Mindfulness is the state of being when you’re fully present in terms of where you’re, what you’re doing, and not allowing the external things to impact your mind. We all require the utility of mindfulness, and it becomes readily available to us when we start practicing it in our life. Today, we’ll discuss what is mindfulness meditation; how to practice it, its impact, and tips to apply it in your routine life.
What is Mindfulness Meditation?
Mindfulness meditation is the practice of training your mind and it teaches you how to calm down your body and mind, leaving negativity, and slowing down your running random thoughts. The whole process is an integration of two elements; practicing mindfulness and meditation. You can say that it’s a state of mind when your focus is on the current and existing moment and recognizing your sensation, feelings, and thoughts without any biased judgment.
There are various techniques and methods of mindfulness meditation. Generally, it comprises of being aware of your body and mind and focusing on breathing. When you’re going to practice mindfulness meditation, then you don’t have to do anything like mantras, oil, or lighting candle unless you like these things.
In order to start the meditation, you should sit in a comfortable place for 3 to 5 minutes by having a free mind without any judgment of thoughts.
How to Practice Mindfulness Meditation
If you want to learn mindfulness meditation by yourself, then it’s a simple and easy way to get started. It’s better to acquire the guide of any teacher or guide if you’re doing it due to any medical or health reasons. However, it’s important o keep in mind that practicing meditation is a process that you can start at any time, and there is no such thing as perfect in it. Some of the main steps by starting it on your own are as follows;
Be Comfortable
First of all, you should look for a comfortable and quiet place. Your body shouldn’t be stiff, just sit on the floor, sofa, or chair whatever place is comfortable and convenient, with a straight back, neck, and head. You can practice it at any time anywhere, without any restriction of dressing code.
Set a Reminder
It’s better to set an alarm as a reminder; it would help you develop a routine and leave all the excuses of forgetting. While starting meditation, then some people lose track of time and they practice it for a long time. You should make sure to meditate for a certain duration of time. After finishing the practice, you should get back to the awareness stage gradually.
Various people meditate for different lengths of time depending on their availability and convenience. The daily routine practice of a few minutes could make a difference. If you’re new, then start the practice for 3 to 5 minutes, and then keep increasing the time duration to 15 and 30 if you feel comfortable meditating it.
Focus on Breathing
You should focus on your breathing, inhaling and exhaling air coming in and leaving your body. You should feel the stretch, rise, and fall of air in your belly. Most importantly, you should start noticing the change in temperature of your body while inhaling/exhaling the air.
Note your Thoughts
The objective of meditation is not to get rid of your thoughts. Instead, it’s to witness your thoughts and be comfortable with them. You shouldn’t suppress or ignore the thought in your mind. You should remain calm, quiet, observe your thoughts, and employ breathing to anchor your mind. Consider your thoughts like passing clouds, and don’t pay sufficient attention to them. Initially, your mind becomes distracted over time, focus on breathing, and repeat the process.
Take a Break
If your thoughts of hope, expectation, fear, anxiety and worry take away your attention from breathing. You should observe which direction your mind is going without making a judgment, and then get your attention back on breathing. If you’re facing distraction, then you shouldn’t hard on yourself. It happens in the beginning, you should shift your attention back on breathing and keep practicing it, and this is a mindfulness practice.
Application if Needed
If you’re facing difficulty in meditating mindfulness, then you should consider downloading any of the guided meditation applications. They’re for free, and they would offer you a variety of techniques to practice it.
Impact of Mindfulness Meditation
Some of the benefits of mindfulness meditation as an impact of practice are as follows;
Better Sleep
Many research studies have shown that meditating mindfulness helps you to treat sleep disturbance issues and allows you to have a better sleep. A study in 2019 showed that it helps you to improve the quality of sleep.
Improve Immunity System
Studies have shown that practicing MM makes your body resistant to fighting disease and illness. Other studies showed that the people participating in different types of meditating practices have better immunity systems than those who only perform exercises.
Low Heart Rate
Heart disease is one of the main causes of death in the USA, and practicing MM is highly beneficial for heart patients. Studies have shown that people practicing MM have lower heart rate and their result is better on the cardiovascular capacity test.
Low-Stress Level
Many standard therapeutic approaches on MM have proven that it lowers the stress level in healthy people. It is also highly beneficial for many psychological, physical, or mental health issues like chronic pain, depression, and anxiety.
Making the practice of MM a part of your routine is highly beneficial and shows great results. It doesn’t mean that you have to do it every day, practicing 3 or 4 times a week is sufficient. However, if you keep practicing it for 8 weeks, then it would change your brain activity.
Practicing Mindfulness Meditation in Routine Life – Tips
We’re living in a fast-evolving world of technology, and everyone is struggling with time management issues. If you’re planning to practice MM, then you can practice it in your daily life while performing other tasks. You can meditate mindfulness by performing the following tasks and activities in your life.
Making Kids Ready for Bed
You lie down with kids, lower yourself to their level, calmly and lovingly gaze into their eyes, and listen to them more. When you become relaxed and calm, so will they.
Exercising
Instead of listening to the music while performing exercises, you should focus on your breathing and your feet while taking steps.
Driving
You should shut down the radio in your car, play some type of soothing instrumental music, and calmly hold the staring wheel. If your mind starts to wander off, then get it back in the car space.
Doing Laundry
You should try to feel and sense the fabric of the clean clothes, and pay heed to your breathing while folding the laundry
Dishes
While doing dishes, you should focus on the sound of pan clunking at the bottom of the sink, look at the bubbles, and sensation of water on your hands
Brushing Teeth
You should focus on the brush cleaning your teeth, movement of your arms, and feet on the ground.
Conclusion: What is Mindfulness Meditation? How to Practice it
After an in-depth study of what is mindfulness meditation; how to practice it, its impact, and its health benefits; we’ve realized that meditating offers a lot of advantages. If you want to practice, then keep in mind different ways to meditate in your life.
Ahsan is an accomplished researcher and has a deep insight in worldly life affairs. He goes Live 3 days a week on various social media platforms. Other than research writing, he’s a very interesting person.
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