It’s no secret that many people talk about mindfulness and meditation and the heaps of benefits they both bring. They say that meditation is stress-busting, self care done ‘right’, and a source-of-all-goodness.
But what if mindfulness and meditation don’t work for you?
What if the very word mindfulness sets your teeth on edge and makes your toes curl?
Thankfully, you don’t have to buy into one word to find some balance.
I’ve had a funny relationship with both words. They provoke an image of floaty hippies sitting in a field for hours on end. I’m a mum of a 2 & 4 year old, I run and manage the studio and Both Feet Actor Training, all the admin, the creating, the website, the social media, the bookings and I do the teaching and coaching. I do not have time to sit in a field for 3 hours a day!
When I met Barbara Houseman, she began to change the way I viewed it - she was down to earth, sweary and funny, not the airy floaty hippy I always conjured up in my mind. So I jumped on her Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy Course to challenge my understanding and extend my development. An email came through telling us we’d need to meditate for around an hour a day for the length of the 2 month course. I nearly choked, resistance bubbling. Instead of pulling out, I reached out and asked if I could do the meditations whilst moving instead, luckily she said yes - so that’s what I did.
My one hour a day, I followed the programme but did the meditations whilst on my hours walk before settling to work for the day. It changed the way that I walked.
Over the weeks and months I discovered many ways of being mindful that didn't involve my initial assumption of having to sit in a field for three hours a day.
...When I washed my hair and brushed my teeth.
...The last weeks of breastfeeding. Sitting in the darkness.
...Running outside with the boys in our pjs to breathe in the sunrise.
...Drawing a breath and allowing stillness into my body every time my feet touched the doorstep to stop my perpetual moving.
...Slow motion drinking when I felt chaotic.
...And the bigger stuff like slowly moving into 2 degree water.
These small moments peppered throughout each day have changed my life and really will be the difference between me dying sooner and living longer. I’m not being dramatic when I say that - I have literally been killing myself by not stopping, not breathing, not noticing.
Have I made peace with the words meditation and mindfulness? No. I still see hippies in a field but l do now do both automatically in my own way, the way that works for me.
I’d love to explore how you do you so you can find realistic ways to live a better life. Join me on one of my retreats?
Steph x
Meditation improves anxiety levels 60% of the time.
Meditation can reduce the risk of being hospitalized for coronary disease by 87%.
Meditation can reduce the wake time of people with insomnia by 50%
Practicing meditation can have positive effects on relieving back pain issues
Mindfulness meditation can reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder 73% of the time.
Comentarios