Good morning everyone!
On Thursday evening I attended the Empower Mindfulness workshop led by the wonderful Susie from the university counselling. I cannot rave enough about this workshop, at first I was quite sceptical about what benefits I would gain, but turns out I have been converted to the mindful way of life.
Mindfulness concentrates on acceptance, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them—without believing, for instance, that there’s a right or wrong way to think or feel in a given moment. We learnt about all the health benefits of Mindfulness, it can physically have positive effects on your body and has been scientifically proven to reduce stress levels, improve your attention span and help achieve a better nights sleep.
Susie then guided us through two exercises. These exercises concentrated on paying attention to your body instead of trying to empty your mind. During these exercises my mind started to wonder and I started trying to decide what to have for dinner (the most important decision of the day). While I was pondering the million dollar question Susie interrupted my thoughts by asking us to all bring our attention back to what our bodies were doing as she knew our brains had probably started thinking of other things. Spooky right! (Turns out it wasn’t spooky but just science).
When I let my body relax and stopped thinking about all the essays I had to do (eeek) I noticeably felt better immediately. When we finished our group meditation all the girls said how relaxed they felt while simultaneously feeling more alert.
With the physical effects being so positive I feel that I would be silly to not try to continue these exercises, especially with the stress of deadlines and exams coming up. I mentioned that I may struggle to concentrate for a period of time without someone to guide me but Susie was really helpful in telling us about some Apps that could help.
Some of these Apps include, Buddhify, Headspace, Calm, Smiling Mind, Happier and Stop and Think. I know that I personally will definitely be using at least one of these apps to try reduce stress and hopefully sleep better which will result in a healthier and hopefully less stressed me!
Empower will be holding another Mindfulness session at Sutton-Bonington campus Thursday 28th November and more will definitely be held next term so keep your eyes peeled!
UoN Engage 