What is mindfulness?

Read an interesting piece this morning Here

Interesting to read views around the monetisation of mindfulness. Also some examples of businesses using it in a non mindful way 

Currently, mindfulness is unregulated in the UK as it's not a medical service in the way that seeing a psychiatrist or a counsellor is, but it's still a service that can support vulnerable people and therefore a mindfulness teacher has a duty of care to ensure the safety and confidentiality of participants.

I'm hoping to develop my practice and ultimately take classes/sessions and would ideally provide at no cost.  Employers have to take care of their employees ( well I'm not sure they HAVE to, but the good ones do) and money is put aside for CPD in many organisations. Wouldn't it be great for mindfulness to be recognised as a great way to support people . Prevention better than cure and all that. 

Rather than pay lip service and offer a one hour mindfulness/yoga session every now and again or just as a one off so that it can go into the HR folder, why not investigate providing regular sessions for staff to support their wellbeing . Within the working day.

Being part of a group of around 80 mindfulness teachers nearing completion of the MTTC run by Christopher Titmuss and his daughter Nshorna with support from mindfulness teachers from the US, Germany and India is a real.ptivilige and I'm excited to see where we all take our mindfulness practice moving forward. 

What is mindfulness? Something worth exploring.

"Mindfulness isn't difficult, we just need to remember to do it."

- Sharon Salzberg

Sleep tight

 Since the post about anxiety dreams I haven't had another one. 

I have been reading this from 'Calm' . Sleep habits are certainly a fascinating topic and I have several friends and close family members who really struggle with sleep so I like to think I have an element of understanding.

It could be somewhat disingenuous to credit mindfulness practice to stopping anxiety dreams, but I definitely believe that breathing and meditation can be exctremely beneficial. I woudl go as far as to suggest seeking medical support should sleeplessness/disturbed sleep patterns become problematic.  As a female going through menopause with hormones doing their own thing there are things that my body is doing that I have little control over. I have seen so many benefits and improvements to my sense of wellbeing as a result of embedding practices into my everyday life .

So, try breathing exercises before going to bed, try a body scan  or other meditation either in bed or just before going to bed. It will help to build routines and develop practice and might even allow for a longer and deeper sleep.

This article from mindful,org has lots more tips and suggestions.

Stepping along the road of mindfulness

 I have been considering the use of the word 'journey'. It's one that is often used in reality programmes where contestants describe their journey and how much they learned from it and so on.

A journey can be descibed as a method of getting from one place to another when used as a noun.

The word journey used as a verb has a slightly different meaning- to travel somewhere.

I'm using the word journey quite metaphorically in this blog- I don't see mindfulness as something that can be boxed up into a neat beginning , middle and end where the end point is some kind of enlightenment that will result in an existence where  all is shimmery and perfect. I use the word journey to illustrate my growing interest, practices and learning about mindfulness as teacher and learner and that I see this journey as a continuum rather than discrete.

I daresay that I will look back through these posts and have further thoughts around this; and that in itself illustrates that there should be no limits to the definitions of mindfulness. I shall finish for now with a return to the importance of love and kindness.  At the end of the day, having intentions with love and kindness at the forefront is what really matters . I will keep striving to find words to convey this. All part of this journey of curious discovery.

©akhalford 2024