Mindfulness 101 💭

Mindfulness is a buzz word now, and I use it all the time in The Furnace when talking about nutrition - but what does it really mean?

According to Google, ‘Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens.’

I like to describe acting mindfully as the space between your intent and your actions.

E.g. You smell pizza and immediately want one (intent) and you either get one or you don’t (action)

The effort of consideration is what I would call being mindful.

One of the very first things I ask my clients to do is to get clear on their values and goals.

When you are clear on your values, you can be mindful of them when making any decisions.

Like in the above example, if your health is a top value, you might pause after you intend to get the pizza and remember that the pizza is not the healthiest choice at the time, so you don’t get it.

Mindfulness is beneficial in all areas of life. How often do we offend somebody because we want the upper-hand in an argument?

It is natural to feel the intent to hurt somebody back when they offend you, but if you just take a moment between the intent and the action, you can stop things spiralling or save a relationship.

Acting mindfully allows for rational thoughts and actions, instead of irrational ones.

If we get into a practice of stopping to ask ourselves:

 “Is this true?”

“Why?”

“What would this look like from another perspective?”

“Is this in line with my goals and values?“,

we can be more satisfied and accepting of the results of our actions because we actually gave them some thought.

Mindfulness takes practice.

You have to try.

Journaling and meditation are both useful tools for slowing down and becoming more aware of our thoughts and what is important to us.

For me, it made a huge difference to my attitude to nutrition and my body.

It didn’t mean that I never had pizza - it meant that when I did have it, it was because I really did want it and not just because it was Sunday, or because somebody else was eating it.

I became kinder to myself with regards to my body image because I would have thoughts about being “fat, guilty, bad” etc but once I journaled and took some space to consider it they were true, I realised I was having irrational thoughts.

This is what helped me feeling happy and healthy in the long run. Of course the basics of fat loss is a calorie deficit but it’s the mindset around it that leads to long term results.

That’s why The Furnace has three “spokes” - Training, Nutrition and Mindset.

***And the good news is, I’ve slashed the prices this week***

Click below to check out the special offer, and let me know if you have any questions before signing up.

Thanks for reading,

Siobhan “Is this true?" O'Hagan