Mindfulness and Meditation

AUTHOR

Roberta Smith
Mind for Life

Contact us for further support
info@mindforlife.org.au

The connection between the mind and body is crucial to mental and physical health. Mindfulness is the awareness and acceptance of oneself, one’s thoughts and emotions.

It is important to accept how you are feeling today, whether you are fatigued, unwell, energetic, upset or angry, and not judge yourself for feeling this way.

Scientific studies demonstrate stronger willpower in regards to attention, focus, managing stress, managing anxiety and controlling impulses after meditating. If you are aware of your body, you understand what your body needs. Take time today to try to focus more intently on how your body feels today and notice what you realize about it.

Take between five and twenty minutes today to sit or lie down and meditate in your own way.  Close your eyes and take slow, deep breaths in through the nose, and out through the mouth. Allow thoughts you have to come and go, focusing on the breath and the body. Take notice of smells and sounds around you. The aim is not to dwell on thoughts and worries, but to observe them, as if each thought is contained within a balloon, and you can push the balloon away from you.

I recommend using a video to guide you through the meditation as I’ve found it helps me to keep on track and not linger on thoughts too long, enabling me to focus largely on the body and the breath. I have found meditation helpful when overcoming difficult circumstances. It relives tension in the mind and body, enabling you to view problems from a perspective. When faced with worries and difficulties, the problem is that we are too close to them to solve them.  Viewing the problem objectively enables the mind to focus and identify a solution.

Here are a few videos I recommend using to get started:

01

Headspace App

You will receive free access to the first ten sessions under ‘Basics’ which is great for beginners. Includes three sessions of everyday headspace and falling back to sleep wind down.

03

Spotify

type in meditation in the search bar and then you are
spoilt for choice with options – you could try the ‘guided meditation’ sub-genre to get started.

Go into Podcasts and search for ‘Mindful Meditation’ – mindful.org’s magazine podcast.

If you are struggling with a problem of any kind
today, and you would like some support, please get
in touch with us at info@mindforlife.org.au or call us on +62 449 601 435

To seek help from a clinical professional or in a time of crisis please contact:

Lifeline Australia: 13 11 14

Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636

Thank you for reaching out to us at Mind For Life and taking control of your health and happiness. 

Stay safe and remain calm,

Roberta