What are mindfulness practices?

Mindfulness practices are behaviors that can be practiced at any time, in any place, while doing anything. There are three tenets of mindfulness practices:

• To intentionally live with awareness in the present moment.
• To practice the present awareness without judgment or rejection of the moment.

and

• to do this without attaching to the moment.

Probably the most commonly thought of or known mindfulness practice is meditation. In the mindfulness sense, meditation can be practiced while sitting, standing, or lying down quietly for a predetermined period of time. When meditating mindfully, it is important to focus one’s attention and the mind on something specific, whether it be body sensations, emotions, thoughts, breath, or something else. One can also practice mindful meditation by opening one’s mind to whatever comes into one’s awareness and acknowledging it at the moment, and then letting it go as if it were blown away by the wind until the next thought comes into our awareness. If one has difficulty with this, a good way to begin practicing mindfulness is to use strong sensations. Mindfully focusing on strong sensory stimuli that automatically pull one’s attention, such as by hot or cold water in a shower or being run over one’s hand, or by holding an ice cube in one’s hand for a period of time or until it melts. Additionally, strong sensory stimulation through smell, such as boiling water with cinnamon sticks in it or lighting a strongly scented candle, can be helpful. If one finds oneself in a noisy area, selecting one of the specific sounds to focus on and changing one’s focus to the various sounds for periods of time can be a mindful practice. And finally, in regard to sensory stimulation and being able to practice this anywhere, try attending mindfully to the red light when one is at a traffic light on the way to work or out running errands, or even the brake lights of the car or vehicle in front of you.

Aside from mindful meditation and mindful practices through the senses, there are additional means of practices such as prayer and movement. Many religions have various forms of prayers that can be considered mindfulness practices. Of course, various movements through different types of martial arts, dance, and various exercises can be practiced mindfully.