2020 has definitely been a challenging year with different distractions and circumstances making life chaotic and stressful. Whether it’s getting the kids to school while juggling working from home, the mundane day-to-day tasks or missing family and friends, it’s easy to forget about how important it is to bring attention back to ourselves and be present in the here and now.
This is where the practice of mindfulness can help.
For those not familiar with the practice of mindfulness, it helps teach us to be fully present and alive in the ‘now’ and to pay attention in a non-judgemental way. Rather than worrying about what has happened or might happen, mindfulness trains us to respond skillfully to whatever is happening.
Several members of the LOVELIVE team recently embraced the concept with training over lunchtime led by facilitator Sheila Ryan of SR Mindfulness. Throughout each 45-minute session, Sheila shared her years of experience, teaching the group about nurturing a mindful attitude, nourishing and depleting, mindful living/eating and gratitude.
The training took place at the LOVELIVE offices, with later sessions conducted via Zoom during ‘lockdown 2.0’. As well as the main topics, each session started and ended with short breathing exercise practice and followed up by email with supporting articles, blogs and podcasts and to expand on the learning.
So what did the team think?
“I really enjoyed the sessions, it was great to learn how something as simple as focusing on breathing can have such a calming effect.”
“I loved mindfulness – after such a tough year, I was happy that we had the opportunity to take part in this as it was something I had been wanting to do. I always felt so relaxed and refreshed after taking part and it’ll definitely be something I continue.”
“The course was great when the group was situated at the office, Shelia created a nice, calm environment for us all and managed to get the group to speak openly.”
If you would like to find out more about Sheila and the mindfulness sessions she offers visit: https://www.srmindfulness.com/