What Is A Mindfulness Colouring?

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Many things happened unexpectedly this year, from terrorists’ attacks to an epidemic that caused the lives of so many people. People has been forced more often than not to stay inside their homes and temporarily stop the normal routine in their lives. Spending a lot of time at home can cause one to think too much and mindfulness is just one way of getting rid whatever is inside your mind.  

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is just one of the common practices that helps divert your attention and purposely focus on what is happening at the present moment – accepting it without judgement. It is achieved when a person reaches a certain state where they become more aware of the present moment while acknowledging and accepting whatever it is that they are feeling, thinking, and the bodily sensations that is overflowing in their body.

Benefits of Mindfulness

Improves well-being

Mindfulness increases your capacity to support many attitudes that contribute to a more satisfied life. The state of mindfulness makes it easier for one to enjoy the pleasures of life. It also allows you to be fully engaged in activities and increase your capability to face future untoward events. Many people who practices mindfulness see the differences on different aspects of their lives – they worry less about their stressors, the present and the unknown future. They become less preoccupied on the pressure to be successful and are able to make better and deeper connections with other people.

Improves physical health

The mind and the body are interrelated. One works because of the other. When one is harmed, it causes the other to disfunction. Using mindfulness to connect the body and the mind is a great way of improving one’s physical health. Many studies done showed significant results on using mindfulness in relieving stress, lessening the chances of having a cardiac disease, lowers blood pressure, reduces chronic pain and improves sleep.

Improves Mental health

Mindfulness, as a part of science, has its own contributions when it comes to treating a person suffering from any mental health problems. Psychologists and Psychiatrist proved the success of using mindfulness in treating a number of mental illness such as: depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, conflicts, anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The ability of state of mindfulness to help a person accept their experiences – past, present and future. It has a great impact on how people who are suffering from such disorders are able to cope with it.

Mindfulness Colouring

Mindful colouring is another technique of mindfulness where you bring one’s awareness to the present moment by consciously focusing on colouring and designing. Unlike the other techniques where you focus on breathing, mindful colouring focuses on the weight of the pencil on your hand, the shade of colours that you are painting or colouring your paper, and the feelings that is filling your body as you are doing the activity.

Mindful colouring is almost similar to meditation. We let go of any thoughts about tomorrow or yesterday or when you are going to finish the activity. If you catch yourself thinking about the past or the future, revert your mind again to what you are doing in the present moment by describing it. Let go of your judgements while colouring and don’t think if what you are doing is good or bad, amazing or terrible and whether the outcome will be good or not. Remember, the focus of mindful colouring is the process of it, not the possible outcome of colouring. There is no right or wrong way to colour. Think of it as one way of expressing yourself. In mindful colouring, we pay attention on what is happening on the present with curiosity, openness and acceptance.

Effects of Mindfulness Colouring

According to researches, mindful colouring was found to be a great way to reduce a person’s anxiety and stress. It diverts one’s attention from the stressor and allows them to switch off these thoughts and focus on colouring.

It was also found to improve sleeping patterns especially for people who are having a hard time sleeping. It improves a person’s vision and motor skills. The semi-mediative state that the mindful colouring has caused can provide us with some much-needed brain relief by lowering the activity of the amygdala, the part of the brain which controls emotion. Lastly, it helps build our focusing skills that is definitely helpful in studying and foster a sense of compassion.

Why Is Grounding Important In Meditation?

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Are you tired recently, and you want to relax yourself and clear your mind? Make one with nature and your spirit by practicing Grounding meditation. What are the benefits of Grounding meditation and its difference with other types of meditation?

What is Grounding Meditation?

         Putting the meaning of grounding into words is quite hard because there is not an exact word that can describe the experience of it. For the sake of understanding what grounding is, we will define it. Grounding is more of a spiritual term that refers to connecting your soul and body to the environment, or the Earth. It helps you make a connection with the surroundings which makes you feel safer and it lessens the anxiety and fear that someone experience on a daily basis.

