Clearing the fog
Yesterday was 'World Mental Health Day' .. my small contribution was taking my family on a walk through the beautiful Vienna Woods.
Our lives are full of stimuli, distractions, deadlines etc .. taking time off, to allow the mind to rest and recover, is vital for our health. We often remind ourselves to engage in a form of physical fitness, but how often do we check-in with our mental and emotional state?
Mindfulness meditation helps train and stabilise our attention, and allows the fog, that is often present in our minds, to dissolve. This fog of thoughts arises when we are over-stimulated, feeling anxious or overwhelmed. So spending 10 minutes a day in silence, paying attention to your breath, while observing your mind's wandering nature, is a great first step at helping this fog dissolve:
Take a comfortable upright posture (on cushion or chair)
Ground yourself by feeling all contact points with the ground
Start paying attention to the breathing sensations in the body (either in the lower belly, chest or nostrils)
Stay curious about the quality of your breathing (shallow, deep, ..) without the need to change anything about it
Notice when the mind wanders away from the breath, acknowledge where it went to, then bring it back to observing the breath
If the mind wanders again, simply bring it back again to observing the sensations of breathing
Don't worry if the mind wanders too much .. our minds do this naturally. The practice is about noticing this and trying not to get caught up in the story your mind is creating or replaying
End the practice by taking a few deep breaths
Look after yourself and consider joining a community that practices regularly. This generally helps to keep you engaged in the practice.
