Mindfulness Mediation Part Two:

The best thing about this practice is that you can do it whenever and wherever you feel like. If you are feeling upset or stressed at a particular time of day and need a ‘time out,’ just stop and become aware of your breath and tune in to your feelings. Your breath is what keeps you alive and we take it for granted because breathing is involuntary. By practicing mindfulness, we learn that each breath is a fresh start, a new beginning and we learn to appreciate it.

Dr. Frank Lipman said: “Meditation is a practice. The more you do it, the better you’ll get and the better you’ll be at tapping into it when stress starts to rise.” As I mentioned before, the mind, just like any other muscle in the body, needs exercise like this simple technique to make it stronger.

Living in a digital world, there are many other resources such as free and easy to download apps. A resource that I have been using for a few weeks now is an app called ‘Happify.’ It has a track called “Mindfulness Meditation for Everyone” which I highly recommend. Every exercise that you do through the app comes with an explanation of how it can and will benefit you. It also has different tracks that you can use to tailor to your own needs. I have completed a couple of tracks and have found this app to be very helpful and user friendly. Another app that I have used a few times is called Zen. Experiment with these apps and see what works for you. An additional great thing about Mindfulness is that you can practice being mindful about anything; the heat and the aroma of a hot cup of coffee, the taste and texture of a raisin that you are chewing, the comfort of a seat you are sitting on etc. Some individuals practice 'Mindful Eating' and I have attached the steps on how to go about it below:

As you continue to build on this practice, you will realize that you can be mindful and practice it even in a noisy environment. I do not think it is necessary to have a set time and place to do it. Sure it helps to be in a quiet place with fewer distractions; however in my opinion with practice, it is not imperative. You can do it anywhere, anytime with anything: your breath, emotions, thoughts or even food. It really is that simple.