Easy mindfulness exercises to keep negative thoughts in check and make your mind more efficient
It’s easy to dismiss anything with a whiff of new-age BS to it, but several studies have found mindfulness to be effective for everything from pain relief to reducing stress, anxiety and depression. It helps you take control of your thoughts and stop worrying about inconsequential nonsense.
Chinese monks have sworn by it for 2,500 years and Western medicine caught on in the 1970s when American professor Jon Kabat-Zinn successfully used it to treat patients with chronic pain. Everyone’s at it now, including Kobe Bryant, Richard Branson, the US Army and even the England football squad (though that might not be the best endorsement).
Here are three ways you can start to feel the benefits in just a few minutes a day.
Turn Your Smartphone into a Meditation Master
Sifting through the 700-plus apps that claim to help relax you is bound to have the exact opposite effect as you try to figure out which one’s for you. Thankfully, a new study has ranked all of them according to their effectiveness. The researchers used the Mobile Application Rating Scale, evaluating each on functionality, design, quality of information and engagement.
The best? Headspace. It’s beautifully designed and easy to understand, with each session narrated by a former Buddhist monk to remove any “Am I doing this right?” doubts that plagued our first few mindfulness sessions. The only catch is after the first ten sessions it costs a tenner a month. Give it a go and decide for yourself if it’s worth coughing up for.
Relieve Stress in Minutes
Focusing on your breath is one of the most simple and effective mindfulness exercises. While it might sound like nonsense, spending five to ten minutes a day doing it is an effective – and free – stress reliever. Not only does it help clear your mind, it has the physiological effect of lowering your pulse and blood pressure.
Just get in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Sit, lie down, stand up… it doesn’t matter. Breathe in and out as slowly as is comfortable, and concentrate on each inhalation and exhalation. Focus on the rise and fall of your chest or abdomen, the sensation of the breath in your nostrils, or any of the physical aspects of breathing.
Your mind will wander dozens of times during the process: the hot person you’re chatting with on Tinder, that delicious lunch you had at the new place near work, whether that dry patch on your elbow is the beginnings of eczema – and that’s fine. It happens to everyone and doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. Just bring your attention back to the breathing and carry on.
What follows is a sensation of clarity and calm. Trust us. We didn’t believe it would work, but the simple act of taking a moment to yourself has a powerful effect on how you feel. Suddenly, problems that felt insurmountable are trifling matters and new solutions become apparent. (Although that person on Tinder will still be just as distracting.)
Don’t have five minutes to spare? Concentrate on just one single, slow breath in response to any situation that may trigger negative emotions. Do it before answering the phone, as a person you’re meeting for the first time approaches, or when your sports team concedes a goal. The action performs a soft reset of your mind that stops you succumbing to anger, nervousness or whatever other potentially unhelpful feelings may arise.
Big Yourself up
We’re all our own worst critics, so Kim Nicol – mindfulness consultant to Fortune 500 CEOs and podcaster – recommends regularly giving yourself a hearty slap on the back. At the end of each day, make a list of your accomplishments, even include the little things such as arriving on time for work or not buying those discounted Krispy Kremes on the way home.
Rather than mulling over the negative stuff – that hampers sleep quality which can result in starting the next day feeling like you’re already playing emotional catch-up – your outlook will become more positive, your self-confidence improved, and you’ll go to bed on a high .
0 commentaires: