Do you practice mindfulness? How? Please share your thoughts and/or experiences.

[Learning2Thrive]

Today I am off from my part time job and the ragweed pollen count is too high for me to ride my bike or even be outside. Even with three allergy medications combined—yes, they are safe to combine—so I am spending some extra time on practicing mindfulness.

I found this guided meditation on practicing mindfulness during difficult times. It’s about 30 minutes or so in length. I found it incredibly helpful today. Perhaps it may help someone else:

https://www.uclahealth.org/marc/mpeg/Hammer062818C.mp3

Do you practice mindfulness?

How?

How long have you been practicing?

How has it helped you?

  L2T

[zachira]

I regularly practice mindfulness. I try to lay on the floor quietly for around 20 minutes a day while observing my thoughts, feelings, and body sensations, and doing some gentle stretching if the need arises. I was able to do mindfulness after I finished with EMDR therapy, which taught me how to be present in the moment, and was enormously destabilizing at first, as I don't think I had ever been present in my life so there was a lot of accumulated trauma that was terribly painful to process. I went to a mindfulness meditation course last summer, and it seems that a lot of the people in the group really couldn't  do the mindfulness meditation because they did not know how to stay present and/or could not do the homework practice because they could not face what came up when they were alone. I find mindfulness meditation helps me to process emotions before I become too overwhelmed. I am working on being present throughout the day, as I find great joy in feeling my feelings versus being spaced out, which is how I have spent most of my life.

[Learning2Thrive]

  zachira,

Thank you for sharing about your practice of mindfulness. I can tell already that it’s helping me. I’ve been overwhelmed with too much stress and responsibilities all my life. So much of that was never mine to be responsible for.  My tolerance for stress is now rapidly decreasing. I’m tired of the BS and the toll it’s taking on me (high blood pressure).

I’m going to try to add this to my day. At least 15 to 30 minutes of quiet mindfulness meditation... .guided or not... .each day.

Anyone else have specific mindfulness exercises you can share about with me?

  L2T

[zachira]

Glad to hear you plan to add daily mindfulness practices to your daily routine. I think it also helps to remember that being mindful is something we can do anytime. In traditional cultures, people live the moment, and are mindful throughout the day. We can stop and do mindfulness at any moment. For example, when eating we can slow down and focus on how the food tastes, smells, and and how it is affecting us in the moment.