Mindfulness • What It Is, Tips & Exercises

Most people are anything but mindful in everyday life. We try to do several things at the same time, race through the day and brood over the past or the future. Many activities happen automatically without our being aware of them. We also tend to evaluate everything – our own actions, feelings and events. That is stressful and unhealthy in the long run. The principle of mindfulness helps to escape the cycle of thoughts, stress and hectic rush.

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What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is not a relaxation process, but a state. To be mindful means to live in the here and now and to be aware of moments without evaluating them mentally or emotionally. This is supposed to reduce stress and strengthen mental health.

The principle of mindfulness has long been known. It has been used for thousands of years and is part of Buddhism, Hinduism and various yoga traditions, among other things. Mindfulness as it is practiced today goes back to the American scientist Jon Kabat-Zinn. In the 1970s he developed the “Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction” (MBSR) program. Translated, this means "mindfulness-based stress reduction" and is intended to help people with chronic pain to better deal with stress, anxiety and illness. For Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness is a certain form of directing attention, in which current events are experienced “consciously”, “in the moment” and “non-judgmental”.

Why is it important to be mindful?

Stress is part of life for many people. A study by the Techniker Krankenkasse shows that six out of ten people in Germany feel stressed. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), even 14 percent of women and eight percent of men are affected by chronic stress.

Those who run at full speed harm the mind and body. Because sustained stress leads to a permanent release of the stress hormones adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol. This causes restlessness and anxiety, leads to sleep disorders, feels less productive and is exhausted. If stress becomes permanent, it can even develop into depression or burnout. In addition, it wastes energy constantly having a lot of things in mind or constantly evaluating situations.

Instead, those who are in the moment and perform an activity mindfully manage to stop brooding and thus become more relaxed and more concentrated. Mindfulness also helps to adopt a different attitude towards everyday things. If situations are perceived as neutral and neutral, they no longer trigger stress. This makes it possible to manage even difficult events more calmly.

Example from professional life: If you find yourself in stress while creating a presentation, it could be because your thoughts are already in the meeting room and you are presenting the result. But if you consciously go back to the current moment, then you just sit at your desk and collect information. A neutral and everyday activity that has no stress-inducing aspects.

Can You Learn Mindfulness?

Everyone is able to learn mindfulness. Because mindfulness is a skill that is in everyone. It just needs to be called up and the handling of it sharpened. Mindfulness training, for example, can help. The MBSR training according to Kabat-Zinn is the best known method and includes meditations, yoga and the so-called body scan. Certain mindfulness exercises, breathing exercises or small meditations can be acquired without a course.

It is important to practice regularly, preferably ten minutes a day. After about six to eight weeks you have internalized the principle and manage to deal more carefully with daily habits even outside of the exercises.

Exercises for more mindfulness

With mindfulness exercises you learn to be in the here and now. The aim is to consciously perceive a certain activity, the environment, physical sensations or feelings – without evaluating them. If disturbing thoughts come to the fore, then let them go and try to draw your attention back to the exercise. The following exercises are easy to perform because you don't need anything more than your five senses:

• See: Take your time to look at the sky and describe in your mind exactly what you see. Be aware of every little thing.

• Listen: Close your eyes and concentrate on your surroundings. What are you listening to What different noises or voices do you recognize? Describe in your mind what you are hearing as precisely as possible.

• Smell: What smells do you perceive in your environment? Also try out whether these change with your mouth closed or open.

• Taste: What do you taste even if you are not eating or drinking? This can also be a remaining taste, for example coffee or a meal that you had today.

• Feel: Pick up any object and feel it. What do you feel? Is the object hard or soft, does it yield when pressed, or does it have sharp edges? Describe as precisely as possible what you feel with your hands.

Raisin exercise

Another well-known exercise from mindfulness training is the raisin exercise. All five senses are used one after the other. The task is to concentrate fully on one raisin. Explore the raisin with all your attention: what does it look like and what color is it? What scent does it give off and how does it taste? How does it feel between your fingers, in your mouth, or on your tongue? What noises do you hear?

Tips: Practice mindfulness in everyday life

Concentrating on an activity or thing for a moment or a little longer is not easy at first. The thoughts wander again and again or the perception is distracted from other things. Mindfulness therefore takes practice and simple everyday activities help. For example, you can brush your teeth mindfully, cook, iron, listen to the radio or write an e-mail. Just a few minutes are enough to experience things consciously. That decelerates, reduces stress and relaxes. However, inexperienced users should not overtax themselves. Instead of wanting to mindfully carry out all everyday activities at once, you prefer to concentrate on a few, short actions, for example:

• Shower mindfully: Take a shower consciously instead of mentally writing the shopping list or going through the to-dos for the day. Feel how the water feels on your skin, when you are warm or cold or how the shower gel smells.

• Drink coffee mindfully: Pay your full attention to drinking coffee. How does it sound when the coffee runs into the cup? Which flavors are spreading? What do you taste

• Walk mindfully: Watch your steps on the way to the bus stop, shopping, or walking. Take every step consciously and feel the pressure on your feet.

Who is mindfulness for?

Mindfulness training is mainly used to cope with stress. It is suitable for anyone who wants to change their way of life. In addition to the second major component of joke therapy, there are now also training courses on relapse prevention in the case of depression or addicts, eating disorders and anxiety disorders, as well as improving relationships or preparing for birth. Because performance can also be increased with improved concentration, mindfulness training is also used in professional sports.

Positive effects of mindfulness

So far there have been few studies on the effectiveness of mindfulness training. Mindfulness is said to have a positive effect on dealing with chronic pain, physical or psychological ailments such as anxiety and depression. But healthy people also benefit from a mindful life. The positive effects of mindfulness include:

• Reducing stress-related symptoms
• More serenity
• Better handling of stress, conflict and stress
• Improved concentration
• Joy of life and satisfaction

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