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What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness Definition

How to Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness for Kids

Benefits of Mindfulness

What is Mindfulness?

In simple terms, mindfulness can be best described as a method used for achieving awareness of everything that is happening in the present moment.

While there are many definitions used in contemporary clinical and societal approaches to mindfulness, they mostly boil down to the state of being aware. What mindfulness entails is the attention to the present, allowing one to experience all the sensations and thoughts as they happen. Mindfulness is the state of relaxed alertness, as opposed to being overwhelmed by the burden of past experiences or the uncertainty of the future. It is the perfect substitute for being constantly reactive to everything that is happening around us that distracts us from fully appreciating the present moment.

Mindfulness means being present to our inner world and inner experiences as well, being aware of what we sense and how we feel at a certain moment, the reasons for us to feel that way and the behavior we are cultivating as a result of our inner experiences.

Most important of all, mindfulness is a tool that people already possess, it is an innate ability that can be developed further. Without practice, it often gets buried under the weight of day-to-day activities and stressors, but it’s always there.

Mindfulness Definition

Mindfulness is a psychological process that leads to full awareness of the present moment without judgment. The meaning can be found in the term itself, i.e. fully minding everything that goes on, instead of being unaware of all the sensations, emotions, and thoughts that we can come across.

In Psychology, mindfulness is defined as a coping strategy which is situated between avoidance of emotions (i.e. avoidance of confrontation), and emotional over engagement. What that means is that mindfulness is the moderate way of dealing with emotions. On one hand, it means acknowledging that negative emotions are there and that they exist. On the other hand, it also means that we don’t remain stuck in these negative emotions. We acknowledge and accept them without judgement, and we are able to move forward.

A more scientifically accepted definition of mindfulness makes a difference between state, trait, and practiced mindfulness:

State - a person has reached a state of awareness by practicing mindfulness.
Trait - a characteristic that makes a person enter mindful state more often and for longer periods of time.
Practice - an act of practicing mindfulness meditation

How to Practice Mindfulness

One of the best and easiest ways to practice being mindful is to set aside some time in your day when you focus on the present and nothing else.

There are two types of practices which can help a person become more mindful:

Formal Mindfulness Practices

The basic and most common way of practicing mindfulness is through meditation. By purposefully directing one’s attention to their breath, specific words (mantras), or any other sensations, such as auditory or tactile, a state of mindfulness can be achieved.

Getting started with a formal mindfulness practice does not require any special equipment - all you need is a bit of time and space.

A basic meditation practice can look something like this:

Find a place to sit down - it doesn’t have to be anything special, you can sit on a chair or on a cushion on the floor. If you are sitting on a cushion, you can cross the legs in front of you, or kneel down with your legs parallel to each other. It’s important that you feel comfortable.

You may decide to keep eyes open or closed. If you decide to keep them open, allow yourself to gaze softly in front of you without focusing on anything in particular.

Focus on your breath. Allow it to become the main object of your meditation. It’s normal to have thoughts and emotions interrupting your flow.

If and when that happens, just become aware of your thoughts, acknowledge them non-judgmentally, and come back to your breath again. The meditation practice is a practice of self-acceptance and self-compassion, so please be gentle with yourself.

At first, five of ten minutes will be enough to practice this kind of mindfulness meditation. It is important that you do not judge any emotions that raise inside you. The same goes for sensation - feel them, but do not judge - instead, return to the object of your focus, in this case - your breath.

Informal mindfulness practices

Informal mindfulness practices can be applied to any situation in life the goal remains the same - you practice staying in the present moment and focusing on what you’re doing. A good example of informal practice would be focusing on the food you’re eating. Avoid doing anything else at the same time and allow your focus to the food, its taste, texture, smell and colors.

Mindfulness for Kids

Much like the adults, children too can reap the many benefits of practicing mindfulness, and they’re just as important to them as they are to the grown-up population. Teaching our youngsters to be more mindful is about helping them cope with the issues they face in their everyday lives and making them more aware of the present. Their challenges might seem trivial to us because we’ve already been there. On the other hand, young minds are not ready to comprehend the many aspects of a problem just yet. This is where mindfulness comes into play.

One of the first mistakes people often make in the process of teaching is making mindfulness all too difficult for the young ones to understand. First of all, such complicated words are very intimidating to them. Instead, they should be approached playfully and with simplicity in mind.

Never underestimate a child’s imagination because they are more likely to switch into mindfulness mode than we are. You can easily introduce mindfulness without bringing up this seemingly intimidating term at all. Encourage them to perceive and be open to fully experience their feelings, thoughts, and environment at any given moment, and motivate them to nurture this culture of introspection every so often. Not only will it help them stay focused during exams and be more perceptive but it will be tremendously beneficial for those kids struggling with ADHD, autism, and other behavioral disorders.

The best way to approach them is through play and games. A tactic that has been proven successful time and again is called “Breathing Buddies.” This game is easily applicable at home and in the classroom, and is especially suitable to play with younger children and kindergartners. Kids can grab their favorite stuffed animal, lie down, and place the toy on their bellies. They can then focus on their own breathing as they feel the stuffed animal rise and fall. Similarly, they can make a “Mind Jar.” You can help them make it themselves, so they feel engaged and involved since the very beginning of the game. Just fill a jar up with water and glitter, shake it, and after that you can both watch the glitter subside slowly, much like in a snow globe. As you are watching it, you can draw a parallel between our own feelings and the disturbed glitter. Similar to the glitter in the jar, our disturbed thoughts and emotions always calm down when we become aware of them and we give them enough time to settle.

The reason for applying such knowledge to kids is making them become aware of their own bodily sensations and emotions. Moreover, kids who’re more mindful exhibit higher levels of inner peace that is so crucial to understanding one’s experience.

Mindfulness has an amazing potential to be realized in the education of children. Not only can it lead to better-focused and more ambitious children but it can also help mend the emotional wounds of being bullied, and make the students more empathetic toward others.

Benefits of Mindfulness

Mindfulness has been researched extensively since it first made an appearance in Western societies. What the research demonstrated was an incredible effect which practicing mindfulness had on patients and healthy people.

Practicing mindfulness helps increased the overall sense of well-being and the appreciation for everything happening at any given moment. Instead of worrying about the future or stressing over some past events, mindfulness practitioners are able to be part of (and fully appreciate) daily activities.

Another positive impact of practicing mindfulness is that it reinforces the way in which people deal with grievances. Mindful people are better equipped to deal with anything that life throws at them and they stress less about these situations afterward.

Moreover, being in the present makes people better listeners and friends, thus allowing them to form deeper and longer-lasting bonds.

However, well-being is just one of the benefits of mindfulness. It has been shown that it can improve the physical health of an individual by alleviating some of the chronic pain, it can also help with insomnia, lowering blood pressure, and decreasing the severity and improving the symplots of gastrointestinal problems.

Last but not least, mindfulness has been a very successful tool in dealing with mental problems by reducing stress, dealing with certain mental disorders, and even depression. Practicing mindfulness has also been helpful for people struggling with drug and alcohol abuse.

The benefits of mindfulness are numerous and multifold, and we invite you to discover more about Mindfulness by reading one or more of our articles in this category. Enjoy!

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