The only way to handle the stress and anxiety the modern world brings to our tables is through mindfulness meditation.
It is a more fine-tuned version of meditation for the modern world because it teaches you to “stay in the moment” without even trying.
This pushes your thought process, creativity, and focus to peak levels, way higher than everybody around you.
Most people think meditation is about “silencing your thoughts,” but that’s biologically impossible because the mind is a machine.
It’s like a monkey, jumping from one place to another faster than the speed of light.
This is the reason many people fail at meditation because they’re trying to control thoughts that cannot be controlled so easily.
But what if we use our own thoughts as a way to meditate?
That’s mindfulness meditation, and we’re going to explore it today.
Mindfulness is the answer for people who hate sitting down and going through all that pain.
You might even be distracted right now, thinking about the name of the girl you met two days ago and whether or not she has an Instagram account.
If you want to put a stop to these racing thoughts, let’s master Mindfulness meditation together. Shall we?
What is Mindfulness Meditation?
Mindfulness is a practice that involves experiencing things as they are in the present moment, without any judgment of the outcome or result.
Think about it. You might think you’re washing the dishes consciously, but most of the time, you might be listening to music and still doing it because your body helps you unconsciously.
With mindfulness, you do everything with peak focus and avoid multi-tasking.
Over the longer term, your brain gets accustomed to hyper-focus and memory because you’re conscious now.
Mindfulness meditation is much simpler than most people assume.
All you have to do is be more attentive and focused while doing your daily activities.
Be it eating, sleeping, reading, writing, or running; you have to keep your focus on “What is” instead of “What will be.”
While this is the simpler way of practicing mindfulness, it further involves a lot of other micro-methods that help you enhance your brain.
This can include anywhere from conscious mindfulness, where you sit and read your body’s movements, to writing mindfulness, where you write with intense focus.
“To know one’s own mind is nothing short of life-changing.”
You can even integrate mindfulness meditation into your active life.
For example, if you’re taking a walk, keep your focus on the footpath you’re on. Focus on the movement of your body and the brushing of wind against it.
Regular practice of mindfulness meditation can significantly impact your mental and emotional well-being, leading to a more stable and peaceful state of mind.
However, just like any other skill, mastery of mindfulness meditation requires consistent practice and dedication.
If you approach mindfulness meditation as a way to enhance your life, all it will take is about 21 days of regular practice for you to achieve a clearer mind and a smarter thought process.
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Who needs Mindfulness Meditation?
This practice is beneficial for individuals of all ages.
It’s also perhaps the best tool for young children whose brains are still developing because you can enhance their creativity and focus from an early age.
Even though you’re an adult, your brain is still capable of reaping the benefits of mindfulness meditation.
It can work wonders for people struggling with mental health ailments such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, toxic relationships, and more.
“A day thinking about what could happen, should happen, or what might have been is a day missed.”
Many psychotherapists recommend mindfulness meditation as an effective therapeutic technique, and research supports this.
Through regular mindfulness practice, you’ll start experiencing prolonged states of relaxation, higher self-esteem, more mental clarity, and a positive outlook on life.
Multiple studies conclude that it can help cure anxiety and depression, promote healthy eating habits, and improve emotional bonding in relationships.
Psychological Effects of Mindfulness Meditation
You may be wondering how mindfulness can help enhance your mental processes and what specific improvements can be expected in terms of mental development.
Mindfulness targets seven key areas of your psychological makeup that make you a complete human being.
You Start to Trust Yourself
In 2023, placing trust in others can be one of the most challenging aspects of your life journey because you risk betrayal or being taken advantage of.
However, there is one form of trust that you can still cultivate: trust in yourself.
Trusting in your intuition, capabilities, and willpower can enable you to accomplish anything you imagine.
By practicing mindfulness meditation, you can develop an unwavering sense of self-trust that will ease you through any situation.
Trusting that your actions and decisions are grounded in what is right and true for you will give you a sense of confidence and security that is unshaken in the face of reality.
You Master Patience
If you’re a man about 25 years of age or more, you’ve probably learned that great things often take time to manifest.
Cultivating patience is a virtue, and it allows you to let things unfold naturally in their own time.
By practicing mindfulness, you develop the ability to be patient with yourself and your circumstances.
It teaches us to focus on the present moment rather than constantly striving for future outcomes.
Once you stay fully present and aware of what’s going on in your life, you start to accept and appreciate the journey more than your goal.
You’ll also learn to let go of the need for instant gratification and instead embrace the beauty of a steady journey.
You Don’t Judge Anymore
It is a harsh truth that the world is a cruel and judgmental place.
People often jump to conclusions without considering the full context or trying to understand the perspectives of others.
This behavior stems from a desire to boost one’s ego by putting others down, but it will inevitably end up harming you in the long run.
You won’t have any relationships or friendships and will be thrown out of the societal structure.
