Mindfulness

Mindfulness

I took a walk with my mom the other day and I told her how my niece recently asked me about running and specifically how to breathe when you run. I told my niece that running and breathing properly both take practice as well as mindfulness on the matter of air coming in your nose or mouth and back out. I found a beginner's guide to running article and sent it to her. They go into deep belly breathing and finding what breathing pattern works for each individual. My mom asked me to forward it to her. I think she was intrigued. Click here to check it out.

Have you ever really paid attention to your breathing? Deep breathing, in and out, long and deep and intentional, or are your breaths shallow? The process of moving air in and out of your lungs is an automatic bodily function. How can we benefit from just paying a little more attention to things like breathing? Emphasizing our inhalations and exhalations can help lower our stress levels in a moment of chaos or even during feelings of anxiety. Can you pay attention to your breathing with a bit more awareness? Check out this great article on deep breathing here.

This conversation also led to talking about eating and just shoving food in our mouths when we're hungry. We've all had that "hangry" feeling when we almost inhale food. Take a deep breath before you eat. It is great for your digestion to eat slowly, to eat mindfully with every bite and every meal. I also think that not being distracted when you eat is important for the digestion aspect. Tasting every bite and using all of your senses with each meal is beneficial as well. Wanna try a mindfulness eating exercise?

What about the words you speak to others or even think to yourself? Your spoken words and thoughts affect ~ they have power! Be kind with your conversations and your actions to others and yourself. Watch your self-talk, it matters as much as your outward verbal evidence. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Mindfulness is a good habit to get into on a daily basis. Just paying attention to the little things can make a big difference in your everyday journey of living a healthier life. To all the breaths you've taken, all the foods you've eaten, all the words you have spoken, and all your positive self-talk, just see what a little mindfulness can do for your everyday health journey.