Two Types of Grounding Meditation:

  • Concentration Meditation

Concentration meditation includes focusing your attention on a single object or point. In this type of meditation, one needs to refocus its attention on a single object when the mind seems to be wandering. Instead of stopping your thoughts, concentration meditation allows you to let go of these disturbances. It is improving the cognitive processes by helping you to focus your attention properly and higher perception of details.

  • Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation encourage the person whose mind is wandering to observe these thoughts and reflect on it. The goal of this type of meditation is to be more aware of one’s thoughts and feelings. It allows a person to accept who he or she truly are and know it better. Mindfulness meditation increases a person’s self-awareness, body awareness, regulates the emotion and attention and decreases stress and anxiety. Aside from that, this also helps you have a good sleep at night and take care of your overall health.

Benefits of Grounding Meditation

Old woman making a heart sign

There have been numerous studies regarding grounding meditation, also called as earthing, which showed how connecting with the environment has a way of healing a person on its own. Here are some proven benefits of grounding meditation from recent studies:

  • Decreases inflammation and pain

One study showed improvement on a 44-year old woman who reportedly have a chronic back pain. Upon monitoring through thermography, the red areas (hot areas) of pain and inflammation were lessened after practicing grounding. After 4 weeks of continuously meditating, she reported that almost more than half of her pain is gone, no more sleep interference, and the stiffness and soreness in the morning is almost gone. By 8 weeks, she reported that the pain she was experience before was completely gone.

  • Lowers stress level

Cortisol is a steroid hormone naturally produces by the body that helps regulate the wide range of processes in the body which includes the immune response and metabolism. Grounding helps normalize the level of cortisol in the body. It lessens premenstrual symptoms and hot flushed and makes one sleep faster. The participants also reported that they feel more refreshed and energetic after. They also noticed that they are less emotional and stressed.

  • Improves blood circulation

Grounding was also proven to improves the oxygen delivery capacity of the blood and brings the nutrients to the tissues in the body. Grounding helps regulate the blood supply of the body more efficiently on the abdomen, on vital organs and on the face resulting to better digestion and better functioning of the organs.

References:

https://www.the-guided-meditation-site.com/what-is-grounding.html

https://alignedandwell.com/grounding-meditation/

https://chopra.com/articles/grounding-the-human-body-the-healing-benefits-of-earthing

Ten Quick Mindfulness Exercises

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people meditating and relaxing

With the recent events, many people are forced to stay at home and wait on what will happen. The fear of the unknown starts to bother us and sooner or later we found ourselves anxious. We listed down mindfulness exercises which helps you pause and reset your focus on what’s important in your life. 

Mindfulness Exercises

START YOUR DAY RIGHT. The unconscious brain is the one who is responsible for all the decision-making and behaviors that we do. Practicing mindfulness as early as you woke up helps strengthen the connection between the higher and the lower brain centers. Doing so, you will see a change in how you deal with your day. You should practice this before doing anything such as checking your phone or even getting out of bed.

  • Upon waking up, sit on your bed or on a chair in a relaxed manner. Keeping your posture in check. Feel the sensations that overwhelms your body. Make sure that your spine is straight, and you are not straining your back.
  • Three deep breaths. This goes a long way. Breathe in through your nose and breathe out through your mouth. Follow the rhythm of your breathing and focus on it. Feel your chest as it rises and fall during each breath.
  • Keep in mind how you want your day to go. Set an intention for the day for example, “Today, I will be more patient with other and I will try to spread kindness in any ways I can”. Throughout the day make sure to keep yourself in check. Don’t hesitate to pause when needed and clear your mind. This helps a lot when you are tired and need to focus on things.

PRACTICE MINDFULNESS WHEN EATING. Who knew that you can also practice mindfulness when you are enjoying a meal? Eating is one of the most enjoyable things that us, human beings, do every day. Everyone is looking forward for lunch and breaks in between school and work.

