by Gill Washington | Jul 28, 2022 | Mindfulness and Mental Health, Mindfulness Practice, Month Of Mindfulness
This is the fifth of a 15 part series of mindfulness posts. One will be posted every day for 30 days, so keep checking back.
There was something I noticed a few years ago, when mindfulness was seemingly everywhere. Lots of articles started popping up on my newsfeed that were anti-mindfulness. This surprised me and I decided to do a little investigation.
What I learned is this is a marketing technique. I found people who were recommending to their clients that they write content dissing something that was extremely popular, such as mindfulness. The theory is this will get lots of hits as there are so many people searching around the topic.
Personally, I find this dishonest and distasteful, whatever the topic.
Genuine Concerns
Are there any genuine concerns about practicing mindfulness? First of all it is important to distinguish between meditation and mindfulness. These articles always seem to address meditation and not other mindfulness techniques.
I have seen various stories recounted, but I would say the possibility of having a really adverse reaction to practicing mindfulness sensibly is very low indeed. Those who do have such a reaction most likely have underlying mental health issues.
Mindfulness And Meditation
Some people start off and think mindfulness is all about meditation. It isn’t. Some think we have to battle our mind to completely silence it. We don’t. Some people start off sitting for 20 minutes, 40 minutes or even hours at a time. I wouldn’t recommend this if you have never meditated before, and you are very likely to give up very quickly.
Mindfulness And Mental Health
If you suffer from clinical depression or have other mental health conditions, speak to your doctor before you start any meditation or breathing exercises. Check with them that it is ok for you to start. A caveat, ask someone who isn’t anti any kind of self-help or alternative therapies. A lot of doctors are more open minded now, but some still have very closed minds and think the only answer is a prescription. Don’t stop taking any medication without discussing this with your GP or consultant. However, medication is not the only help available.
Start Slowly And Mindfully
There is no doubt that mindfulness brings about big changes. And let’s face it, is usually because we want things to change that we begin a mindfulness practice in the first place.
Meditation in particular can bring up a lot of unexamined past experiences and possibly traumas. This is very, very unlikely to happen if you start off as I suggest. Just a few minutes meditation per day is enough to feel the benefit, without bringing up major issues. And you can steadily progress.
Journaling as an accompaniment to meditation can help you to get your thoughts onto paper and out of your head. I recommend this. If you want help getting started, download my FREE PDF workbook Introduction To Journaling.
If at any time you feel panic or fear, just stop immediately. Speak to a mindfulness or meditation teacher who can help you with what you are feeling. Speak to your doctor about what came up for you. Consider joining a group in person or online, where you can discuss your experience with others.
If you have deep seated, unhealed trauma, meditating alone, especially for long periods, is not recommended and you will likely need some form of therapy.
However, if you feel low, lack self esteem, suffer with anxiety and stress, there is every chance mindfulness will be extremely beneficial, as it has been for millions of people.
Take a look at my post Mindfulness Practice – How To Begin and consider signing up for my course Mindfulness For Busy People. It is a gentle introduction to mindfulness, with an email delivered every day for 21 days helping you integrate mindfulness easily into your busy life. It’s just £47 and includes support from me. Learn more here.
Start slowly and sensibly, stop if you have any adverse reactions while meditating, and you can reap the rewards of mindfulness as so many have.
Gill Washington does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional information
by Gill Washington | Jul 26, 2022 | Mindfulness and Mental Health, Mindfulness Practice, Month Of Mindfulness
This is the 4th in a 15 part series of Month of Mindfulness posts
With mindfulness we are able to be aware of our emotions and observe them without being overwhelmed by them.
Being mindful enables us to take a step back from the emotion and understand it without fearing it or struggling with it.
This can also help to lessen distress, although the aim is to simply observe the emotion non-judgmentally rather than lessen it.
Know Yourself
When working with emotions it can be helpful to observe desires.
From: “I AM THAT” by Nisargadatta Maharaj
19.
“Use your mind. Remember. Observe.
You are not different from others.
Most of their experiences are valid for you too.
Think clearly and deeply,
go into the structure of your desires
and their ramifications.
They are a most important part of your mental
and emotional make-up
and powerfully affect your actions.
Remember, you cannot abandon what you do not know.
To go beyond yourself, you must know yourself.”
How Are You Feeling
When you are feeling an emotion, try to take some time to just focus on your breath. Take your attention to where you are feeling the emotion. It could be in your tummy, your chest, your throat or elsewhere. Don’t try to change it, just be aware of what and how you are feeling.
What emotion is it?
It may be anger, sadness, anxiousness, irritability, fear, frustration.
Accept the emotion. We all have emotional reactions, it’s normal.
Try to understand how it came about. Did something happen, or someone say something? Maybe an old memory popped up and you were triggered.
Just observe the emotion, and how it is making you feel.
Once you’ve named the emotion, investigate it.
How intense is it?
