Mindfulness isn’t about filling up your mind so that your mind is “full”. It isn’t about emptying your mind either… Mindfulness is a practice where you simply bring your awareness to the present moment. Instead of letting your mind dwell in the past or dream of the future, you focus all your attention on the now.
Mindfulness practices are rapidly gaining in popularity. They are simple and they are proven to work.
Benefits of mindfulness practices include:
- Enhance focus
- Stress relief
- Increase patience
- Improve decision making
- Increase overall sense of happiness
There are many ways to practice mindfulness, however the goal is always the same – to focus the mind.
Try this simple mindful meditation practice at home:
- Start by finding a quiet place to sit comfortably. Close down your eyes and relax your body.
- Begin to notice the natural rhythm of your breath. Notice when your mind wanders away from the breath and daydreams. Without judging yourself for losing focus, bring your awareness back to your breath again.
- Start to notice any sensations that arise in the body, the desire to move, or scratch. Instead of reacting to the sensations, bring your awareness back to your breath again.
- Repeat this process of breath and body awareness for about 5 minutes.
The practice seems simple, but sitting still alone with your thoughts isn’t easy to begin with. Like anything, mindfulness requires practice. Start with 5 minutes a day. In time you will notice it becomes easier to keep the mind in the moment.
For a less formal approach, you can choose any task in your daily life and practice it more mindfully. For example, slow down your walking and pay attention to the action of taking a single step. Notice how the leg moves and the knee bends. Feel the ground as you step heal-and-toe to the floor. Continue walking slowly and engage your senses fully. Feel the joy in the simplicity of the moment.
To inspire you further on your mindfulness journey we share some of our favourite mindful quotes from key thought leaders:
“In today’s rush, we all think too much–seek too much–want too much–and forget about the joy of just being.” — Eckhart Tolle
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu
“There is nothing more important to true growth than realising that you are not the voice of the mind—you are the one who hears it.” — Michael A. Singer
“Meditation means dissolving the invisible walls that unawareness has built” – Sadhguru
“Ask yourself: Where am I? Answer: Here. Ask yourself: What time is it? Answer: Now. Say it until you can hear it.” – Ram Dass
“Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.” — Marcus Aurelius
“A mind set in its ways is wasted.” — Eric Schmidt
“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh,
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.” ― C.G. Jung
“The attempt to escape from pain, is what creates more pain.” ― Gabor Maté
“Wherever you are, be there totally.” — Eckhart Tolle
“This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realise it is play.”– Alan Watts
“Adopt the pace of nature: Her secret is patience.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“That’s life: starting over, one breath at a time.” — Sharon Salzberg
“Don’t believe everything you think. Thoughts are just that – thoughts”. — Allan Lokos
“With our thoughts we make the world.” — Buddha
“Be where you are, otherwise you will miss your life.” — Buddha
To explore the concepts of mindful living in more detail join us on retreat.
We run our Living Mindfully Retreat twice per month.For other retreats view our Retreat Calendar.