How to Practice Mindfulness Meditation - Just Look

What's the secret? How do you practice mindfulness meditation?

Most activities we do involve trying to get somewhere. There's always something to change or improve.

But meditation is different. Actually the reverse! If you try to be more relaxed or calm during meditation ...... you're likely to feel stressed and tense. So the answer?

Just let go. Don't have any expectations. Have an attitude of childlike innocence.Then you will feel relaxed and calm.

So how to practice mindfulness? Just watch. Let go and watch your breathing . Scan your body ,your mind.

These attitudes really make a difference to your meditation experience.

You can learn more at Easy Meditation Attitudes

Or go straight to the Easy Meditation Techniques course. This is a stream-lined plain-English guide to meditation. It's designed to teach you to meditate quickly and efficiently.....oh and it will greatly reduce your stress and anxiety.

How To Practice Mindfulness: Use Acceptance To Release Your Stress

"Acceptance is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding rather than opposing the flow of life. The only place you can experience the flow of life is now. To do this is to accept the present moment unconditionally and without reservation"

Ekhart Tolle "Now"

You can practice acceptance during meditation. Just watch your physical sensations, thoughts and emotions. If you notice any discomfort - say in your back or knees - just try to be aware of it.

We usually change position at the first sign of discomfort. But can you stay with it for a while? Just watching the sensations- accepting them for what they are.

I've found this changes the whole experience. There's a kind of release. The discomfort is still there. But its somehow different - not really a problem.....

Why is this? Why does accepting discomfort make it better? It's the reaction to discomfort or pain that makes it worse. Usually we get tense or anxious and want to push it away. So it feels twice as strong.

How to Practice Mindfulness: Watch Your Thoughts with Acceptance

If you sit and do nothing what happens? For most of us..... lots of thoughts appear - coming quickly one after the other. Many of them (probably all of them) have an emotion attached.

Some thoughts make you feel happy. Some angry or sad. Sometimes they look to the future or worry about the past....

Seem to have a life of their own don't they?

How do you feel about the unpleasant thoughts? The ones that make you feel sad or angry. Usually its the same as with physical discomfort. We want to push them away or suppress them.

But see what happens if you just watch - without labelling them as good or bad. Sometimes it helps to imagine your mind as a vast blue sky. You can see any thoughts as clouds drifting by. You realise like the clouds in the sky your thoughts are just a small part of your mind.

You realise they're temporary. That you are more than your thoughts........then I often find there's a release of any stress and anxiety.

Here's another way to look at it......

When you meditate imagine you're in a cafe. There's a large window in front of you - and you're looking through it at the street beyond.

Pretend the people you see are your thoughts and emotions. You casually watch them walking by. But don't get involved. There's no need to go out and talk to anyone. Just sit and watch. The people appear and then pass by.

There more you do this the less upset you are by thoughts. The more you realise they are temporary- and a part of you. But not you...... this leads to a big reduction in stress, anxiety and depression

You can learn how release stress like this on the Easy Meditation Techniques course

Related articles

• How to Do Breathing Meditation
• How to Relieve Stress with Body Scan Meditation
• How to Do Mantra Meditation
• Free Meditation Timer

Return from How to Practice Mindfulness to Learning Modern Meditation

Photo at top of page by seedingchaos