Mindfulness

The buzzword at the moment is mindfulness.
You will see it mentioned more and more with various therapies including Hypnotherapy,NLP and CBT.

Mindfulness practice, which comes from the Buddhist tradition, is increasingly being used in Western psychology to help many mental and physical conditions, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, and in the prevention of relapse in depression and drug addiction.

You dont need to be a Buddhist to enjoy the benefits.It is something that can be learned fairly easily.
Mindfulness is a mind-body approach to well-being that can help you change the way you think about experiences and that can help you to reduce stress and anxiety.

It’s said that every day, about 250,000 people dont go to their work because of stress, 75 per cent of all illnesses are thought to be stress related.Sometimes it can be difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel or see the wood from the trees.Which is why it is good to really relax sometimes.So how can you do that?

Well mindfulness is increasingly becoming the way.
Mindfulness is a way of paying attention to the present moment, using techniques like meditation, breathing and yoga. It helps us become more aware of our thoughts and feelings so that instead of being overwhelmed by them, we’re better able to manage them.

Practising mindfulness can give you more insight into your emotions,it can boost your attention and concentration and even improve relationships. It’s proven to help with stress, anxiety, depression and addictive behaviours.Mindfulness can even have a positive effect on physical problems like hypertension, heart disease and chronic pain.

Anyone can learn mindfulness. It’s simple, you can practise it anywhere, and the results can be life-changing.
Heres a very simple mindfulness exercise to start with that you may like to use which will only takes about three minutes to do.

First just stop whatever you are doing and sit comfortably and close your eyes.
Then just move your attention to your feet,just become aware of your feet,

now just start to move your focus from your feet and gently move your attention up your body very slowly,

legs, lower body, upper body, arms, hands, neck, head, face.

As you focus your attention on each part of your body just notice how each part is feeling.

Now just become aware of any sounds you can hear, it could be a car going by,a clock ticking or maybe your breathing.

Now as you notice your breathing, just notice your breath coming in and going out.Let your attention focus on your breath for a few moments.

Now just bring your attention back to your body and start to notice once again the sounds you can hear.
And thats it.

In your own time just open those eyes and and gently start to continue what ever you were going to do before this mindfulness exercise.