That’s where mindfulness meditation saves you. By practicing it, you learn to cultivate a sense of empathy and non-judgment towards others.
You approach situations with an open mind and a willingness to see things differently.
This enhances your mental state and creates a ripple effect of positivity in the world around you.
You become a loving human being, somebody people want to be around.
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You Develop a Fresh Perception
Usually, we approach and understand things based on the learnings from our limited memories.
With mindfulness, you approach things with a child’s mind; in other words, you look at things and perceive them as they are instead of how you want them to be.
Mindfulness meditation facilitates this by allowing you to explore things in the present without holding onto your past experiences or judgments.
It reveals new insights and appreciation for things that were once overlooked or taken for granted.
You Don’t Require Validation
As you practice mindfulness, you’ll start to discover that you are enough just the way you are.
There is no need to change yourself to impress others. You will embrace your being and stop relying on external validation.
You learn to see yourself more clearly and without judgment.
You develop a greater appreciation for your unique strengths and talents, boosting your self-confidence.
With mindfulness meditation, you’ll learn to observe your thoughts and emotions without getting caught up in them.
You will inevitably develop a greater sense of detachment from the ups and downs of life.
You Accept Life
Acceptance doesn’t mean that you compromise your beliefs or ideals.
Rather, it’s about recognizing what is right for you and then responding appropriately.
When you practice mindfulness meditation, you learn to accept things as they are because you no longer exercise control over external circumstances.
Mindfulness allows you to see life without judgment or preconceived notions.
You observe situations objectively, independent of their effects on your life. You see life for what it is instead of what it should be.
Letting Go
Letting go can be difficult, especially if you’ve invested a lot of time and energy into something.
But through mindfulness, you learn to let go of your thoughts and emotions without getting caught up in them because you know that “they” are not “you.”
In other words, you realize that everything, right from your thoughts to your possessions, was given to you by the external world.
Even though you earned all of this, you still don’t own it.
For example, your car is not yours because every material needed to build it came from the earth.
The same goes for your house, watches, food, and more.
When you realize that you own nothing, letting go becomes easy.
As you let go of things that were never yours to start with, you experience a sense of freedom.
You find that your life is better now than it was when you had all this clutter in your life.
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Physical Effects of Mindfulness Meditation
Along with the psychological benefits that this meditation brings, it also enhances your life physically.
Over time, you’ll start to notice transformative changes in your body as you practice this meditation technique.
Enhanced Brain Performance
Mindfulness meditation has proven to be one of the most effective brain-stimulating exercises out there.
It enhances a particular area of the brain called the “dorsal prefrontal cortex,” which plays a critical role in attention, impulse control, and decision-making.
Practicing mindfulness regularly can strengthen the neural connections in this area of the brain.
This will help you make better decisions, stay focused on the task, and resist impulsive behaviors that do not serve your best interests.
With an enhanced dorsal prefrontal cortex, you are better equipped to follow your intuition and make choices that align with your values and goals.
You are also less likely to be distracted, which is fantastic in the time of 2023.
Improved Heart Health
Numerous studies have indicated that mindfulness meditation can help reduce blood pressure and heart rate, which are important for cardiovascular health.
This is because mindfulness meditation helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes relaxation and reduces stress.
In addition to this, mindfulness also reduces the risk of heart disease.
Chronic stress is a major risk factor for heart disease, and mindfulness has been shown to effectively cut down stress levels.
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Smoother Digestive System
The posture you sit in during traditional mindfulness meditation can significantly impact your digestive system.
This is because when you sit upright, you allow for the proper flow of blood and oxygen to your digestive system, which aids the digestion process.
Also, practicing mindfulness improves your eating habits, which obviously impact your digestive system.
Since mindfulness encourages you to eat with focus, you consume a lesser portion of food and also take a good time chewing your food, both of which contribute to better digestion.
How to Practice Mindfulness Meditation
The phenomenon of being mindful cannot be achieved immediately; it requires a reasonable amount of practice and dedication.
Just like any other sport, the more you practice this, the better you’ll get at it.
There are two prominent ways to practice mindfulness meditation; traditional and modern.
Both of these ways can be practiced together or separately, although I recommend trying them out together to change your mind in just 21 days. Let’s get into it.
Traditional Mindfulness Meditation
- Take a stopwatch and set it to 15-30 minutes.
- Find a silent corner in your house and sit down.
- Just relax after taking a few long breaths and listen to yourself
- Let your thoughts come and go but be mindful of your thoughts.
- Look at what kind of thoughts you have, how many positive vs. negative or loving vs. lusty.
Alternate Method
After you’re in the correct posture, get attentive to how your body feels.
- Gently inhale for 4 seconds, hold it for 4 seconds, and exhale for 4 seconds.
- Perform 5-10 rounds of this breathing exercise to get you in a relaxed state.
- Now start noticing every part of your body carefully. Your hands, legs, back, and shoulders. Feel every sensation there is and stay there for 15-30 seconds.
