Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you're feeling and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. The practice of mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress. Mindfulness is a way of being that helps us live more fully and brings us greater peace and well-being. Mindfulness is not just a state of mind but a way of life.
It involves paying attention to our thoughts, feelings, sensations and physical experiences without judging or reacting to them. In other words, mindfulness means paying attention to awareness. It's a simple concept but it requires effort to develop it. By practicing mindfulness, we can learn to let go of unhealthy or negative thoughts and emotions and to deal with life's challenges more effectively.
Mindfulness helps us to be present in our lives and gives us some control over our repetitive reactions and thought patterns. It helps us pause, get a clearer picture of a situation, and respond more skillfully. The goal of mindfulness is to awaken to the inner workings of our mental, emotional and physical processes. Reducing stress is often an effect of practicing mindfulness, but the ultimate goal is not intended to be stress reduction.
Why be aware? Mindfulness practices can help us increase our ability to regulate emotions, reduce stress, anxiety and depression. It can also help us to focus our attention, as well as to observe our thoughts and feelings without judging them. As we become more present in our lives and in relation to others, this can help us make better decisions, manage our emotions and participate more fully in life. Although it has its roots in Buddhist meditation, a secular mindfulness practice has become mainstream in the United States in recent years, in part thanks to the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn and his mindfulness-based stress reduction program (MBSR), which he launched at the University School of Medicine in Massachusetts in 1979.Mindfulness is the practice of purposefully focusing your attention on the present moment and accepting it without judgment.
