Mindfulness: Exercising Your Mind and Body!

Posted in: Active Living, Blogs

In today’s world, finding a quiet moment for yourself is often difficult! Being constantly connected in an ever-bustling environment, remembering to take time for yourself to reflect and refresh – otherwise known as mindfulness, can be overlooked pretty easily. However, if you can take even five minutes a day for a mindful moment, the benefits of this practice can be near endless!

Mindfulness is a form of meditation and can be described as a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique. It says right in the name – MINDfulness is good for your brain! These moments help to calm and centre an individual, and can be great tools to promote positive mental health.

These quick and relatively easy to achieve mindful moments are not only great for your mental health, but for your physical health too! Studies have shown that mindfulness, when practiced daily, can help to reduce stress and anxiety, lower blood pressure, lower the risk of heart failure and lead to increased immune functionings! Stress and other mental health issues can have serious repercussions on your physical health. Mindful moments may help to mitigate this by improving coping strategies and even decrease the level of anxiety one might feel,  which may lead to overall improved physical health. On top of all that, mindful moments can simply make you feel good in the moment – and they’re worth it just for that!

Mental health and physical health are closely linked, and mindfulness sits right in the middle of these! Positive mental health can help promote physical health, and vice versa! With simple and short mindful moments each day, anyone of any age or ability may reap the amazing benefits it has to offer!

For quick, fun and easy-to-use mindfulness exercises, check out the “Zen Me” resource on the Be Fit for Life website! (https://www.mhc.ab.ca/Services/HealthandWellness/BFFL “view our menu of services” or go to http://www.movingandchoosing.com/zen-me-cards)

Submitted by:
Paige Callaghan
Adventure PLAY Project Assistant
Summer Student with the Medicine Hat College Be Fit for Life Centre