Fiona Worthington, Clinical Hypnotherapist and Cognitive Behavioural Coach at the Putney Clinic provides us with 16 things that she has learned about Mindfulness.
1.It’s free. It’s very simple. We can all do it with practice.
2. It is a work out for your brain.
3. It’s your own experience and not someone else’s, so you can’t do it wrong.
4. It’s not about relaxing or being calm but sometimes that may be the result.
5. It’s not about emptying you head of your thoughts or feelings but…
6. It is about changing the relationship that you have with them.
7. You learn to accept things as they are without wanting to change them.
8. You become more aware of the present and in time we react less, understand more, and maybe make different choices.
9. It’s about deliberately stepping out of our lives in autopilot, and into the present. Asking yourself what is going on right now in this very moment, what am I feeling in my body now? What am I seeing now? What am I hearing, what am I doing now?
10. Minds wander all the time, they can’t help it, that’s what minds do.
11. It’s not about achievement, some days may be okay and other days not so much.
12. It’s more important to just show up to practice, just do it regardless of the outcome.
13. It’s not a religion but some people who practice it are religious.
14. You do not to have to sit in an uncomfortable position for ages.
15. Even a few minutes a day may be beneficial.
16. Every time you do it is a new beginning, you get to start over.
Fiona Worthington offers a number of psychological services at the Putney Clinic including mindfulness. If you are interested in finding out more, please check out her website www.fionaworthington.uk.com
