How to practice Mindfulness, in 6 steps and tips

An example of a Mindfulness exercise that you can easily practice at home.

Mindfulness is a very useful tool that in recent decades has been applied to different types of psychological intervention.

In this article we will see several keys and tips on how to practice MindfulnessIn this article we will see several keys and tips on how to practice Mindfulness, taking advantage of the fact that once started it is very easy to maintain progress and apply Mindfulness in many situations.

What is Mindfulness?

Founded on and inspired by Vipassana meditation, which has been practiced for millennia in regions of Asia, Mindfulness is based on the management of attention and the physiological processes that accompany it..

Basically, it has been developed as a way to focus on the present and experience what is happening in that moment from a neutral and non-judgmental perspective, so that the emotional involvement that keeps us attached to worries and obsessions is weakened.

Because of the logic of how Mindfulness works, it is a very good tool to combat stress. a very good tool for combating stress and coping with pain, for example, although it also has other applications, some outside the clinical setting.

How to practice Mindfulness in everyday life

There is a wide variety of situations in which we can practice Mindfulness, since there is no single basic way to do it, but several alternative versions of this practice have been developed.

In these lines we will see what are the basic principles of the practice of Mindfulness, using an example of exercise.

1. Find a quiet space

Much of the practice of Mindfulness, especially during the early stages in which we still do not master this tool well, is based on knowing how to choose the environments that make it easier to carry out the procedure..

So, choose a place away from stimuli that can distract you. Especially, without noise. If it is also in an environment where there is a lot of vegetation and nature, that will help you, because such a place will hardly remind us of those elements of daily life that can remind us of obligations, responsibilities and, in general, that can generate stress.

2. Sit with your back straight

Some people always practice Mindfulness sitting in the lotus position, in the manner of Buddhist monks, but this is not mandatory. However, it is advisable to sit in a way that favors the back to be straight, since This way we will not be bothered by unnecessary muscular tensions..

3. Do controlled breathing

Breathing exercises can be a good help to start practicing Mindfulness, although when you have more practice this step will be dispensable.

Its function is twofold. On the one hand, deep, slow breaths help to oxygenate the body and relax.. On the other hand, it allows you to begin to focus your attention on something specific in a sustained manner, something that will be very useful.

4. Focus on what is happening in your body.

First of all, close your eyes. In this phase the only thing to do is to focus your attention on those small events that we can notice happening in our body, one after the other and dedicating to each one of them, approximately, half a minute..

For example, direct attention to some palpitations you feel in your neck, or to the way your eyes move within the sockets without these movements being voluntary, etc. Do this with about six elements that you notice.

In this way we will be managing the attentional focus by directing it to simple stimuli, without anything else claiming our attention, no matter how important or urgent it might have seemed to us an hour ago.

5. Broaden the focus

In this phase, shift your focus of attention from bodily stimuli to life experiences of a more abstract nature. Think about them as a person not involved in those matters would think about them.. Don't judge, don't value, just think about it in a descriptive way, accepting that it is part of a reality.

Dedicate to each event or experience the time that corresponds to it, according to the degree of importance that you have come to give on previous occasions, according to how much you have come to obsess, worry, etc.. This is the fundamental part of Mindfulness, since it helps us to deal with experiences with wide repercussions in our lives.

6. Return to controlled breathing

This phase marks the end of the Mindfulness exercise, in a ritualized way,

How to learn more about Mindfulness?

There are many ways to develop Mindfulness-based practices. One of the most useful for therapists and psychologists in general, for example, is Mindfulness applied to the regulation of emotions..

For people interested in this kind of exercises, it is advisable to attend training programs such as the one offered by the Mensalus Institute in Barcelona: Mindfulness Training Program: M-PBI. This course, with an experiential format and applied character and based on individual and team work, trains students in psychological intervention with Mindfulness to reduce anxiety levels and to improve emotional management in a wide variety of contexts. All of this, commenting and addressing the possible problems that usually appear in these cases depending on the situation: exam stress, relationship problems, grief processes, etc.

For more information about this Mindfulness training initiative, click here and contact Mensalus.