Our brain plays a central role in just about everything, from our thoughts, emotion, and behaviors and is the motor to our well-being.  Mindfulness suggests that the mind is fully attending to what’s happening, to what you’re doing, to the space you’re moving through. It’s about the present moment. The now! Nothing but here and now!

That might seem difficult, because we tend to deviate from what is right in front of us.  Our mind takes flight, we lose touch with our body, and pretty soon we’re immersed in our thoughts thinking about what just happened or ruminating about the future.

Mindfulness is a practice of being completely in the moment, aware of your environment, your body, and your mind. You are aware of your thoughts and allow them to pass without judging or labeling them. This is a stark comparison to how we normally go about our lives, running from one event to the next, usually unaware of our minds until the thoughts pile up and overwhelm our precious hard drives.

To go about rewiring a better brain, we can look to the rapidly expanding field of neuroscience for guidance. You will not have to look far. The practice of mindfulness and meditation are gaining of scientific data and support having a wide range of benefits. Study after study suggests that increasing mindfulness can “better” our minds.  A regular mindfulness and meditation routine can improve our presence.

Whether you choose meditation or mindfulness, both modalities enhances our ability to pay attention and be more present.  As Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he developed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction states that “The best way to capture moments is to pay attention… To The little things? To The little moments? They aren’t little, Mindfulness is a way of befriending ourselves and our experience.”  If we are not in the moment, we have just missed the peak experience.

Meditation is also a massive modality to help with achieving these moments of presence and training our beautiful minds more about being conscious of the now, aware of our neighbors and having a greater perspective on life. There is zero need to be in the past or thinking of what I could be or should be doing in the future.

The Definition of Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.

Mindfulness is a quality that every human being already possesses, it’s not something you have to conjure up, you just have to learn how to access it.

But I like to narrow it down even further and when working with clients we like to really get down to the core of all our intentions of growth. So going back and using Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., mindfulness strategy, it is all about nonjudgmental attention to the present moment. NO JUDGEMENT. Think how much of our waking days we spend in this state at work, socially, with our families and more importantly judging ourselves.

The key is then to increase awareness of our current experiences without assuming something is positive or negative in judgment. It just is, just a thought, an emotion, a feeling that is all they are. Not good or bad, just our wandering mind playing mind tricks on us.  We are being told a story we have heard a thousand times yet we still go back to it and entertain more of those thought loops. With mindfulness, instead of becoming reactive or condemning to what is being told to ourselves, why not just accept and just acknowledge what is happening and LET IT GO!

So how do we LET IT GO? We let it go by returning to what was learned above about judgement. The core to mindfulness training entails intentionality and paying 100% to the present moment without the big bad word of judgement.  So now you ask how do we practice mindfulness and keep our minds from wandering and judging.

The How and 3 Types of Mindfulness Practices:

Mindfulness is not obscure or exotic. It’s familiar to us because it’s what we already do, how we already are. It takes many shapes and goes by many names.

Here are some of the cultivated practices for you to explore:

1. Seated, walking, standing, and moving meditation
2. Short pauses we insert into everyday life
3. Merging meditation practice with other activities, such as working out, running, or other sports.

Mindfulness Exercises to Integrate Daily:

1.  Mindful Breathing

This exercise can be done standing up or sitting down or anywhere for that matter, but if you can sit down in the meditation position, that’s great, if not, no worries.

Either way, all you have to do is be still and focus on your breath for just 2- 5 minutes.

• Start by breathing in and out slowly. One breath cycle should last for approximately 6 seconds.
• Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, letting your breath flow effortlessly in and out of your body.
• Let go of your thoughts. Let go of things you have to do later today or pending projects that need your attention. Simply let thoughts rise and fall of their own accord and be at one with your breath.
• Purposefully watch your breath, focusing your sense of awareness on its pathway as it enters your body and fills you with life.
• Then watch with your awareness as it works work its way up and out of your mouth and its energy dissipates into the world.

2.  Mindful Observation

This exercise is simple but incredibly powerful because it helps you notice and appreciate seemingly simple elements of your environment.

The exercise is designed to connect us with the beauty of the natural environment.

• Choose a natural object from within your immediate environment and focus on watching it for a minute or two. This could be a flower or an insect, or even the clouds or the moon.
• Don’t do anything except notice the thing you are looking at. Simply relax into watching for as long as your concentration allows.
• Look at this object as if you are seeing it for the first time.
• Visually explore every aspect of its formation, and allow yourself to be consumed by its presence.
• Allow yourself to connect with its energy and its purpose within the natural world.

3.  Mindful Listening

This exercise is designed to open your ears to sound in a non-judgmental way, and indeed to train your mind to be less swayed by the influence of past experiences and preconception.

So much of what we “feel” is influenced by past experience. For example, we may dislike a song because it reminds of us of another period of life when things felt negative.

So, the idea of this exercise is to listen to some music from a neutral standpoint, with a present awareness that is unhindered by preconception.

Select a piece of music you have never heard before. You may have something in your own collection that you have never listened to, or you might choose to turn the radio dial until something catches your ear.

• Close your eyes and put on your headphones.
• Try not to get drawn into judging the music by its genre, title or artist name before it has begun. Instead, ignore any labels and neutrally allow yourself to get lost in the journey of sound for the duration of the song.
• Allow yourself to explore every aspect of track. Even if the music isn’t to your liking at first, let go of your dislike and give your awareness full permission to climb inside the track and dance among the sound waves.
• Explore the song by listening to the dynamics of each instrument. Separate each sound in your mind and analyze each one by one.
• Hone in on the vocals: the sound of the voice, its range and tones.
• The idea is to listen intently, to become fully entwined with the composition without preconception or judgment of the genre, artist, lyrics or instrumentation. Don’t think, hear.