Back to basics: Mindfulness edition
Written by Will Crawford from quietnote
Anyone who has been to one of my workshops will have heard me make fun of the more fluffy definitions of mindfulness, I’m talking about the:
“Mindfulness is about living in the moment” type answers
Or the classic…
“Mindfulness is about being calm and relaxed, or just about being a bit more mindful…”
Lovely little phrases, but not a great definition of mindfulness. Mainly because there’s a difference between mindfulness and being mindful. Mindfulness is a practice focused on building a healthier, more resilient mind. Being ‘mindful’ is a specific mindset we can have towards a situation.
In this way we can be more mindful but we cannot be more mindfulness.
The practice of mindfulness is based on the simple process of awareness -> understanding -> change.
Awareness means moving our attention and focus into the body and mind to see what we can notice and recognise. The deeper our awareness the better our understanding of thoughts, habits and emotions.
The better we understand ourselves the easier it is to bring about healthy lifestyle changes.
These changes might be physical changes such as more exercise, less screen time but more often than not they are mindset shifts or changes in perspective such as becoming more patient, improving our focus, or looking more positively on difficult situations.
So how do we start to build our awareness? Well this is where the process of meditation comes into it. Meditation is doing something with our full focus and attention as a way of building awareness.
Think about some of the most fundamental meditations and you’ll notice how they are all built around awareness.
The body scan - awareness of the body
Breathing meditation - awareness of the breath
This is also why music is so powerful when it comes to mindfulness, it is the ideal way to build awareness. Using music we can build an awareness of:
Our thoughts, as we notice what they do as we listen.
Our body, noticing how it feels and reacts to different pieces of music.
Our emotions, noticing how they react to different pieces of music
The most important aspect is showing up and doing the work. It doesn’t have to be huge amounts every single day, but it does have to have consistency and a little bit of discipline.
Within this consistency I would stress the importance of repetition, just like any exercise, it is the repetition that is hugely important and how we build strength.
We don’t need to find new and exciting meditations all the time, there is a huge amount of value in coming back to the same old meditation time and time and time again.
If you’re looking to establish a regular mindfulness practice and learn more about the benefits of music-based mindfulness towards your people and working culture, check out our website or drop us an email at [email protected]