Mindfulness meditation is a powerful tool that can help you upgrade your inner technology – your mind – to keep up with demands of our increasingly complex world.

I think of mindfulness as a type of fitness training for the mind, that strengthens it to be more focussed, and calm. One of the most powerful ways to develop mindfulness is, initially, through the practice of meditation.

We begin this one month program with a guided meditation from Amy Salzman that brings kind and curious attention to our feelings and emotions. 

There is potent transformative power in developing our awareness around our feelings and emotions. Without attention, our feelings are something that happen to us, and we can quickly end up at their mercy and swept away by their whims. 

But when we learn to cultivate a sharp awareness toward them as they rise up, take form and move through the body, we become empowered to name them, tame them and – with time – change them to better suit our goals and intentions. 

So we start by bringing our attention to awareness of our feelings and emotions. The mind will continuously pull your attention to other thoughts, and that is okay. Your challenge is to notice when you’ve become distracted, and then simply bring your attention back to the focus of the meditation.

Remember that meditation is all about training focus, so don’t be alarmed if you find it difficult at first. Just keep coming back, coming back, coming back… 

Jump right in and try out your first mindfulness meditation below.

Download your Mindful in May digital meditation journal HERE to keep track of your daily meditation.