Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness

Mindfulness involves paying attention each moment to things as they are, with an open hearted and non-judgemental attitude. This is a process of observing thoughts, emotions, and sensations as they come and go, with an attitude of curiosity and acceptance.

Mindful awareness can be applied to experiencing every day activities such as eating, walking, washing the dishes, and having a shower. Practicing mindfulness can help us to be less caught up in stress, worry, low mood, by helping us to develop a greater capacity to engage in our lives by being more fully present.

Mindfulness improves physical health in a number of ways including:

• Reversing heart disease
• Lowering heart rate and blood pressure
• Elevating immune system function
• Improving management of pain
• Less frequency and duration of illness
• Fighting inflammation
• Alleviating gastrointestinal difficulties and asthma

Mindfulness improves mental health

• Lessening anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, substance abuse, eating disorders, depression
• Increasing self awareness and emotional regulation
• Raising mental functioning, intelligence, focus, memory
• Reducing tension, irritabilityand fatigue
• Ability to manage and cope with stress, difficulty, pain and low mood

Mindfulness improves sense of wellbeing

• Greater vitality, enthusiasm and happiness
• Calmer and able to deal with stress and challenges
• More insight, creativity, clarity
• Self accepting and self confident
• Enjoy enhanced interpersonal relationships
• Improvements in sleep, eating, digestion,exercise habits
• Helps smoking cessation efforts
• Re-awakened sense of meaning and purpose in life.

Mindfulness Meditation Technique

At the core of the mindfulness meditation practice is the development of our skills of observation—concentration and mindfulness. To do so, we must structure our meditation around them. Here are some basic guidelines for a typical mindfulness meditation session:

Sitting Position – Sit in a comfortable chair without armrests; back straight, and feet flat on the floor. Keep your hands either cupped one inside the other just below the navel, or simply rest them on your thighs. The main purpose of our sitting position is to be comfortable and alert. Do not lie down, as you’ll probably fall asleep.

Concentration – Use the counting technique to help you develop your concentration. During your meditation, count your breaths 1 through 5 silently in your mind. When you get to 5, simply start over again. Keep your attention focused on the air passing through the tip of your nose. When you find that your mind has wandered, bring your attention back to your breath immediately. Concentration meditation will help you develop mental discipline.

Mindfulness – After a few minutes of concentration meditation, switch to mindfulness meditation. Continue observing your breath. However, this time instead of counting each one, simply observe the entire breathing process mindfully. This means that you are relaxed, and not forcing yourself to do anything. When distracting thoughts arise, gently bring your attention back to the breath.

Suggested Practice

If you want to make steady progress in your spiritual growth, we suggest meditating regularly, preferably daily. How long you meditate depends on your available time. But remember, how fast you progress in your spiritual development will always depend on the time and effort you dedicate to your meditation practice.

Suggested begin meditate for about 10-15 minutes daily, using the format outlined above. If you can meditate for longer, feel free to do so. Remember, it’s important to follow the proper techniques in order to get the most from your practice. As you gain some experience, gradually increase the duration of your meditation sessions. For best result, recommended 45 minutes to an hour.