Why Mindfulness is an Important Part of Wellness
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my full disclosure policy.
As a teacher, mentally preparing students for the world is one of your most important tasks. But, how much time do you spend on mentally preparing yourself? With a million and one things to do, from grading papers to coming up with lessons plans to buying materials, finding time for you can be hard. Being pulled in so many different directions can really stress you out, so maybe it’s time to take some time for yourself and bring mindfulness into your life.
Why Mindfulness?
The term has been a buzzword in the last few years with companies like Google and Facebook touting mindfulness programs for their employees. What is it, though? The dictionary definition describes it as a mental state where you focus your awareness on the present while acknowledging and accepting your thoughts, feelings and other sensations. The point is to calm your mind from zigzagging thought processes and just focus on being. Sounds easy, no? Well, it’s a lot harder than you think. People are so used to constantly being on the move and multitasking they often don’t take enough time to take care of their minds.
Mindfulness is such an important skill because it gives you the opportunity to actually understand who you are, where you are, what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
Practicing Mindfulness
So how do you get into mindfulness? Luckily, that is the easy part. The most common and popular method is meditation, but there are plenty of other options. Thanks to technology, there are dozens of mindfulness apps and videos to help you out. This means you can practice anywhere from a local café to the airport. Just remember to practice safety during your mindfulness activities and use a virtual private network for your various devices. There’s nothing quite like a hacker to interrupt a good mindfulness session.
Of course, you don’t need to use apps or videos to practice. You can get started with zero materials with these basic mindfulness therapy techniques:
- Meditate: You can sit, stand or even lie down. The point is to be comfortable. Once you find a good position, focus on your breathing or, perhaps, a mantra of some sort. Don’t try to push your thoughts away. Instead, acknowledge them and then move on.
- Note body sensations: Try to take notice of your body sensations. Don’t judge, simply take note and let them pass.
- Pay attention to your senses: Notice the world around you. Be alert to sights, sounds, smells, tastes and other physical sensations. Name each one by sense and then, like the other techniques, let them pass.
- Listen to your emotions: This is probably the hardest, but it’s important to take stock of what you’re feeling. Notice your emotions, give them a name and accept them. Then, allow them to leave.
As you can see, the important part of mindfulness is to take notice of the world around you on a moment-to-moment basis and then release those feelings and thoughts. That’s the hard part, though, so don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t come easy to you in the beginning. It’s easy to latch on to one emotion or experience, but the point of mindfulness is to observe what goes on in your mind and see which habits create feelings of wellness or suffering.
Connecting Mindfulness and Wellness
Besides assessing your current mood and actions, practicing mindfulness can improve your wellness. Studies show mindfulness helps ease stress, increase vigor and gives people greater resilience. By now, it’s fairly common knowledge that high levels of stress negatively impact your health. So why wouldn’t you try out something that would help reduce it from your life? And while it can’t really be studied, a lot of anecdotal evidence also points to a higher level of gratitude and happiness from those who practice mindfulness.
Besides this, practicing mindfulness can also lead to fewer poor decisions in life because you are taking the time to assess what you’re doing and to understand the potential consequences of your actions.
Practicing mindfulness isn’t easy and even those who have embraced the lifestyle probably still struggle at times. If you feel like giving up, try to imagine what you would say to a student who is struggling with something. Would you tell them to quit or would you urge them to keep trying?
Do you practice mindfulness in your life? Let us know how you incorporate into your life in the comments below!
About the author: Latoya is a freelance writer and health enthusiast. Although she still struggles to be mindful throughout the day, she tries to set aside a few minutes every hour to clear her mind and embrace the now.
Questions of the Day:
- How do you practice mindfulness?
Does meditating whilst showering count as a mindfulness therapy? Because that’s what I try and do daily. Thanks for this informative guestpost
I firmly believe in the practice of being mindful in order to improve wellness. Mindful eating is an effective way to combat binge eating for example and in this non-stop crazy world of technology, being present in the moment seems ever more important. Being mindful has become something of a catchphrase and it’s easy to say but can be hard to do. This post gives some good starting points.
Interesting concept. I agree with preparing for your day. However, I read my bible, prayer and recite positive mantras to maintain peace. Good luck
I can’t take meditation seriously–I always get the giggles. But I do try to pay attention to my emotions and go from there.
This is the hardest thing for me to accomplish – even though I totally agree with its importance. The only time I was really able to come close to achieving it was when I was consistently practicing yoga.
This is a great reminder!! It is so important to consider all parts of our life when working on our health!
I’m not great about practicing mindfulness, but my husband is. He has an app he uses daily for meditation and we’ve set up a space for him to meditate easily in our home.
I’m don’t think I practice “mindfulness” per se. But I do take a few minutes to meditate on scriptures in the Bible daily, and try to recall these periodically. Also, I go over lists of things to do throughout the day. But I don’t do any yoga or mantras.
I am all for mindfulness, especially in the form of meditation. I practice 2-3x daily and I absolutely love it.
could not agree with this more. I need to be better at practicing mindfulness
What techniques do you think would work most? It is easy to want to, but how to implement? It is a real decision that has to be made.
I have a terrible focus problem, just awful. Wait where are the kids…anyway for mindfulness I have found meditation will not work for me, neither will any form of stand alone concentration practices. But what DOES work for me is art, travel, and writing. :))
hehe meditation while having shower, I do that too. ^.^ Sometimes just sitting and listening to the sounds around you can help in centering and being in the now. It’s like a training. 🙂
This is a very informative post on Mindfulness. I have to try meditating while taking a shower. That sounds really relaxing.
I love this. I’ve been working on being more mindful recently and I love the ideas and inspiration here.
