WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?
Our quality of life depends on our ability to balance ‘doing’ and ‘being’. The practice of mindfulness can help us to reach our fullest potential in all aspects of our lives. Mindfulness is at the heart of wellness. It’s what helps us to practice a high level of self-care and to know what kind of professional care is necessary to improve and maintain holistic health and well-being.

Mindfulness is simply about developing the capacity to be aware and awake in the present moment as it is. It is a skill that is developed through meditation where we practice noticing what we are doing, thinking, feeling, seeing, and hearing. Mindfulness is about being aware of everything we do every day. Mindfulness involves being conscious of both our internal and external environment and then learning from what we see.

The qualities of alertness and calmness in the present moment enables us to navigate through a stress event with more grace and ease. In addition, mindfulness helps us to be present for joyful moments such as a hug, a smile, a sunrise, a conversation, or a meal. This is how we create balance.

The pace of our lives keeps us from making self-care a priority. However this may challenge us, there is a deeper issue. Mindfulness helps us begin to explore our resistance to self-care and the programmed sense of safety, security, and acceptance that comes from taking care of others. Mindfulness enables us to heal the addiction to ‘doing’ that prevents us from mastering self-care and from leading a fully engaged life.

BENEFITS OF MINDFULNESS:

-Enhanced ability to identify and cope with stressors
-Improved ability to relax and sleep more soundly
-Improved self-esteem and confidence
-Increased ability to manage pain
-Increased energy and enthusiasm for life
-Improved state of inner stability and calmness
-Enhanced relationships at home and work
-Improved ability to connect with inner and outer resources
-Improved fitness level and body composition

A TASTE OF MINDFULNESS by Jon Kabat-Zinn
“Have you ever had the experience of stopping so completely, of being in your body so completely, of being in your life so completely, that what you knew and what you didn’t know, that what had been and what was yet to come, and the way things are right now, no longer held even the slightest hint of anxiety or discord, a moment of complete presence beyond striving, beyond mere acceptance, beyond the desire to escape or fix anything or plunge ahead, a moment of pure being, no longer in time, a moment of pure seeing, pure feeling, a moment in which life simply is, and that is-ness grabs you by all your senses, all your memories, by your very genes, by your loves, and welcomes you home, that is a taste of mindfulness.”