How Do I Start Meditating? Enhance your Mindfulness

by Evelyn Montgomery Feb 02, 20200 comments

For some, the stillness of mediation is a key part of their daily mindfulness toolkit, yet for other the practice doesn't feel accessible, or they feel too 'impatient' for meditation's static nature.

To nourish your brain health and find some space and stillness, it doesn't have to be about 'sitting cross-legged in silence' - here are my thoughts and tips on how you can give yourself similar mindfulness benefits, in difference ways:

At the start of this year, I found myself going on a decluttering spree quite unlike any I’d been on before. I felt an urge to clean up and clear out. To streamline and simplify. To bring order to all areas of my life.

Clearing out my physical space helps me to find some emotional space. It helps me to see what’s right in front of me so that I can ask myself, “What do I really want in my life? How do I want to feel? What can I remove so that I can make the space for how I want to live? What do I need to change to find the energy?”

Ask yourself these questions. Pay attention to how you feel. Maybe there are projects you started that are weighing you down, but that weren’t meant to see the light of day after all. (Sometimes it’s better to just move on.) Maybe there are relationships that are taking up more energy than they’re worth. Maybe you’ve simply said “yes” too many times, when you should have said “no” or “not right now.” Maybe I need to pay attention to what I am putting in my body. Am I giving myself the right fuel?

Mindfulness techniques and meditative practices such as deep breathing, visualisations and forest bathing give you a way to consciously regain control over your thoughts, allowing you to rewire your brain for mental balance and happiness, creating connections where they matter most and giving you the tools to deal with the stressors of modern life. They can put you back in the driver’s seat in your own head significantly reducing anxiety, depression, and pain.

Here’s the key takeaway: they help reprogram our brains for well-being, empathy, and gratitude. And if you are needing a boost to maintain any new year’s intentions to prioritise your brain health they act as a shield against ongoing efforts to hijack our brains, strengthening our ability to resist and help us to change habits.

I used to think of meditation as sitting crossed-legged, trying to empty my mind. I really struggled to keep thoughts away and ended up feeling that it wasn’t for me. Then I learned that meditation could also be a simple breathing technique, or a mindful walk, or taking a moment to simply sit and listen to the sounds around me and suddenly I found it could slip naturally into my daily ritual.

That’s why I put a breathing technique or a mindful exercise in every box of supplements. Taking care of your self with nutrition and taking a moment to meditate are two really powerful tools that you can use to support your mental wellbeing. Along with exercise, food, connection, talking and medication it is good to look at your mental from 360 degrees. That’s why our range is called 360ME.