|

Author:
Roy Thomsitt

In our every day lives, we are all guilty of neglecting our minds, allowing our brains to be lulled into a lazy, neglected, and unaware state. It is as if we are allowing ourselves to be sculpted by bland and repetitive consumerism, our individuality being chiselled away by a tedium we cannot even be bothered to challenge with any will.

Life need not be like that. We are each blessed with a powerful mind; but normally people have forgotten or, most likely, never even knew how, to use it. It is such a waste of our own greatest resource.

One way to start to extricate ourselves from the mindless quicksand is to gently exercise our minds, using mindfulness and meditation as a way of bringing ourselves more emphatically into the real world, and start the process of exercising control over our minds and our lives.

Creating a mindfulness meditation is a gentle but powerful exercise. But how do you go about it?

A Simple Mindfulness Meditation Exercise

As with any meditation session, you need to get into a relaxed and comfortable position, eyes closed, and then commence with deep nasal breathing, focusing your thoughts on the breathing to ease yourself into a meditative state.

Once you feel that you are calmed by your breathing and that your breath is under your rhythmic control, then you can move on to focusing on your own body, a part at a time. I was first taught this at yoga class, where we were taught to concentrate first of all on the left foot, focusing on it from a position above ourselves. Then move up the body slowly, left ankle, knee, thigh and so on. When reaching your head, you then do the same in reverse on the other side of the body: right shoulder, right elbow, right hand and so on.

Once you have completed your tour of your own body, as if you were someone else examining it, then it is time to open your eyes and increase your mindfulness of your surroundings.

To do this, focus on any object in the room; it does not have to be anything special: a cup on the coffee table, a vase, a plastic flower, anything. Try to maintain that focus for half a minute, and then move on to any other object. You can repeat this several times, always maintaining a focus on your own body and your own breathing, creating a triple harmony with each object on which you focus.

By using this simple mindfulness meditation you are increasing awareness both of yourself and your surroundings, in a very gentle and easy way. It can serve as a prelude to some mental task, as well as being part of an ongoing mindfulness campaign to strengthen and expand the use of your own mind.

For example, most days I write, but sometimes I just do not seem able to concentrate on what I am supposed to be writing about. I find this type of exercise, even just for 10 minutes, will snap me out of that inexplicable malaise, and I can get right on and write what I should have written earlier.

About the Author :

This meditation and mindfulness article was written by Roy Thomsitt, owner and part author of the Routes To Self Improvement website.


This article is distributed by: www.iSnare.com

| Article Keywords: Meditation

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Meditation... Ten Tips on Using Meditation to Reduce Tension 1. Stop and scan your body So often we don't realise that stress and tension are building up in our bodies. We might arrive at work not realising we have already got a frown on our forehead or a clenched jaw. Stop, briefly, to scan through your body. Pay attention to the top of your head right down to your feet and let tensions dissolve away. Do this regularly through your day or week. 2. Focus on a pleasing object Meditation is a technique of training the mind to stay focused on a single object. When you do that you give your mind a rest from issues, anxieties and problems. Focus on a simple object such as a single colour, a simple flower or your breathing. Give your mind a rest regularly. 3. Breathe when you get held up When you're in a supermarket or bank queue, at red traffic lights or waiting for a lift (elevator), ditch your agitation. Instead of complaining at the traffic light and getting more stressed, simply focus on your breath going in and out. Let your body and mind relax (but keep your eyes open!) 4. Have a relaxing screen saver to focus on Choose a screen saver that makes a good meditation object, a lotus flower, rainbow or waterfall, for example. Use it to remind you to meditate. 5. Meditate in your lunch break Instead of sitting around in the staff room or reading the newspaper, take 15 minutes to wind down your mind. br> 6. Meditate each day Don't let stress accumulate from one day to the next. At the end of each day or the start of the next one, put some time aside to meditate and clear away the debris that you've got left over from the negativity or stress you've been coping with. You'd probably shower or wash your body each day - clean your mind each day too. 7. Join a meditation group Meditating with a group of people...