Mindfulness is defined as follows:
"A mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly, acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique"
Mindfulness is a non intrusive technique, a very "discrete trick", if we want.
Mindfulness can be used at any time and in any circumstance without anybody noticing.
Mindfulness has been my rock during the years; ok, I have a background as a Buddhist meditation teacher, but you don't need to have the same "set of tools" in order to make the most of mindfulness.
Learning how to use mindfulness will not make you immune to domestic abuse or life events in general.
Learning how to use mindfulness will help you tremendously in how you are dealing with life events, it will help keep you grounded, present and "in tune" with yourself.
There are many other practices and techniques like meditation, therapy sessions and so on, but mindfulness does not require you to go anywhere, to disrupt your daily routine or to cause up-evil in an abusive relationship.
Ishtar Love
Mindfulness is the cognitive skill of sustaining attention of the contents of one's own mind in the present moment.
Mindfulness derives from a significant element of Hindu and Buddhist traditions, and is based on Zen, Vipassana, and Tibetan meditation techniques.
Though definitions and techniques of mindfulness are wide-ranging, Buddhist traditions describe what constitutes mindfulness such as how past, present and future moments arise and cease as momentary sense impressions and mental phenomena.
Essentially is a practice in which we keep, we focus our attention to the present moment, our thoughts and feelings merely observing them, without casting judgements or opinions on it.
Thich Nat Hanh's teachings introduced this concept of mindfulness to the Western world, coinciding with the U.S. popularization of Buddhism and Eastern spirituality in the 1960's and 1970's. Subsequently the idea was welcomed by many scholars of psychology mainly from the USA and then from the rest of the western world.
Mindfulness has been studied expansively and nowadays medical professionals all over the world are encouraging patients to use this practice.
Mindfulness has been proved to help reducing mental states like stress, anger, resentments and more as well as bringing the person to a clearer understanding of him/herself. Has been observed that mindfulness can create a better understanding of how we behave or react to certain experiences and why.
Mental health services do encourage the use of mindfulness to support people with mental health illnesses such as bipolar disorder, depression and more.
Moreover, mindfulness has proven to help positively influence the immune system and reduce inflammation in the body.
A very simple technique is called "the body scan".
In this mindfulness exercise we are asked to find a comfortable place where we can safely focus our attention inwards. What we are asked to do is to scan our body, gradually and thoroughly, usually starting from the top of our head all the way down to our toes. Gradually we will look at each part of the body, head, neck, shoulders and so on and just "feel" if that part of the body is resting comfortably, if it feels tight or heavy, if a certain muscle is tense or relaxed.
All of this is for us just to "feel" our body, not to cast judgement on what is there and not to wonder why.
If correctly done, as I did say this is a practice and will take time to perfect, this exercise will give us a sense of "presence in the moment" allowing us to temporarily withdraw from the world around us and thus to relax.
This particular exercise will give us a better understanding of our body in that precise moment, will allow us to just be, to just feel our body.
When we really think about this, it is, in all truth, something that we take for granted and that we do not allow ourselves to do in the day by day life.
Mindfulness ca be as simple as counting steps and to "watch" what we can feel, all the way to experience the full awareness of our bodily sensations, for example scanning limb by limb and understanding if a certain muscle is tight and so, intentionally relax it.
Although mindfulness is used prevalently regarding physical experiences or our surroundings; a large part of mindfulness is to "take stock" of what is in our mind. How we feel in that precise moment without asking why. In this case we acknowledge our feelings bringing them to our attention. An important part of this exercise is to give ourselves permission to feel, permission to be us, to be human, so appreciating ourselves for what we are in this moment.
Mindfulness brings us to the understanding of how resilient we really are, it shows us that we are capable and we are allowed to feel emotions. This is particularly useful when combined with CBT and re-framing therapy, so creating a clear map of our responses to the events around us, may they be from the past or present.
Another simple mindful technique is to bring attention to a mundane task. Acknowledging our surroundings first, temperature, light etch, for then to focus solely on what we are doing in that moment. What we can feel with parts of our body and so on. And so, to "take stock"of our feelings, if we are tired, worried, happy and so on.
If we want to take this one step further we can ask ourselves why we feel that particular emotion.
Avoiding bias views and not judging ourselves for the emotion in it self.
We will see that emotions are responses to events, places or people.
Emotions are, if we want, automatic responses from our body and our mind regarding a particular event. This will bring us then to look for feelings, feelings are generated from our thoughts about those emotions.
The following is and example of how we could use mindfulness to learn about ourselves and our response to events in our life.
I am now sitting on the sofa holding my foot.
The sofa feel soft, the lights are off and it is late evening.
I can feel the pressure of the cushions on my body and I can feel my hand clasping my toes. I can also feel that my little toe is hurting because i knocked against the coffee table.
If I look at my feelings I am frustrated with myself?
I may now see anger as a dominant emotion for hurting myself in such a way.
Looking at the anger I can see that I direct or even focus this towards myself. I have a feeling of frustration because i think that I should have known better, I should have been more careful and more aware of my surroundings.
From this I can notice a habit of "putting myself down and so I have the chance to look into why I do so and an opportunity to change it. Remember that for this to work has to be done without judgement upon ourselves, try to merely "look" at the facts.
Once again, if I connect this experience for how banal it may seem to how CBT works,I can see that now I now have the possibility to change a part of my behaviour that affect my daily life and that I may have not noticed otherwise.
Ishtar Love
Box breathing is a technique in which we concentrate on the pattern of the breath.
This has gained popularity in recent years for its potential to help calm the mind and reduce stress. The practice involves inhaling for a certain count, usually 3 or 4, holding the breath for the same count, exhaling for the same count, and holding the breath again for the same count.
This creates a "box" pattern of four equal time blocks of time, hence the name "box breathing". While it may seem like a modern invention, the history of box breathing dates back centuries.
When we use this technique, what we actually do is to bring awareness to our pattern of breath and consciously modify it. In this way, we don't only bring attention to ourselves, but because we are "busy" counting, we interrupt the trail of thoughts that are in our mind therefore giving our mind time to evaluate things clearly.
Origins of box breathing are ancient to say the least.
Box breathing has its roots in Pranayama, an ancient yogic practice (yoga in its essence is a discipline, a way of practice) that involves regulating the breath to improve mental and physical well-being. In yoga, this technique is called "Samavritti Pranayama", which translates to "equal breathing".
It has been practised for centuries in India and other parts of Asia, with some references to Pranayama dating back to the Upanishads, ancient Hindu texts believed to have been written between 800 BCE and 500 BCE.
Box breathing gained popularity in modern times through its use in military and medical settings.
The United States Navy SEALS, a special operations force of the U.S. Navy, began using box breathing as a way to improve mental focus and calmness of recruits in high-pressure situations. They also found that it could help prevent panic attacks and reduce anxiety in combat situations.
Moreover, box breathing has also been used in medical settings to help patients manage pain and anxiety during procedures. It has been shown to reduce blood pressure, heart rate, and cortisol levels, the hormone associated with stress.
The benefit of box breathing are numerous, both physical and mental.
It can help reduce stress, anxiety, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It can also improve focus, increase mental clarity, and promote feelings of calm and relaxation. In addition, box breathing has been shown to have physical benefits.
How to practice box breathing:
Box breathing is a simple technique that can be practised anywhere, at any time. Here are the steps:
Tips for practising box breathing:
Ishtar Love
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