Having only recently discovered Mindfulness and Meditation I am already a convert to the powers they possess. Mindfulness and Meditation are both good techniques for improving your mental health. What I have done here is put together a few of the main points that you might need to get started on your own mindful journey.

I give a quick overview and have some links to meditations that I have used and that I would also recommend. There are also many books that can be read – again I will make reference to them at the end of the article.

While researching this article I saw a statement that poor mental health can increase the risk of getting dementia in later life.

Whats the Difference?

While meditation is something I have heard about before. Mindfulness is a relatively new concept to me. I understand that there is a difference between both mindfulness and meditation. However there is a point at which they can cross over.

Meditation is the process of focusing the mind on a particular thing, such as visualising or using a mantra.

The definition on Mindfulness is:

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

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Benefits to Mindfulness

Practicing Mindfulness can have the following physical and mental benefits:

• Boost Energy
• Improve Sleep
• Relieve Stress
• Improve Mood
• Improve Resilience
• Improve Self Esteem
• Boost Relaxation

Mindfulness can be crossed over with meditation by doing some mindful breathing exercises. In doing this you focus your mind on the breath and mindfully bring your attention back to the breath should your attention begin to wander.

Now for the Links

It may not be well known but the DJ and Comic Dermot Whelan has a lot of content on Mindfulness.

https://www.dermotwhelan.com/start-meditating

You can take a look around his website but I have pulled out particular exercises that I like. Dermot studied mindfulness under David Ji in California and his style is very easy to adapt to. Have a listen to some of the exercises and see what you think?

Dermot also has a great book that you could check out – MIND FULL

On the topic of David Ji – here is one of his 15 Minute Guided Meditations that I find nice.