Be Present with Mindfulness Practice
Have you ever taken a drive and not remembered getting from one place to the next, or taken a walk in the park and realized you didn’t notice nature?
Sometimes this happens because we are caught up in our minds, thinking about the past or the future. In other words, we get carried away by thinking and lose contact with what is happening in the here and now.
Thinking about the past and future can be useful, but it’s also important to connect to what is happening in the moment. You can do this by paying attention to the present. This is called mindfulness.
Mindfulness – or using your five senses to pay attention to what you experience in the here and now – can help you become aware of the present moment. Practicing mindfulness has many psychological, emotional and physical health benefits.
How to practice mindfulness?
Practice mindfulness daily even if it’s for only a short period. You can start by focusing on your breathing, by simply noticing the rise and fall of your breath.
Mindfulness and Aikido:
We breathe, we drink and we eat. All three are essential to our survival. You can live for a couple of weeks without eating, a few days without drinking but less than a couple of minutes without breathing.
While practicing Aikido, it is important to focus on the breathing. It seems like it is a simple concept but many people hold their breath when they are doing the training. So we spend time to harmonize the breathing and the practice.
Aikido is a martial art and we learn how to fall, roll and perform techniques but the ultimate goal for the motivated student is to cultivate and harmonize the mental and physical energy. This energy is called Ki/Qi.
As we put our intention to the right places, mindfulness start to settle and we start focusing on the present, the now. In Japanese, it is called Mushin or presence of mind: awareness of your surroundings, your actions and making the right choices so you never have any openings. Mushin is developed overtime and its development is endless.
Balance helps us to become better human beings for ourselves and for others. Balanced human beings are overall healthier.
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