Three Effective Tips for Mindfulness Mediation, Insights from Practitioner

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Ever wondered why mindfulness meditation practices can sometimes feel a bit challenging during a practice session or perhaps an arduous journey to sustain in the longer run?

Paying attention involves observing and experiencing our moment-to-moment experience. Intuitively it sounds pretty easy, but like what we have been told, this is not really the case. Research by Killingsworth & Gilbert at Harvard University demonstrates that our mind wanders approximately 47% of the time.

A mind that naturally wanders off half the time can inevitably become a challenge for mindfulness meditation practices. From my personal mindfulness meditation practices over the years, I find this to be anecdotally quite true. However, there are effective strategies that we can adopt that could cultivate a focused mindfulness meditation practice. I believe there are three mindfulness core elements if incorporated into a meditation practice would bring about a pleasant cadence for your blissful meditation experience. These core elements were established by Shapiro (Santa Clara University) & Carlson (The University of Calgary) who co-authored a book on the Art and Science of Mindfulness.

Mindfulness comprises three core elements: Intention, Attention, and Attitude. Intention involves knowing why we are doing what we are doing: our ultimate aim, our vision, and our aspiration. Attention involves attending fully to the present moment instead of allowing ourselves to become preoccupied with the past or future. Attitude, or how we pay attention, enables us to stay open, kind, and curious. These three elements are not separate—they are interwoven, each informing and nurturing the others.

Firstly, Intention is simply knowing why we are doing what we are doing. When we have identified our intentions and are able to connect with them, our intentions help motivate us, reminding us of what is truly important.

The second fundamental component of mindfulness is attention. Mindfulness is about seeing clearly, and if we want to see clearly, we should pay attention to what is here, now, in this present moment. Paying attention involves observing and experiencing our moment-to-moment experience. Often, as we try to pay attention, our attention becomes tense and contracted. This is because we mistakenly think we have to be stressed or vigilant to focus our attention in a rigorous way. However, the meditation traditions teach us of a different kind of attention, a “relaxed alertness” that involves clarity and precision without stress or vigilance. This relaxed alertness is the kind of attention that is essential to mindfulness.

Attitude, how we pay attention. Bringing the attitudinal qualities of openness, acceptance, and kindness into the practice. These attitudes of mindfulness do not alter our experience, but simply inform the quality of the awareness of the experience. For example, if while we are practicing mindfulness impatience arises, we note the impatience with acceptance and kindness. We do not attempt to substitute these qualities for the impatience, or use them to make the impatience disappear.

Three simple tips for mindfulness meditation that I regularly turn to that are based on these core elements have proven to be effective for me. Here’s sharing the tips with you so you can explore, try, and hopefully discover the extend in which it could support your focused, mindfulness meditation practice too.

Tip #1 - Establish your Intention

Before beginning a mindfulness practice, set aside 3 mins to establish your intention or what you aspire for as a personal goal. Examples of Intention statements could be: “To be content with what I have, rejoice in the way things are”; “Have courage to let go of what I cannot change”; “To love my life, and it gets better each and every day, I am beyond grateful”, or a vision that would be personal priority in your life right now.

Tip #2 – Relaxed Attention

During a 10 minutes mindfulness meditation practice session, adopt a relaxed Attention mindset. Trying hard or in another words having a striving mindset is the opposite of what you should be doing. A relaxed mindset does not strive and lets the attention remain soft, relaxed in nature. It is totally fine if the relaxed attention is not focused. The next tip would help you gradually transcend into a focused, mindfulness meditation practice.

Tip #3 – Render Memories of Kindness on Yourself

Rest in your heart an attitude of kindness, acceptance. During mindfulness meditation practice, it is undeniable that distractive thoughts or a desire to strive for certain goals would arise. Take a moment to render kindness by projecting memories of kindness towards yourself and accept that if any disruptive thoughts arise, they are not you, it is purely the wandering mind in play. Then gradually shift your focus back to a relaxed Attention mindset, circle back to cultivating attitudes of kindness.

So there you go, three simple Tips that could help you find focus in your next mindfulness meditation practice. I hope they would be useful for you as it has been for me. And to help support your meditation practice in the long run, it would also be a worthwhile investment of time to sign up with a meditation coach in your local community if safe to do so or explore available online meditation coaching classes, or even checking out these free meditation Apps if you are keen to go beyond learning about mindfulness meditation from YouTube videos which is another a good resource for meditation practices.

Hope you are able to fit in some mindfulness meditation this weekend. Have a splendid day!

If you like to catch other blog post featured in Wellness Chums, check out this short read on What's a Half Hour Visit to an Art Gallery Got to Do with Wellbeing?

Free Meditation Apps

1. Insight Timer

2. Smiling Mind

3. UCLA Mindful

If you like to find out more about these Apps, check out the reviews by Kira and Janet at their blog site.

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