  • Eat and suffice your hunger. Make sure to choose mindfully what to eat, when to eat, how much you should eat. This quick exercise may not be considered as mindfulness for your, but it is a simple practice of it that guides you in understanding what your body really needs. Do not force yourself to eat certain foods that you don’t like. Doing so will lessen your enjoyment of your meal and might make you feel uncomfortable for the rest of the day.
  • Peacefully finish your meal. Do not be in a hurry to finish your food. Slow down and savor the flavor of the food you are eating. This enhances digestion by making your body relaxed. 

PRACTICE MINDFULNESS ANYWHERE YOU ARE. The brain is composed of a complicated wiring that is responsible for our thoughts, feelings and intelligence. It is overwhelmed with so much job that sometimes it slows down.

three people talking with each other

  • Do new things. Doing new things can help rewire and excite your brain making it stronger. If you want to try yoga, go ahead and put a mat on the floor to entice you to meditate. Seeing it multiple times a day will trigger your brain and be in charge. Sooner or later you will see yourself meditating every day.
  •  Create new patterns. When your brain is used to a pattern that you’ve been doing for the longest time, it slows down as time goes by. Try to create new patterns and incorporate mindfulness in your everyday. For example, before waking up make sure to take a minute for yourself and have 3 deep breaths.
  • Try workouts. Working out is not only a way of burning the calories that you’ve gained from eating but also it is known for improving someone’s over-all health. Choose from the variety of exercises that are available. You can try yoga if you are a newbie. Make sure to warm up first for at least 5 minutes before starting anything. Concentrate on matching the rhythm of your body and your breathing. This aligns the activity of the brain, heart and the nervous system. After exercising, steadily cool down and feel the energy of your surroundings.
  • Mindfulness when driving. Before starting any activity, take deep breaths. The inhaled oxygen awakens your body and mind preparing you for the hustle and bustle while driving. To have a sense of safety and ease, when you are put to stop, look at your surroundings or the other cars around you. You may be lucky enough to see a miracle happening or an act of kindness.
  • Mindfulness when talking to people. When you met someone for the first time, you often look at their eyes, their expression, how they talk and even their postures. You will notice these small details within a short period of time. Take deep breaths and feel the sensations of your body as you start interacting with someone. If you feel like your mind is wandering, accept it and bring back your focus to the one you are talking to.

It is amazing how mindfulness can be practiced in almost about everything. Meditating does not need to take long hours, sometime a breath or two is all you need. It is enough to calm yourself down and provide you the peace that you needed within a full day.

References:

https://www.mindful.org/take-a-mindful-moment-5-simple-practices-for-daily-life/

http://www.ihi.org/communities/blogs/10-mindfulness-exercises-for-the-health-care-workplace

https://psychcentral.com/blog/1-minute-mindfulness-exercises/

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/in-depth/mindfulness-exercises/art-20046356

https://www.mindful.org/10-ways-mindful-work/

Mindful Friday

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Kick starting my weekend by listening to some waves on my headphones. I like the sound of the sea. It really helps me to be in the moment.

Why you should practice mindfulness

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Calmness and mindfulness

The Benefits of Mindfulness

The effects of mindfulness on a wide range of groups have been robustly tested and researched in some of the world’s leading universities.

The benefits fall into three main categories: general improvement of physical and mental wellbeing; a reduction or slowing down in some symptoms of physical illness; and a reduction of frequency and intensity of some destructive or unpleasant moods or feelings. Amongst the many researched benefits are:

  • Significant improvement in emotional and social functioning
  • Improvement in general health and vitality
  • Reduction in visits to healthcare provider
  • Effective method of stress reduction
  • Reduction in psychological distress for sufferers of long term conditions
  • Speeding up in clearance of skin lesions in patients with psoriasis
  • Boosting of the immune response to vaccination
  • 35% reduction in the symptoms of stress experienced by group of cancer patients
  • 65% improvement in quality of life experienced by group of cancer patients
  • Reduction in blood pressure in patients with mid to moderate hypertension
  • Significant reduction in blood pressure amongst healthy adolescent students
  • Significant long-term improvement in anxiety levels amongst patients suffering from anxiety disorders
  • Significant reduction in the recurrence of depression amongst people with three or more previous episodes of depression
  • Reduced intake of pain relieving medications amongst chronic pain sufferers
  • Reduced levels of depression and anxiety after eight week mindfulness programme

