Mindfulness For Beginners

Life can be pretty overwhelming.

Nowadays there is so much background noise and stressors that distort our view of the world. Life is beautiful, stressful, exciting and exhausting. This frantic whirlwind is impacting our health and happiness.

I’m sure you have heard of Mindfulness - it has become a bit of a buzzword in the psychology community in recent years. There is growing evidence and recognition that mindfulness therapies support our mental health - but they also dramatically improve our physical wellbeing.

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness has shown to result in heaps of positive benefits for athletes and gen pop alike. It means to be present in the moment- being aware of where we are and what we are doing without passing any judgement, just being.

Being mindful takes us beyond just coping - it changes our mindset and the way we perceive the world- helping us to live a more fulfilled life. Mindfulness helps reduce stress, gain insight and self-awareness which can also help us to become more in-tune with the wellbeing of others- making us better friends, children, parents and colleagues. By being mindful, we have the power to respond to our environment differently.

Mindfulness leads to to improved wellbeing and mental clarity, and an increased ability to care for yourself, and others around you.

What’s going on in there?

Human beings are generally not great at dealing with stressful situations. We can blame over 200,000 years of evolution for this. We are the result of a huge series of adaptations brought about by genetic mutations, reproductive success and inheritance. These adaptations allowed our ancestors to survive their harsh environments. As a result, we are good at finding food, seeking shelter and avoiding being eaten, but not so good at addressing less immediate challenges such as climate change, war, pandemics… Our inability to cope is known by evolutionary psychologists as ‘psychological mismatch’ and leads to stress, anxiety and depression. But if can learn the tools to combat and cope with this mismatch, it doesn’t need to be this way.

Our minds have failed to keep up with our changing lifestyles

How can I practice mindfulness?

Why not try this very simple mindfulness meditation (just press play below) - appropriate for all ages. It might feel a bit strange at first, or you might find that your mind keeps wandering off -this is ok! The more you practice and make it a part of your daily routine, the easier it will become to be mindful in all aspects of your daily life. Let me know how you go!

Get in touch to organise a mindfulness workshop for your club, organisation or school by email kirsty@scoutco.com.au or connect with me on Instagram @kirst_scoutco.

Be kind to each other - Kirst

Simple Mindfulness Meditation 

Kirsty McCall

Sports Therapist & Mindset Coach

Email: kirsty@scoutco.com.au Insta: @kirst_scoutco