One of the healthy habits we encourage at the Duke Diet & Fitness Center (DFC) is self-awareness or mindfulness — the act of paying attention to what you experience in the moment. Mindfulness can contribute to your overall sense of well-being in many ways, one of the most significant being that it can help to reduce stress.
As part of our self-awareness programming at the DFC, we teach our clients a technique called mindfulness meditation. Developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center's Stress Reduction Clinic, mindfulness meditation is a method of paying attention to the present moment, without letting your mind drift to the past or future or judging your every thought and feeling.
You can practice mindfulness meditation by carving some time out of your day, finding a quiet place where you can be alone, and then turning your attention to your breath or to some other sensation in your body. As thoughts, emotions, or other sensations arise and compete for your attention, you simply observe and acknowledge them without judging, analyzing, or trying to suppress them. Just give the thought or feeling a little bit of space, and eventually it will pass.
This very simple process can prove quite challenging. Most of us have never tried to train our minds to gain mastery over where our attention is from moment to moment. The solution is to practice.
This week, set aside some time to practice mindful meditation. Make a point to focus on what you are experiencing. Let the feelings flow. See what emerges. After a period of regular meditation practice, you may find that it's easier to be mindful in other situations in your daily life. Next week, we'll show you how to be mindful when you are eating.
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