Day#3 Precautions & Postures for Mindfulness

Mind is simply a bundle of thoughts. Our THOUGHTS has a tendency to wander. It will wander during mindfulness practice too. Not to worry – that's a normal thing to happen. The best way to KEEP the FOCUS on Present Task is to ignore where the thoughts are going. We don't have to control them or fight with them. Just ignore them. Shift the focus away from them and soon the wandering will disappear.

Instead of struggling with them, or resisting them , or thinking about them, if we simply notice them, without any judgement or attention, and let them go.... they stop coming back. :)

Accept that your mind wandered, but when we focus on returning our attention to the task or the step we are doing, we become mindful of the present moment .

Keep repeating this process step again and again till it becomes a permanent part of us – a positive habit – the Micro Habit

Right posture helps us to learn and practice quickly. Our posture is important because it sets the intention for our mindfulness / meditation practice. By sticking to a specific posture (initially), our body will learn these contextual cues, and understand that it's time to meditate, helping us form a new positive habit (micro habit) and easily transition into your practice.

Beginners should follow these steps to get comfortable:

• Sit on the floor or in a chair in a comfortable position.
  Use a cushion to support your spinal cord or take the support of chair's back.

• Straighten the back. Don't put extra pressure or stiffness to your backbone.

• If sitting in chair, place the feet completely straight on the ground.

• If on the floor, cross your legs and be comfortable. (sukhasan)

• Let your eyes be open and chin slightly dropped, gazing on the object in front of you or the wall opposite you.
  Expert Practitioners can shut the eyes, if you're comfortable doing so. Don't sleep :)

• Let you arms fall naturally to the sides, with your palms resting on your thighs.

• If your body feel some pain or becomes uncomfortable, take a PAUSE, take a conscious break to adjust. ReStart the process step.

• Relax your body and mind. Enjoy the process. Pay attention to your attention.

Mindful Hearing is attending to whatever sounds are coming to your ears in each moment. In this step you’ll use sound as a medium, as your focus point to bring yourself into the present moment. Practicing this meditation may help you cope with anxiety, stress, and depression.

How to Practice Mindful Hearing:

• Sit in a comfortable posture. Take a deep breath. Relax
  If time permits Do Practice #1 - Breathing Exercise for a minute followed by Practice #2 - Touch/Feel Exercise.

• Hope you are able to SHIFT your attention from Breath to Touch. If you are able to do this….ENJOY — Enjoy the success as you practiced whatever is being communicated to you.

• Now Take a Deep Breath. Bring your attention to the SOUND inside your room, where you are sitting now. What Do You HEAR INSIDE the room your are now?

• What Did you Notice or Hear? The sound of fan, clock, refrigerator or computer CPU …. Just Listen… Be Aware of all different types of sounds inside the room.

• Now Shift the Attention - What Do you hear OUTSIDE the room?

  Some faint chirping, traffic, voice of someone chatting, ringtones…. Just Listen… Be Aware of all the sound outside the room.

• Take a Deep Breath - Now Shift the Attention again - What do you hear INSIDE your BODY?
  The heartbeat, the echo in ears, the churning in stomach… :)

  Just sit quietly and bring your FOCUS on internal sound.

• Isn’t this amazing. You are now able to Notice many different sounds - which was already there in the environment. By mindfulness we are able to FOCUS on them now.

Take a moment to listen all and note that you can hear sounds in the background, inside/outside room, inside you. This can be the chirping of a bird, the sound of breathing, the beating of heart, the hum of the refrigerator, or the faint sounds of traffic from a nearby road.

Just Be Mindful of them… Don’t follow them… Just HEAR
ENJOY the music - the symphony of all sounds... Awesome

What consumes your mind controls your life.
Be Mindful :)

Celebrate the Success of Being Mindful. Share it with others.

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Thanks for your time and energy.
Be Happy & Abundant Always | Enjoy your day

Gopi Krishan Bali :)