Mindfulness is simply ‘being in the now, without judgement.‘ This means you are only focusing on what is happening right now, without analysing it (in a negative OR positive way). For example, right now I am sitting on a chair, typing on my laptop so to be mindful I am feeling the comfiness of the chair under me, feeling the heaviness of my legs, realising which parts of my back are touching the chair, feeling the touch of the keypad under my fingers, realising my fingers are quite cold and that I have an itch on my side.
If I wasn’t being mindful, I would be typing as fast as I could to finish this post as quickly as possible so that I could go and eat and get on with the washing I have to put on, the pots I need to wash and get ready for my meeting in Nottingham at 3:00. I can feel this slight pang of anxiety in my tummy and the tightness growing in my shoulders as I realise all I want to do in the next hour, but what am I going to benefit from rushing? A rubbish post (and it’s my first so I’d better try and make it an alright one) with spelling mistakes in and a flustered face for my afternoon meeting. So, back to the mindfulness I go…you may have noticed that it focused around my senses of what I can feel right now. The 5 senses are used as an ‘anchor’ in mindfulness to anchor you into the present moment. Breathing is another key anchor that we will also use.
Mindfulness is to slow down all the thoughts in your head that cause you to worry or stress out and to simply BE.
Another key point I made is that you need to be non-judgemental. This means that when I realised my fingers were cold as I’m sat typing, I don’t think about how cold it is and moan that it’s the end of April!! Or I didn’t think about why the heating bill is always so expensive…I simply acknowledge that they are cold and let that thought float away. When an itch started, I didn’t get annoyed and irritated and complain that it ruined my mindful moment, I simply scratched it and forgot about it.
This brief explanation of Mindfulness is for you, as adults, to gain a broad understanding. I wouldn’t use this definition with children younger than Y5/6, I simply say that Mindfulness is an exercise to calm our brains down.
I hope this has given you a brief understanding of what mindfulness is and wat to expect from ‘Mindful May’…
Any questions or clarifications, please ask!
Please note – Mindfulness isn’t religious, it is scientifically proven to calm and relax you and increase your optimism and happiness, among many other benefits.
The Mindfulness Teacher 