Mindfulness is the practice of purposely bringing one's attention to the present-moment experience without evaluation; a skill one develops through meditation or other training. Mindfulness reduces stress and anxiety.
It’s a technique you can learn which involves noticing what's happening in the present moment, without judgement. While mindfulness is something we all naturally possess, it’s more readily available to us when we practice on a daily basis. If you want to be mindful at home, make sure you’re sat in a comfortable position. Focus on your breathing without getting distracted. Focus on the in and out of your breathing, this does take a lot of practice, but it’s worth practising.
If you’re outside of your home, you’ll find you bring awareness to what you’re directly experiencing via your senses, or to your state of mind via your thoughts and emotions; you’re being mindful. And there’s growing research showing that when you train your brain to be mindful, you’re actually remodelling the physical structure of your brain.
The goal of mindfulness is to wake up to the inner workings of our mental, emotional, and physical processes.
Meditating helps the brain to be mindful - it’s a special place where each and every moment is momentous. It also calms you down to develop a kind, curious and non-judgemental attitude.
Being mindful means having your mind on what you are doing. It's the opposite of rushing or doing too many things at once. To be mindful, you slow down to take your time. You do one thing at a time, one easy way for children to dip their toes into mindfulness is through body poses: mindful posing. To learn how to do these easy poses:
YouTube: mindfulness: yoga poses for kids. Adults could start their day off with them to help them feel calm and to not feel under pressure or rushed from one thing to another.
Mindfulness is a practice that helps us to become more aware of what's happening in each present moment. This could be in our own thoughts, in our bodies, or in our surroundings. Mindfulness works differently for each individual but, in general, it aims to: help us become more self-aware, helps us to observe thoughts and feelings rather than getting caught up in them. It also helps us feel calm and less stressed and generally improve our mental state.
With so many demands on us in the adult life we have, starting off being mindful at a young age should help us to cope and flourish at life’s challenges.