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Read: Why Are Meditative Relaxation and Mindfulness Important?

Mindfulness is a practice that will help you develop greater awareness and contentment by being in the present moment. Too often, people are focused either on the past or on the future and do not have a full focus on the present.

Mindfulness is not meant to be relaxation although at times it can be very relaxing, especially while practicing. Mindfulness is developing full awareness of the present even when the present may not be pleasant. Much of the time what makes the unpleasant even worse are the future or past-oriented thoughts negatively evaluating it. When we allow the full experience of the moment, no matter what it is, we allow the natural coping and healing to occur.

The following is part of a series of short mindfulness practice exercises to help train your brain to be more mindful or present focus. They are meant to be used frequently throughout the day. It is difficult to put mindfulness into words because it gives the impression that you should be saying the descriptions of the events to yourself. Actually, however, mindfulness is just being aware of these things without having to describe them. The audios are to help you get started by creating awareness. Eventually, you want to be able to be mindful without an inner verbal description.

Practice these exercises many times throughout the day with your different activities. If your mind wanders, gently bring your focus back to your immediate experience.

These audios are not imaginal experiences. It is necessary to actually engage in the behavior described. The audio is for guidance only. You do not listen to the audio while practicing mindfulness. This exercise focuses on experiencing the different sensations of digging in a garden. Try this exercise in different places in the garden and at different times such as after a rain or when the soil is dry.

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Choose a spot in the garden to dig. Notice the texture of the soil and any ground covering. Place your shovel on the soil and feel the tension on the shovel as you push it into the soil. Notice the muscles you use to push the shovel. What do you hear as you push the shovel? If there is any resistance, how do you experience it? Once the shovel is in the ground, turn the soil over or lift the shovel up. Notice the soil that you have dug up. What do you see? What is the difference in texture? Do you see signs of insects or worms? Do you see roots of plants? What do you smell? Can you smell the fresh soil? How do you describe that smell? Allow yourself to fully experience digging in the soil. Notice the difference when you dig in different areas of the garden and different types of soil.

When I ask clients what they do for daily relaxation I usually get responses such as:

"I relax by watching TV every night."

"I have a glass of wine."

"I read a book."

"I go out with friends."

"I go to the gym and work out."

"I find gardening relaxing."

"I like to fish."

Although each of these activities may be perceived as relaxing and may even have an element of mindfulness, they don't provide the brain and body with the deep meditative relaxation we require. In fact, most of these activities are stimulating to the brain or the body rather than quieting.

What is Deep Meditative Relaxation?

When I refer to deep meditative relaxation, I mean the type that allows our brain to enter an "alpha" state for a period of time. An "alpha" state refers to our brain waves as measured by an EEG. When (non-invasive) electrodes are attached to our heads to measure our brain waves, we find several different types occur depending upon our degree of wakefulness.

The normal state of wakefulness in which we are fully aware and active is shown as "beta" waves. Beta waves on the EEG are very active, not very uniform, and not deep are slow. This makes sense as it is showing that the brain is active which includes thinking as well as physical activity which the brain must direct. So, most of the statements above can be described by a "beta wave state."

When we fall asleep our brain slows down, and the brain waves become deeper, slower, and more rhythmic as we progress through the deeper stages of sleep including theta and delta brain waves. However, when we cycle back into dream sleep or "REM" sleep then our brain approaches the wakeful state of the beta waves because our brain is active during dream sleep.

For most people who don't practice deep meditative relaxation, these are the primary brain waves that they experience. However, with deep relaxation, meditation, hypnosis, and mindfulness people experience the alpha brain wave state as well as the theta brain wave state (Chiesa, 2009; Lagopoulos et al, 2009) which have been shown to have significant health benefits. READ MORE