How do I develop my mindfulness practice?
To begin ascertaining what your mindfulness practice will be, we must first define mindfulness.
Simply put, as derived from is eastern philosophical origins, mindfulness is the process of paying attention with great awareness and equanimity. Within this process, one will be able to cultivate greater knowledge about the self and the world in which we operate, simply by encouraging a pause. Mindfulness is a pivotal concept amongst a variety of cultures, philosophers, and psychological researchers — even neuroscience research illuminates the positive benefits of encouraging a mindful pause on the brain and subsequently it’s connected body.
This may sound deceptively simple, but cultivating it within a distracted, hyper-stimulated world can pose a challenge.
To begin, we want to create a space of stillness within the brain and body. This can be accomplished by simply bringing attention to the breathe without the goal of controlling it, simply observing it coming and going. When we bring our attention to our naturally occruing breathe we encourage our mind and body to do something that it is not used to — being still.
Within our brains there is a structure called the default mode network. This structure projects us into the past and future in order to create a stable sense of self based upon our experiences within our lives, and it also works to estimate impending danger and cultivate responses to anticipated challenges. From an evolutionary perspective, this piece of our brain has kept us physically safe, yet in regards to our mental health, this structure within our brain can create tension and even anxiety which can reduce our experince of happiness.
When we hold space to simply focus on the breath we make a request of this structure within our brain to pause, and when we are no longer anticipating what the future holds, or regretfully considering the past — we are able to exert our energy to remain still, present, and aware of this moment which we are currently in. Great bodies of research reveal to us that within the process of mindfulness we are able to: dim our external awareness to focus more upon internal exploration, reduce internal verbalizations (often referred to as ruminating thoughts), and we expand our boundaries of what we believe is possible as we pierce the veil of what we have come to know as reality — through repeated exposure to cyclic patterns, relationships, and beliefs within our lives.
Mindfulness is often easier to experience as opposed to explain as the experience in and of itself exists in preconceptual awareness. This skill, as it is continually developed, can yield postive benefits upon our physical, mental, and spiritual well being. My invitation to you as you read this is to start with the breath and simply creating space to focus on it with intentionally and a deviation from controlling what the breathe needs to feel like or what the experience will yield. My request of those interested in building a mindfulness practice is to begin with the breath and simply observe what shows up, without expectation.
If you would like to learn more about how I integrate mindfulness practices into therapy with clients or you have an interest in developing a greater mindfulness practice, I will list resources that have been helpful to me with the intention that they will also provide you with helpful guidance.
