The 7 day Challenge Explained
What is Mindfulness Meditation?
Congratulations! You’ve signed on for the meditation challenge. What will we be doing during those 7 days?
For those who are new (and also for those who are not-so new, because we try to approach everything with a beginner’s mind, right? J) perhaps I can begin by explaining what Mindfulness is, by telling you what it isn’t: it’s not about emptying our head. It isn't about 'blanking out' our mind. It isn't a relaxation technique, although we do usually feel more relaxed after a meditation.
In short, the goal of mindfulness is to achieve a state of alert, focused relaxation by paying attention to thoughts and sensations without any judgment. This allows the mind to refocus on the present moment and bring about greater self-knowledge.
In greater detail: with mindfulness we learn to pay attention in a very particular way. It is a skill or technique that trains the mind to focus in a relaxed way. We might focus on one particular object, like the breath. This has the benefit of taking our focus off our thoughts and helps stop a racing mind. Or our focus can be to look deeply at our mind and thoughts, motivations and actions, in order to bring about a greater understanding of ourselves and the way we fit into the world around us. There are many ways of practicing mindfulness and not all of them means you have to sit on a cushion and chant Om. :)
With a regular meditation practice, we learn to work with our mind, we learn to notice our mind's "self-talk". This helps us to see from where our emotions and problems originate. In turn, this helps us to become more aware of our actions and where they stem from. So we learn to see the world around us with greater clarity. Mindfulness also teaches us to take a pause and choose how we respond to a situation, rather than being hasty, which often results in us responding in an oversenstive, volatile, irritable way.
However, there is much more to mindfulness than what I've explained above. We also train to cultivate 9 core attributes which will facilitate ease, joy, tranquility, balance and a calm mind, which ultimately helps achieve a greater sense of well-being and health. These 9 core attitudes are: Non-judging; Acceptance; Patience; Beginner's mind; Trust; Non Striving; Letting Go; Gratitude; Generosity or compassion. We’ll try to include some of these during the 7 days.
Over the next few days, before we start, I will post a few tips and tricks on how to set up your meditation space at home, and a little bit more about what to expect.
Have a wonderful day.
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