The Anchor of Mindfulness

It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.

- Albus Dumbledore

Happy May, friends! 

I don't know about you, but I was SO glad that May was finally here! I love spring and warmer days, so I'm looking forward to all of the sunshine I'm sure this spring will bring here in Michigan. 

This month, I'd like to talk about mindfulness of the breath, our breath as an anchor, and the foundational mindfulness attitude of non-striving. Mindfulness of the breath is one of the cornerstone practices of mindfulness meditation. It allows us to shift from the cognitive knowing to our feelings and sensations, just by allowing the body to do what it does naturally: breathe. 

While some people use other anchors of mindfulness, the most common one is the breath. This is because the breath is always there; when your mind wanders, you can bring your attention back home to the breath - the goal of mindfulness.

So, how does mindful breathing affect the brain? I found this research in a Medical News Today article (citation below), which I highly suggest reading because it doesn't just talk about the benefits of mindful breathing, but also of mindfulness in general.

• Just twenty-five minutes of mindfulness has been shown to improve brain function and boost energy levels
• Controlled breathing affects levels of a neurotransmitter called noradrenaline, a stress hormone that can cause our hearts to beat faster and our pupils to dilate when we are excited
• There is a sweet spot of noradrenaline, in which our emotions, thinking, and memory are much clearer
• This occurs when we focus on and regulate our breathing, because our attention is influenced by our breath, so we can optimize our attention level, and likewise, our breathing becoming more synchronized 
• Observing the breath, and regulating it in precise ways, creates changes in arousal, attention, and emotional control

As promised, if you want to try out mindful breathing for yourself and see what types of benefits it creates for you, I have a new video uploaded to my YouTube page!

A foundational attitude of mindfulness that I learned in my leadership training course was "non-striving". Non-striving is moving from our constant state of "doing mode" into a "being mode". Doing mode is goal driven, with a narrow attention and focus, while being mode is when there is no need for constant judgment or evaluation, realizing that what is in this moment is enough.

This foundational attitude makes us take a step back and decide whether we can actually be in this moment if we are constantly striving toward something in the future. I think the quote below (as well as the Dumbledore quote at the beginning of this post) encapsulates the idea of what non-striving looks like so well, so I hope it connects with you!

Stay Beautiful,
Sadie

• 
  

"Ambition in any form - by group, individual salvation or spiritual achievement - is a deferred action. Desire is always of the future; the desire to become something is the inaction of the present. Now is more important than tomorrow. All time is the now, and to understand the now is to be free of time, of pain. Becoming contains no being. Being is always in the present and being is the highest form of transformation. Becoming is only modified continuity and there is only radical transformation in the present, in being."

- J. Krishnamurti

• 
  

Sandoiu, A. (2018, May 14). Why mindful breathing keeps your brain healthy and young. Medical News Today. Retrieved on May 4th, 2020 from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321794.