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Mindfulness

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Lady of Longbourn

MyPTSD Pro
I have heard this used a lot of the forum but I am not sure what it is. I have been told by @Ms Spock that I use mindfulness a lot in my diary. After doing some quick research on the topic I realized I want to know more.

From Wikipedia:

"Mindfulness as a psychological concept is the focusing of attention and awareness, based on the concept of mindfulness in Buddhist meditation.

Several definitions of mindfulness have been used in modern psychology. According to various prominent psychological definitions, Mindfulness refers to a psychological quality that involves:

bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis,

or involves

paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally,

or involves

a kind of nonelaborative, nonjudgmental, present-centered awareness in which each thought, feeling, or sensation that arises in the attentional field is acknowledged and accepted as it is."

It is supposed to help with anxiety, stress and depression.

Can anyone tell me more? What works for them? Helpful books? Things they do?
 
Mindfulness and mindfulness meditation is something I am learning to do with my therapist. For me, I love the outdoors so after each session and anytime I feel like it, I go to the park. I try to focus on the things around me with my 5 senses. How warm or cold is it? What are the sounds… children playing, birds chirping, dogs barking, etc? What do I see? How does the concrete feel beneath me, is there cracks, how does the air feel on my skin?

If I have a thought about anything else, I acknowledge it, but don't "chase" it, meaning I don't linger. I drift back to my five senses. It takes TONS of practice and my therapist said it will never be perfect. It is simply trying to stay in the moment.

you can do mindfulness with lots of things… petting your animals, taking a bath, laying in bed even…

Mindfulness meditation is new for me so I hope I can explain it clearly the way she has worked with me. There are only 2 constants while we are alive; our breathing and our heartbeat. My T had me sit forward, feet placed on the floor and arms relaxed on my lap with my eyes closed. She told me to focus on my breathing. Don't change it, just focus on it, notice it. Again like above, notice the rhythm, notice if the air is warm or cold in your nose and throat, notice the rise and fall of your chest with it. If you have a thought, notice it but go back to your breathing. Notice how your body responds to your breathing.

The first time I did it, I did it for 8 minutes. Now I can do about 12-15 minutes (just started 2 weeks ago). I can't do it when I am really anxious yet, as focusing on my breathing when I'm anxious makes it worse. But I practice daily and if I know I'm about to do something stressful, I do it and also afterwards. It helps a lot in therapy because my therapist is there saying things like "you're in a safe place, you are okay." and she reminds me to focus.

Hope this helps :) I find mindfulness very relaxing!
 
I thought there was a difference between mindfullness and meditation?

"Mindfulness is defined as being attentive and aware, non-judgmentally,whereas meditation is engaging in a mental exercise (as concentration on one's breathing or repetition of a mantra) for spiritual or relaxation purposes..."

I know @FindingMyself88 That you are talking about mindfulness meditation but I am just saying I thought there was a difference.
 
Mindfulness is being aware or attentive of something, meditation is focusing on that something… does that make sense? in Mindfulness meditation you are focusing (meditating) on your breathing (what you are being mindful of).
 
It's purpose is to center you is what my T told me… breathing is essential to life, like I said it and our heartbeat are the only 2 constants… It's focusing you on existing and living I guess. I'm sorry, I am probably doing a horrible job of explaining it.
 
To me mindfulness involves focusing on the present moment. I try to be mindful in my actions by focusing on what I am doing. We live in a society simply OBSESSED by multitasking, but mindfulness involves single-tasking. I mean, when I used to go on job interviews they would ask if I could multi-task, and stress how important this was. But, I've read studies that say multi-tasking isn't all that it's cracked up to be and isn't necessarily more efficient as we're not fully paying attention to either activity, so both activities can suffer instead of making things more productive. I make journals out of magazine ads that I find and one of my favorites is about multi-tasking and says "how about a little single-tasking for once?" I love it! So anyway, when I'm being mindful of something, that means I am focusing solely on that activity and I'm fully engaged. My mind isn't wandering elsewhere, and I am fully aware of what I'm doing.... unlike right now when I'm trying to write this post and watching a baseball game! LOL

Meditation is different for me. I only really meditate in one way, and that is to tap into my spiritual side. Meditation took a LOT more practice than mindfulness. I was able to learn how to be mindful fairly quickly, but meditation took me a lot more practice and it was the better part of a year before I got to the point of it being able to calm me within seconds. (Now my issue is more of remembering to tap into my meditation when I need to calm myself!)
 
