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Mindfulness - What's your opinion?

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No doubt you can get self-help books

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No doubt you can get self-help books

 

Perhaps you should try "living in the moment" rather than harping on on here about what Margaret Thatcher did 30 years ago! :hihi:

 

 

On a serious note though, isn't mindfulness just meditiation rebranded? From what I've read it doesn't seem to be anything new.

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Mindfulness - Mindfulness is about being awake and aware and living in the present, rather than dwelling in the past or anticipating the future.

 

I'm a straight forward type of girl, I'm neither religious nor superstitious, but please don't tell anybody ... I am a worrier. I go over & over things that have happened in the past and I fret over what may happen in the future. To the point were I get anxious, feel miserable and I honestly think it's giving me headaches.

 

Anyway a doctor has suggested mindfulness. From what I can gather it's breathing exercises, some kind of meditation maybe? I wondered if anybody had any experience of this, good or bad?

I've heard so much about the benefits of meditation not just for those with your problems, but for all of us, because most of us are go through bouts of stress when under pressure in varying degrees.

 

Meditation is thought to be of great benefit for the health of both mind and body, that's why so many doctors recommend it, and why some NHS pain clinics hold simple meditation classes as part of treatment.

The best advice for beginners practicing simple meditation, is to start off with five minutes a day increased up to twenty over time.

 

Some people find it difficult ( I tried it when I read posts on the meditation thread that was on the forum a couple of years back) but the problem I had was disciplining myself to keep doing it daily. It has to become a regular habit to achieve results, and it doesn't appeal to everyone.

 

Here's a simple meditation technique with emphasis on breathing and relaxation. http://www.summum.us/meditation/simple.shtml.

Edited by janie48

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Mindfulness - Mindfulness is about being awake and aware and living in the present, rather than dwelling in the past or anticipating the future.

 

I'm a straight forward type of girl, I'm neither religious nor superstitious, but please don't tell anybody ... I am a worrier. I go over & over things that have happened in the past and I fret over what may happen in the future. To the point were I get anxious, feel miserable and I honestly think it's giving me headaches.

 

Anyway a doctor has suggested mindfulness. From what I can gather it's breathing exercises, some kind of meditation maybe? I wondered if anybody had any experience of this, good or bad?

 

 

That's for them NOT YOU. "Researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center found that training doctors in mindfulness meditation helped them to listen better and not be as judgmental both at home and at work."

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if you look on youtube there are mindfulness exercises on there. personally i wouldn't start with doing 30 minutes or try to do it all the time. try for a minute or use the exercises on youtube and build it up.

 

the ideas of mindfulness come from buddhism originally. it can help reduce feelings of anxiety

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The thing I cant' understand though. How will doing 20 mins of meditation in a morning benefit me if I get anxious later on in the day whilst i'm at work?

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There's lots of evidence from research that stress hormones are not as short term as we think they are, so by reducing them at any stage of the day we can affect their overall levels all of the time.

 

The full stress hormone waterfall effect (one causes the release of others, which in turn cause the release of others) can take up to 48 hours, which is why you still feel a bit wobbly the day after a panic attack.

 

Mindfulness or meditation engage the parasympathetic nervous system, which releases calm and happy hormones which both delays the production of sympathetic nervous system fight or flight panic hormones and counteracts those which have already been released, lowering blood pressure, helping your digestion work better (stress hormones can play havoc with digestion) and reducing the feelings of panic.

 

The effects of the happy and calm hormones can last a lot longer than we think too, so taking the time to top them up twice a day can produce a measurable effect on wellbeing for the whole day.

 

I practice 3 different sorts of mindfulness as a way of treating my own depression.

 

Straight up mindfulness to aid my calm is about what is happening right now, being in the moment and looking in very minute detail at something (a pretty shell, a waterfall, your cat, your mind's eye picture of a person etc) and feeling the appreciation of its beauty, the warmth you feel about it/them, how much they enhance your life by being there. There's loads of evidence that feeling thankful is incredibly good for your wellbeing, so being thankful to have experienced whatever you're considering is really important.

 

I use meditation to consider a specific thought, concept or pattern, using that to take myself 'away' from my current situation, which makes coping with immediately difficult situations easier as well as reducing stress levels generally. Lying in an MRI scanner and feeling calm whilst meditating on the patterns happening in the noise of the scanner rather than freaking out about being shut in a big metal machine that I can't get out of.

 

Critical thinking is something I use specifically to deal with thoughts and challenges which are likely to upset my emotional apple cart. It's not quite like meditation because it doesn't allow the free flow of the thoughts, but it does involve me managing my emotional reactions to the issue using mindfulness and meditation techniques.

 

Once you've practised meditation techniques you find yourself applying them in all sorts of ways throughout the days too, so your 20 minutes in the morning will have a good effect and so will the application of the techniques with small challenges at other times.

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One can concentrate on the present forever, and although it sounds meaningful, it is somewhat vacuous, as one has to work out what the preset is. Is the present doing the washing up, planning social engineering, knitting a jumper, breathing, listening to the blood flushing past ones eardrums? Ay moment like a film is made up of a single picture that imperceptibly changes over time, which only when seen at a great speed can one see movement.

 

It just might be a idea to work out what being yourself, a human animal is actually all about. You live in world dominated by male values, thus if you are female you are, however assertive, successful, academic swimming against the relentless tide of dominant male values. Such superior values that regard instinct as base and culture as superior might need to be questioned. One is in the moment the other is contrived, as are all male values. Male values regard the body as subservient to the mind, despite the fact they pander to its perceived sexual requirements. Thus the male is essentially a creature that sees itself as an idealist, painting a future of plenty, sharing, equality and other lofty aspirational ideals, while the rape, violence figures against females spirals out of control, and war drums are always beating somewhere in the distance while the song of democracy and human rights are sung.

 

So is being in the moment different for a female than a male? Are feelings subservient to logic? Is mindfulness yet another red herring, designed to snare the female in the hook of hope? Beware as the males lay traps, for questioning females, as their sexuality HAS to be contained, in many fruitless but glittery dead ends.

Edited by erebus

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Your mind is an illusion.

You think it is real and the thoughts are existential but they are only thoughts.

You watch and witness the mind in its activities, this observing watching presence is closer to your existence than the mind it is watching.

 

You are able to see yourself thinking, the thoughts don't come from inside, they come from the outside and as you see them passing by, all that noise from the mind overwhelms the silence of the witness, creating the false illusion mind is real.

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There is something called ' Detachment Disorder', it's on Wikapedia

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