What is mindfulness?
1. the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.
2. A mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.
Mindfulness, as a technique for managing the backlash of trauma, is the ability to acknowledge the “trauma voice”, while at the same time remaining in the front brain where reasoning, control and self-management are available. Mindfulness is learned through habit, constantly drawing oneself back to the present moment and awareness of “now” and “self”. Mindfulness is also the door to recognition of negative and unproductive beliefs and patterns of thought about ourselves and the world.
The most effective way to develop mindfulness is through a regular practice of mindfulness meditation. During mindfulness meditation emotions and thoughts that arise are acknowledged without judgement, remaining unconditionally present with oneself. Meditation is like exercise for the brain, ultimately strengthening the pre-frontal cortex, which is the reasoning, self-management part of your brain. By strengthening the front brain through meditation, you are more readily able to return to self-management instead of responding to survival signals from the limbic brain where the imprint of trauma still lives.
Meditation Music: Soothing Relaxation
Books to learn more:
Mindfulness Made Simple: An Introduction to Finding Calm Through Mindfulness & Meditation by Calistoga Press; this is an excellent and easy read for beginners to the art of meditation.
Mindfulness in 8 Weeks: The Revolutionary 8 Week Plan to Clear Your Mind and Calm Your Life by Michael Chaskalson; this is a slightly more in depth study of the practice of meditation with easy to follow, step-by-step instructions.
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From the experts:
What is mindfulness, why practice it, and how to cultivate it by Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/mindfulness/definition#what-is