Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina

Author of Mindfulness for Dummies.

Try our FREE 30-day Mindfulness Challenge to learn more. Link in bio.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

😴 Trouble sleeping?

Your breath is the secret key.

I’ve shared 5 simple breathing tips for better sleep in this video 🌙✨
Try them tonight (and every night!) + drift off more easily.

Want the book? https://t.co/dXsOBJQ6wu

#BetterSleep #Mindfulness #Breathwork

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

Most people see a dying leaf.

An artist sees the most interesting thing in the park.

Flawless is boring. Rugged has a story to tell.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

"I'm achieving inner peace through pure effort."

That has never worked for anyone.

You can't wrestle your thoughts into submission alone in an empty room. It turns out to be much easier with other people.

Weekday mornings, 7.30am UK.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

Your thoughts are the traffic.

You don't have to stand in the middle of the road and fight them.

Step back. Be the hill.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

Your thoughts are the traffic.

You don't have to stand in the middle of the road and fight them.

Step back. Be the hill.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

Box breathing. Four in, four hold, four out, four hold.

Follow the light around the square and let it loop. Nothing to memorise, the shape remembers for you.

Too long? Use three. Too easy? Try five. Never force a hold.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

"The part of you that is aware of the discomfort is not in pain."

Notice the ache. Then notice the noticing.

The part doing the looking is not aching. It never was.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

Box breathing. Four in, four hold, four out, four hold.

Follow the light around the square and let it loop. Nothing to memorise, the shape remembers for you.

Too long? Use three. Too easy? Try five. Never force a hold.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

An ancient tree fell over. Rotted, cracked, finished.

And a brand new sapling growing straight out of the middle of it.

The decay wasn't an ending. It was the soil.

What's fallen over for you lately?

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

Trying to calm down tells your brain the feeling is dangerous. So it rings the alarm louder.

Instead: open your posture and say to yourself, "I have room for you."

The moment you stop wrestling it, your hands are back on the wheel.

[SE16 Happiness Group @SE16_Happiness]

It's another #SelfCareSunday - and yesterday was #MindfulnessDay ✨✨

@ShamashAlidina explains that being mindful isn't about feeling bliss all the time, it's just being friendly to whatever's in our heads - so don't pressure yourself to be peaceful, just be kind to yourself...

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

Happy Mindfulness Day. You don't need an empty mind. You need to be friendly to the one you've got.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

Happy Mindfulness Day. You don't need an empty mind. You need to be friendly to the one you've got.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

Trying to calm down tells your brain the feeling is dangerous. So it rings the alarm louder.

Instead: open your posture and say to yourself, "I have room for you."

The moment you stop wrestling it, your hands are back on the wheel.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

You can't control the waves. You can choose whether you show up to meet them.

Accountability isn't discipline or guilt. It's a decision about when you show up.

A promise made only to yourself is easy to break at 6:30am. Nobody notices.

That's why we sit together.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

Left nostril in, and you calm down. Right nostril in, and you pick up.

Your nose already switches between the two through the day, on its own. Alternate nostril breathing just does it deliberately.

Follow the arrows. It loops, so stay for a few rounds.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

Hands over your eyes take the whole room away. They aren't big or strong. They're just close.

That's what a thought does when you fuse with it.

Lower your hands. The thought is still there. You just have room to move.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

You can't stop the ocean making waves. You can't stop your mind making thoughts.

What tires you out isn't the thoughts. It's the fighting.

Even in a storm, a few metres down, the water is still.

Mindfulness isn't flattening the waves. It's dropping beneath them.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

Steady focus isn't a tight fist. It's a relaxed, open hand.

Most of the tiredness in concentrating isn't the focusing. It's the gripping.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

This grass gave up weeks ago. That is exactly why it will survive.

It stopped trying to stay green and pulled everything down into its roots.

We do the opposite. We push harder.

Sometimes the wiser move is rest.

[Mindfulness | Shamash Alidina @ShamashAlidina]

You're not tired because your thoughts are heavy. You're tired from squeezing them.

Hold something small in your fist for ten seconds. Then open your hand.

It weighs the same. The tension has gone.

Acceptance isn't liking the thought. It's putting down the fight.