Mindfulness is something that is being talked about more and more, along with how we can benefit from it. But how do we go about it and how does it help us?
If, like me, you usually have 101 things to think about and you spend a lot of time focussing on things that you should be getting done, and congratulating yourself at how brilliant you are at multi-tasking, then mindfulness is definitely going to be life changing for you.
Mindfulness gives us a chance to switch off from our busy lives and to be in the present moment. The best thing is, that once you start to practice, you will find yourself being mindfully involved in general life, and being in the present moment will benefit your relationships, family life and work.
Next time you are watching a child playing, look at how completely engaged they are in their play. They aren't worrying about what they need to play next, or trying to juggle lots of different play at the same time. They are completely in the present moment. We were all children once, so we have all had this wonderful ability, we have just been overtaken by our busy lives.
The good news is, we can easily get this back.
You could begin to practice your mindfulness by incorporating it into the everyday things that you do. For instance we can decide to eat mindfully, noticing what we are eating, thinking about how our food looks, how it makes us feel, the taste, the smell and the texture. Not only does this bring us into the present moment, but by eating mindfully we are benefiting our digestive system and really getting the best from our food.
You could choose to take a quiet moment and just be still, focus your mind on how you feel right now, how does your body feel, how comfortable are you, what is the texture of whatever you are sitting on, how do your feet feel on the ground, what sounds can you hear and listen to your breathing. Slow your breathing down and enjoy the moment.
One of my favourite mindfulness practices, is to sit with a crystal of my choice, look at the colour, feel the texture, how does the crystal make me feel, what does the crystal's energy feel like. While doing this I slow my breathing down and allow myself to really feel connected to the crystal.
Here at Sandpiper our focus is your wellbeing, so there are many things to help you with your mindfulness. Throughout the spa you will find crystals, including a bowl of crystals by the fireplace in the spa lounge so you can really enjoy feeling them and choosing a crystal you are drawn too and then spending time with it being mindful.
In the relaxation room there is a sand pendulum, which when spun around draws mandalas, it is strangely hypnotic to watch and you find that your mind is completely focussed on the patterns. In the drawers of the relaxation room there are mindfulness cards to focus your mind on.
If you prefer to be doing something creative to be mindful, there are mindful colouring books and pens in the spa lounge.
Spending some quiet time in the spa garden listening to the sounds of the birds, the breeze in the trees and the trickling of the waterfall is a wonderful way to spend some time being mindful, while also connecting to nature.
However you choose to practice your mindfulness and include it in your day, you can be certain that your life will become calmer, more focussed and you will begin
to apppreciate so many things that had previously been missed.