Mindfulness - Guided Mindfulness Meditation Exercises For Beginners

Mindfulness is a state of being fully aware in the present moment. There are a number of exercises you can do to increase your level of mindfulness in the present moment.

For thousands of years monks in monasteries have practised exercises to increase their level of mindfulness. It is said that mindfulness leads to a balanced and happy life.

However when we are not in a state of mindfulness then feelings of anxiety, stress and even levels of depression may start to set in.

Mindfulness - become fully aware of the present moment

So how is it that we increase our level of being mindful in the present moment?

Well, the first place to start is to realize that the 'thinking' mind continually distracts us from the present moment. It is the constant chatter within our own head that takes us away from the present moment and distracts us from being mindful.

So the first exercise to increase your awareness is to silence the constant chatter within your own mind.

Mindfulness - get out of your mind and into your senses

The way to do this is to firstly become aware of the 'voice' within your own mind. Right now it may be saying something like 'Little voice? What little voice? I don't have a little voice!'

Well, that is the little voice.

As you become more aware of the little voice, the next step is to then treat it like a little child that is wanting your attention. Ad you start to treat it like a little child then it starts to lose it's power over you because you are starting to distance yourself from it.

Then the next part of the mindful exercise is to silence it. We do this by saying to it 'thank you for sharing'. After you say 'thank you for sharing' you will most likely notice there is a little pause in your thinking. You will probably notice there is a little gap in your thoughts.

This space and pause is what the Buddhists call no-mind.

Then instead of placing your attention and awareness on the voice within your mind, instead place your attention and awareness on this space of no-mind.

If another thought comes up, simply say 'thank you for sharing' and again place your awareness and attention on the space of no-mind. As you practice doing this you will be able to go for longer and longer periods of time between thoughts.

Within this space of no-mind you will probably notice that you become more and more aware of the present moment. Perhaps it feels like time is either standing still or is in slow motion. This is the first stage of becoming more mindful because your awareness is starting to expand away from your distracting thoughts to include more of your surroundings.

The next stage of becoming more aware of the present moment is to expand and heighten your five predominant senses. When you get out of your mind and into your senses then you become even more aware of the present moment.

If you practice expanding your five senses there will become a time when your sense of 'self' dissolves and you start to melt and merge to become 'one' with everything around you. This expanded state is known as 'oneness' and is the ultimate state when wanting to increase your sense of mindfulness/

So once you are in a state of no-mind, you can then actively expand your five predominant senses.

With the sense of 'sight' we are often in a very narrow field of vision. For example, we are often focused on a computer screen in front of us, focused on the rad ahead of us whilst driving or focused on a book or newspaper that we are reading.

However to expand your sense of sight then try instead to become aware of your peripheral vision. This is what you see at the extent of your vision.

For example if you softly gaze at a tree in the distance then start to become aware of what you can see in your peripheral vision both to your left and to your right. This is the extent of your peripheral vision in the horizontal direction. Likewise if you also start to become aware of what you can see both to the sky above and the earth below. This is the extent of your peripheral vision in the vertical direction.

As you expand your sense of peripheral vision you will start to notice that your peripheral vision is like an oval in all directions. You will also start to motice that you become more aware of movements of leaves, birds and animals when you are in this extended sense of vision. When conscious of this state then you have no choice but to be fully aware of the present moment.

For example, being in this mindful state by expanding your sense of peripheral vision for just two minutes will actively slow your brainwave patterns down from the problem solving 'beta' state into the slower and more relaxed 'alpha' brain wave pattern.

You can then further heighten your sense of vision by trying to actively expand the limit of your peripheral vision. This is like trying to become more aware of what happens at the envelope and edge of your peripheral vision.

As you practice expanding your peripheral vision then there will come a time when your attention and awareness starts to become aware of what it happening to both the side of you as well as what is happening behind you. It is as though through this mindfulness exercise that you can start to 'see' what is beyond your field of vision by feeling what is around you.

As you can see, getting out of your mind and into your senses is a way to expand your sense of mindfulness in the present moment. When you have expanded all of your five senses through the 'sense' meditation exercise then you will have become fully present to the present moment.

It is becoming fully present to the present moment that allows you to become more mindful. Dwelling in this state within the present moment is the ultimate goal of mindfulness.

Gaia | Mindfulness | Rite Of Passage

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