What is Mindfulness?

As more and more articles are written about mindfulness, and we hear the term being woven into pop culture, I wanted to dive a bit deeper into the meaning of mindfulness, and show how formal and informal practices can be implemented into your life.

I define mindfulness as paying attention to the present moment without judgement.

It is thousands of years of old knowledge that new science demonstrates will improve your relationships, your performance at work, your parenting, your health and happiness in general.

Mindfulness is our capacity to simply and fully focus on the things, the people, and the tasks that are directly in front of us.

When we practice mindfulness it brings moment-to-moment awareness into our day to day lives. It strengthens the neural pathways in the part of our brain that helps us think clearly, relate compassionately, and work efficiently.

So what, really, does “paying attention to the present moment without judgement” mean?

Here is an example. A few years ago, my community experienced a tragedy. While on a mountain bike ride, I found myself consumed with the event, the effect on the people in the midst of the situation, how my children are reacting to it, how senseless it was. As I continued with these thoughts I could feel my chest tighten, my anger and anxiety grow.

I stopped my bike. I noticed it was beautiful out. I was surrounded by lush green ferns, yellow and purple wildflowers, and breath-taking vistas, yet I had been so caught up in my own thoughts that I had failed to notice any of them.

I decided to set my watch for ten minutes. I began riding and for those ten minutes I tried to focus my awareness on listening to the sounds around me. Birds were chirping. There was some rustling in the bushes. An airplane flew overhead at one point, and I heard the coal train rumble through the valley. I heard the dirt gently crumble beneath my tires. I heard more birds. At times during these ten minutes my mind wandered off, and I simply said to myself “listen” and I went immediately back to listening for sounds. This was a mindful listening exercise.

Formal mindfulness practices involve taking time each day to intentionally bring awareness to the present moment. It includes things like mindful breathing, mindful listening, mindful seeing, a body scan, or even mindful eating.

An ideal way to start practicing mindfulness is through the practice of mindful breathing.

• Mindful breathing is merely bringing our awareness to our breath. Seems simple enough.
• Mindful breathing also impacts the brain positively, as it happens to be one of the best ways to reduce stress.

To formally practice you can sit on a cushion, in a chair, or even lie on the floor and dedicate 5-20 minutes a day to bringing awareness to your breath. When your mind wanders off, which it will, simply notice and return to the breath.

That is all.

For me it works best to practice first thing in the morning before the kids wake up, before I’m tempted to indulge in a “data hit”. On warmer days, I love to sit on my deck as the sun rises and take a few minutes to practice before my day goes into full swing.

Similar to how physical fitness relies on repeated exercise to generate specific muscular and cardiovascular changes, mindfulness relies on specific exercises to create change in the structure and functions of the brain.

Just as the body is physically changed by exercise, areas of the brain may shrink or expand — become more or less functional — based on experience and training.

It is possible to literally rewire the brain to be more effective and resilient.

Similar to physical fitness, these changes only occur with repeated exercise, but you may be surprised to learn that practicing mindfulness for just a few minutes a day can create significant changes in your brain and your life.

If you feel like your day is too busy for the formal practice of mindful breathing, try this:

• When you are stopped at a traffic light place your hand on your belly and count how many breaths you take while you are there.
• When your phone rings take a deep, slow breath before you answer it.
• When your kids are struggling offer them a three breath hug. Simply embrace and take three deep breaths together, it feels as good for you as it does for them.

What I have noticed the most about my own mindfulness practice, is how even just the littlest changes to my routine, like practicing mindful breathing, can make a big difference, both for me and the people around me.

On my bike ride that day, mindfulness gave me the ability to cultivate peace when I was previously all-consumed with anxiety, confusion and tragedy.

How can mindfulness help you? The answer has been proven over and over again, in many brain-based research studies, how can it not…