Stay in the now! Explore the power of present! Stay in present! Enjoy in now! …. These are just few of the many ways mindfulness is being preached and taught these days. It really helps train one’s mind to become more productive and efficient as one learns to relax more and worry or regret less. Its concept is really as simple as that but doing it is a whole another story.
While learning ‘Mindfulness’ is very helpful, one’s mind can totally go bonkers after being exposed to several books on the subject. What’s stated by all these books is the very real idea that all our thoughts just belong to future or past and there is never really any problem in present. So read below to know one simple procedure to learn to be mindful.
Grab any position anywhere (would be better to sit on floor but don’t stress yourself if you aren’t accustomed to it). Just keep your back straight and firm; just relax.
Begin just feeling the surrounding around you. Then shift your attention to your body. Your mind will wander and therefore gently bring the attention back to your body. It might repeatedly wander, so just bring it back to your body gently.
Now just bring your attention to your breath. Its just about getting to experience your breath. Just connect with the experience of your breath, its inflow and outflow. Accept whatever happens and let things just be.
The idea is never to do these things right. The idea is to just be. Keep accepting whatever comes along and keep experiencing your breath. If any thought comes up, like some song or memory or a worry about future, just know that those all are only thought, nothing more, nothing less. A time may come when you will feel like you have been swayed away by some idea or thought, start paying attention to your breath again. There is no requirement to judge or even feel any way about it. Just experience your breath. Take all this lightly. Feel calm and relaxed and know that you have only been sometime with some thought and now you shall experience your breath again.
You may do this for as long as you feel. Initially it may be for few minutes and then it can increase to 20 or 30 minutes. The more time you spend, the more helpful it will be. Just be aware that being mindful is never about stopping a thought. It’s just learning to be together with present time. So, how to hold on to the present? How to be tied to it? What’s the anchor that helps us learn to hold on to the present moment?
Answer: Your own breath.