I’ve been practicing this for some time now and I feel fantastic! Everyone should be doing this 🙂
I’m always trying to be more mindful. Thank you for this, it helps! I tend to get overwhelmed worrying about to future (or sometimes even the past) and I need to focus and appreciate the present.
Wonderful post, Divya. Am trying much more mindful practices throughout the day–but you’re right… always much harder than it is to sit in stillness and just BREATHE!!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
I started mindfullness when I was TTC and loved it. I would like to get back into it again.
I try to meditate once… Fell asleep so quick 😂. Haven’t tried it again.
I have my clients begin their mindfulness practice by asking “what does my body need?” It’s a start to begin focusing upon what sensations are going on in the body, aches that might not be noticed, tight muscles. I think it’s helpful when we share how many ways one can be mindful.
I often recommend mindfulness as a way to reduce anxiety. Thanks for the information.
I’ve never actually tried this technique but it makes fascinating reading.
I love your simple suggestions for embracing mindfulness. You truly don’t need any special materials or classes to make mindfulness a meaningful, daily habit.
This is what I am trying to do more of — taking time to JUST BREATHE and be CALM. I am always on the go, but I do find that when I spend my morning with time for meditation and reflection, I am less frantic getting out of the door. Thank you for this reminder. Note to self: be mindful of being mindful.
Great post! This year I’ve been trying to be more quiet and still in order to quiet my mind. It’s tough but I find that I look forward to my quiet times now!
I do not practice mindfulness but it has been suggested for me to meditate. I tend to slip in my room and listen to music by myself. Other times I like it quiet. If it is nice I will lay in the hammock out back while the dogs run around. Because it is quiet.
Great post! As someone who struggles with mental health, mindfulness is crucial to my well-being.
I agree mindfulness is very important. Life can get very overwhelming at times & it’s important to just step back and be at times. I love doing a bit of yoga everyday and that helps me practise on my breathing. Also a walk always helps me too. Thanks for sharing a lovely post! 🙂
Lennae xxx
http://www.lennaesworld.com
This is really something I haven’t done yet – meditation and mindfulness. The biggest obstacle for me to engage in this is to find the right time and place to do it. It seems it is my family’s duty to never ever leave me alone for a minute.
Awesome post! I used to get hung up on the concept of mindfulness thinking that it had to involve meditation, when it’s really just a state of being that meditation also taps into. Super important to think about on a daily basis!
This is a great reminder to all of us. I think it is so important for us to consider all parts of our life when working on our health. Our health is very important.
I try to teach my kids at school this with deep breathing and connecting their breath to their mind. This is so great, and so important for teachers to practice.
You bet practicing any change to correct a behavior and be mindful of what we do everyday is a difficult thing but all is about discipline and practice. Thanks for sharing.
As a trauma therapist, I found mindfulness to be one of the most powerful tools for the process of healing.
Interesting topic; I sometimes do not see this type of topic all the time. Well for me I am practicing right now just by meditating and relaxing my mind. Only think positive and realistic thoughts. Also, thank you for sharing this information. It was very helpful for me and everyone else.
XOXO – Thee Lovingrose
New Post | IG
Yeah. having mindfulness as part of our daily routine is a great way to reduce stress.
http://www.learn2livefully.com
Great article! Meditation is so much harder for me that it looks. To simply slow your mind down and calm yourself can be so freeing.
I recently posted about mindfulness as well, as it’s something we’ve been trying to work on as a family. Lots of great tips here. So important for mental health. Thanks for sharing!
It’s important to reflect upon and to understand who you are as an individual. I love the idea of mindfulness.
I believe mindfulness plays a big role in our lives and something that we shouldn’t ignore. Something I have talked about in one of my upcoming blog posts. It’s a shame that people don’t realise just how important it can be!
Thank you for sharing.
We often forget about being in the present because we are busy thinking about the future. It’s really important that we learn to live in the present though. We miss a lot of things because of that.
This is such an importamt message. It doesn’t matter what you profession is, you have to learn to be in the present. I really like your tips on how to do that. It’s like wasting your time if you’re not mentally there.
I used to spend about an hour every day getting myself ready to face it LOL I haven’t done that since our twins arrived…I wonder why?! It certainly helped the day go smoother! I think I need to carve out some time to start meditating, for sure…
I would like to incorporate more mindfulness exercises into my day. I think it’d be great for reducing stress. I think starting with one a day would be a good place to start.
I wrote about mindfulness and wellness a year back.That’s when I had researched about it and understood the science behind it.I started practicin since then.It’s difficult but it does give more feelings if gratitude and happiness .I also started my blog hop thankful Thursdays 6 months after starting mindfulness. I agree to this concept .Except I believe if you want you can do it anytime anywhere with no technology .
Great post
I couldn’t agree more 🙂 Mindfulness helps to keep your body and mind connected and find inner peace. Great post 🙂 🙂
Oooo so many great things to concider here!! I have been a huge fan of meditation for years!!!
Wow this post was awesome. I struggle with making time for myself & mindfulness on the daily so I will be taking some of these tips along with me!
Being in touch with your own emotions is so important. These are such great techniques.
This is great! Lots of people will find this article very useful. It’s an energetic topic designed to make you strong, powerful, glowing, and confident. Thanks for sharing. Keep it up!!
mindfulness is practicing by people of Hindus, Buddhist, Christians and in Islam, it has a great impact on our mind. we all should try this for inner peace.
my comment is not posting y?
It might sound silly but I like to sit under a tree and listen to the birds. I just close my eyes and listen to them twittering away 🙂 Not sure if that qualifies as mindfulness but it works for me 🙂