5 Steps to Mindfulness: How to be Mindful in Every Day Life

With our lives busier and more pressure-driven than ever, we can often forget what it means to be truly in touch with ourselves. And whilst the concept of mindfulness and meditation can be overwhelming to some, once you’ve mastered the art, your day can go from drab to fab without so much as a yoga class in sight.

Mindfulness. Simply put, it is the practice of being present in the moment. Which is easier said than done, right?

So, to help you achieve a more mindful state, we caught up with meditation teacher and co-founder of 1 Giant Mind, Jonni Pollard, to take us through his 10-minute mindful mantra. In just five simple steps, Jonni will guide you through to mindful greatness, to ensure your day is productive, successful and entirely stress-free.

Follow this simple guide to incorporate more mindfulness into your day.

To establish present awareness in our normal state, we must first understand what causes us to not be present. This simplest answer is having too much stimulation, also referred to as stress.

Mindfulness is the practice of learning how to get comfortable with the discomfort of feeling too much stress, whilst also feeling vulnerable enough to let go of the need to defend and control everything. Practicing mindfulness helps to channel these discomforting thoughts and energies in a positive way.   

There are many different practices that help to increase mindfulness. Here are five steps you can practice for 10 minutes a day also using the breath, which will assist in creating momentum for greater present moment awareness and general wellbeing.

When you notice yourself overwhelmed, choose to stop whatever you are doing in that moment to reconnect with yourself.

In whatever way you can, take as much responsibility for the experience you are having. Taking responsibility for your experience means you are back in the power position to do something about it. When we blame someone or something else, we remain at the whim of others to experience greater wellbeing.

Find a place to sit uninterrupted and connect with a steady, even, deliberate flow of breath. Breathe in through the nose, drawing breath first into the stomach and then all the way up into the chest, taking 10 seconds, and then exhaling for 10 seconds. 10 steady inhales and exhales quickly takes us out of the sympathetic nervous system and into the parasympathetic nervous system, restoring and connecting us to the present moment. 

With every out breath, observe how the body begins to settle. Notice how the mind beings to settle as well.

Practice this for 10 minutes a day and watch how quickly your attention will become more present and you become less reactive to challenges and demands.

It’s important to note that mindfulness needs to be a long-term game plan, in order to truly experience its incredible benefits. To really get the most from a mindfulness practice, I recommend learning meditation with the free 1 Giant Mind app taught by certified 1 Giant Mind teachers. It will teach you an elegant technique that supports you to make meditation a daily habit.

Get a few friends together to support each other in this challenge. You will find it to be the most rewarding thing to do on a day-to-day basis. Taking some time out each day to reset our nervous systems to be present is the greatest gift we can give ourselves and others.