Being so caught up in anxiety about the future or the hesitations of the past that we lose the present. We spend half of our life not focused on what we are actually experiencing, losing the joys of the present. But we are not condemned to a life of distraction – by engaging in mindfulness practices we can strengthen our ability to focus and appreciate the little things more. Starting with the holidays.
An expected and much desired event is able to “distort” time: four independent scientific studies published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology showed that anticipation and excitement have a real impact on the perception of time. And it is precisely for this reason that a holiday seems to end immediately, but the wait seems longer than expected.
Mind-body: what emotions have to do with health
by CARLO BELLIENI
Researchers have been doing it for some time Matthew Killingsworth e Daniel Gilbert of Harvard University found that people spend nearly half of their waking hours thinking about something other than what is happening before their eyes.
We all experienced their theory of the wandering mind that makes you unhappy during the lockdown, when, overnight, we had to change our habits and rewrite a new everyday life. But to recover serenity, and fully enjoy the summer period, freeing our mind from the boulders that slow it down and disturb our attention, “12 minutes a day are enough”. Word of Amishi Jha, professor of psychology at the University of Miami, according to whom serenity “passes from the awareness of paying attention to the present moment without prejudice”, observing it without thinking about causes and consequences. And those few minutes of mental training would be enough to restore your balance and live better every day.
Over 40, it is already time to think about lifestyles to avoid health risks
by Claudia Carucci
Train your awareness
This is not about meditation, but about paying attention to a simple action. An exercise within everyone’s reach is the one on one’s breath: one must keep attention on it, on the air that passes through the nose, fills the lungs and then comes out of the mouth, bringing the mind back there whenever, of course, it will tend to step away. “When we are standing still, it is much easier to take this kind of observational position,” explained the professor. “We don’t have to monitor our movements. We don’t have to monitor where we are in space.” Fortunately, you don’t have to sit on a yoga mat with your eyes closed to cultivate this mental exercise. And there are also more dynamic ways to train your awareness.
The conscious walk
If standing still isn’t your style, mindfulness experts recommend practicing mindful walking. “It’s not the kind of walk where you let your mind wander”, if anything “you focus on the sensations of walking, noticing the toe touching the ground, then the heel, then the lifting of the foot”, continues the psychologist. And whenever “the mind starts to go somewhere else, instead of returning attention to the breath as you would in a quiet practice, you pour it over the sensation of walking.”
Do you want to run? Consult your doctor first
by Laura Taccani
Stretching
Another common physical practice is stretching. According to Diana Winston of the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center, “the difference between traditional stretching and a formal mindfulness practice is what you do with your mind as you move. The idea is to stretch and feel the sensations of your body in motion, your arms as they move through space, air, touch, physicality … “. And this kind of attention can be combined with any activity, from taking a shower to lying on a lounger to sunbathing, from climbing stairs to taking a bike ride.
“Rather than getting lost in worries and thinking about all you have to do, catastrophizing all things, we can turn any activity into a conscious practice,” says Dr. Winston.
Health, how important are our daily choices
Scientific research shows that mindfulness can help manage stress-related physical conditions, reduce anxiety and depression. Cultivate positive emotions and help improve physical health and general well-being. But only by trying will we be able to find out which is the practice that best suits us, our daily activities and our personality.
But if we just can’t do it on our own, UCLA researchers have created a free app for smartphones (clahealth.org/marc/mindful-meditations ) and a series of podcasts, for now only in English, with which to practice mindful meditation anywhere and at any time of the day, on vacation as well as in the lunch break of a working day.
.