Quick Tip: Download the Black Lotus App to practice mindfulness meditation for free.
Do this daily, and you’ll start experiencing peak awareness after just 2-3 weeks of this practice. This has worked tremendously for people struggling with depression and overthinking, and they’ve literally turned their life around with this.
Modern Mindfulness Meditation
- Take a refreshing drink early in the morning
- Get to your usual work and prepare to focus on only one thing at a time.
- If you’re walking, keep looking at your feet and the road ahead. If you’re eating, feel how the flavors mix in your mouth and how tasty it is. Do this for everything.
- Start being micro-concentrated in every daily activity, and you’ll be at meditation 24/7.
Modern Mindfulness Meditation does not require any complex postures or over-commitment.
You can do it in all your daily tasks, like writing, reading, daily chores, and exercising. You just need to be attentive in all these tasks without being distracted.
The benefit here you will notice is that when we are mindful of our actions, it will help us bring much more attention to the task.
When you give attention, things tend to work out quite well.
Stages of Achieving Mindfulness
I know it’s hard to start something if you don’t know how to measure your progress in the process. How do you even know you’re becoming mindful?
“In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.”
Well, I’ve been meditating for the last 12 years, and based on my experience and the experience of my fellow meditators, here’s what the next few months will look like:
Stage 1: Building Focus
This stage starts from the 7th day and goes up to the 21st day of your meditation.
During this time, you’ll have a hard time concentrating without dwelling on the past or the future.
However, you will start to build focus during this time.
Stage 2: Maintaining Focus
Since you’re starting to achieve focus, you also have to learn to maintain it; otherwise, you’ll lose it.
This period is between 21 days to 3 months of practice.
You’ll notice that your thoughts have started to vanish, and your focus is improving.
Stage 3: Enhancing Focus
By this time, you’d have achieved pretty good focus, and you’ll be able to concentrate more easily.
This period lasts between 3 to 6 months, and you realize how much power you have over your thoughts.
This is when the true beauty of mindfulness comes to the surface.
Stage 4: Achieving Peak Focus
Now that you’ve mastered controlling your thoughts to some extent, you must move towards achieving peak focus.
This period lasts between 6 to 9 months, and you’ll be able to focus on anything you do for as long as you want.
Stage 5: Absolute Control
This is where you achieve peak focus. You finally gain fantastic control over your mind that you do not think of the future or the past unless you do it intentionally.
This period lasts between 9 months to 12 months.
This is peak focus, and you now possess a super-brain.
While the timing of these stages may vary by a few days here and there, you’ll definitely go through these stages with your practice of mindfulness meditation.
Posture for Mindfulness Meditation
Posture is critical for meditation because it activates specific parts of your body that are more receptive and sensitive to deep meditation experiences.
While some postures are too rigid and some are too soft, one posture is known worldwide to enhance the pleasure of mindfulness meditation.
- Sit in a cross-legged position on the Yoga mat. If you can’t do this, just sit in a chair and slightly cross your legs.
- Lock both hands and cross your fingers together, resting on your lap.
- Straighten your spine or put a cushion under you to help you maintain posture.
- Get your neck and chin straight, not bent, and close your eyes
- If possible, touch the upper palate of your mouth with your tongue to let your saliva move down without making you swallow.
- Relax, and you’ve achieved your posture.
Your mind may wander, and it’s okay because it’s the nature of the mind to do so, but as soon as you notice that, bring it back to your breath.
This might feel a little tough initially because it’s a traditional meditation, but it’ll only get easier from here on.
However, if you do not have time for this entire process, you should practice modern mindfulness meditation.
Time Required
You can either practice it for 5 minutes or 2 hours a day.
All it takes is attention, consistency, and commitment to do it perfectly. It’s all about prioritizing your mental health above everything else.
The amount of time you put in is important for this meditation. Depending on your experience level, here’s a quick guide for you.
Beginners (new to meditation): 5-10 minutes
Intermediates (practicing for 1-6 months): 15-30 minutes
Experts (practicing for more than six months): 60-90 minutes
Remember, more time doesn’t equal better results. More attention equals better results.
Even if you meditate for five minutes daily, make sure it’s intense with attention because that’s what you need.
The Bottomline
Mindfulness is not a technique; it’s a lifestyle. While the process of achieving that lifestyle goes through a process, once you do, you’ll lead a hyper-focused life.
Mindfulness will teach you to be in the present moment, with complete involvement.
This will enhance your mind and bring inner peace, focus, and self-awareness to the extent that other people just don’t have. You’ll have a super-brain.
If you have time, we’d recommend you take the traditional route, but if you’re a busy bee like I am, go for modern meditation.
Either way, you’ll end up winning because both are designed to control the mind without actually controlling the mind.
Start practicing today rather than putting it off until tomorrow.
We wish you luck in this journey as you begin to push your mind to greater levels.
All the Best, King!
