Being mindful in everyday life can be done by practicing mindfulness in daily activities.
This includes brushing your teeth mindfully, mindful eating, even mindful walking.
The main point is to just be aware of yourself throughout the day, and of your surroundings.
This is not an easy task, and can easily be forgotten and lost from our focus throughout the day. A great way to improve this is to choose daily activities to be mindful during, such as brushing your teeth.
The way you would go about being mindful during these activities is by focusing on what you are doing. If you are brushing your teeth, focus on each tooth being brushed and the motion of your hand and the brush, and how it feels and tastes.
If you are mindful walking, notice how each step vibrates in your body, notice when your heel hits the ground and how that make you feel. Notice the sound your heel makes when it hits the ground. Notice what you are stepping on.
Being mindful in daily tasks and daily activities is a great way to train yourself to be more mindful in everyday life, while reducing the potential for losing focus from mindfulness. This is because instead of just trying to be mindful all day, you are choosing specific times and activities to be mindful during.
You can start with one or just a few activities per day, and slowly you should see that it becomes easier and easier to stay focused and mindful, and you will naturally be able to apply this practice to other tasks and activities.
The best smelling essential oil is highly subjective, as it is very much a matter of preference, and what the use of the oil is for.
If the use of the essential oil is topical, you may not want to smell like peppermint and orange when going out, but using a few drops of peppermint oil and orange oil topically is a great way to increase your mood and relieve anxiety.
Some don't really like smelling oils, so they may prefer other, lighter, scented oils.
It really is a matter of how you intend to use the essential oil, what the purpose of the essential oil is, and your preferences in terms of scents.
Essential oil blends for anxiety are blends of oils that, when used, promote calmness.
These blends are crafted specifically for the calming effect they have on our bodies and minds, and can consist of multiple different oils, such as Lavender, Lemongrass, Cedarwood, and more.
The specific oil blends for anxiety are crafted for specific intentions, such as increased calmness of the mind, better breathing, calmer energy, mental clarity, and more.
Meditation and its results are very individual, so it's hard to say how long you have to meditate to see results.
A key guideline to keep in mind though is to not push yourself in the beginning to meditate for longer time periods. Instead, focus on having a consistent meditation practice.
A consistent meditation practice can even consist of just 5-10 minutes of meditation per day. It really doesn't have to be longer than that, especially not in the beginning.
Pushing yourself to meditate for longer can just increase the risk of burning out and stopping the practice completely.
Having a consistent meditation practice that is long-lasting, meaning, one that you will do on a regular basis as a way of life, that is short will bring many more results and have a much bigger impact than doing a few long sessions once in a long while.
Consistency is key here.
In simple terms, mindfulness is the ability to be present, or focused, on the current moment. This includes the things happening around you, and within you.
To maybe make it even simpler, it's the ability to be able to not be on autopilot in our day-to-day lives, which most people are on.
Most people just live life and go through their days reacting to the events that occur, but while you are mindful, you are not on autopilot, and you are not just reacting to what happens, you are more prepared to accept what is happening, and are better able to understand it and make better decisions.
When we are on autopilot, many times we just instantly react to what ever happens or to what ever is said. When we are mindful, we let it sink in, we understand it, and then we can better know how to proceed.
It allows us to live a calmer and more peaceful life, with less stress and anxiety, and a better acceptance of ourselves, the people in our lives, and the world around us.
It helps us to not be stuck and focused on the past, or the future, but to be focused on the present moment, on the now.
You can lie down to meditate, it is perfectly ok, it just depends on the type of meditation you are doing, and it's purpose.
Meditation lying down for sleep is a great way to prepare yourself to fall asleep, especially if you have trouble relaxing before bed.
If you are debating whether you should meditate lying down or sitting, think about what the purpose of the meditation is, and what you will be doing after.
Many people experience back pain and knee pain when first starting out with meditation, which obviously isn't very relaxing. Of course, this gets better as you keep a consistent meditation practice, but if your purpose is to relax before bed then lying down may be a better option.
