What is Mindfulness Meditation?
- Mindfulness is a particular way of
paying attention - noticing our experience (thoughts, feelings, emotions
and the world around us) as it arises without judging it.
- Mindfulness is a quality that we
all have within us but we can become disconnected from it.
- We can cultivate mindfulness
through meditating. Meditating shines a light on our inner experience and
through meditating regularly we can cultivate particular attitudes
including kindness, curiosity, patience, non-judging, curiosity,
beginner's mind. However, we don't have to meditate in order to practice mindfulness. We can cultivate mindfulness in other ways.
- When we meditate we are learning
to watch our thoughts as mental events - a bit like the weather. We can
watch them come and go without getting caught up and stuck in them. It is
not about stopping our thoughts or trying to empty our mind.
- When we practise mindfulness
meditation we are learning to be with all experiences - the good, the bad
and the neutral. It is not about focusing on the positive experiences
only. However, when we intentionally develop our awareness we notice how
many positive experience are occurring throughout our day that normally we
would not notice.
- Practising mindfulness is not
going to make all our problems disappear. However, if practised regularly
it can help us relate differently to difficulties in our life. This
means the difficulties seem more manageable and less overwhelming.
How to learn mindfulness meditation
We can learn mindfulness meditation by doing a course with an experienced teacher, read books or maybe look online or use an app and practice on our own. Different methods will suit different people depending on their circumstances.
You can read more about the benefits of learning more about mindfulness meditation in a group taught by a trained and experienced teacher here
If you would like to book a mindfulness course with Anna Black you can find out more information here
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