I tried Mindfulness

I’m back, I am back with a goal to get back to what I enjoy. It’s spring and it’s time to dust off the writers block!

This week I took part in a 2 hour Introduction to Mindfulness class at The Yoga Cafe in Waterlooville. This little coffee shop opened up in January but I’ve only recently heard about it. The class is run by a lady called Elisa, she is a qualified Mindfulness Teacher, qualified to run courses in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) – check out her page here: South Coast Mindfulness.

One of my friends has recently introduced Mindfulness to me and I felt like the best way to fully experience and see what the practice was like was to experience it with a qualified Mindfulness expert in a class. I thought it was better to try it this way rather than following YouTube videos and hoping I was doing it right. I intend to use YouTube videos in future.

I asked my friend if she had any tips for me and she advised me to go in with an open mind, so I did exactly that. It wasn’t hard, I was really intrigued by the premise. I didn’t know much about Mindfulness other than it sounded nice and if I mastered it, it could make an enormous difference to my thoughts, reactions and how I live.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a form of meditation that encourages a person to be aware of ourselves and build a non-judgemental attitude towards our thoughts, experiences, emotions and body.

There has been a lot of focus on the benefits of Mindfulness and a lot of people, even if they don’t know what it is, have heard the word.

I like the premise of Mindfulness, living and being in the present, and I think this is why I was so interested in it. I spend a lot of time saving money and thinking about the future, how can you not when you’re in your twenties wondering if you’ll ever get on the property ladder, or wondering how you’re going to afford your summer plans? Instead I should be looking to enjoy the now. I also spend a lot of time at work on my phone or computer, watching tv at home. I am so caught up in the digital world – hard not to be when you’re a digital marketer – and I am worried that I forget to be in the now, so I’m hoping Mindfulness will lead to some improvement.

The Mindfulness Class

The class was a mixture of practice, discussion and learning a little bit of the theory behind mindfulness.

I can tell you that it felt weird but not in a bad way. It was calming and strange to listen to my body. To just sit and focus on it. It’s here every day with me but I’ve never just sat with it.

I read something once by Giovanna Fletcher who said something roughly along the lines of not caring what people thought of her post-partum body because it had been amazing and strong enough to bring life into the world and she was thankful for that.

I’ve never had a baby, nor do I intend to for quite a while, but the idea of the body being stronger than we give it credit for, resonated with me. Linking to the gym, it is amazing what my body can do, how strong it is, stronger than I thought it was and how much stronger it has gotten, more than I could have imagined. So why don’t I listen to my body? Just being thankful for my body and accepting what it can and can’t do should be a good start to Mindfulness.

It was interesting to sit and listen to my breathing and to also practice just feeling each part of my body. It left me feeling fuzzy, my head felt heavy but not overwhelmed and I was left wanting to learn and practice more.

Photo by Tim Goedhart on Unsplash

Mindfulness can be used for a range of issues including stress, depression and anxiety. As well as having positive effect on memory and empathy (there’s a full list of benefits on Elisa’s website – What is Mindfulness?).

There’s a lot of information online for anyone interested in Mindfulness, including videos and audio recordings to take you through a session. I found a good starting point was the mental health charity, Mind, who have a whole section dedicated to the theory and practices of Mindfulness, as well as how to apply it. Check it out >>> Mindfulness – Mind.

Have you tried Mindfulness before?

Do you have tips or recommendations for Mindfulness newbies?

Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading!! x

One of my happy places, being sat on the sofa with Alfie!