Today yoga is often associated with fitness.  While it’s true that yoga has many health benefits, it can also have many mental health benefits.  It’s also important to note that yoga was originally a spiritual practice.  Many people use it in combination with meditation to relax and find inner peace.

When people first hear of mindfulness they often hear about its relationship to yoga, but they might wonder: How do you go about doing it? How is it different from fitness yoga?  It can be daunting to just try and pick it up on your own.  So that’s why I’m going to give you some tips on how it works and show you how it can help with anxiety.

The first thing that’s important to point out is that there are many different types of yoga and each serve their own unique purpose.  You may have heard of some of the more aerobic types like bikram or hot yoga.  The one that will be most beneficial for mindfulness is known as Hatha.  Bonus: It’s the best type for yoga beginners according to Daily Burn, since it’s relatively low impact and just focuses on the poses and positions and maintaining correct form.

Well, that makes sense doesn’t it? Recall that mindfulness is about being in the moment, focusing, and training the mind not to wander or linger on troublesome thoughts.  What would be a better way to do this than to essentially contort our bodies into different positions and focus on maintaining correct form?

Another important component of yoga: There is a big focus on breathing! One of the most basic mindfulness techniques is to focus on the breath.  I think yoga provides an even better opportunity to do this because when your body is in different positions you can really feel the breath differently than you might when you’re just sitting or standing.

Another way that yoga is connected to mindfulness is that it allows you to practice being nonjudgmental.  Of course, we are all at different fitness levels, so when trying out these intricate poses for the first time, it can be daunting if you feel like you don’t look exactly like the video or instructor you’re learning from.  This is where mindfulness comes into play.  Mindfulness is all about letting things be as they are in the moment without judging anything, this includes yourself and your own thoughts.  Doing this while practicing yoga can help to boost self confidence! Not only will it be great to feel comfortable in your own skin, but this can also help with reducing anxiety if self criticism is a potential trigger for you.

As far as other ways mindful yoga can be used to reduce anxiety, I think it’s important to look at the more physical aspects of yoga.  Exercise releases endorphins, which are chemicals in your brain that improve your mood.  This can help tremendously with relieving your anxiety.  According to yoga teacher Jade Garratt, “[Yoga] help(s) lower stress levels, improve the quality of your sleep, and ward off anxiety.”  What makes it even better is that unlike some workouts that involve high exertion, yoga is low impact.  So even if you’ve had a long day you can still take some time out of your day to benefit both your mind and body.

In speaking of a long day, have you ever come home from a long day of classes or work and felt so tense in your shoulders and neck? I’d be willing to bet that some of that tension is due to stress.  Yoga would be the perfect solution to release some of that tension.  Garratt states that yoga is able to “unlock” tension in the body.  Many different yoga poses provide great stretches with allow for this tension release.

All of these different components come together to allow you to enter a relaxed, focused and meditative state while practicing mindful yoga.

I hope this article has helped you understand the connection between mindfulness and yoga.  I also hope you see how it can be a stress reliever and I hope I’ve inspired you to try yoga if you haven’t already done so.

Try it out and let me know what you think.  Remember: Even the most experienced people in mindfulness were once beginners, if they can do it so can you!

Mindful Musings

A mental health journey through mindfulness.

I’m sure most of us could at least give some sort of a guess as to what mindful eating is.  Essentially it’s all about being more aware of the processes involved with eating. Now personally I find this to be a bit awkward, but that could also be due to a previous experience.

Let me explain.  When I was taking a mindfulness class at my university, one of the classes was all about mindful eating.  I’ll be honest, when I first heard about it I was a little skeptical.  It just sounded weird to me.  During the class my teacher had us close our eyes.  We were then handed a piece of food.  We were asked to observe what we felt and what we smelled.  I knew immediately that I was holding an orange, but that’s because I don’t really care for the smell of oranges.  After a few minutes she had us take a bite with our eyes still closed.  Of course not really being a fan of oranges, I was’t thrilled when the teacher asked us to linger on how the food felt in our mouth.  Regardless I still find that notion quite odd.

Now while you might not have had quite the experience that I did, you may be slightly familiar with this idea of mindful eating, or you may have never heard of it at all.  Well, I have good news: It doesn’t have to be nearly as weird as I just made it sound.  Time Magazine came out with a special edition on mindfulness, and they gave their own insights on mindful eating, and it was completely different idea than what I was presented in my class.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the method I was taught in my class may work very well for some people, and if it works for you then that’s great.  However, today I’m going to present an alternative perspective of how to tackle mindful eating, and elaborating on a few points from the Time article.

Essentially, Time talks about mindful eating in terms of “eating in the moment”.  In other words, focusing solely on the activity of eating.  This can work without using some of the sensory techniques I discussed earlier.  However, as I said before, if those techniques work for you then go for it.  Here are some of the tips mentioned in the article, and how we as beginners can incorporate these into our everyday lives.

