Mindfulness – not just focusing on your breath

I have been thinking, and talking, a lot recently about mindfulness. I have noticed that when it’s discussed, there can be a sense of ‘it’s not for me’ and it’s ‘a bit wishy washy’. I have also observed that people can worry about facilitating it in case they receive the same reaction from others.

Grounding (a form of mindfulness) is an essential part of the Resilience Based Clinical Supervision (RBCS) process. A mindfulness-based exercise is done at the start of each session to enable individuals to bring their focus into the session. It also supports individuals to access the affiliative emotional regulation system (For more information please look at our clinical supervision resources).

There is lots of evidence out there that mindfulness is beneficial for health and wellbeing. The most common image of this seems to be of someone sat, eyes closed, and being fully focused on their breath. The Oxford Mindfulness Centre defines it as ‘paying our attention to our experience in the present moment’.

What brings our attention to the present moment is incredibly individual. For some it may be a breathing exercise, for others it may be something more practical such as making an origami swan. Mindfulness is anything that involves you being present.

And in reality, when individuals look like they are fully focusing on only their breath they are likely not. Our minds wander all the time, it is part of being human. The practice of mindfulness is noticing that and (gently and kindly) bringing your attention back to what you were doing before.