Today is World Health Day! We don’t need ‘days’ to look after ourselves. However, they are good reminders to look into anything we might be missing out on. After all, they make us think of whatever the day is about, even if for a few moments. This World Health day, we decided to write …
How Does Lack of Routine Impact Your Health? : World Health Day Series Read More »
Diwali is here-a time of the year for festivity and rejoicing and I love all of that. The sweets, the gifts, the general feeling of gaiety and energy in the air-its invigorating.
There is another image, a slightly different one that also stays with me which I want to share with you. It is the image of the lamps burning away into the night, much after all the noise and the gaiety subsides.
Back with the mindfulness exercise of the day – muscle relaxation. We usually associate mindfulness with relaxation. The idea of serenely experiencing the present, just as it is, without judging or evaluating the moment is soothing and relaxing.
Today, we will take this understanding forward and explain a relaxation technique which is about mindfully watching your body and relaxing it. We’ll call it, Mindful Muscle Relaxation. When most of us say relaxation, we mean relaxation of the mind. Even so, mental relaxation and bodily relaxation are not mutually exclusive. But more on that in a couple of days. For now, in this technique we will exclusively focus on relaxing the body, mindfully. Often our muscles have tensed up even without our knowledge. Pain in the head, back, shoulders is becoming increasingly common. This tension is the body’s way of coping with the continuous onslaught of stress. The body seems to prep up to deal with stress but rarely gets a moment of deliberate intentional letting go. Here is where mindful muscle relaxation can greatly help.
Hi! Time for the next mindfulness technique – breathing meditation, or breath meditation.
This is an exercise that perhaps most of you may be familiar with. Typically it is called meditation through awareness of the breath. It’s the initial and simplest form of meditation.
Tip 7: Be Mindful
I have spoken about mindfulness before, but I cannot stop raving about the benefits of this simple concept. Mindfulness, as someone said, is about paying extra-ordinary attention to ordinary experiences. Simply put, mindfulness is about being in the present completely and fully.
TIP 4: Understand your stress and Don’t Ignore Your Body
Today is the less stress day and this is our tribute to it.
Stress is a household term these days. Everyone from the bored elderly to the overworked adults to the overburdened kids is “stressed”. As each of us fights this demon, not just our minds but our bodies are actively engaged in the struggle.
Finally the Mindfulness Day is here- 12th September 2011! And I have a mindfulness plan.
Since mindfulness is about being in the present moment completely and fully, here are two things I have planned to do today to celebrate mindfulness. I would love it if you, in the privacy of your own spaces and minds join me in whichever suits you. We may not do these everyday, although that is the attempt, but today maybe a start to being mindful…Maybe you will have an entire day of mindfulness someday.
Our lives today are full of noise – auditory, visual, tactile, cognitive etc. From honking cars, to bright neon billboards, uncomfortably tight clothing to endless worries, there is an overload of stimulus input from all these modalities. This understandably overworks and gradually exhausts our sense organs, our mind, our body and our very nerves.
We suffer for stressful events that occur in our own lives and probably in the lives of those whom we love. However, can we also suffer intensely for painful events that occur in the lives of unknown people living miles away from us? The answer, though unexpected, is a definite yes.
Inner Space officially started on the 26th of December 2010-with prayers. A small, family and friends, get together cum prayer meeting was held to make the occasion meaningful. Each person present was required to read a prayer that inspired or touched them. It was an attempt to express what prayer meant to each of us within the context of wisdom of several faiths. Passages were quoted from the Bible, the Quran and the Upanishads. Some people read prayers they had written and others quoted spiritual poetry. Some interesting readings have been put down here:
We specialize in combining psychotherapy with deep wellness practices like mindfulness and meditation and creating a customized mental health plan for individuals and organisations.
We specialize in combining psychotherapy with deep wellness practices like mindfulness and meditation and creating a customized mental health plan for individuals and organisations.
A young woman from another country moved with her family to live for one year in a town near the monastery. When, in the course of the year she discovered the monastery, she would periodically visit to have discussions with the Abbess. The Abbess introduced her to meditation, which became very meaningful for the young woman.
When the family’s year-long stay was drawing to an end, the young woman asked the Abbess, “In my country there is no Buddhism and no one has even heard about meditation. How can I continue to learn and deepen the practice you have started me on?”
The Abbess said, “When you return home ask far and wide for who, among the wise people, is recognized as having the greatest ability to listen. Ask that person to instruct you in the art of listening. What you learn about listening from such a person will teach you how to further your meditation practice.
― Gil Fronsdal, A Monastery Within: Tales from the Buddhist Path