Don’t eat where you work!

This falls in line with the whole concept of multitasking.  Studies have shown that no one can truly multitask.  Even the people who think they’re good at multitasking actually struggle with it.  When we try to kill two birds with one stone by eating while trying to get work done, we will end up not focusing on one of those things.  Most often we will end up not focusing on eating.  This can lead to eating more than you plan on eating.  I’d like to encourage as many healthy behaviors as possible, so by not multitasking you will be killing two birds with one stone for your health! So, the takeaway: Don’t eat where you work, do one then the other, each in different places.

Sit down when you eat!

Again this relates back to multitasking.  Most often when we are walking we are doing or focusing on a multitude of different things.  If we eat during that, once again it is likely that we will not pay attention to what we are eating, causing us to either overeat or not feel full.  I feel it’s also important to not that just sitting down isn’t enough.  It also means that for best results you shouldn’t be on your phone or watching TV while you eat either.  Now I know that this can be really hard for some of us (myself included), but it is possible and will be very beneficial.  The best way I’ve found to do this is to just enjoy what you’re eating. Be in the moment and just enjoy it! Don’t think about what you have to do afterwards, just enjoy your meal and take in the scenery.

Cut your plate in half!

This is something Time Magazine refers to as a “food speed bump”.  Once you eat half of the plate, you should check in and see how full you feel.  If you feel satisfied then save the rest of your food.  By stoping halfway through, you are making sure you remain in the moment and are paying attention, much like a checkpoint or speed bump on a road.  I used to do this all the time at restaurants.  The portions are so big anyway, but if you’re not paying attention you could end up overeating.  Using this speed bump can certainly prevent that.

Those were just a few of the tips mentioned in the article, but hopefully this gives you a sense of how mindful eating can actually be very simple and something you can incorporate into your daily life.

What do you think of these tips? Have any of you ever tried mindful eating?  What was your experience?  I’d love to hear from you in the comments!  Also be sure to share this with friends.  That could really make a difference in someone’s eating habits and potentially change their life.  Remember: everyone was once a beginner.

Mindful Musings

A mental health journey through mindfulness

Mindfulness seems to have become somewhat of a buzzword in this day and age.  From companies beginning to instill mindfulness practices in the workplace, to a plethora of mindful mobile apps being produced, you’ve probably heard the term a time or two on the internet or in conversation.  However, I have a feeling that a lot of people (through no fault of their own) don’t actually know what mindfulness is.

This lack of knowledge can often lead to misconceptions regarding the mindfulness practice.  These misconceptions can sometimes turn judgmental.  Over the past few months of my journey with mindfulness, I’ve come to realize that for as many people who embrace the mindfulness practice, there are just as many who are skeptical of it.  This is most likely due in part to the buzzword mentality of the mindfulness practice.

Therefore, my first goal in starting this blog is to clear up any confusion on what mindfulness actually is.

First, I resorted to academic articles to find the answer, and I found an encyclopedia entry on mindfulness.  One thing that struck me about the entry was that mindfulness was deemed “an individually defined attention-training practice.” In other words, the definition of mindfulness is up to your own interpretation.

Well, that makes this easy doesn’t it?

Regardless, I’m still going to give a few other “interpretations,” but keep in mind that these are just that: interpretations.  Mindfulness in its modern form is relatively new and is a constantly evolving practice.

In speaking of the modern form of mindfulness, maybe it would be best if I explain the origins of mindfulness in order to better understand its implications in today’s society.

While mindfulness did originate in Hinduism, most other religions also have a history of using it in practice.  However, I think it’s important to note that mindfulness does not have to be religiously based.  Anyone and everyone can practice mindfulness.  Some sources say that an essential part of mindfulness is believing in a higher power, but I feel that mindfulness is more about living in the moment and letting things be the way they are in a nonjudgmental manner.  While some people may prefer religious meditation, it’s certainly not the only option.

Now back to the modern form of mindfulness.  This modern form was created by Jon Kabat-Zinn.  In addition to being a professor he also founded the first modern clinical center for mindfulness.  He’s also wrote many books, one of which, Wherever You go, There You Are, was a book I read for a mindfulness class I took that was extremely insightful.  At a later time I will be writing a profile article on more of the works of Kabat-Zinn, so stay tuned for that.

Once Kabat-Zinn kicked off this modern mindfulness practice in the 1980’s, mainstream culture really latched on to the idea. Classes are now being held on college campuses, much like the one I participated in, and as I stated before there were countless books, websites and apps that have been developed since.

Now you can see that mindfulness isn’t just some religious ideology.  While it may have it’s roots in religion it has been well received by many different cultures and has been taken in a more modern direction by scholars and psychologists alike.

I hope you learned a little about mindfulness today.  What do you think about the history of mindfulness?  Do you have any questions about my interpretation? Do you have a different interpretation?  I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Mindful Musings

A mental health journey through mindfulness.

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