Why you should always have mindfulness as a backup without the need to become a monk

We all know physical exercise is great for mental health; it’s like fertiliser for the brain.  However, if you’ve ever had a sports injury you’ll know that the toughest battle is mental.  That’s why mindfulness is something we should all have as a backup to keep balance in our lives in case we ever find ourselves in that place.  However, mindfulness doesn’t appeal to everyone so how can we change that?

I’m writing this with a slipped disc in my neck.  Usually I’d be out cycling, trekking in the mountains or doing yoga but I can hardly move.  I’m lucky, as this is a simple injury and there’s a procedure to fix it.  I’m also fortunate as I practice meditation.  Once the domain of monks, hippies and flower children, meditation is growing in popularity thanks to proven scientific benefits and a new name, mindfulness.   Meditation is a dedicated practice eg. breathing focus, and mindfulness is more of a lifestyle eg. having a conscious focus on your breathing when walking, having a conversation, washing the dishes, living your daily life. Both do the same thing, they encourage you to focus on the present moment.

So, it’s proven these ancient eastern practices work (including Harvard backed studies). Benefits include improved sleep, increased resilience, focus and emotional intelligence.  Yet still – though numbers are growing – in the west very few people practice it.  And here’s why: It’s easy to do, but hard to practice.  Demands of modern life don’t encourage stillness.  Anyone can focus on his or her breath, but try doing that for a while, and then developing it as a habit.  It can be a challenge.

Often people’s biggest issue with mindfulness is that the harder they try to do it the noisier their head becomes.  The idea to get back to basics is to consciously disengage.  Ever since the industrial age we’ve been conditioned by noise in our lives, and now with digital technology we have weapons of mass distraction glued to our hands most of the day.  We have to rewire the brain back to its basic form.

If we consider our key emotional drivers, our fight or flight instincts, modern society is like a low-grade adrenaline drip with us on constant fight or flight alert.  We need to come back to the present moment (for example by focusing on the breath) to give the nervous system a cue that all is well.  Psychologist and Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman has been preaching since the birth of smart phones that we need to switch off and encourage boredom to develop creativity.  The seduction of a smartphone just suffocates that.

When you practice mindfulness enough you end up letting go of the thought of it being a challenge.  It takes time.  And once you’ve developed that you’ll no longer see it as a chore, but an enriching part of your day.   I love sport, but I now put meditation ahead of any physical exercise as I know the benefits are so positive.

Previously mindfulness was kept behind closed doors just for people who were ‘spiritual’.  However, now everyone can now access it via apps on smart technology.  It might seem ironic using a weapon of mass distraction as a tool to quiet the mind but oddly if you develop the discipline of mindfulness you’ll find you’re not checking your phone as much.  I reviewed a number of apps for The Elephant Journal in 2015.  I continue to review new apps but my findings are still the same.

Why not try some bicep curls for your mind and challenge yourself to 30 days of meditation.  It will change your life.

4 top tips:

1. Don’t’ see it as a goal to achieve silence in your head.  Instead just try to have less noise in the head.  If a thought comes in just let it be.

2. Try to develop a healthy digital diet by reducing your tech use.  For example, keep your mobile phone out of your bedroom.

3. Commit to a daily mindfulness workout.  For example, when walking to work if you listen to music, take your headphones out a few minutes before you get to the office and just listen to life.  Or when making a hot drink, smell the drink and hug the mug with purpose.  Anything that brings your attention back to the present moment is great.

4. Breath like your life depends on it.  We often say things like “she took my breath away” or something is a ‘breath of fresh air’ but we rarely focus on the breath.  Just simply bring your attention to your breath, nothing fancy just be aware of it.  That’s enough.