Mindfulness

Mindfulness has gained lots of attention in recent years as being important to our health and mental wellbeing.

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the ability to be fully engaged in the moment, what you are doing right now, what sounds, smells are around you, how your body feels, the breeze on your face or sun on your skin. We all tend to spend our lives running from one activity to the next and not stopping to connect to the here and now.

Mindfulness has found to lead to happier, more satisfied, healthier lives. People who practice mindfulness regularly tend to worry less about the future or dwell on the past, are less pre-occupied with concerns of success and self-esteem, they form better and deeper connections with others.

Mindfulness also helps reduce stress, treat heart disease, lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain, improve sleep and alleviate gastrointestinal difficulties.

Mindfulness helps mental health and has been found to help with depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, personal conflicts, anxiety and compulsive disorder.

It is believed mindfulness helps us to accept experiences both good and bad ones rather than avoiding or medicating for them.

Like all things, mindfulness has to be practiced and you get better the more you do it. There are many great apps available that help teach/practice mindfulness, it is also a very important part of yoga.

Yoga teaches us to notice and accept sensations and feelings in different poses without judging them, without reacting instantly, just sitting with them for a minute. Kirstie is fantastic at guiding and encouraging you to be aware of but also accept that burning or uncomfortable sensation and always reminding us to come to our gentle breathing as a point of focus.

Yoga classes at held at Cohuna Health Balance, give us a call to discuss which time or day or type of yoga would suit you best.