The benefits of practicing mindfulness

Ring. Ping. Buzz. Woof. “Did you hear me?” “Can you see my screen?”

Life can sometimes overwhelm us with distractions and responsibilities, making it hard to focus on the here and now.

Have you heard about practicing mindfulness? It can help you feel more present in the moment. Experts say it can help improve your physical and mental health. And you can do it anywhere, anytime.

Let’s learn more.

‘Treat your own mind’

Mindfulness means “to focus on the present moment with kind attention,” says Julia Keller, executive director of the Mindful Youth Institute in Colorado Springs, CO.

Leah Weiss, an author and psychotherapist in Portland, OR, describes mindfulness in a similar way. She calls it “the intentional use of attention.”

But when our attention can be pulled any which way, where should the concentration process start?

By allowing for grace.

“Instead of beating yourself up for not paying attention, you treat your mind like a puppy that you’re training,” Keller said. “Would you yell at the puppy because they didn’t do their business on the newspapers in the house? No. You would gently bring the puppy back to the newspaper and show it what to do. This is how you learn to treat your own mind.”

Experience the moments

Practicing mindfulness can be done in lots of ways – many of which you can do alone.

At the core: Allowing yourself to pause, take a deep breath and check in.

How am I feeling? What am I doing? What do I see?

Slowing ourselves down helps us reconnect with the day. We can even create mindful, sensory moments by truly experiencing the steps of an activity.

Keller uses eating a raisin as an example. Start by looking at the raisin as if you’d never seen one before. Then feel its texture. Put the raisin to your ear, noticing any sounds as you squeeze it. Next, smell the raisin. Now take a bite, paying attention to the flavor and texture on your tongue.

“Often, we have something already in our lives that we do that we may not prioritize or make the space for,” Weiss said. “For some people, it might be gardening. It might be walking. Anything that brings you into your body where you’re making the choice to be present and be in that moment and resist that temptation to do other things.”

Deep breaths in

Another popular exercise is mindful breathing.

“If we’re present to physical sensation, including the breath, that means that we aren’t stuck in thoughts,” Weiss said. “We can’t do both at the same time.”

So, how often should you practice? Listen to your body and don’t feel bad about keeping things simple.

“I would rather see someone take a few deep breaths 10 times a day than push themselves to meditate for a half-hour and not do it again,” Weiss said. “Because it’s not about the technique – it’s about returning to being aware of what you’re thinking and feeling physically and emotionally.”

Feel the benefits

Numerous studies have concluded that mindfulness can help lower blood pressure, reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, and boost the immune system.

The University of Washington Rehabilitation Research and Training Center points to several other benefits:

• Improves mood
• Reduces stress and its consequences
• Increases the ability to cope with pain
• Improves brain function
• Helps with weight management

In an article from the National Institutes of Health, Sona Dimidjian, a mindfulness expert at the University of Colorado Boulder, says mindfulness allows us to “de-center” from negative and “painful” thoughts.

“It’s like being able to sit on the riverbank and watch thoughts floating by like leaves on a stream,” she said. “Developing the skill of mindfulness can help stop you from being pulled into any one thought and carried down the stream.”

Ring. Ping. Buzz. Breathe. … Ahhh.