Whether at home or in the workplace, mindfulness is said to be an important focus for everyday life. With self care, affirmations & meditation being hailed as the key to surviving the pandemic and find your road to success. We take a deeper dive into the varying methods available to us.
Increased meditation practices and research in the last decade show that mindfulness practices, too, contribute to well-being at work and lead to happier, healthier lifestyle.
Scientists report that mindfulness slows down heart rate and brain-wave patterns, boosts the immune system and cardiac functioning and that people who meditate have less stressful lives, fewer health problems, improved relationships and longer lives. Findings attesting to the power of mindfulness to sharpen focus, dampen stress, and raise clarity and better decision-making have shown that it’s also good for business.
Mindfulness can extend to practices such as:
Mindful eating. This involves paying attention to the taste, sight and textures of what you eat. For example, when drinking a cup of tea or coffee you could focus on how hot and liquid it feels on your tongue, how sweet it tastes or watch the steam that it gives off.
Mindful moving, walking or running. Notice the feeling of your body moving. You might notice the breeze against your skin, the feeling of your feet or hands against different textures on the ground or nearby surfaces, and the different smells that are around you.
Body scan. This is where you move your attention slowly through different parts of the body, starting from the top of your head moving all the way down to the end of your toes. You could focus on feelings of warmth,
Mindful colouring and drawing. Focus on the colours and the sensation of your pencil against the paper, rather than trying to draw something in particular. You could use a mindfulness colouring book or download mindfulness colouring images.
Mindful meditation. This involves sitting quietly and focusing on your breathing, your thoughts, sensations in your body and the things you can hear around you. Try to bring you focus back to the present if your mind starts to wander. Many people also find that yoga helps them to concentrate on their breathing and focus on the present moment.
Here are a few links to types of alternative and complementary therapy
There are some great app like Headspace to help you to be present and engaged when seeking some time out mentally. Another great app to try is Calm which is targeted to improve your health and happiness with mindful breaks during the day.
Mindfulness Tech
Muse 2 £276.98
There has been a surge in gadgets and tools to aid mindfulness, one of them is Muse 2. Which is a multi-sensor meditation device that provides real-time feedback on your brain activity, heart rate, breathing, and body movements to help you build a consistent meditation practice. Gain access to 300+ guided meditations from renowned meditation instructors.
Kasina Deep Vision £291
Next up is the Kasina DeepVision – Kasina is a Pali term which refers to an ancient system of meditation that uses visual objects to focus the mind. Our MindPlace Kasina can be used in a similar manner to induce positive mood shifting effects.
Simpy get yourself into a comfortable position, put on your earphones, choose a session, put on the ganzfeld frames – your mind will naturally attune to the same frequency as the session you choose – in the same way that tuning a fork works.
Benefits include deeper meditation, Build focus and attention skills, positive mood shift, stunning audio visual experience
Bella Beat Spring £58
Bella Beat Spring Spring tracks your daily hydration and sends you regular reminders to help you establish a healthy hydration habit. It calculates the optimal amount of water for your body based on your activity level, age, height, weight, local weather and if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Have I had enough water? No more wondering. No more headaches caused by dehydration. View your hydration data through the Bella beat app, all you need to do is shake your Spring to sync.
Breath Work & Meditation
With so much going on in our everyday lives, who really has time to stop and breathe? Unfortunately, this lack of intentional breathing has left us anxiety-prone, stressed, and out of tune with our true purpose and inner selves.
Enter breathwork meditation: a form of active breathing to help shift the focus inwards, regulate our state of mind, and create a sense of calm and purpose. It may even prevent certain disease states, like depression and anxiety.
Breathwork is a form of active meditation utilizing breathing techniques. The International Breathwork Foundation (IBF) defines the practice as, “a dynamic body-mind practice using conscious connected breathing techniques for inner peace, enhanced health, wellbeing and personal transformation.”
As opposed to simply taking deep breaths, practicing breathwork meditation is active breathing and utilization of breath as a tool for self-healing.
Benefits include:
An Endorphin High, Endorphins are released after both aerobic and anaerobic exercise, as well as during and after breath work. In one study, as little as 30 minutes of walking on a treadmill for 10 days in a row was sufficient to produce a significant reduction in depression among clinically depressed subjects.
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