Four simple excercises...

What is mindfulness? It’s about paying attention to the present moment with awareness and without emotional reactivity.

These are the exercises to practice mindfulness:

Focused attention exercises cultivate your brain’s ability to focus on one single object, like one’s breath. To do mindful breathing, sit in a comfortable, upright position and focus all your attention on the sensation of breathing. Don’t be surprised or disappointed if you find yourself retrieving your mind hundreds of times during a 15-minute session. Gently redirect it every time it darts away.

Another focused-attention exercise is mindful walking. Notice the sensations of walking. You might find this activity easier than mindful breathing; go with whatever exercise works best for you.

One final focused-attention exercise is the body scan. Start by focusing your attention on your toes, taking note of whatever sensations might be there. Tightness? Tingling? Warmth? Cold? Next, you can move on to the soles of the feet and the heels, then the legs, stomach, and so on, slowly moving your flashlight up your body. After you have a good grounding in focused attention practice and can keep your attention on a particular object or set of sensations for a period of time, you can move on to open monitoring.

Open monitoring helps you learn to pay attention to what’s happening around you without becoming attached to it. This practice is not about paying attention to a particular object or objects. Instead, it’s about remaining open to any experience — internal or external — that arises, and allowing it to wash over you. To do this, sit in a comfortable, upright position and try to be aware of any sensations, thoughts or emotions that emerge, without holding on to them.

People generally start to see benefits when they practice for about 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for around 4 weeks. Start small. Begin with whatever you consider a reasonable goal and cut it in half, and make a commitment for some period of time.

Do you practice this techniques?