You don’t meditate to get better at meditation, you meditate to get better at life.

Meditation is a practice . It can be used on it’s own to help us focus, quiet our minds, gain clarity, feel more grounded and calm. Science is showing us that meditating for as little as 5 minutes a day can have profound effects on our brains and our mental health. It can be as simple as that!

Meditation can also be used as part of a bigger practice of mindfulness. (more on mindfulness below!)

We can use meditation as a tool. It is like going to the gym. We go to the gym to work our muscles so that our bodies can be stronger and healthier outside the gym. We meditate to train our minds the same way we train our bodies.

I know we throw the word mindfulness around a lot these days which is why I actually think it is SO important to know what it really means… and know the steps to take to actually learn how to use it.

Mindfulness is paying attention - on purpose - to the present moment - without judgment - with compassion.

It’s 4 simple steps:

• Remembering- this is where our meditation practice comes in… it helps us remember that we want to be mindful in the first place. We learn actual tools to help us do this through a simple meditation practice.

• Pause-once we remember we want to be mindful; we pause, take a breath and come into our body. Pausing helps us create a space of calm and quiet that we can pay attention in.

• Pay Attention-we use our senses to become aware of what is happening in and around us; we notice the sensations in our body, emotions and thoughts that are present.

• Bring in Compassion- this is the MOST IMPORTANT and often times hardest step. We learn how to let go of the judgments we bring to what we become aware of in this space and instead we bring in compassion.

These steps are simple but they are not always easy. Often times when we really become mindful, we start to become aware of the things that have created the stress or overwhelm or pain that we are feeling. BUT when we have the right tools to work with them, we can learn so much from them.