New Year Mindfulness

Happy New Year!  This is a perfect time of the year to start a new rest and repair (R and R) practice, such as mindfulness. I describe mindfulness to my patients as ‘meditation on the go’.  Mindfulness.org describes mindfulness as ‘the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us’.  It’s a technique that’s been around for many years.  You may remember a (usually) elderly relative telling you to ‘stop and smell the roses’.  That is a classic example of mindfulness.  In a nutshell, mindfulness is about slowing down and being present to all the wonders around us.

The benefits are multiple but in a nutshell mindfulness:

1. Helps you be kind to yourself.  That nasty voice that we all have in our head that usually gives us a regular dose of negative self-talk can be quietened down with mindfulness.  We all need to be kinder to ourselves!
2. This in turn can help us to connect to ourselves and/or whichever deity you worship more.
3. Improves your relationships by helping you be more attentive to people.  I’m sure we have all had the experience of talking to someone and drifting off.
4. Reduces your stress levels.  Stress causes many diseases from depression to cancer and everything else in between.  So mindfulness makes you healthier!
5. Helps you cope with symptoms, e.g. pain; as it reduces your emotional attachment to the symptom.  It is this emotional attachment or reaction that often worsens or prolongs symptoms.
6. Helps you focus.  Feeling pulled in a 100 different directions by life, e.g. baking for your childs’ school events whilst paying your bills, getting that report in on time and maintaining your relationship with your family can make your brain feel like a washing machine?  Mindfulness is one of the solutions.

A great (for kids and adults!) example of how to be mindful is with the ‘Chocolate mindfulness exercise’.

Yes, you read it right, I said chocolate!  It only takes a few minutes and the only ‘equipment’ needed is a piece (or more!) of chocolate.  Being a functional medicine doctor, I would prefer if this was an 80% (or more) cacao dark chocolate bar.  Please note, it’s important to read the instructions before starting this exercise and also that there is no right or wrong experience. 

1. Think about the piece of chocolate.  What feelings and sensations do you have? Excitement, guilt, heart racing, mouth salivating, joy?  There are no wrong feelings and sensations, just note what they are.  Do you feel like you want to slowly savour the chocolate or quickly stuff it in your mouth?
2. Now look at the chocolate and think about its weight, colour, texture, size and shape.
3. Now slowly bring the chocolate towards your nose and smell it.  What does it smell like and again what feelings and sensations do you have?
4. Now finally you can put the piece of chocolate in your mouth but DON’T CHEW OR SWALLOW IT YET!! What does it smell like and again what feelings and sensations do you have?  Think about where in your mouth you taste it and try to describe the different flavours, e.g. nutty, bitter, toasty.  Think again about the weight on your tongue, and the shape, texture, and size of the chocolate in your mouth.  Think about how the sensations change as the chocolate melts and it moves around your mouth.
5. NOW YOU CAN SWALLOW THE CHOCOLATE!  As you swallow it think about the sensation, any after-taste and also about your feelings and any sensations.

As well as the above chocolate mindfulness exercise, some great resources for mindfulness are the books ‘Frazzled’ by Ruby Wax and ‘Mindfulness’ by Mark Williams and Danny Penman and the website www.mindfulness.org.  I hope you have a peaceful and mindful 2024.  Please leave your comments and thoughts about mindfulness below.

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