Hello and welcome to a very short intro to mindfulness.
How to practice it on and off the mat.
Mindfulness is observing without judgment,
Responding instead of reacting.
The three key principles of mindfulness to remember is one humility,
Two objectivity,
Looking at the world with no polarity as a blank slate,
And three acceptance.
Acceptance of you,
Others around you,
And the world.
We start by being present to the judgments we have of our self,
Of others,
The world,
And the emotions that come with these experiences.
We observe them.
We ask,
Are you and why are you attached to these judgments?
What is continuing to hold you to these belief systems?
If a belief system no longer serves you,
You can learn to let it go by forgiving yourself for buying into it,
For buying into something that no longer may be true for you.
When you judge,
You protect yourself,
Right?
And I think that's the biological hardwiring we have as humans is to judge ourselves and judge others,
Seeing if the world is safe,
If that person is safe,
If we are safe,
We are good enough,
Strong enough.
I think that when you judge,
You protect yourself,
But you also reinforce beliefs and maintain societal expectations.
When you're being mindful,
You are letting go of attachments and aversions,
And karma repeats itself until you learn that lesson.
Karma repeats until you commit to practices of mindfulness.
There's many different ways to practice mindfulness.
On the mat,
You can practice it as meditation,
Yoga,
Specifically maybe vinyasa yoga,
Yoga nidra,
Restorative yoga,
Etc.
Off the mat,
You may practice mindfulness through creativity,
Walking in nature,
Practicing being fully present with your loved ones,
Going to therapy to assess any attachments and aversions you may have,
And other practices of mindfulness.
It really doesn't focus on the activity itself,
But whether you have an intention of being mindful,
Whether you're assessing,
Observing,
Questioning those attachments and aversions.
The most important thing to remember is that mindfulness is a practice,
Therefore it takes practice.
You're not going to be perfect,
It's not going to come natural,
Because it's really,
Really hard to be kind to yourself all of the time.
It's hard to not have judgments all of the time,
But it's noticing those and responding with mindfulness.
It's noticing those judgments and responding with self compassion.
It's noticing,
Oh yeah,
I'm not being very mindful right now,
How can I do so?
And that's practice.
This was a very short and brief intro to mindfulness,
What it is,
How you can practice it,
How you can increase it as little moments in your daily life,
And I hope it encourages you to explore it with your own.
Thank you.
