Mindfulness is a practice and state. Mindfulness is a relationship that we can develop with our minds. Mindfulness is making direct contact with this present moment. It is the ability to experience ourselves and the life around us, and within us, more fully and accurately. With practice we naturally become less reactive to our thoughts and emotions, and we can make choices that enrich our lives and foster sustainable joy. Mindfulness is living with a sense of lightness and freedom.

Mindfulness is seeing through the labels that we believe are our identity. These labels have been placed upon us by others, our experiences, and ourselves. Our failures, successes, gains, losses, mistakes, reflections upon our physical traits, and other experiences stick with us in the form of thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and other habits. We often find it hard to know the difference between ourselves and our perceptions and habits. Think about it, are you really that comment that someone made to you all those years ago? You know, that one that sneaks up on you from time to time.

Sometimes we react so strongly to some of our thoughts and memories that we try to avoid them at all costs, but the cost of avoidance can be tremendous and include our relationships, physical health, happiness, and sometimes our lives. As we develop mindfulness, we begin to see through these labels and naturally experience them as separate from our being. We learn to transform our habits and consequently live more fully and meaningfully. Mindfulness is experiencing your self-concept as just that, a concept.

We have evidence that mindfulness meditation may change the physical structure of our brains. We see increased activity in our prefrontal cortices. These are the parts of our brains that regulate our emotions, make decisions, plan, and perform other executive functions. We tend to have less activity in the parts of our brains that are responsible for reacting to the environment with fear and anger. Mindfulness gives us a chance to see clearly before we do, or think, something that we might regret. Brain changes have a dose-response relationship, which means that the more that you sit, the more benefits you will get!

During mindfulness meditation, attention is typically focused on the body. The rising and falling sensations of the breath are the most common focal point. The purpose of mindfulness meditation is to cultivate attention and awareness. There is no magic involved.

Mindfulness meditation can be practiced either sitting, standing, walking, or laying down. Laying down can make it difficult to maintain concentration without falling asleep. Here, we will focus on sitting. Sit in a quiet place facing a blank wall. Try to find the middle path here. We don’t want to be so comfy cozy that we constantly drift off into dreams and not so uncomfortable that it’s difficult to focus on anything other than your muscles being torn. Meditation should be pleasant! If you get injured, you are doing it wrong!

Typically, one should sit on a chair, cushion, zafu, or seiza bench. Avoid using back support or use as little as possible. Posture is key. Sit with a straightened back and balance your spine like a stack of coins. Gently push the back of your head to the sky. Slightly allow your eyes to gaze about 6 feet in front of you. Hands can rest comfortably folded together. Gently rock side to side until you find where you are balanced and relax your muscles. Let go and let your body breathe for you. It does it all the time anyways. All that is left to do is to sit and follow the breath!

A lot of people have developed poor breathing habits due to the posture that is associated with our work or pressures to suck in our stomachs so that we appear thinner. Proper breathing is led by the diaphragm. The stomach area should naturally rise and fall while we breathe. If you maintain good posture with relaxed muscles, your body will naturally breath using the diaphragm. Remember, diaphragmatic breathing is how your body is designed to breathe. It’s natural and there’s no need to do anything special. Just let go.

With a gentle focus, watch your breath and try not to manipulate it. With good posture, a relaxed body, and focused mind, follow your naturally occurring in and out breaths from the beginning all the way to the end of each unique breath. When you become aware that your mind is wandering, gently guide it back to your breath. Just know that wandering is normal and one of the reasons that we are meditating to begin with.