Mindfulness Exercises To Reconnect To Yourself

Mindfulness exercises? Do you often find that you are fretting over things that happened in the past? Do worries and anxieties about the future keep you from sleeping and enjoying life?

You are not alone, most people spend their entire lives consumed with the past or future and they never learn how to ‘live in the present'. This is why mindfulness exercises can be a powerful tool that you can use to get the stress relief that you need.

Mindfulness based exercises are exactly what is required if you want to develop more self -awareness. These techniques will help you stay focused on the present time, and improve your ability to concentrate and simply be truly awake and happy.

Once you have begun practicing these exercises you will find it easy to relax and let go of all of those racing thoughts and frustrating worries. Your mind will be calmer and emotions such as anger, fear and anxiety will be diminished.

Mindfulness and Concentration

There is a difference between intense concentration and mindfulness exercises. While both techniques seem similar and do have a synergistic bond it is important to understand why they are different.

When you concentrate you are focusing -mainly with your analytic capacities- on a specific thing or concept, judging it in all its aspects.

With mindfulness techniques you are learning to become more self-aware and ‘to live in the present moment'. You may have a ‘point of focus' during these meditative exercises but you are also aware of those other experiences, sights, smells and sounds that are occurring at the same moment in your environment.  And you try not judge things or concepts; you just perceive them as they are.

How

With mindfulness based relaxation techniques you train yourself to have a laser-like and patient observation that by its enhanced clarity eliminates the need for quick judgment or assumptions.

With mindfulness exercises you are focusing your attention on a singular object or activity while you remain conscience of your existence as an observer.  You keep a balanced channel open between your inner self and the outside world, so you can grow in both ways.

This will allow you to gain insight because –in this relaxed state of mind and body- you will be much more aware of the things around you, while exhibiting a patient acceptance and understanding of these experiences, without rejecting or wanting them.

In other words you will be completely present and emotionally balanced in the actual moment in which you are living.  This special state will create a mental and emotional space in which you can grow.

By mere observation you will see that most of the assumptions we project on things, persons and concepts have no bases rather than our own fear and habits.  Practicing mindfulness exercises is a liberating experience, like waking up from a dream-like state that we call “our daily life routine” to which we got used to.

Smells? Sounds? Situations? You will pay these a ‘mindful' attention without reacting or being judgmental. You then realize that you can embrace the reality of the world around you without letting stress and worry ruling your actions and reactions.

Benefits

When you begin to practice these mindfulness exercises on a regular basis you will discover a number of benefits. Stress relief, tranquility, a serene acceptance of the world and your life are just a few of these mindfulness exercises benefits.

This does not mean that you are going to settle for whatever ‘life throws at you', but it does mean that you will no longer worry unnecessarily over the things that you cannot change or the events that have not even happened yet.  Your actions and re-actions will be clearer, less automatic and thus more relevant and effective.

Here are some suggestions for practical mindfulness exercises:

Lear to become aware of yourself and your environment. This may best be explored when you are just waking in the morning or just getting ready to close your eyes for the night.

• Practice deep, diaphragmatic breathing techniques. Sit quietly with your hands resting lightly on your abdomen. Let your hands and belly rise slowly as you inhale and then slowly release your breath and let your belly relax. Keep your mind on the movement of your hands with each breath. Listen to your breathing, soft and hushed. Allow your mind to stay focused on these small but important matters as you devote yourself to relaxing and being ‘mindful' of your body sensations, without judging them.


• When you eat a piece of fruit try to use each of your senses to appreciate the smell, feel, taste and texture. Eat slowly, savor each morsel and enjoy ‘being in the moment'.


• Allow yourself to experience true amazement at something such as a flower, painting or a tree. You do not have to analyze the object; just let the emotions, forms and colors fill your mind.


• It takes ‘mindful attention' and practice to learn how to exist in the present moment and still discover effective stress relief. Most people are too involved with thoughts of the past, or anxiety about the future. Remember that the only real experiences are the ones that occur at the present moment.


• Meditation and yoga will help you progress as you practice ‘mindfulness exercises'. Do not rush these sessions if you really want to get the maximum benefits.


• You can also try counting to 10, very slowly. Do not think about what you are doing; just let these numbers come to your mind. As you reach the number 10 you can repeat the counting process.

Conclusion

Being more present is what it is all about.  Let you every action and breath be effectuated in that light. Simplify your life every time more to the essence of the present moment, without judgment and impregnated with a lot of love for yourself and the ones around you.

Thus you will re-create actively your life as a magical space where you truly want to be in, for every precious moment it offers.

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