped thousands of people cultivate peace of mind, improve sleep quality, and manage stress and anxiety.

4. The Calm app is Calm is the #1 app for sleep and meditation. Join the millions experiencing better sleep, lower stress, and less anxiety. There is something for everyone.

5. The Buddhify Timer app is he only meditation app designed to fit into a busy modern lifestyle. While other meditation apps need you to find ten or twenty minutes of quiet time per day, we know that even that can be a struggle to fit into an already busy day. That is why buddhify focusses on mobile or on-the-go meditation, which you can do wherever you are and whatever you’re doing.

• Jon Kabat-Zinn: Body Scan: This is a 30-minute guided meditation from Jon Kabat-Zinn which seems to be mostly aimed at beginners. More experienced meditators might find Kabat-Zinn’s comments to be distracting, but beginners should find it useful as a way to become familiar with mindfulness meditation.

• 5 Minute Breathing Exercise: This 5 minute breathing exercise is an easy to follow meditation which guides you to tune in to your breathing, letting it be natural and easy. This is for any level of breathwork experience, but especially great for beginners to simply practice what it feels like to be present with and connected to their own breath, a great way to fend off anxiety.

• 15 Minute Body Scan Mindfulness Meditation: The aim of the body scan meditation is to be aware of the different parts of your body and allow yourself to experience how each part feels without trying to change anything. The body scan moves between a wide and narrow focus of awareness; from focusing on your little finger to holding the entire body in awarenes.

• 1 HOUR Mindfulness Meditation with Healing Flute Music Instrumentals, Chakra Reiki Music: At one hour this video can serve as music for long, deep mindfulness meditation sessions. This is not a guided mindfulness so it may be considered more for the experienced meditators.

• 8 HOURS Zen Buddhist Meditation Music for Deep Sleep, Mindfulness Meditation and Relaxation: This video is much longer and lasts just over 8 hours. It is meant to aid in deep sleep, although the video does contain piano which is not usually an aspect of Buddhist meditation.

• Mindfulness Meditation: A Complete Guide with Techniques & Examples is a beginners overview of a few different meditation techniques, as well as guided examples of some of these techniques.

• Guided Meditation for Detachment From Over-Thinking (Anxiety / OCD / Depression): This guided meditation is over 40 minutes long, and its said that the meditation can either be used for drifting into sleep or in the middle of the day….

• Short Calming Mindfulness Meditation to Clear the Clutter in your Mind Take about 7 minutes out of your day when you may be feeling stressed or overwhelmed to practice this short guided meditation to help you calm down and clear the clutter in your mind.

• How Mindfulness Meditation Redefines Pain, Happiness & Satisfaction is a TEDxSFU talk in which Dr. Kasim Al-Mashata talks about the benefits of mindfulness meditation. This is a good video for anyone who is uncertain about trying mindfulness meditation or unclear about its benefits.

Interesting articles on mindfulness

https://positivepsychology.com/importance-of-mindfulness
https://www.developgoodhabits.com/how-to-practice-mindfulness/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/mindfulness
https://happiful.com/how-to-apply-mindfulness-at-work
https://www.helpguide.org/harvard/benefits-of-mindfulness.htm
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/harvard-researchers-study-how-mindfulness-may-change-the-brain-in-depressed-patients/

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