Because regular practice of mindfulness can result in such a wide range of benefits, both physical and mental, for people whether they are well or suffering illness, Mindfulness Scotland wishes to make the practices of mindfulness become a mainstream norm across all strands of Scottish life.

Stressful lives often lead to us living on ‘automatic pilot’. When this becomes our habitual state, it can be associated with a number of stress related health problems.

When we can get in touch with qualities of mindfulness, the sense of brightness, clarity of purpose and sense of playfulness, creativity and inner peace, has many health benefits.

But don’t just take our word for it. The well-being felt through practicing mindfulness is evidenced-based.

  1. In an urban study in 2004 mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), an eight week programme showed significant improvement in the participants’ emotional and social functioning, as well as their general health and vitality.
  2. MBSR can improve physical symptoms and psychological distress as well as improve general wellbeing. An analysis of 20 published and unpublished studies of MBSR indicate that MBSR is an effective method of stress reduction, associated with clear benefits in terms of overall health.
  3. MBSR has also been shown to have positive therapeutic effects in medical students, who commonly report high levels or stress and low levels of psychological wellbeing.
  4. Results from another recent study showed that the number of visits made by urban patients to their healthcare provider was substantially reduced following the completion of a MBSR training programme.
  5. The positive impact of meditative techniques such as MBSR and TM is also evident in their beneficial effect on stress-related medical conditions, For example, the combination of conventional treatment and MBSR produced complete clearance of skin lesions in patients with stress related skin disorder psoriasis in a much shorter time than conventional therapy alone. Similar benefits have been found in people with asthma.
  6. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to boost the immune response to a vaccination, and meditation has also been shown to reduce the body’s immune response to stress, such as that evoked by prolonged strenuous activity.
  7. In another study, regular meditative practice was shown to significantly increase melatonin levels in patients with breast cancer
  8. In a study of the effect MBSR in patients with breast and prostate cancer, eight weeks of MBSR practice resulted in improvements in the symptoms of stress experienced by the patients and a general improvement in quality of life.
  9. The strongest evidence for the use of medication in patients with cancer stems from a study that showed that MBSR led to a 65 per cent improvement in mood and a 35 per cent chance reduction in stress symptoms in a mixed population of cancer patients.
  10. In a recent study, patients with a mild to moderate hypertension were randomly assigned to two treatment groups, the first group received instruction in contemplative meditation with breathing technique (CMBT) and followed an eight week practice schedule. The second group did not receive CMBT, and acted as a control. Those in the CMBT group were found to have lower blood pressure compared with the control patients, both at rest and during exercise.
  11. One study of healthy, adolescent students showed MBSR leads to a significant reduction in blood pressure, both at rest and during the day at school and other studies are on-going.
  12. In one long term study, patients with anxiety disorders showed significant improvement in both subjective and objective measure of anxiety levels following three years of meditative practice.
  13. Patients with anxiety and depression undergoing a three month programme in MBCT reported significant improvements in their emotional state, and more than half continued with the mindfulness-based technique after the programme.
  14. MBCT was found to significantly reduce the risk of depressive relapse in patients who has three or more previous episodes of depression (which was more than three quarters of the participants.
  15. An eight week MBSR programme showed promise as a new method of quitting smoking with more than half the participants still abstinent six weeks after completing the programme.
  16. Jon Kabat-Zinn, who developed MBSR, reports that 65 per cent of rational medical care showed marked improvements in pain after ten weeks with MBSR. The majority also showed improvement in mood disturbances and the number of troublesome symptoms.
  17. Exploring these benefits in greater detail found that mindfulness meditation improved patient’s body image and self esteem and their ability to carry out everyday activates, lessened psychological problems such as anxiety and depression, and reduced patients consumption of pain relieving medications.
  18. One eight week MBSR programme produced improvements in mood and reduced levels of depression and anxiety.

