Mindfulness
Mindfulness is one of the oldest and most basic skills known to mankind. What is mindfulness? Mindfulness means becoming more aware of what is going on- in the present moment. We can appreciate our lives instead of rushing through them. As we become more mindful this will also help us to be less swept away by current thoughts of emotion, which usually manifests itself as stress, depression, negative thinking, anxiety, anger, resentment or self doubt.
Mindfulness doesn’t belong to any one culture or tradition. Its a way of being for all- part of our birthright- which has been lost to us over the years as daily life has gotten progressively faster.
As one would exercise their body to keep it healthy, you’d benefit from training yourself equally in this area.
Here at House of Attilius, mindfulness is about teaching yourself to be more:
- Aware: of your body, mind, and the surrounding environment.
- Present: in the moment- right here, right now.
- Focused: able to make better choices about where you place your attention.
- Embodied: being in your body, and syncing your mind and body.
- Accepting: of yourself and others.
Remember this, mindfulness practice can be practiced either Formal or Informal. Examples: Formal can mean sitting during meditation using the breath as focus. Informal can mean making a cup of tea with awareness.
Meditation
Meditation is a heightened state of focus, concentrated into one point, sharply, consciously and purposely. Being free of thoughts might occur with practice, but never forcibly, rather it could be viewed as more of a side effect of focusing your attention.
Their are many concepts and misconceptions of what meditation really is. One of the popular held beliefs is that the practitioner would sit for an extended period of time, motionless, with an empty mind, purposely not thinking about anything. Freeing themselves from thought and emotions, being still and empty. But being in this state as described, needs some adjustments, as thoughts an emotions are an integral part of human nature and can be expected to occur.
When one becomes too busy suppressing their thoughts, with all their brain power directed towards fighting stubbornly reoccurring mental images, there will be little energy left to focus on more important elements of the meditation practice: the real essence of meditation: FOCUS.
Although sitting meditation is a most common practice, at House of Attilius, we encourage to explore various ways to meditate. There are certain ways to practice meditation with- in-or through movement, or laying down on the floor.