How to incorporate mindfulness into your daily life

girl in subwayWith these suggestions, there is no excuse for you not to live more consciously. All you have to do is remember .. and for that, maybe you first have to train your attention and intention, or put some reminders in places you look at often ..

Whether you decide to incorporate mindfulness meditation into your life formally (setting aside a time and place to sit and meditate, preferably every day), or if you just try to be more aware of each moment, the most important thing is that you make it easy for yourself and don,t push yourself too much. Being kind to yourself and receiving every experience as it is with acceptance is equally important as being aware of them..

1. A good place to start is to cultivate mindfulness in your own body. Befriend your breath. Start by contacting it as often as you can, noting the sensations of  the air in and out of your body naturally, as it,s happening at every moment.

2. Note where you feel your breathing more vividly: in your chest, abdomen, into the nostrils .. and place your attention there.

3. When you wake up, before getting up, contact your breathing, feeling the gentle waves of air in and out of your body moment by moment.

4. Begore getting out of bed, try to widen the awareness of your breathing throughout your whole body, trying to perceive it as a whole which is continually breathing.

5. Along with your breath, be aware of other bodily sensations.

6. Just rest in the awareness of lying here breathing, without haste, even if it,s only for a minute or two.

7. When you feel that the mind starts its activity and begins to wander here and there, be aware that this is it,s nature, so there is no need to judge it.

8. See where your mind goes, without judgement, allowing it to be the object of your attention for a moment, then return back again to your breathing and your body sensations.

9. Our usual state of mind is worrying about the future, thinking about the past or judging the present moment and being caught by painful emotions from time to time. While there,s no need to stop this, it is necessary to welcome every experience with a spacious, loving and receptive consciousness. As you practice this self-observation, you will notice that you,ll be able to sit more and more often on the bank of the stream of your thoughts, simply observing them, without getting caught up in them.

10. You can cultivate this attention to your breathing and your body as you wake up in the morning and at bedtime at night, every time you can remember.

11. You can also cultivate your awareness while sitting in the office, standing, walking, eating … In fact, at any time of day, while brushing your teeth, taking a shower, talking on the phone, in the gym, in a meeting, with whatever you’re living at the time. Be aware of your bodily sensations and anchor yourself in your breathing.

Although there are many other practices that help us deepen not only in the consciousness of the present moment but in observing the functioning of our mind and helping us get detached from the patterns that create difficulties for us, these tips are a good start to start incorporating attention to the present moment within you and your life. Recalling that the true meditation is our own life, and how we inhabit it moment by moment.

By Belén Giner

Source: Jon Kabat-Zinn, through palousemindfulness.com

This post is also available in: Español

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