Chetan Bhasin 
Have you heard the story of the science experiment in which the researcher puts a frog in hot water and the frog jumps straight out, but when the frog is left in room temperature water that slowly boils and the frog dies? The story has been used a lot in pop culture and basically serves to caution us against our missing abilities to notice change when it is slowly introduced in our environment.
I have personally met people who would shut the door and windows on their room and wouldn’t notice when it became too hot or too cold to feel comfortable. They wouldn’t even notice the air going stale. On the other hand, there are people who would immediately open their windows or turn on air conditioning or heating. The key difference between the two group is mindfulness.
In meditation, mindfulness is the practice of focusing your thoughts on present and taking notice of your thoughts, your body, and your environment. This is important for several reason. Let’s talk about them.
Generally speaking, anxiety is our body’s response to danger in our environment, but we often feel anxious, stressed, or even depressed even when there is no direct danger around us. This is primarily because we are not focusing on things as they are, but rather worried about things as they could be. In other words, we are not mindful of our current circumstances.
This becomes even more concerning when you think about the trickle down effects of it. This means that we’re not able to pay attention to our bodies’ needs and neglecting them further reduces our quality of life, which further harms our mental health. Not to mention that we are unable to form useful strategies for problems in our lives because we are unable to fully pay attention to what’s going on in our lives.
Now that we know that lack of mindfulness is not good for us, what can we do to improve attention on our present self? How can Mindful Meditation help?
What is Mindful Meditation?
Mindful meditation is a form of meditation that teaches you to bring your attention back to what you’re feeling exactly now. It then slowly helps you learn to make it a habit of paying attention to your body, your thoughts, and your environment.
There is strong evidence in science that practicing mindfulness can reduce stress and improve both physical and mental health.
If you use one of the many apps that help you with meditation, you generally get started with what’s called “guided meditation.” In this form of meditation, a gentle voice guides you to slow down your breathing, focus on it, and then slowly talks you through noticing and thinking about what you’re feeling in different parts of your body as well as your environment.
More advanced practitioners often don’t need a guided voice and rather just follow a routine that more or less does the same. There is also a technique called body scans, which basically takes you through all the parts of your body and asks you to focus on the feelings they are feeling at the moment. But that’s not strictly important for now.
How to practice Mindful Meditation? Where to start?
To be perfectly straight with you, the easy answer is to just use one of the many guided meditation apps out there. Take your pick because the experience is slightly different in each one of them and what works for one person might not work for you, and vice versa.
But while you’re exploring your options, let’s talk about how it generally works. The first step is to take deep breaths in and out. Then pay attention and try to relax. No need to try too hard, if you’re feeling stressed and don’t relax immediately, it’s perfectly fine too.
The next step would be to pay attention to the chair or sofa you’re sitting in. Pay attention to how your body rests on the surface. Pay attention to your arms, your feet, your head, and really try and notice what each different part of your body is feeling. You might also want to take some time to pay attention to the quality of air, the temperature, and the sounds (or lack of sounds) around you.
It really is as simple as that to start. After doing this for a few days, you might notice that the practice relaxes you. At this point, you can try and do a mini-session with yourself when you’re feeling stressed. Simply take a couple of deep breaths and try to focus on them.
Some Tips
Start small: Start with a few minutes each day and gradually increase the time as it becomes more comfortable. Setting aside just 5 to 10 minutes each day can create the habit without feeling overwhelming.
Notice Without Judgment: Mindfulness meditation encourages you to observe your thoughts and bodily sensations without attempting to change or judge them. When thoughts come up, gently acknowledge them and return your attention to your breathing. This technique helps train the mind to focus on the present and reduces stress over time
Be Patient and Consistent: Mindfulness, like any skill, requires regular practice. Research from the NIH emphasises that consistency is key, as the benefits of mindfulness meditation grow over time, becoming more evident with sustained effort and repetition
Making Mindfulness a Consistent Practice
So we’ve learned about Mindful Meditation and how it can be useful. A very important thing to remember is that consistency is the key. Most meditation apps out there will allow you to set a reminder every day at the same time so you could meditate.
I’ve tried that myself and often I just skip it because something else comes up or I’m working on something when the reminder pops on my phone. It’s a common challenge - we know meditation would help us feel better, but somehow our self-care routines are the first to get bumped when life gets busy.
This is one of the reasons we built BeeLike. BeeLike can help make sure that there really isn’t anything distracting during the time you’ve set aside for your health routines. And if something comes up, instead of ignoring your health, you can plan around to fit self-care in your day. Think of it as a mindful approach to time management - one that prioritizes your wellbeing alongside your tasks.
Just as mindfulness helps you become more aware of your thoughts and feelings, BeeLike helps you become more aware of how you’re spending your time. Because true productivity isn’t about doing more - it’s about being mindful of what matters most.
Ready to make mindfulness a consistent part of your daily routine? Join our beta program and discover how BeeLike can help you create space for what truly matters.
