MINDFULNESS MEDITATION FOR BEGINNERS WORKSHOP
What is Mindfulness Meditation …
Mindfulness is a very simple form of meditation. By focusing your full attention on the breath as it flows in and out of your body you are more able to observe your thoughts as they arise in your mind. You begin to notice that thoughts come and go of their own accord. You can watch as they appear in your mind, seemingly from thin air, and watch again as they disappear, like a soap bubble bursting. You come to the profound understanding that thoughts and feelings (including negative ones) are transient. They come and they go, and ultimately, you have a choice about whether to act on them or not.
Mindfulness is about observing your thoughts without criticism and judgement; intentionally being gentle and compassionate with yourself. You begin to notice that negative thoughts create negative sensations in your physical body. Practicing mindfulness allows you to catch negative thought patterns before they tip you into a downward spiral, essentially, putting you back in control of your life.
Over time, mindfulness brings about long-term changes in mood and levels of happiness and wellbeing. Scientific studies have shown that mindfulness not only prevents depression, it also positively affects the brain patterns underlying day-to-day anxiety, stress, depression and irritability so that when they arise, they dissolve away again more easily. Other studies have shown that with a regular meditation practice memory improves, creativity increases and reaction times becomes faster.
Despite these proven benefits, many people are still a little wary when they hear the word ‘meditation’. So let’s take a moment to dispel some myths:
- Meditation is not a religion. Mindfulness is simply a method of mental training.
- You don’t have to sit cross-legged on the floor, but you can if you want to. Mindfulness practice does not take a lot of time, although some patience and persistence are required.
- Meditation is not complicated. Nor is it about ‘success’ or ‘failure’. Even when meditation feels difficult, you’ll have learned something valuable about the workings of the mind and thus have benefited psychologically.
- It will not deaden your mind or prevent you from striving towards important career or lifestyle goals; nor will it trick you into falsely adopting a Pollyanna attitude to life. Meditation is not about accepting the unacceptable. It is about seeing the world with greater clarity so that you can take wiser and more considered action to change those things which need to be changed. Meditation helps cultivate a deep and compassionate awareness that allows you to assess your goals and find the optimum path towards realising your deepest values.
What Can Practicing Mindfulness do for you …
Thousands of peer-reviewed scientific papers prove that mindfulness enhances mental and physical wellbeing and reduces chronic pain. Clinical trials show that mindfulness is at least as effective as the main prescription painkillers while also enhancing the body’s natural healing systems.
Here are a few of the main proven benefits of mindfulness meditation:
- Anxiety, stress, depression, exhaustion and irritability all decrease with regular sessions of meditation.
Memory improves, reaction times become faster and mental and physical stamina increase. In short, regular meditators are happier and more contented, while being far less likely to suffer from psychological distress.
- Mindfulness improves working memory, creativity, attention span and reaction speeds. It also enhances mental and physical stamina and resilience.
- Meditation improves emotional intelligence.
- Meditation enhances brain function. It increases grey matter in areas associated with self-awareness, empathy, self-control and attention. It soothes the parts of the brain that produce stress hormones, and builds those areas that lift mood and promote learning. It even reduces some of the thinning of certain areas of the brain that naturally occurs with ageing.
- Meditation improves the immune system. Regular meditators are admitted to hospital far less often for cancer, heart disease and numerous infectious diseases.
- Mindfulness may reduce ageing at the cellular level by promoting chromosomal health and resilience.
- Meditation improves heart and circulatory health by reducing blood pressure and lowering the risk of hypertension. Mindfulness reduces the risks of developing and dying from cardiovascular disease and lowers its severity should it arise.
Paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment,and non-judgmentally. – Jon Kabat-Zinn
Available Workshop Dates: October 19th from 1-3 p.m.
Location: Blue Sky Fitness Studio, Unit B-468 St. Anne’s Rd.
Questions? Call 204-9795284
Just $97
REGISTER HERE!
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