With the speed with which our society advances, it seems that people live immersed in an automatic pilot, without being aware of our daily actions and generating high levels of anxiety and stress.
Therefore, the practice of mindfulness can be very useful in your life, since it has the goal of extending to the daily life of each and therefore there are countless mindfulness exercises so you can live every moment of your day to day with maximum fullness and cope with anxiety and release the stress that may appear throughout the day. Mindfulness meditation has many benefits. If you ask yourself, how can I start with this practice? Keep reading this where we propose mindfulness exercises for beginners.
What is mindfulness?
At present, the meaning of mindfulness in Spanish has been translated as “mindfulness” or “full consciousness”. What is mindfulness or mindfulness? Mindfulness is defined as the ability to bring one’s attention to the experiences that are being experienced in the present moment, accepting them without judgment. This term consists of five essential components.
Principles of mindfulness
- Attention to the present moment: it consists in focusing on the present moment, instead of being aware of the past (ruminations) or the future (expectations, fears and desires).
- Openness to experience: in the practice of mindfulness it is necessary to involve what is called “beginner’s mind”, in order to be able to observe things as if they were the first time we saw them, without the perceptive mechanisms prevailing. To be able to have the “beginner’s mind” is the commitment to maintain an attitude of curiosity, openness and receptivity.
- Acceptance: acceptance and nonjudgmental can be considered synonymous. We must not judge the thoughts, feelings and events of everyday life, we must adopt an attitude of acceptance and refrain from judging what is observed. In the case that a trial appears in our mind involuntarily, we must let it happen and we simply observe it, we do not get involved in it.
- Let pass. Letting go makes reference to the fact of not clinging to things or experiences. It consists of not being trapped by any thought, feeling, sensation or desire, in not becoming attached or identified with them, we must relate to them in a broader way, from an off-centered perspective, as transient mental events, since all things are not permanent and cling to the expired things that inevitably have to happen, can only cause us a new suffering or increase the one that already exists.
- Intention: refers to what each person pursues when they practice full consciousness and this evolves throughout the practice.
Mindfulness exercises for beginners
There are different mindfulness exercises for adults, for children, for anxiety, and so on. Where to start? How to practice mindfulness? The practice of mindfulness consists of an attitude about life, rather than a set of techniques, because it focuses on attention to the present moment to help the person to connect with himself and with the actions he is doing.
The mindfulness exercises allow us to be aware of what happens inside us and in our environment, thus promoting a development on our person.
Its practice does not require an extensive period of time, it is enough to improve our well being to practice some exercises during the day in 5, 10 or 15 minutes. The important thing in practice is not the exercise that is being exercised in itself, but the attitude that the person adopts in this practice. Then we will explain some very simple exercises of mindfulness so that you can practice in your day to day, even during the simplest actions, such as walking.
1. Static meditation
It is practiced sitting in a chair or on the floor in a certain position (the one that is comfortable for you, with your back straight) and while you are in a relaxed posture try to observe your breathing. When you involuntarily direct your attention to another object, you must return to the breath. As you progress and have control over the technique, you can begin to observe the body, the sounds, the thoughts, feelings, but for this, you must have control over your breathing, since when you start to introduce more complex elements like thoughts, you must prevent your concentration from deviating from them.
2. Attention to everyday life
This technique is as simple as paying attention to the present moment: wash the dishes, set the table, clean the house, and Put all the attention in the immediate experience so that it becomes a more vivid experience.
3. Walking meditation
This technique involves paying attention to the experience of walking. Walking without any purpose taking advantage of any occasion in which you must walk and observe the sensations of the feet, legs or body. You can also incorporate attention to the breathing of static meditation, the important thing is to be present at each step.
4. Careful body review
Its objective is to reestablish contact with one’s own body. In this technique, you should concentrate sequentially on the various parts of the body while lying down with your eyes closed. You must observe the sensations, connect with each zone, without judging and accepting the unpleasant sensations that appear.
5. Hatha yoga
The technique includes several simple postures in order to obtain greater awareness of bodily sensations, including in it the technique of static meditation and attentive revision of the body in turn. Do you know the benefits of yoga for anxiety?
6. Focus on your daily goals
At the beginning of the day, focus your attention on the objectives you want to achieve during the course of this day, it does not need to be many, it is better to focus your attention on two or three. The objectives can be any, work, personal, emotional … focus your attention on them and get them!
7. Focus on your thoughts
Generally, during the course of the day we tended to stress, because we have a very fast pace of life. Faced with this, the last thing we think about doing is sit down and stop to stop the stress, because we decided to act to finish what we have to do, to mitigate it. However, a good exercise to reduce the intensity of these thoughts is to sit down and stop and think about them.
