3 Simple Ways to Integrate Mindfulness into our Daily Life.

Mindfulness is a buzz word going around that has moved from yoga and health and wellness to our everyday life.  I find myself responding to more requests on teaching Mindfulness Workshops from yoga classes to doctor’s offices and corporate workshops.  More and more people are becoming aware of the benefits of mindfulness to provide better health, services, relationships, and increased productivity.

So what is mindfulness?  Where does it show up?  How can we easily integrate it into our daily lives?

Mindfulness is really about  bringing our mind into a state of awareness in the present moment.  Awareness usually means that we spend less time in the “mental chatter “, and more time living in the present moment.  We can apply mindfulness to every area of our life.  There can be a misconception that mindfulness requires action. That expectation immediately takes us out of a mindful mind, because it takes us out of the present moment.  Mindfulness is an active way of being.  Like everything else, it takes awareness, acceptance, and practice, to fully integrate a mindful way of living.

Here are 3 beneficial ways to integrate a mindful practice into our everyday lives.

1. Mindful Eating – When we consciously choose to acknowledge and notice how food makes us feel, we practice mindful eating.  Food has an energy to it which can lift us up, or bring us down. Food can nourish us and give us energy, or make us feel tired and low energy. It is very empowering when we learn own body awareness and how to eat right for our body type, genetic pre-disposition, and lifestyle.  It can be the difference between learning to live with dis-ease and illness, to feeling healthy and vibrant.  It could be the difference between living with aches and pains, to feeling good inside our own body.  Sometimes it might even show up in how we see the world around us by how we feel.  As a Healthy Lifestyle Transformation Coach, I recognize that our relationship with food shows up in our belief patterns, our behavior, our our relationships, our job, even our ability to learn, comprehend, and focus. In my personal experience it was the difference between a compromised immune system and  healthy immune function.   When we eat right for our own unique needs, we can reduce or even eliminate poor sleep, auto-immunity, brain fog, skin disorders, hormonal imbalance, allergies, illness, gut issues, brain fog, mood swings, stress, learning disorders, behavior disorders,  and even dis-ease.  Mindful eating is making the choice to sit down and notice how the food you are eating makes you feel.  We can find find more enjoyment through our choice to eat consciously by acknowledging the opportunity to nourish our body, notice the texture, flavor, or other sensations that we enjoy about the food we are eating.  One more powerful awareness that can surface with mindful eating is that we create healthy relationships with food and release unhealthy emotional or physical attachments.  On an physical and energetic level, as we choose to eat mindfully, our  body will more willingly properly digest and assimilate nutrients for use as energy in the body

2. Mindful Living – A mindful way of being and living incorporates a few simple reminders in the experience of our daily lives.  It invites us to slow down and be present.  To let go of expectations, anxieties, and the fears of the future and also the limiting beliefs of the past.  All we have is the present moment.  When we are present, we can connect with our own clarity and truth about the experience we are having. This requires active listening to ourselves, or the people we are sharing an experience with.  We are able to witness our emotions and thoughts, rather then allowing them to overtake us through attachment.

Here are 5 simple ways to live mindfully everyday.

Slow Down –  So many of us struggle with perfection, over-achieving, and over – delivering.  It feels good when we find truth in knowing that it is who we are not just what we do, that provides our value to the world.  I invite you to literally slow down and smell the roses.  Maybe it’s once a day, or once a week, but create an intention to notice your surroundings and you may be pleasantly surprised.
Be Present –  Be present to your experiences, the people in your life, and your own self -awareness.  Take a deep breath in the fully present moment, and allow the connection to your emotional, mental, and physical body to fully integrate the gift of the present moment.
Find Balance –  This is the healthy boundary. Knowing when to say yes and when to say no.
Self Check-In – Ask yourself the  following questions.  Is this serving me? How does this make me feel? Is this in alignment with my core values and beliefs? Is it necessary? Is it the right time?
Daily Gratitude –  Keep a Gratitude journal. Gratitude is a feeling in the present moment.  When we take the time to give gratitude for a few things each day, it allows us to receive more to be grateful for.

3. Mindful Movement –  All areas of mindfulness invite us to be present with where we were are in life, and with that awareness to cultivate change.  Learning to move within our own bodies is something that is most noticeable when we choose not to listen to our bodies.  As we age, mindful eating and mindful movement become even more important because the consequences are higher if we are not present to how we feel inside of our physical body.  If we are not honoring the needs of our physical body, it can result in injuries, chronic pain, discomfort, or dis-ease.  Some of us may already accept a certain way of being in our physical body.  Awareness in the physical body also requires a healthy boundary.  It is letting go of the expectation that we should be able to do something. Even if we there was a time we could do it. Furthermore, that even if we can do something, it doesn’t mean that we have to or that we should.  I learned this as I went through my yoga teacher training back in 2014. I was on average 15 years older then the other students in the training, which allowed me to understand and seek my own healthy boundary.  In fact one of the things I love about yoga is that it teaches me exactly that.  Just because I can do something, does not mean that I should.  It is a very humbling experience. Inversions, arm balances, and hyper-flexibility came easy to me, but my challenge was to understand my boundary to prevent injury.  To honor that the difference of 15 years in age, would mean that an injury could take longer to recover from.  Healthy boundaries are about finding that comfortable edge.  We discover growth and possibility from a place of a healthy connection to the physical body by being completely present with how the body feels.  A practice of mindful movement and connection to the physical body, without the judgements and expectations, can provide profound insight to what the physical needs are of our own body.

I invite you to list 1 way you are willing to integrate mindfulness  in 1 of the areas above. I would love to hear from you in the comments below. 

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