MB Mindfulness

By Moris Beracha .-  Music is an element that can be included into our meditation exercises, because it often has an influence on how we respond to life’s challenges. Pay attention on how we respond mentally, physically and emotionally to different music genres, sounds and rhythms present in our everyday lives is a crucial factor when we practice mindfulness. For some, the sound of birds chirping might offer relaxation, while for others it stimulates irritation. Music alone does wonders for our health and wellness. But if music is combined with mindfulness, we can create more space for healing benefits. It is very easy to incorporate music into your meditation sessions and vice versa. When attending a concert, notice how easy or difficult it is to stay in the present moment. Give yourself 5 minutes to toss on headphones and choose 1 song to listen to that you know will relax you. Find a comfortable sitting or lying posture, close your eyes and li...

  Por Moris Beracha.- La música es un elemento que puede ser incorporado en nuestras rutinas de meditación, debido a que muchas veces influyen en cómo reaccionamos a la vida. Prestar atención a cómo respondemos mental, física y emocionalmente a la variedad de música, sonidos y ritmos en la vida diaria es un factor crucial cuando practicamos el Mindfulness. Para algunos, el sonido de los pájaros puede ofrecer relajación, mientras que para otros estimula la irritación. Sólo escuchar música hace maravillas en nuestra salud y bienestar. Pero si se combina la música con la atención plena, se abren espacios para los beneficios curativos. Es muy fácil incluir la música en tus sesiones de meditación y viceversa. Cuando se asiste a un concierto, observe si es fácil o difícil poder mantenerse en el momento. Tómese unos minutos para alejarse de los auriculares y elija una canción para escuchar que sabe que lo relajará. Busque una postura cómoda para sentarse...

By Bill Gates | I stopped listening to music and watching TV in my 20s. It sounds extreme, but I did it because I thought they would just distract me from thinking about software. That blackout period lasted only about five years, and these days I’m a huge fan of TV shows like Narcos and listen to a lot of U2, Willie Nelson, and the Beatles. Back when I was avoiding music and TV in the hope of maintaining my focus, I knew that lots of other people were using meditation to achieve similar ends. But I wasn’t interested. I thought of meditation as a woo-woo thing tied somehow to reincarnation, and I didn’t buy into it. Lately, though, I’ve gained a much better understanding of meditation. I’m certainly not an expert, but I now meditate two or three times a week, for about 10 minutes each time. Melinda meditates too. Sometimes we sit to meditate together. (We use comfortable chairs; there’s no way I could do the lotus position.) I now see that meditation is...

By Steve Hitz/ Deseret News The rising generations are keen on applying what they frequently call “daily mindfulness.” If we pause and take the opportunity to learn from our young adults, we may find some solutions for the challenges of anxiety and depression. Setting time aside for daily mindfulness — a quiet time apart from the pressing and complicated world we live in — puts the hinges back on our doors and simplifies our path forward. It settles the soul. It reduces anxiety and depression. It puts fears in proper perspective and allows hope to flourish. Meditation is a key part of daily mindfulness. To meditate is to center one’s thoughts and allow time to connect with oneself before engaging with the world we live in. It is a time to ponder things that really matter. For those who deal with anxiety and depression, it is often very difficult to sit silently or to find a space or time apart that is not encumbered. Therefore, practicing daily mindfulness requires ...

By Claudia Lopez In today’s society, we are so busy. There are so many things that we need to do and many things that we worry about. Many days we find ourselves either living in the future or the past. We think about the vacation that is coming next month or whether or not we handled a situation correctly yesterday. By doing this, we are not living in the now. We may be missing out on important things occurring daily, or we may be too preoccupied to appropriately handle a situation. We have all been there. It can cause additional stressors in our life, and it can lead to unhappiness. Mindfulness is a tool, that if practiced frequently, can help reduce symptoms of anxiety, lead to greater satisfaction in relationships, improve memory, reduce rumination, improve ability to adapt to stressful situations and help manage our emotions. Therapistaid.com defines mindfulness as a state of non-judgmental awareness of what’s happening in the present moment, including awareness of one’s owns t...

By Karyn Dowdall Kawartha Mindfulness is a term often used to describe the process of paying attention. Paying attention is indeed an aspect of the practice of mindfulness but does not fully describe its meaning or purpose. Mindfulness is not about sitting in cross-legged in a meditation pose and visualizing a sandy beach or listening to music. It is not a focus on images or stories. Rather, it involves the understanding of the functions of our brain, through which we can differentiate and integrate our thoughts, feelings and emotions. The brain stem is responsible for our physical sensations. Heart rate, temperature and the fight or flight responses are functions of this area of the brain. The limbic system is responsible for emotions and our sense of connection to others. The cortex brings in the senses to help us pay attention and understand the outside world. The prefrontal cortex helps us to integrate all of these various functions. This capacity for in...