How to use Mindfulness to relax? 5 key ideas
These are the guidelines to follow if you want to use Mindfulness to reach a state of calm.
Stress is a natural and adaptive response of our body to all kinds of mundane tasks in which we need to be sharp to cope. A little stress is ideal to be able to solve day-to-day problems, both family, work and social.
However, it is no mystery that sustained stress causes us discomfort, attracts mental disorders and makes it difficult for us to live a full life. If the stress is high but manageable on its own, Mindfulness meditation can help.
But how do we use Mindfulness to relax? how to use Mindfulness to relax? We'll talk a bit about this question below and look at five fundamental mundane actions to de-stress through mindfulness.
Keys to know how to use Mindfulness for relaxation.
We live in a world where in order to (over)live and thrive we have to constantly go back and forth. The hustle and bustle of everyday life, coupled with the media bombardment of all kinds of messages that make us believe that to be successful in life you have to be busy 24 hours a day makes living stressed at all times the "lifestyle" of our modern 21st century.
But that's not really living, it's living badly. Having a little stress about work, family or the current world situation is a natural response of the organism that prepares us to face issues that we have to be wide awake to be able to move forward and overcome them, if it is in our hands. On the other hand, having constant and meaningless stress for problems that either we cannot solve or that are part of life can bring us discomfort at a psychological and physical level..
The causes of stress and the one that maintains it can be many, but among them can be something as simple and apparently banal as the fact of not leaving us time to ourselves, that is to say, not relaxing. In the same way that to have a toned body we have to exercise or to pass an exam we have to study, to not live so stressed we have to get down to work, and the best way we have to do this is to use relaxation techniques, including Mindfulness.
Mindfulness has been in vogue for years.. Also called mindfulness is a form of meditation that integrates Eastern Buddhist teachings with Western scientific evidence on relaxation techniques and emotional well-being. This technique arises from the combination of the scientific aspects of psychology with the more mystical and exotic aspects of the religions of the Asian continent. The efficacy of science and the calmness of the New Age can relax us.
The idea behind this technique is simple. It considers that our mind is a machine that generates constant thoughts automatically and without being reflected, which are increased in the society we live in due to the constant bombardment of stimuli coming from different media and ways. Being so aware of what is outside, which overwhelms and stresses us, we forget about ourselves and to stop for a moment, to make the machine rest even for just a moment.
Mindfulness meditation reduces stress by becoming aware of our mental processes.helping us to stop thoughts that do not do us any good and that if they become obsessions, could lead to mental disorders such as anxiety and depression. It has many other scientifically proven benefits, among which is to enhance our cognitive abilities by increasing gray matter, improving working memory, verbal reasoning and even fostering creativity.
Mindfulness and relaxation: a practical guide
Just mentioning some of the benefits of Mindfulness, it is clear that it is a highly recommended tool for our emotional, physical and even social health. However, how to use Mindfulness to relax? There are a lot of small daily actions in which we can practice mindfulness. Some of these changes will bring benefits in the short and long term, but the important thing is to be consistent and dedicate 5 to 15 minutes a day because their effects are cumulative, making stress easier and easier to manage.
1. Breathing is key
The mantra in all relaxation techniques is to be aware of how we breathe. No wonder, since breathing is key, nourishing us with oxygen. Although we breathe constantly, we hardly ever do so consciously, even though it brings many benefits, including relaxation.
All we need to do is look at the way we breathe for one minute. We only need that time to find the connection with our body, ignore any stimuli from our environment and focus on the activity we are doing.
A simple breathing exercise would be the following: Breathe slowly and deeply through the nose, noticing how the air enters and reaches the abdomen.. Once the lungs are full, we pause holding the air for about 8 seconds to slowly release it through the mouth.
Easy, isn't it? Let's repeat this same exercise as many times as we think necessary, being aware at all times of the incoming and outgoing air and the physical sensations it brings us.
2. Focusing on an object
Both Eastern meditation on which Mindfulness is based as this tool itself aims to leave our mind blank to focus on the here and now. This is, in theory, the ideal, what we would like to achieve, but it is certainly very difficult if we do not have any task to do, such as cleaning the house, walking or exercising.
Fortunately there are other alternatives that help us to stop the constant stream of thoughts and give us a bit of calm and tranquility by simply focusing our attention on an object in our room or in the place where we are. Let's concentrate on the shape, the color, the position, where it was bought and other aspects related only and exclusively to that object..
