Fix therapist Ola Daniewska is an accomplished and devoted Osteopath, Physiotherapist and medical Acupuncturist. She is also a surfer, skater and DJ, follow her here
“Having practised mindfulness myself for over a year I am only now starting to figure out what mindfulness actually means and how it benefits my life on a day to day basis.”
“Mindful living doesn’t mean living in a perfect world somehow created by hours of crossed legged attempts to create a mind free of thoughts, (still widely misunderstood as the main goal of meditation).
For me mindfulness is about staying in the present moment, noticing what is happening around me. Mindful living means I choose to cycle a different route to work on some days, I look at my food and not at a TV/computer screen while I eat, that when talking to someone I look at them and not at my phone so I can actually hear what they’re saying to me. Otherwise what is the point of that conversation?
(Sorry but browsing through Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp while trying to have a meaningful conversation with someone just doesn’t work. Multi-tasking may be a myth! Many studies have show it to be ineffective and time wasting).
The beauty of this practice is that mindfulness can be practised anytime and everywhere. It doesn’t mean having to meditate every morning for an hour. You can do it food shopping, looking out the window, lying on the sofa, going for a walk, swim or run. Great article on mindfulness and running here, some good tips for those in training for May’s Run Hackney event.
Mindfulness is about living a full and contended life, being present in it, acknowledging both life’s challenges and joys. Mindfulness isn’t going to miraculously remove pain from your life but it will change the way those stressful situations (i.e. loosing a job, a break up, illness ) influence you and how you influence them. Mindfulness can certainly help diffuse or minimise situations involving conflict.
Simply put, mindfulness can change for the better your relationship to your own life.”
Interested in learning more? At Fix we like Headspace’s FREE 10-day (10 minute a day) meditation guide to kick-start the mindfulness. To book in with Ola click here.