Mindfullness





I have recently went back to meditation after taking a long break, and it's only been a week, and I am seeing some benefits:   I am more calm, I don't get "hooked" onto whatever I am feeling at the moment( as much), I am sleeping better, and my mood is lifted.  All that for 2 ten minute sessions a day- what a bargain!

The meditation that I am practicing is mindfulness.  What that means is just being mindful of your body, surroundings and breath.  Thoughts and feelings will come and go and we just allow them to pass through us. It is gentle and pretty easy to do, as long as you don't get caught up in doing in "right".  The more pressure we put on our mind to focus, the more difficult it is.

Mindfulness has been shown to help many things, from better sleep, lessen anxiety and depression, reduce stress, help physical ailments and reduce ADHD symptoms.  Here is a link to a paper on the benefits of mindfulness.

http://marc.ucla.edu/workfiles/pdfs/MARC-mindfulness-research-summary.pdf


And if you are interested in getting started I recommend the free downloads from UCLA which is a great way to get started on your practice.

http://marc.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=22


The important thing when starting a new meditation practice is to be consistent and also to not pressure yourself to do it right.  So pick one or two times each day that you can commit to practicing mindfulness,and enjoy this drug free, pain free tonic for so much that ails us today. 

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