Mindfulness

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness has three components:

  • At its core, being mindful is to pay attention to the present moment. This is the first component.
  • But paying attention to the present moment is not enough – it is crucial how we do so. In mindfulness, the idea is to pay attention purposefully, with intention (this is the second component)
  • and in a friendly, non-judgemental manner (third component).

What is mindfulness good for?

There are lots of studies showing that mindfulness has all kinds of benefits. It helps us with focusing, with regulating our emotions; it makes our immune system stronger and helps lower our blood pressure; it helps us feel less anxious and stressed.

But above all, mindfulness meditation helps us to get out of our loops and automatic patterns. Instead of blindly reacting to situations, we learn to respond to them in more skillful ways.