Have you heard that Pilates is mindful exercise? What is mindfulness? Many students ask me what that means, so I thought I would write about it in today’s blog.
What is mindfulness you ask? How do I achieve it? What will it do for me?
I learned is there are many possible answers to these questions.
What is it? According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, “Mindfulness is the awareness that comes from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.”
How do I achieve mindfulness? It is a practice, not a destination. It is a way of living. In the words of Jon Kabat-Zinn, being mindful is simple, but not easy.
I heard from someone who attended a mindfulness-based stress reduction program recently. I thought the ways they implemented this practice were very interesting. The ways they practice mindfulness include a guided body scan, meditation, mindful eating, mindful movement, and paying attention to our senses (smelling, tasting, feeling, seeing, and hearing) during events throughout the day.
How can it Help Me?
What will it do for me? There are many potential benefits of practicing mindfulness. Some include decreased stress, decreased chronic pain, decreased anxiety, improved anger management, and improved quality of life.
Personally, practicing mindfulness is helping me become more responsive rather than reactive. It is helping me focus on the present, rather than dwelling in the past or worrying about the future. It is helping me become a little less judgemental with myself by focusing on the process rather than the outcome. And, for all of that, I am grateful.
“Mindfulness means seeing things as they are, without trying to change them. The point is to dissolve our reactions to disturbing emotions, being careful not to reject the emotion itself. Mindfulness can change how we relate to, and perceive our emotional states.” Tara Bennet-Goldmen,PhD in Emotional Alchemy
How can you make this a part of your day?
