How to Practice Mindfulness, in 6 Steps and Tips

Mindfulness, or Full Attention, is a very useful tool that in recent decades has been applied to different types of psychological intervention.

In this article we will see several keys and tips on how to practice Mindfulness taking advantage of the fact that once started it is very easy to maintain progress and apply Mindfulness in many situations.

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What is Mindfulness?

Based on and inspired by Vipassana meditation, which has been practiced for millennia in regions of Asia, Mindfulness It is based on the management of attention and the physiological processes that accompany it

Basically, it has been developed as a way to focus on the present and experience what is happening at that moment from a neutral and non-judgmental perspective, so that the emotional involvement that keeps us attached to worries and obsessions is weakened.

Because of the logic of how Mindfulness works, it is a very good tool to combat stress and cope with pain, for example, although it also has other applications, some outside the clinical setting.

How to practice Mindfulness on a daily basis

There is a wide variety of situations in which we can practice Mindfulness, given that there is no single basic way to do it, but rather several alternative versions of this practice have been developed.

In these lines we will see what the basic principles of the practice of Mindfulness are, using an example of an exercise.

1. Find a quiet space

Much of the practice of Mindfulness, especially during the first phases in which we have not yet mastered this tool well, is based on knowing how to choose the environments that make it easier to carry out the procedure

So, choose a place away from stimuli that could distract you. Especially, without noise. If it is also in an environment in which there is a lot of vegetation and nature, that will help you, since a place like this will hardly remind us of those elements of daily life that can remind us of obligations, responsibilities and, in general, that can generate us stress.

2. Sit up straight

Some people always practice Mindfulness sitting in the lotus position, in the manner of Buddhist monks, but this is not mandatory. In any case, it is advisable to sit in a way that encourages the back to be straight, since This way, unnecessary muscle tension will not bother us

3. Perform controlled breathing

Breathing exercises can be a good help to start practicing Mindfulness, although when you have more practice this step will be unnecessary.

Its function is double. On the one hand, Deep, slow breaths help oxygenate the body and relax On the other hand, it allows you to begin to focus your attention on something specific in a sustained way, something that will be very useful.

4. Focus on what is happening in your body

First of all, close your eyes. In this phase the only thing we have to do is focus our attention on those small events that we can notice occurring in our body, one after the other and dedicating approximately half a minute to each of them

For example, direct your attention to some palpitations you feel in your neck, or to the way your eyes move within their sockets without these movements being voluntary, etc. Do this with about six items you notice.

In this way we will be managing the attention focus by directing it to simple stimuli, without anything else demanding our attention no matter how important or urgent it may have seemed to us an hour ago.

5. Broaden the focus

In this phase, move your focus of attention from bodily stimuli to life experiences of a more abstract nature. Think about them as a person not involved in those matters would Don’t judge, don’t value, just think about it, describing it, accepting that it is part of a reality.

Dedicate the appropriate time to each event or experience, depending on the degree of importance you have given it on previous occasions, depending on how much it has obsessed you, worried you, etc. This is the fundamental part of Mindfulness, since it helps us face experiences with broad repercussions on our lives.

6. Return to controlled breathing

In this phase, an end is marked for the Mindfulness exercise, in a ritualized way,

How to learn more about Mindfulness?

There are many ways to develop practices based on Mindfulness. One of the most useful for therapists and psychologists in general, for example, is Mindfulness applied to the regulation of emotions