How To Tell If Mindfulness Is Right For You

Experts promote mindfulness practice as a cure for all. They believe mindfulness can cure anxiety, stress, and pain. But is it good for you? Will practicing mindfulness do you more harm than good? Well, it is important that you consider these questions before turning to mindfulness.

Before deciding if mindfulness is right for you, you need to understand what it is. Also, you need to understand the benefits of mindfulness and how mindfulness works. It also helps to know your expectations or fantasies about mindfulness practice.

This article will give you tips for things to consider before starting mindfulness. Please keep reading.

Understanding Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a technique that helps you to focus your attention in the present moment. Mindfulness practice enables you to manage your mental health. Also, it enables you to enjoy your life more. It helps you to focus on your body, mind and your general surrounding non-judgmentally.

Besides, practicing mindfulness enables you to approach your thoughts and feelings. It helps you to become aware of what you are feeling or thinking. Thus, you are able to manage or react to those feelings and thoughts in a different way.

Tips for Deciding if Mindfulness is For You?

1. How will you learn mindfulness practices

It is possible to teach yourself about mindfulness practice. You can learn through youtube videos, audio recordings, apps, or books. Also, the internet is a great resource for educating yourself about mindfulness awareness.

But, when learning about a new skill, good training can enhance your learning. Besides, not all methods of learning mindfulness will be good for you. Thus, choosing what works for you is important. You need to do your research well on the available mindfulness programs.

The duration and structure of the course is critical. Do you want to study for one day or 8 weeks? Do you want to learn in a group or individually? It also helps to know the qualifications of your mindfulness teacher. It is all about knowing what suits your needs and expectations.

2. Cost implications

Before choosing a course, you need to know the fees involved up front. Some mindfulness courses are intensive. They entail conceptual work, experiential learning, retreats, supervision and assessment before certification. So, if you want in-depth training on mindfulness, you will need to commit a lot of money.

Knowing the fees helps you to enroll for a course that takes care of your financial considerations. Yet, some mindfulness institutions offer financial help. Thus, if you do not have financial resources, you can apply for financial help.

Nonetheless, there are mindfulness exercises that you can do without paying a dime. They include mindful meditation, mindful walking or running. These exercises do not need any special training or equipment. Also, you can try a mindful exercise that fits well into your life.

3. Readiness to experience your thoughts and feelings

Anyone can reap benefits from mindfulness. But, before starting mindfulness practices, you need to think about a few things. For instance, many emotions, thoughts and feelings tend to come up during mindfulness.

They can include anxiety, fear, fantasies, anger, stress, repetitive thoughts, panic and discomfort. You can also experience calmness, comfort or happiness. Are you ready to handle such thoughts and feelings?

Also, mindfulness practice helps you to be in the present moment. This may make you feel unsafe and uncomfortable. Mindfulness exercises can also cause discomfort in your body. In short, mindfulness awareness practice can worsen how you already feel.

Other side effects of mindfulness practice include depersonalization and altered self-awareness. Also, mindfulness re-awakens thoughts, feelings and emotions about a previous traumatic event. So, if mindfulness feels uncomfortable, you can practice with the help of a qualified practitioner.

4. Availability and Commitment

You will only notice the benefits of mindfulness once you make it a habit. For instance, going to the gym once will not make you lose weight. Likewise, you will not see any results if you practice mindfulness for 30 minutes twice a week.

Thus, if you want to feel relaxed, calm and more focused, you need to be willing to put in the extra work. To maintain the benefits of mindfulness, you need to make it a consistent habit. You will not be able to reap the benefits of mindfulness if you practice for a few weeks and then relax.

Mindfulness wastes away if it is not used. So, to be successful you need to practice for at least 5 days, for 20 minutes each day. Mindfulness is a lifetime practice. So, if you want to know whether mindfulness is for you, commit yourself to experiment for a month.

5. Mental and physical fitness is critical

Experts claim mindfulness is a cure for most mental health problems. Yet, like physical exercises, learning a new skill like mindfulness can be overwhelming. So, it is not advisable to practice mindfulness when you are ill.

Mindfulness awareness practice can make you feel worse and react differently. For instance, mindfulness can worsen your depression after some initial relief. Besides, if you have breathing problems, the breathing exercises can cause discomfort. It can have physical effects such as shortness of breath, pounding heart or dizziness.

Also, if you have mobility problems, sitting for long will not work well for you. Inappropriate and misguided forms of mindfulness can do more harm than good. So, if you want to enjoy mindfulness, it is a good idea that you wait until you get well.

Parting Shot!

Mindfulness practice is a helpful tool for stress management. It also eases negative thoughts and feelings. But, mindfulness is not good for everyone. So, before you get started with mindfulness practice, you need to think about some issues.

Does it meet your needs? Are you well enough to practice mindfulness? Will you be able to handle the thoughts and feelings that re-emerge during mindfulness? How much will it cost you to enroll for a mindfulness program?

These are crucial questions. They will help you decide whether mindfulness is right for you. I hope this article has been helpful.