Mindfulness seems to be everywhere. From yoga classes to management seminars to treatment for depression, it seems like everyone’s practicing mindfulness. But what is it, and why has it become so popular?

A search for “mindfulness meditation” on YouTube returns over 1.8 million results, which include everything from a ten-minute clip which “teaches you to be present” to a sleep hypnosis video or eight hours of forest sounds and birdsong. Is mindfulness just a buzzword that can be attached to anything?

Of course, there are plenty of people uploading content to YouTube who try to increase their viewer numbers by using as many popular search terms as they can. But mindfulness isn’t just a vacuous buzzword; it’s a practice that has been used in Buddhism and other meditative practices for centuries.

In the course of a day your brain receives constant input from your senses. In order to isolate what’s important, it effectively ignores the majority of the input. Think of it like this: if you’re crossing the road, you’re using your eyes and ears to check for traffic. But your brain is also getting information about how your shoes feel on your feet and the way that your tongue is positioned in your mouth and whether you feel hungry and thousands of other pieces of information. Instead of trying to deal with all of these, your brain “mutes” the input that’s not relevant to spotting oncoming cars.

This ability to mute incoming information allows you to function day-to-day. It also means that you can get cut off from the signals your body is sending you, or miss non-vital things that are happening in the world around you. Mindfulness is simply a way of “unmuting” some of these signals.

Mindfulness means becoming consciously aware of things that your brain knows about but chooses to ignore. If you’re sitting while reading this, your brain got a signal from the nerves in your hips and thighs when you first sat down. This confirmed that you were securely resting on the seat; at that point your brain muted the signal. You didn’t need to be constantly aware that you were still sitting – though now that you’ve read this, you’ve become aware again of the feeling of the seat beneath you. Congratulations. You’ve just done a mindfulness exercise.

Mindfulness is not the same as relaxation (though many people find it helps them to relax) and it certainly doesn’t require soothing music or forest sounds. It’s definitely not hypnosis; in fact, it’s the opposite of a trance state – you’re becoming more aware of your surroundings, not less.

Why is mindfulness so popular? Partly because many people don’t really understand what it is, so anyone can put “mindfulness” on their flyer or YouTube content or blog without raising too many questions. But it’s also popular because anyone can do it, at any time. You don’t need to be lying down on a yoga mat or listening to panpipe music; you can be mindful in the shower, on the train, in a coffee shop. You can walk down the street and deliberately notice the smells or the sounds that your brain has automatically screened out. You can take two minutes at your desk to reconnect with how your feet or your knees or your shoulders are feeling. You can learn to take better care of yourself by noticing when you’re tired or hungry or tense – all important things that your brain has put on hold because there are a dozen even more vital things for you to be aware of.

Mindfulness won’t solve every problem in your life. But it can help you to be more perceptive, to appreciate the little things each day, and to take better care of yourself. What’s most important is that you don’t need to lie down in a dark room or follow a script to be mindful – you can do it anytime, anywhere.

Share This Blog

https://trifectagrp.com/what-exactly-is-mindfulness/