WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?
Welcome to the world of mindfulness: I’m here to share a little about what exactly mindfulness means, it’s generous benefits, common roadblocks, and easy ways to incorporate it into a busy life.
For your own budding practice, I created the Seeding Mindfulness Workbook, a week-long guide to help weave meaningful and simple mindfulness practices into your days. You can download it for free here.
And for those of you who live in NY and would like to work together, you can schedule a consult chat here.
In a past life, when my weekdays were spent in a gray-walled cubicle on Manhattan’s West 25th street, I would nourish myself with a daily walk - a midday break to cope with the monotonous office lifestyle. A self-gifted moment in time, creating space to slow down and notice the world around me - actually enjoying my lunch on a bench in Madison Square Park, thoughtfully paging through books at McNally Jackson, observing people passing in and out of Maman cafe - the colors and textures of their clothes, the emotions expressed on their faces. What felt like a survival tactic at the time was actually a practice in mindfulness. It sharpened my focus, lightened my demeanor, helped me become a better employee, friend, and partner - and, over time, changed the course of my life. Nowadays, I have an intentional, consistent mindfulness practice of my own and am honored to work with clients on developing their own.
Here I dive into what mindfulness is, it’s beautiful benefits, and how to implement it into your own life - no matter how busy you are!
Mindfulness is a deliberate awareness of the present moment, without judgement. It’s an intentional acknowledgement of the world around you, with acceptance - everything simply existing as it is.
Let’s dive a little deeper in the experience of mindfulness. It can help to view mindfulness as a practice of noticing - witnessing the world around you and engaging your senses as you experience. Disengaging yourself from the mental commentary we all find running in our minds. Instead of creating a judgement of an experience, simply observe and acknowledge it. Try this - the next time you take a sip of a drink - notice it’s temperature and texture, how it feels on your lips, your tongue, as it goes down your throat. Don’t judge it as good or bad (ie. I don’t like how this water is so cold) just simply notice (ie. this water feels cold on my lips) and acknowledge the sensations without a reaction.
The windfall of benefits from a regular mindfulness practice can be life changing. Honing your ability to tune into the present moment can affect your whole experience of reality. When we become the observer of our thoughts, rather than allowing our thoughts control us, we can be proactive about what goes on in our minds, exercising choice over destiny. With a regular mindfulness practice, we can find greater focus, decreased stress, enhanced performance, lessen panic attacks, and an ability to thoughtfully and calmly respond in stressful situations, rather than react. It’s an opportunity to stop sleepwalking through life, and begin to notice the world around you, enjoying the experience of being human on a deeper level.
It’s easy to come up with reasons this practice just won’t work for you, I know. There will always be excuses if you’re feeling resistant to change or trying a new practice. Lucky for us all, the beautiful thing about mindfulness is you don’t need much to practice. Even perceived lack of time, the most common of roadblocks, doesn’t stand in the way of a mindfulness practice (there are so many tools and practices to try - below I offer a few of them). If the roadblocks you’re coming up against feel too deep or painful, it may help to connect with a therapist who can offer a safe space to explore these feelings.
So, how do we incorporate it into our lives? Arriving into presence can be practiced in any moment, and becomes easier with time and practice. I created a workbook as a guide for those looking to begin a new mindfulness practice or enhance one they already have. Seeding Mindfulness: A Week of Practices is free for everyone and offers a week of mindfulness practices to explore and reflect upon. You can download here and enjoy a small taste of two of the included practices here:
Small Moments: There are many small moments are peppered into our days that are usually co-opted by wandering thoughts and distractions, but with a little shift in thought, we can turn these moments into mindfulness opportunities. Think of small moments throughout your days, times of in-between when you may naturally grab for your phone, like waiting for or sitting on the subway, waiting in line at the store, on hold with your insurance company, sitting in a waiting room. Look for one of these moments as you go about your day. When you find yourself in one, pause and practice a mindfulness tool - you can find some tools I wrote about previously here.
Relish in Pleasantries: The small joys in life often get overlooked in a society that is always on the go. When was the last time you truly tasted your morning coffee or engaged fully in a cuddle with your dog? Today, find a pleasantry that you enjoy (what does a piece of chocolate actually taste like when all your focus is only on the sensation of chocolate eating?) and engage your senses fully and completely in the experience.
You can build and enhance your mindfulness practice with therapy. All of my work - as a therapist, an artist, a writer, a host/guide - is grounded in mindfulness. In my work with my therapy clients, we bring mindfulness into the space in so many creative ways. Each of my clients life circumstances are uniquely their own, giving me the opportunity to creatively tailor mindfulness practices to each person and their specific needs. We work together in practicing and creating tools that fit into their current season of life. While offerings like my Seeding Mindfulness workbook can be a wonderful place to begin, having personalized practices and tools is so worthwhile. I also bring a somatic approach to my therapy work, through meditations and breathwork. These practices create a space for intentional reflection, mind body connection, and calming. Another beautiful part of therapy is it’s role as a regular space for accountability. I always work to hold my client’s accountable for the work they’re putting into their growth and my virtual therapy office acts as a structured, consistent space for them. If you’d like to chat about working together (and live in NY) - please schedule a consult chat here!
There are so many resources ready to help you dig deeper into the topic of mindfulness. I plan to share more nuanced posts exploring different branches and how mindfulness can be woven into busy lives. For now, if you’d like to read more on your own, here are a few recommendations:
Books
Meditation and mindfulness are not one in the same, but meditation can be wonderful tool for enhancing a mindfulness practice.
Here are a few apps that I recommend:
If you’re interested in working together, always feel free to reach out or schedule a free consultation.