Mindfulness is not a religion, though it is heavily tied with Buddhism, it is not a religious practice.
Mindfulness is the ability to be fully aware of the present moment. This includes being fully aware of yourself, and your surroundings.
It is a practice that brings your awareness to the present moment, while not being judgmental of any part of it.
You should definitely not meditate during times when you should be absolutely focused on the task at hand, such as when driving.
While some forms of meditation may be fine to do certain times, others should absolutely not be done (you wouldn't sit crossed legged with eyes closed and meditate while driving, would you?).
Other than the obvious times to not meditate, there are also times when it may be more efficient to not meditate at, such as right before bed. If you experience tiredness to the point where you are having trouble staying awake, and it is interfering with your meditation, then that may just not be a good for you to meditate.
Same for meditation in the morning. If you wake up and meditate right away, but feel that you have not woken up fully, or enough, and are falling asleep during the meditation, then that is probably not the best time for you either.
Other than that, I believe it is up to you to find the best times to meditate at, and the best time to not meditate at. This is very individual and there is no rule that applies to everyone.
Good luck!
Back and knee pain while sitting down during meditation is pretty common.
Even amongst people who are physically active, sitting down for long periods of time in a meditation pose can be quite difficult and painful.
Usually this is just a sign that your muscles are not used to the sitting position you are in, especially when sitting for longer periods of time.
People are normally not used to sitting up straight like you would during meditation, so even if someone who is generally physically active sits and meditates, they could also experience some discomfort in their back and knees due to those specific muscles not being used to being in that position.
For the knee and back pain, I find that the more consistent the practice is, the less they hurt. This is because the muscles get used to the sitting position. Though, this does not mean that you should sit for hours, and eventually it will stop hurting.
A consistent practice can also mean a 5-minute session once a day.
With all of that said and while slight discomfort when starting out is quite normal, if it really hurts to sit and meditate to the extent where you cannot continue, and you are suffering, then it may be worth checking it out with a doctor or a specialist, just to make sure nothing is wrong.
As for if improving flexibility can help, from my personal experience, yes, it can. I have also experienced pain in my upper and lower back, and in my knees while meditating. Usually it would start after around 5 minutes. Slowly, after consistently meditating for 10 minutes a day, the pain started to go away, and instead of it starting after 5 minutes, it would start after around 10 minutes, it would just get better and better slowly.
After stretching though, even while sitting for a 15-20 minute session, I wouldn't feel the pain. This isn't just pre-meditation stretching though, I would stretch on a regular basis.
Feeling tired during a meditation session is quite common.
One of meditations greatest benefits is its ability to calm us down and put us in a state of tranquility. That fact that you feel tired while meditating may just mean that it's working!
At what time do you meditate?
If you meditate close to bedtime, or right before, as many people do, then it makes sense that you will feel tired. When we go to sleep at the same time, or at a similar hour each night, we are basically training our bodies to understand at what time it should wind down and prepare to fall asleep.
If you choose to meditate around this time, you may just be giving your body extra signals that it needs to get ready to fall asleep. This is because in addition to it already being trained to know that it should be falling asleep soon, you are also giving it all the calming and relaxing signals meditation gives, which may amplify the bodies response and make you even more tired and sleepy.
If possible, try to meditate a little bit sooner so that you are not meditating right before bedtime.
If you meditate right in the morning, shortly after you wake up, and also feel tired, it may just mean that you have not fully woken up yet in order to meditate.
Meditate is a calming exercise, if you wake up in the morning still feeling tired from the night's sleep, and then you engage in a calming and relaxing exercise like meditation, your body may just continue to be sluggish and feel tired, causing you to feel even more tired than you may be after waking up.
If this is the case, try to meditate a little bit later if possible, or, if you are one to drink tea or coffee in the morning (or any other morning drink to wake you up), try meditating after drinking it.
Do you often get tired while sitting down?
There are certain health conditions that cause people to fall asleep and get tired pretty instantly. If you experience tiredness throughout the day while sitting, it may be worth seeing a health expert about this and explaining the situation.