References

Source: http://www.mindfulnessscotland.org.uk/benefits/

One minute a day – an ancient Japanese self-improvement strategy

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The One-Minute Principle For Self-Improvement

At the heart of this method is the idea that a person should practice doing something for a single minute, every day at the same time.

Almost all of us periodically set ourselves a new goal or challenge — and just as often in the end we fail to achieve it. We end up telling ourselves that we’re just not ready yet, that we’ll do it next week, next month…next year.

We might even pursue them with zeal at the start. But once we’ve made a small amount of effort, we’ll tell ourselves we’ve done enough, and it’s time to take this whole “starting a new life” thing more slowly.

Why does it always turn out like this? The answer’s fairly obvious: because we try to achieve too much, too fast, we get sick of the new responsibility and, because it’s difficult to change old habits and try something new.

Alt text hereKaizen is the simple technique of practicing something for one minute every day.

Just One Minute A Day

In Japanese culture there exists the practice of Kaizen, which includes the idea of the “one-minute principle” for self-improvement. At the heart of this method is the idea that a person should practice doing something for a single minute, every day at the same time.

You can’t do Kaizen just once or twice and expect immediate results. You have to be in it for the long haul. — Masaaki Imai

Clearly, it shouldn’t be any trouble for absolutely anyone — even the laziest person — to carry out a given task for such a small amount of time. Whereas you will more often than not find an excuse not to do something when faced with carrying it out for 30 minutes or an hour a day, you should be able to do it without any misgivings for just 60 seconds.

Alt text hereEven the biggest mountain can seem smaller if you take it one step at a time.

The Pursuit of Continuous Improvement

Whether it’s doing press-ups or reading a book in a foreign language, in this case the task before you won’t seem like something unpleasant which you have to get through, but will instead be an activity which brings you joy and satisfaction. By taking one little step at a time, you will move on to the path of self-perfection and achieve great results.

When you’re inspired by such feelings, you will gradually begin to increase the amount of time you spend doing the task which you have set yourself.

It’s important to overcome that lack of confidence you might have in your own abilities, as well as free yourself from those feelings of guilt and helplessness.

Alt text hereA simple technique that requires daily discipline to achieve noticeable results.

Celebrate Each Step Forward

You need to experience a sense of victory and success to move forward. When you’re inspired by such feelings, you will gradually begin to increase the amount of time you spend doing the task which you have set yourself.

Maybe at first just for five minutes more, but then this will soon turn into half an hour, and then even longer after that.

In this way, the one-minute principle lets you see the progress you’re making right before your eyes.

Alt text hereEach step that you take in your personal growth is a cause for celebration.

Change and Wisdom

Kaizen originated in Japan. The word itself contains two roots — “kai” (change) and “zen” (wisdom). It was invented by Masaaki Imai, who believes this philosophy can can be applied just as successfully to the world of business as it can to one’s personal life.

The word itself contains two roots — “kai” (change) and “zen” (wisdom).

At first glance, this practice might seem doubtful and ineffective for people who have grown up in Western culture, with its emphasis on the idea that results can be achieved only by undertaking immense efforts.

Alt text hereImagine what you could achieve through the pursuit of continuous improvement.

Applicable for Everybody

But elaborate, challenging programs of self-improvement which deprive a person of huge amounts of energy can simply end up exhausting them, and leave no tangible results. Kaizan is something that anyone can attempt in virtually any sphere of their life. In Japan, for example, it is often applied to improve management techniques.

All you have to do is understand what it is you want to achieve, and you’re already set to go.

 

First published on http://upliftconnect.com/japanese-overcoming-laziness/ by Helen Noronha