mindfulness & meditation
Mindful breathing is just one way of learning and practicing mindfulness. It helps you be more mindful by allowing you to better focus your mind on a single thing, such as the path of your breath as you inhale and exhale.
It can help with disconnecting from distractions and focusing your mind better, which can be a great source of relief from stress and anxiety.
It's also a very easy technique to perform, it may take some getting used to in the beginning, but once you get it, it really is one of the simplest and best way to refocus yourself in any situation.
Breath meditation may refer to the practice of following your breath during meditation.
Many types of meditations focus on following your breath as a way of focusing your mind, and eventually quieting it.
In guided meditations, the guide will instruct you to follow your breath in different ways. They can instruct you to follow the breath as it enters your nose and goes to your lungs, to pay attention to the sensation of your chest or your stomach rising. To pay attention to the temperature of the breath as it enters and exists your nose.
Following and focusing on your breath during meditation, and during other mindfulness activities, is a great way to focus your mind and to allow it to relax.
Almost any activity can be a mindfulness activity, it just depends on how you perform the activity.
You can exercise and be mindful by focusing on the muscles that are being activated as you lift the weight and lower it. Really focusing on the feeling of the muscle, on how it contracts, paying attention to how heavy the weight feels, and to any other sensations you experience while exercising.
You can be mindful while walking also. Focus on your steps, on how it feels when your heel touches the ground. Try to focus on how you are stepping, what you are stepping on, the speed at which you are walking, the way your whole body moves with each step.
Really, almost any activity can be done mindfully. Even typing on a keyboard can be done mindfully by focusing and directing your attention to how it feels when your fingers hit the keys as you type.