10 Tips To Cultivate Your Mindfulness Practice

By cultivating a regular practice you’ll discover increased wellbeing, deeper self-awareness guiding you home to your values and informed decision-making, and a helpful way to navigate life’s challenges. All of this empowers you to lead a peaceful, connected and meaningful life.

1. Beginners Mind – I encourage you to always approach mindfulness through the lens of a beginner, creating a mindset that’s open, curious, letting go of expectations and accepting of your experience. This approach supports a fresh and playful perspective, which is open to learning.
   

2. Gently Meet Yourself Where You Are – Giving yourself permission to meet yourself where you helps you develop self-acceptance and self-compassion. Mindfulness is a journey, not a destination. If you are new to mindfulness, try a short practice of 3-5 mins and build up from there, rather than feeling you need to do a 20 minute practice.
   

3. Consistency Is Key – Practicing daily can really help you patiently build the habit, and 5 mins per day is more effective than 60 mins once a week. By doing this, you’re making a decision to prioritise your self-care by building your practice into your life.
   

4. Set An Intention – At the start of your practice, get curious about what’s drawn you to mindfulness then set your intention with an underlying thread of self-compassion, authenticity and self-acceptance. Ask yourself what your intention for today is and see what arises, feel free to repeat the question a few times.
   

5. Consider Your Posture – You can practice mindfulness in any position that feels comfortable and encourages a sense of open relaxed alertness. This can take the form of sitting, standing, or walking. Notice the placement of your feet and hands as this can help foster a sense of rootedness and balance. Close or open your eyes depending on what you find most helpful.
   

6. Drop Down Into Your Body – Shift your attention from your mind into your body by using your awareness to scan from the crown of your head down to your toes. Get curious in exploring what you notice, not resisting or dwelling on any sensations just gently acknowledging what you find.
   

7. Tune Into Your Senses – Tuning into our physical sensations, breath or sounds can help us live in the present moment. These sensations can only live in the present moment so when we tune into them, we connect to the present moment. I’d encourage you to experiment with these sensations to help you identify an anchor that you can return to as many times as you need to.
   

8. Know That The Mind Wandering Is Normal – Mindfulness isn’t about emptying our mind of thoughts, it’s about learning to relate to our thoughts in a helpful way. Our minds will wander and thing important thing is that when you become aware of this happening you use this moment as an opportunity to bring your awareness back to the present moment by e.g. tuning into your breath, body or sound.
   

9. Name Your Thoughts – Labelling can be an effective way to acknowledge and let go, creating a softening and more ease. Instead of saying ‘I feel bad’ be specific e.g. ’I feel frustrated’. This approach helps us develop self-awareness and can be a useful technique in relating to our thoughts and emotions more constructively.
   

10. Be compassionate With Yourself – Kristin Neff says “Self-compassion is one of the most powerful sources of strength, coping and resilience we have.” It’s natural to feel difficult emotions arise at times e.g. sadness, confusion or anxiety. I’d invite you to feel compassion for yourself, particularly in those moments. Allowing yourself to feel your feelings can create a sense of spaciousness and ease helping us to let go and move forward. To foster this, you can place one hand on top of the other or place a hand on your heart and notice the warmth and sense of compassion and connection this creates.