In a disorderly world where we are met with daily challenges and struggles that impact our lives, peace is a handy practice we must cultivate to find strength. While much of our strength can be shaped by personal values and beliefs, it is a value that encourages us to remain positive even on rainy days.
As such, the need to practice being mindful is more essential than ever. While being mindful can feel draining and tiresome at times, as some of us may feel we have to be on our tippy toes around unfamiliar situations, it can also act as a way for us to develop peace in our hearts.
If you would like to find out more about how to spread the positivity of peace and what it can do to your life, continue sticking to the end of this article to find out.
What is mindfulness therapy?
Searching for the beauty of inner peace should be one of our top priorities as it allows us to perform tasks with a clearer state of mind, guiding us on how to better go about our daily lives. In addition, it is not difficult to achieve and can be done using a few simple ways. One way to do so is through mindfulness therapy, otherwise known as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) a type of treatment that allows us to practise being conscious of our surroundings.
When it comes to important aspects of our lives such as our work or relationships, many of us may tend to misunderstand perspectives that are not aligned with our own. This is because some perspectives might be new and unfamiliar to what we are very much used to.
However, mindfulness therapy allows us to practise being open-minded, tolerant and non-judgmental about our daily experiences which can provide us with more time to take a step back and better understand the thought processes behind our emotional triggers.
What does mindfulness therapy help with?
At times when we are met with unfamiliar situations, we can lose control of our reactions and become unsure of how to react. The only important thing is the way we react to inevitable things that cannot be controlled. With the help of mindfulness therapy, it helps us to better shape our reactions and responses, which are both crucial to maintaining peace in our lives. In addition, mindfulness therapy can help with:
- Soothing anxiety
- Treating clinical depression
- Improve mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder
- Individuals who find themselves constantly in low spirits
What are some techniques used in mindfulness therapy?
There are many ways that mindfulness therapy can help an individual. However, it is always important that you engage a trusted professional who has undertaken psychology courses online to ensure that you are seeking the right type of support you may need.
Most mindfulness therapy sessions should aim to focus on:
Yoga
Mindfulness therapy comes in many forms and it includes yoga cognitive behavioural therapy (Y-CBT), a body practice that goes hand in hand with the mind. Yoga encourages relaxation, where individuals focus on loosening up tight body muscles through stretching while taking control and being aware of their emotional state.
Meditating
Meditating has proven to be a powerful technique used to soothe anxiety, stress and worries. In addition, it provides us with alone time which is essential to gain a greater understanding of our stresses and trigger points.
Breathing Exercises
Breathing exercises may seem effortless but they can go a long way in ensuring that we maintain a sound state of mind, which can ultimately plant the seed of peace in our hearts. There are different breathing techniques to relieve stress, which include deep breathing, slow breathing and taking and releasing equal amounts of breaths, among others. These breathing techniques can go a long way in helping provide us with increased mental stability.
Body Scanning
Body scanning is a mindfulness technique that encourages us to take delight in the present, instead of focusing on the past or worrying about what is to come. In most cases, individuals who do body scanning exercises are laid on their backs and encouraged to focus on the feelings brought by the different areas of their body. It encourages us to ease up on the stresses that we face and focus on what we are currently feeling.
Protecting your peace
The only way to move forward in life in all aspects is to ensure you have a sound and peaceful state of mind. While it is only human nature for us to beat ourselves up and feel unsettled about past decisions or stressful situations, what remains essential is for us to have a clear state of mind, which can only be achieved if we cultivate the practice of being mindful and instil a sense of peace in our hearts. This is beneficial to our daily lives, as it can allow us to make informed decisions as we go about our everyday lives, which ultimately adds to our outlook and quality of life.
MindOwl Founder – My own struggles in life have led me to this path of understanding the human condition. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy before completing a master’s degree in psychology at Regent’s University London. I then completed a postgraduate diploma in philosophical counselling before being trained in ACT (Acceptance and commitment therapy).
I’ve spent the last eight years studying the encounter of meditative practices with modern psychology.