Written by: Suzanne Roberts, Social Emotional Learning Specialist Many of us have been in our homes now for about five weeks. That is five weeks of spending the vast majority of our waking – and for that matter sleeping – hours in our homes. This has been a huge shift for most, and has created new stress experiences. Many of us have recognized that this has been and continues to be really hard at times – for us and for our loved ones. We have thought in this series about some things that can help, and we continue that today. Today, let us consider the value of adding mindful practice into our daily activities.
Mindfulness is at its core the practice of being present, which sounds pretty simple and may not feel very helpful right now. But if we think about what we are not doing when we are being present, we begin to see how it can be very helpful at any time and especially helpful right now. When we are aware of and focusing on the present moment, we are not worrying about the past or the future. We are not thinking about all of the things that are currently out of our control. Or if we notice that we have a worry or concerning thought, we can notice it and let go of it in a new way. While mindfulness practices have roots in Buddhist traditions, the secular practice of mindfulness and its benefits have been researched for more than forty years here in the U.S. Jon Kabat Zinn introduced the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program through the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979, and the body of evidence supporting its benefits have continued to grow. Practicing mindfulness improves our immune systems, reduces heart rate and blood pressure, reduces negative emotions and stress, improves memory and attention, boosts confidence and creativity, increases feelings of well-being, and has a number of other positive health and mental health impacts. However, sometimes we don’t know quite where to start. We can start simply by taking a moment to breathe – to notice the breath and concentrate on the breath – how it feels entering and leaving the body – and to allow ourselves to slow. Taking mindful breaks throughout our day, even for just a few moments, allows for us to calm and reset and start anew. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time and doesn’t have to involve a lot of formal practice. It can, however, include formal practice, and many of those resources are currently available to us for free during this time of distancing and staying at home. Check out some of these free online guided meditations and mindfulness resources, if you are interested: Calm: https://blog.calm.com/blog/free-resources Mindful: https://www.mindful.org/free-mindfulness-resources-for-calm-during-covid-outbreak/ UCLA: https://www.uclahealth.org/marc/mindful-meditations Dartmouth: https://students.dartmouth.edu/wellness-center/wellness-mindfulness/relaxation-downloads/mindfulness-meditation Comments are closed.
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