9 reasons why we use Mindfulness in our Stress Management Training Courses
Mind5® uses self-defense and Martial Arts techniques to simulate stress and employs Mindfulness techniques to return participants to a balanced state so that they can fully recover, thereby increasing resilience and performance under stress. While we are using Martial Arts and Mindfulness as a basis for this experience, the outcomes and benefits are applicable in all situations in daily life.
Mindfulness teaches us not to judge. Judgments tend to dominate our minds and can be extremely unhelpful in our interactions with others. Judging can also trigger stress and conflicts.
Mindfulness trains you to be patient. To be patient is simply to be completely in each moment, accepting it in its fullness. Only when we are in this state of mind can we experience flow and perform optimally.
We learn to take new challenges with a beginner’s mind. Too often we let our thinking and our beliefs about what we ‘know’ prevent us from seeing things as they really are. Approach each activity as if it were your first time, this will help you improve your decision making.
Learning to trust your own experience, feelings and intuition helps to loosen yourself from the tyranny of authority and inner harsh judgement. This is essential for individual development.
Almost everything we do, we do for a purpose, to get something or somewhere. But this attitude can be a real obstacle. The tendency to “driven-ness” in our culture and society has enabled us to enjoy unprecedented standards of living, comfort and security. Mindfulness helps us learn how to strive less and experience more flow and joy in your business and private life.
Mindfulness helps us to accept ourselves as we are - a necessary step before we can begin to really change ourselves. This attitude is about attending to one’s experience with clarity and kindness.
Cultivating the attitude of letting go, or non-attachment, is fundamental to the practice of mindfulness. The tendency to want to hold on to what is pleasant in our experience and to reject what is unpleasant, is usually an automatic response sometime known as being on autopilot. Mindfulness teaches us to experience situations as they are.
In the science of positive psychology, gratitude has been shown to be among the most positive attitudes to cultivate. Recent studies are beginning to show that gratitude has a uniquely powerful relationship with well-being. With mindfulness practice you can change over time the programming of the brain. You then automatically focus on what’s going well in your life and notice those things more often in a positive feedback loop.
Generosity is another quality which, like patience, letting go, non-judging, and trust, provides a solid foundation for mindfulness practice. A good place to start is with yourself. See if you can give yourself gifts, such as self-acceptance, or some time each day with no purpose. Experiment with giving. In little ways at first - directing it toward yourself and toward others with no thought of gain or return.
