Mindfulness
Mindfulness seems to be a buzzword nowadays. Truth be told it is a concept that has been around for centuries. In our current world, we are more distracted than ever with social media and the internet taking over the majority of our lives. We lose focus on basic things like our breathing, our thoughts and feelings.
Mindfulness is based our the principle of being present when doing a specific task. This could relate to being aware of eating when you are ACTUALLY eating. Thinking about the taste, texture, smell in a relaxed and patient manner. The opposite is obviously shovelling enough food down our throats and hope that you wont be hungry by the time you get your next break or are interrupted by family or work colleagues.
Many people use exercise as a stress relief from work. This has many effects on the body. They focus on rushing through a gym session or a run, to tire their brain so they cant focus on the stress when they stop. The body and brain are fatigued so once their head hits the pillow, lights out. The next day start this process all over again until eventually,you might overload the body and present to physio.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is a perfect example of someone who perfected mindfulness. it is well documented and recorded, Arnie visualised the muscle fibres working whilst he lifted weights, imagined the joint working and focused on growing his muscle during that workout.This is the whole concept of mindfulness adapted to exercise.
I recently instructed a Pilates class at Peak Physio. At the end of the session, we carried out a 5min mindfulness session. This is by no means revolutionary. It was interesting at the end that many of the clients, asked me what was the name of the stuff we had just done. With surprise, I explained we did nothing besides lying on the ground and focused on their breathing,
Meditation or relaxation or mindfulness are all interchangeable terms in my mind. They are the simple yet difficult task focusing on yourself. Many people avoid this as they are unsure of what they uncover may be distressing or evoke an emotional reaction to past experiences or future worries. You can use breathing as a cue and focus for a session. You can try to clear your mind for short spells and think of something you find relaxing, such as waves at a beach coming in or out. The trick is not to strive for perfection. Try to keep your attention on one thing for a period, then let your mind drift, to wherever it feels it wants to go. Then after a few breaths, refocus your attention back to your main area of concentration.
Meditation has many negative connotations with alternative medicine, philosophies or ‘hippies’. Certain studies with Monks, show that brain activity that occurs once meditating, resembles that which a person shows in the period before they fall asleep. The overall benefits of meditation are well documented. In our distracted age that we live in, it is important to have the ability to monotask. This is the ability to concentrate on one thing at a time. Unfortunately, people are more obsessed with Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, that the ability to breath and wind down the sympathetic nervous system.
When the sympathetic nervous system is in a heightened state, it means that your senses are prepping your body for fight or flight. This means that the pain from a paper cut will be amplified by 100. This is to protect our body from a perceived threat. Today, the perceived threats that we face on a daily basis are different to what they were evolutionary. We do not have to run for our lives from lions. This means that our nervous system is in flight or fright at the thought of money, social status or work.
Mindfulness helps calm the nervous system down to a parasympathetic state. I prefer to call it a ‘rest and digest’ state which is associated with relaxed or laid back people. This parasympathetic nervous system can help to manage stress, reduce pain and aid recovery. This system is stimulated once you have a massage or a spa weekend away.
If you are interested in the different ways to be mindful, there are many resources available. I would recommend starting with apps such as Headspace. It is a free 10 day trial for 10minutes a day. This helps give you a basic awareness of ways to be more mindful on a daily basis. There is more and more evidence and integration of mindfulness principles into schools across the globe. Try not to be influenced by the stigma that surrounds this topic. Start now by simply being present for the next 10 minutes and aware of how you are feeling now, not stressing about the future or worried about what has happened in the past.
If you have any questions feel free to contact us , book online to see one of our chartered physiotherapists or have a look at the classes we have available.
Darren Finnegan MISCP