My understanding is that mindfulness is a way of doing things - just about anything.

Like when I cook mindfully, I do it noticing every step, every smell, every texture, and focus on just what I am doing in this moment now.

When I walk mindfully, it's like the opposite of waking absent-mindedly. I really notice (without needing or seeking to change) my feet on the ground, how my body feels, what the surroundings are like around me, and try to do it in a way of observing, not judging.

Sometimes doing something mindfully can be something quick, like when I go into therapy and just notice everything of the same color (let's say green) that is in the room. It can be grounding to do this.

When I do it, and the more I do it, the better I feel over time.

There are mindful meditation practices, and other kinds of meditation practices that include other relaxation or awareness processes. I have a hard time with meditation generally (mindful mediation or other forms) because I get too spacey.

But I really have come to like doing activities that I already do in a mindful way.

I learned a lot about mindfulness from my old equine assisted psychotherapy trauma therapist. (Animals pretty much only live in this moment now.) A good book on mindfulness that she gave me is called "Wherever you go, there you are" by John Kabat-Zinn.

DBT therapy also uses mindfulness as one of a handful of skills to cope with distress. I did a DBT group and we had I do a mindfulness activity at the beginning and end of every group. One time we tossed tennis balls back and forth between group members in a specific order. In order to do it, everyone had to be really present and paying attention to this moment now - and invariably, people would tend to feel a little better or less numb after doing things like that.

I have a couple of books at home with "mindfulness exercises" that I have found helpful to use. (But there isn't any one book I'd recommend over others.)
 
I have been doing mindfulness meditation and practising Zen for twenty five years. It helps me a great deal. The first two hundred pages of the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is the best reference I can suggest.

Regardless if you are theistic, atheistic or agnostic, the basic practice is the same. I'd recommend the above book and the most important thing is to develop a simple practice and do it regularly.

Good luck. :-)
 
Like others have said, mindfulness is actually an ancient Eastern practice, though we are seeing it more and more in the Western world. It is also a "core skill" of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), as defined by Marsha Linehan.

Mindful meditation is a focused practice, where you actually set aside a time and place, sit in a particular position, and "focus" on either your breathing or a specific mantra. The idea is to be fully present in the moment and to be free of thoughts. Of course, thoughts will come into your mind, but they tell you to allow them to flow in and then out of your mind and to bring your focus back to your breathing (or mantra).

Just being mindful, or doing something mindfully, is focusing your complete attention to the task at hand. For instance, driving - you would drive without the radio on, focus on the way the steering wheel feels in your hands, the way the seat feels beneath you, your foot on the gas pedal, pay attention to your surroundings, be totally "present" and, "in the moment."

The only book I can suggest is "Mindfulness for Borderline Personality Disorder," by Blaise Aguirre, MD and Gillian Galen, PhD. You can ignore the BPD reference and focus on the mindfulness techniques. (You probably know this, but DBT was originally created to treat BPD, thus the title, but it is actually being used to treat other things, including PTSD).

I feel like I've rambled a bit, but I hope you find at least a little of it helpful!
 
As I am a beginner at all this, I would recommend a book by Sharon Salzburg called Real Happiness. It comes with a CD that has 4 short guided practices. And the book is very readable and practical. It has helped me a lot. Also, a woman named Pema Chodron has both books and CDs of her talks about meditation and mindfulness. Her CD series called Getting Unstuck was powerfully helpful to me. The key to all of it is to recognize that we all get derailed in our attempts to be mindful...the actual practice is recogniIng it and beginning again without getting frustrated or angry with ourselves.
 
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