For example, let's imagine that we have a ficus plant in our garden. Let's look at how the leaves are, the color of the soil, the type of pot it is in... all these aspects, however banal and simple they may seem, will give us calm and serenity, a repellent of the negative thoughts that appear in our conscience at the minimum that we have nothing to occupy it with.
3. Identify emotions
This exercise is directly related to the previous one, although doing just the opposite. If in that case we were looking for an object on which to focus our attention to prevent negative thoughts from appearing, in this exercise we will do just the opposite: we are going to look for them.
Yes, it sounds counterproductive, but there is a reason for it.. The only way to get rid of negative thoughts and learn to manage them, avoiding that they produce the stress with which they are associated, is indeed to have them well present. To do mental shock therapy.
Let's find a moment when we can be alone without any distraction. Let's try to leave the mind blank. Difficult, isn't it? To our mind come all kinds of thoughts and with them associated emotions. Let's identify them and write them down on a piece of paper, let's be aware of what they are, what thoughts and memories they evoke.
People live a wide repertoire of emotions that are a burden in our daily lives if they are very negative and the product of stress, but this does not mean that they cannot be managed or eliminated. If they can be reduced or eliminated, we must take them into account, put them into account, put them in the right place, we must take them into account, give them a name, analyze them and look for a solution..
Full consciousness is living in the present, just the opposite of thinking about the past and worrying about the future, however, we cannot live in the present if there are problems that can be solved but we still have on the pending list.
In case they are problems that cannot be solved and are part of the past, recurring thoughts that sprout in our mind like weeds, let's get used to them. If there is no possible solution, why worry? Worry should move us to find a solution to something.If that something does not have it, then that concern is neither adaptive nor functional.
4. Becoming aware of the body
Emotions can hide in the conscious but manifest in the physical through bodily sensations, some of them unpleasant and uncomfortable. Mind and body are related and, if one is sick, the other is sick too.
Before reaching the extreme of mental disorders, our organism already warns us that the stress we suffer is harmful, causing us back pains, tremors, stomach pains, tingling, tics....
At the minimum that we make some of the previous relaxation exercises, especially the one of the breathing, we will notice how these unpleasant sensations will be reduced.... If so, it will mean that our organism was so tense that it has begun to psychosomatize and that in effect these sensations were the result of stress.
In case they do not begin to subside even when we are calm and meditating, it would be appropriate to consult a doctor about what it may be. Also, we must understand that our mind and body will be healthy as long as we go to a psychologist and other health professionals, but Mindfulness can be a good strategy to protect us from organic problems.
5. Focusing on the little things of everyday life
Finally, let's discuss some day-to-day actions in which we can apply mindfulness and that will help us to relax. Basically, any daily task in which it is not necessary to think too much can be used to put Mindfulness into practice.which is nothing more than being aware of the task we are doing and the physical sensations associated with it.
For example, while cleaning the dishes, instead of seeing it as just another chore to do or even something heavy, let's try to enjoy the moment. Let's feel the water between our hands, the touch of the sponge, the delicacy of the dishes, the cylindrical perfection of the glasses, the smell of the soap and every sensation that this mundane scene of our lives can give off.
We can also apply it to personal routines, such as our beauty and sanitation ritual. As we shower, let us notice the changes in temperature, the smells of shampoo and body wash, the sound of water droplets on the floor. Then, as we dry ourselves and comb our hair, notice how the comb changes the direction of the hair and massages our scalp.
These are all daily actions, but they are so automated that sometimes it seems as if we are not even doing them. Let's take a minute to feel them, to savor them, to live them. True, noticing the shower or doing the dishes will not take away all the stress we might feel on a normal day, but it will certainly reduce it.
Bibliographic references:
- Álvarez, M.L. (2013). What is Mindfulness. 2017, Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid.
- Bertolín, G.J. (2014). Efficacy-effectiveness of the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program: update. Rev. Asoc. esp. neuropsiq, 35, 289-307.
- Didonna, F. (2011). Mindfulness clinical manual. Bilbao: Desclée de Brouwer, S.A.
- Simon, V . (2010). Mindfulness and psychology: present and future. Información psicológica, 100, 162-170.
(Updated at Apr 12 / 2024)