Have you heard about mindfulness and its benefits? Mindfulness is becoming a popular technique for many people to alleviate stress, anxiety, improve sleep, and so much more. The beginning of the year is a fresh start and a way to set the tone for the year to come. At the same time though, it can feel a little overwhelming and exhausting.
This is where mindfulness can truly benefit you and your health and wellness. Let’s dive into exactly how it all works.
What is mindfulness?
Have you ever found yourself just going through the motions? Life has become so busy and fast-paced that it is so easy to get into a routine without even really realising it.
Mindfulness is all about being completely present in every situation and moment in your life. It’s the ability to be aware of where you are and what you are doing while not becoming highly reactive or overwhelmed by what is going on around you. Everyone is capable of being mindful, but we’ve become so accustomed to switching off due to how overwhelming our days can get or we’re just too busy every day to make the time for it.
Mindfulness includes learning about focusing all your senses and becoming deeply aware of your emotions and thoughts. Learning breathing methods or meditation, guided imagery, or other practices to relax your brain and body all form part of this practice.
The benefits of mindfulness
Practising mindfulness has a multitude of benefits, but the point is to focus on doing it every day without only thinking about the benefits. The more you practice this habit, the more you’ll notice your stress levels will decrease, you’ll gain more insight and awareness into yourself, and your environment and you’ll feel better as each day goes on.
Mindfulness gives you a different perspective into your everyday life, a perspective that is meant to increase your levels of positivity and joy.
Some research has shown that mindfulness meditations can help alleviate:
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Pain
- Depression
- Insomnia
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
Mindfulness has also proven to:
- Improve your attention span.
- Decrease feelings of burnout.
- Improve your sleep patterns.
By actively slowing down and becoming completely aware of your surroundings, you begin to slow your usual pace down. And rather than simply going through the motions of your routines, you are actively participating in your own life.
Ways to introduce mindfulness into your everyday life
Everyone is capable of being more mindful and it is pretty easy to incorporate it into your life. These are some simple ways to introduce mindfulness into your life.
Pay more attention
As we mentioned above, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut and just mindlessly go about your routine. To live a more mindful life, it’s best to actively pay attention to everything around you.
Rather than focusing on getting a great picture to post on social media, think about what you’re doing, the people you’re doing it with and how you feel.
Focus on your breathing
Being mindful doesn’t mean you’ll never have a bad or stressful day ever again. It means that you’re learning how to get through the rough days more positively and thrive on the good days.
On the bad days when you’re feeling anxious or overwhelmed, take a step back, clear your mind and focus on your breathing only. Close your eyes and feel your breath come in through your nose, hold and let it go through your mouth, think about how your chest rises and how the oxygen moves through your body.
You can meditate as well but you can get started on focusing on your breathing first. The goal is to let your thoughts enter your mind and pass through as you breathe rather than trying to keep your mind blank.
Use your senses
During everyday activities whether it’s going for a walk, hanging out with friends or even while you’re working, focus on each of your senses. Think about what you can see, smell, hear, taste or touch. By doing this, you’ll start to pay attention to these activities rather than simply going through the motions.
Exercise
You can start to do mindful exercises like yoga, Tai-chi or even just walking. These types of exercises take you out of the fight or flight mindset and into rest and digest. Rather than focusing on exercise simply helping your physical fitness, it helps your mind as well.
Mindfulness may sound a little odd at the beginning, but it really is an easy way to increase your health and wellness. By introducing mindfulness into your life, you’re slowing the pace of your life down, controlling your heart rate and stress levels only increasing the positivity in your days.
Your Friend in Health,
CoverHealth
