Mindfulness
See Now
In today’s fast paced world, we are exposed to so much stimuli and distraction that our lives tend to fly by without us being able to fully absorb what’s in front of us. But, while we are not always able to remove the distractions of life, we can—and should—learn how to handle them in more effective ways.
#BeMindful. That’s what mindfulness is all about and what we’re focusing on this month.
Meet Ross Nelson
Dr. Ross Nelson, PsyD, is our behavior change specialist and a passionate advocate for mindfulness.
Are you interested in strengthening your own mindful muscle? Register for a 50-Minute Monthly Mindfulness Class on the first Wednesday of every month. Read our blogs and make an appointment with our team to find out more about practicing mindfulness.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the process of sustained awareness of what’s taking place in “real-time” rather than in the past or the future.
Mindfulness improves a number of psychological conditions including depression and anxiety and is shown to reduce pain, cardiovascular disease, and other medical conditions. People practicing mindfulness have improved quality of life and interpersonal relationships. Mindfulness can also help increase task performance and reduce feelings of burnout, improve leadership skills, and increase self-awareness.
5 Minutes of Mindfulness
Try the Body Scan Exercise to see how to #BeMindful.
Read each sentence at a pace that feels comfortable. If you find yourself rushing, pause, acknowledge that this is happening, and without judgement y bring yourself back to the sentence (or part of the body) that you were observing previously. There will be periodic “(pause)” cues so be sure to honor those that you move through the experience.
- Find a quiet place. Situate yourself in a position that feels comfortable.
- Take a few moments to become aware of your breath. Notice the sensation of breathing as your belly gently rises and falls…or possibly the sensations you feel around your nostrils with each in-breath and out-breath (pause).
- Now direct your awareness to the bottoms of your feet and notice what it feels like to have your feet come in contact with the floor (pause).
- Observe from a place of subtle curiosity what you may feel in your toes (pause), the balls of your feet (pause), and your heel (pause).
- Now expand your awareness into the rest of your foot. (pause) Into the ankle (pause), the shins (pause), calf (pause), and knee (pause).
- Continue to expand this gentle, yet inquisitive awareness into the rest of the body, moving at a place that feels right for you – to the thighs, hamstrings, buttox, lower back, middle back, upper back, stomach, chest, shoulders, biceps and triceps, forearms, hands, and out into the fingers.
- Move into the neck, the back of the head, the top of the head, and the face.
- After you have scanned each part of your body, take a moment to notice the entire body as a whole. (pause)
- Once you have done so, pay attention to how you feel.
