Mindful Meditation

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by Paige Cummings1 view·Updated Jul 9, 2021
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  1. Hello today I will be talking about one of my
  2. favorite self care tools which is mindfulness meditation.
  3. Mindfulness meditation is a specific type of meditation that's been
  4. around for um a long time bringing awareness and focus
  5. to the present moment in the body.
  6. It can be an excellent tool for being aware of
  7. how the body is currently feeling or what's going on
  8. in here and now.
  9. Um One of the great things about mindfulness meditation is
  10. it doesn't require any additional tools just your body, your
  11. breath a comfortable place to sit.
  12. Um Other things such as guided meditations or things like
  13. candles, oils, personal affirmations even can be used but not
  14. necessary. What is important is taking the time whether a
  15. few minutes or more depending on the person or what's
  16. possible at the time to really focus on letting go
  17. and experiencing the moment.
  18. Now with any kind of self care tool it's of
  19. course important to be considering the impact on the individual.
  20. While there are many benefits to mindfulness meditation, um I
  21. feel it's also important to just take a moment to
  22. talk about the limits of the possible negative impact of
  23. it. So as mindfulness is meant to increase self awareness,
  24. awareness of thought and feeling and awareness of what's going
  25. on in the body, uh it may not always be
  26. an effective strategy for everyone.
  27. So if the client or the clinician who is using
  28. this tool is experiencing a lot of trauma anxiety or
  29. depression might not always be an effective tool, um it
  30. could potentially bring more awareness to these negative feelings um
  31. and cause adverse effects.
  32. Now that's not always the case.
  33. Like I said, there are many benefits, but with that
  34. it just means it's important to know yourself to consider
  35. whether this would be beneficial.
  36. And if you are hoping to introduce it to someone
  37. else that you're aware of, whether or not it would
  38. benefit them as an individual as well.
  39. So now that we're all aware of um you know
  40. what to kind of consider when using the self care
  41. tool. It's so important to talk about the many ways
  42. in which mindfulness meditation is beneficial to both us as
  43. clinicians and potentially to our clients if we choose to
  44. introduce this to them.
  45. So the physical and mental health benefits are quite impactful.
  46. Um it promotes heart health, um reducing blood pressure, uh
  47. lowering heart rate.
  48. Um it can lower stress and anxiety while promoting that
  49. emotional regulation.
  50. Uh emotional regulation also helps to reduce symptoms of depression
  51. when used regularly.
  52. Um some studies have been shown that it helps to
  53. increase the body's immune response and helps with better, more
  54. restful sleep, which is very impactful.
  55. Um and positive through practice, this form of meditation can
  56. greatly increase awareness of thoughts, emotions in the body and
  57. that can really contribute to improvement in many areas of
  58. one's life.
  59. So perhaps though I think something that's really excellent about
  60. this tool is that it can be done anywhere anytime,
  61. making it super flexible and very accessible as a self
  62. care tool.
  63. Now mindfulness does take a bit of practice, but with
  64. patients can be an effective strategy to manage stress and
  65. provide self care any time of day.
  66. Uh it can even be practiced right now.
  67. So as I walk through what an effective and quick
  68. mindfulness meditation could be like, please feel free to follow
  69. along if you're comfortable with that.
  70. So start by finding a comfortable and relaxed position to
  71. sit in, Start taking deep breaths in through your nose,
  72. out through your mouth.
  73. Yeah, as you sit with your breath, notice how your
  74. body feels, What is the chair or ground under you
  75. feel like?
  76. What thoughts are coming and going in your mind as
  77. you sit and notice how your body feels and what
  78. is coming in and out.
  79. Experience the moment without judgment.
  80. Simply experience the here and now.
  81. When you're ready, open your eyes, let your breathing return
  82. to normal and just think about how that experience was.
  83. While mindfulness meditation can be that simple and can be
  84. called upon quickly in any place, there is flexibility to
  85. go much deeper.
  86. I personally enjoy doing guided mindfulness meditations as it helps
  87. me to stay in the moment and create a little
  88. more space for that.
  89. With its incredible accessibility and increasing popularity.
  90. There are so many guides and resources designed to bring
  91. this tool to so many people which is wonderful.
  92. Mindful dot org is a great website for more information
  93. on mindfulness, including so many free guided mindfulness exercises.
  94. Um and in addition to that, a few resources calm
  95. headspace and insight timer are all excellent apps that provide
  96. many free guided meditations and mindfulness exercises so you can
  97. try them yourself or share them with someone else.
  98. Thank you so much for your time today.
  99. I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about one
  100. of my favorite forms of self care.