Is your breathing fast or slow?
What are you feeling in your body? Where do you feel it?
Observe your posture. Has your head dropped, or have you crossed your arms?
Are your muscles tense? Where?
What’s your facial expression? Does your face feel tense?
Is the emotion changing? Getting stronger or lessening. Remember to observe without judging or trying to change anything.
Watch Your Thoughts Come And Go
Watch your thoughts come and go without judging them. Remember it’s normal human behaviour to have these thoughts and emotions.
Just notice whatever is happening, and bring your attention back non-judgmentally to your breath, and to the physical sensations of the emotion. If it helps, you can say something like, ‘it’s just a mind full of thoughts’.
It can be helpful to use this technique with lesser emotions at first, such as a bit of irritation or with happiness. When you are more experienced, you can use it with intense emotions.
As you bring mindfulness to your emotions you learn that emotions themselves are not the problem: your difficulties come from your relationship to them. You can bring a mindful and kind attention to them all, even the difficult ones such as fear, grief, hatred and jealousy. But focusing on difficult emotions alone can become one-sided. Notice the happy ones and the beautiful ones as well as the painful ones.
– Jack Kornfield
Rumi The Guest House
Rumi wrote some wonderful words about emotions. This version is by Coleman Barks in The Essential Rumi:
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
You can find more poems from Rumi on allspirit.co.uk
These words are really useful for understanding that whatever comes is just part of the human experience. Welcome whatever it is, and learn the lesson it has to share.
Gill Washington does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional information
by Gill Washington | Jul 23, 2022 | Mindfulness and Mental Health, Mindfulness Practice, Month Of Mindfulness
This is the third of a 15 part series of mindfulness posts. One will be posted every day for 30 days, so keep checking back.
Stress happens when your mind resists what is… The only problem in your life is your mind’s resistance to life as it unfolds.
– Dan Millman
How mindfulness reduces stress is what we will look at in this post.
The British Safety Council state, ‘15.4 million working days were lost to work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2017/18 (Labour Force Survey)’. A massive 57% of all work days lost to ill health were due to stress and anxiety.
What Is Stress?
Stress is how the body reacts to danger or pressure. It can be useful in protecting us from danger (the fight or flight reaction). And can motivate us to get things done. Think of how much work gets done with a looming deadline.
It becomes a problem when our bodies are continually flooded with stress hormones. and can lead to overwhelm and burnout. That is where mindfulness comes in.
You can find out more about stress from the NHS here.
How Mindfulness Can Help
We all tend to think that if we had more money, a new car, a great relationship or other ‘things’ that we would be happy and stress free. In Buddhism, this is the realm of the hungry ghosts. As soon as we have one thing we begin to desire another. Once we see this, the allure of getting more and more ‘things’ begins to lose its appeal.
When we practice mindfulness regularly, we realise that our thoughts and attitude have great bearing on our mental wellbeing. We realise that we are not trying to ‘fix ourselves’. We are just observing, compassionately and non-judgmentally how it is.
In any stressful situation, it is beneficial to just bring the attention back to the breath. Even three deep breaths can help us to focus on what is happening, and our own reaction to the situation. If you are dealing with a difficult person, this can help to calm things down.
Once Mindfulness becomes regular, one of the benefits will be that you will recognise feelings or stress or anxiety before they have had a chance to take hold, and before you have reacted from ego. What we are looking for is a Mindful response to the situation, not an egoic reaction. Again, if you do react, don’t be harsh with yourself, just come back to the breath and concentrate on the present moment.
Paying Attention To The Present Moment
“Focus on opportunities not setbacks. Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t. Focus on the present moment, not the past or the future. Empower yourself!”
― Akiroq Brost
According to an article on apa.org, “Researchers reviewed more than 200 studies of mindfulness among healthy people and found mindfulness-based therapy was especially effective for reducing stress, anxiety and depression”.
If you can become fully aware in the present moment, stress will not be able to take hold. Train yourself to notice your own reactions to stress. You may feel it in your abdomen, or shoulders. Maybe you get tight muscles or butterflies in your tummy. You may flush red or well up with tears. Whatever happens for you, become aware and when you feel those feelings know that you are getting stressed. Focus on your breath until the feelings have passed.
You can then calmly figure out what is causing the stress and work out how to alleviate it. Ask for help if necessary.
Clear Your Clutter
Clutter in both home and workspace can be a major cause of stress. Download my free PDF
to help you clear it.
Practice Makes Perfect
At first it may seem impossible to be aware of impending stress, but the more self-aware you become, the easier it will be to spot the signs. Just like driving a car seems impossible at first, but you are soon steering, changing gears, adjusting your speed all effortlessly. It is the same with awareness.
Try to do at least a few minutes meditation every day. Journal if it helps you to become more self-aware and get to the root of your stress. Adapt and adjust, and enjoy your less stressed life.
Gill Washington does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional information
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