• What is mindfulness?
  • What is mindfulness movement?
  • How can mindful movement help in Physiotherapy?
  • References

What is mindfulness?

(NOTE- The following section from my Mindfulness Blog: See that for more information).

There are several different interpretations and meanings of mindfulness but to define it simply it is a mental state where an individual is (consciously) aware of the present moment. This could mean a person is being mindful (consciously aware) of their breathing, thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations or surrounding environment. Mindfulness is so much more than a “relaxation technique”; it is an opportunity to step out of negative habitual ways of thinking and being, it allows you to be more accepting of yourself and it can allow you to understand yourself better.

Rebecca Crane a teacher and trainer in MBCT describes mindfulness as the following:

 “Mindfulness is the awareness that emerges when we pay attention to experience in particular ways – on purpose (the attention is deliberately placed on particular aspects of experience); in the present moment; and non-judgementally” (Shapiro et al., 2006; Kabat-Zinn, 2013; Crane, 2017).

The above definition embodies the three components of mindfulness:

1. “On purpose” or intention

2. “Paying attention” or attention

3. “In a particular way” or attitude (mindfulness qualities).

The image above take from Shapiro et al. (2006) highlights that intention, attention, and attitude are not separate processes or stages—they are interwoven aspects of a single cyclic process and occur simultaneously

What is mindfulness movement?

The mindfulness movement meditation teaches you how to be present with bodily experience in motion (Kabat-Zinn, 2013; Crane, 2017). It may be very useful for those people who struggle with sitting still for long periods.  Furthermore, for others it may add a further challenge of facing more thoughts.

Evidence shows mindful movement helps develop focused attention. There is evidence that this focused attention can help improve selective and executive attention, or the ability to focus on the task at hand (Chiesa et al. 2011). This means as your improve your executive function you are able to more present with your workouts and get distracted less (i.e. not being distracted on your phone)

To do the movement meditation begin by noticing the sensations of your own breath. Breathe into your feet and feel the weight of your body through your feet. Following this start being mindful of parts of your body that feel tense or uncomfortable (Kabat-Zinn, 2013; Alidina and Marshall, 2013).

A simple movement mindfulness sequence is as follows-

  • Begin with standing mindfully and becoming aware of bodily sensations (2 min).
    • Stand with your feet, hip width apart and knees slightly bent. Have your arms hanging by your waist and hands open. Stand tall and shoulders back. Start breathing and imagine breathing into your feet- so imagine your breath passing all the way down from your mouth, down your stomach into your feet.
    • As you breathe in, start feeling sensation in your body i.e. do you notice your chest or stomach rising and reducing as you breath. So do any parts of your body feel tenser than the other parts? Do feel any pain?
  • Start moving your arms and hands.
    • Move them up in front of you 10 times and sideways 10 times. Continue breathing in as you move your arm up and breathe out as you move your arm down. Notice the sensations in your arms and if there is any tense areas. Do this 10 times
  • Rotate your shoulders forward and back.
    • As your rotate your shoulder forward back 5 times, notice any areas of tension.
  • Rotate you head side to side and forward (chin tuck).
    • Do these exercises slowly. Gently drop your left ear towards your left shoulder and then back to the centre. Then from the centre move your right ear to right shoulder back into the centre again. After move you head downwards to face the floor and then back to the centre again.
  • Lift your knee up and down.
    • In a standing position, lift your knee up and down. Start with your right leg first as far as you can and then back down. Then lift your right leg up and then downwards. Lift each leg 5 times.

How can mindful movement help in Physiotherapy?

Mindfulness and particularly mindful movement has a benefit in physiotherapy as it helps teach people how to be mindful of their boy and helps them aware of a movement and bodily sensations, whilst also developing your ability to develop focused attention. Two common exercises which involve mindful movement are Yoga and Tai-chi. This is beneficial for the following reasons:

  • Helps teach you to be aware of your breathing.
  • Can be useful when teaching people the correct technique for an exercise.
  • Can help relax the body and reduce stress in individuals.
  • Helps you understand your body and where in particular there may be tightness
  • Helps you practice mindfulness in a different manner to sitting down and meditating.
  • Helps you to understand movements better, which can help you understand what you limitations are and also understand any pain you have. This is particularly useful when you are struggling with a movement.
  • As you get better at sensing and feeling movements better you are able to make movements more efficient by sending feedback to you brain to adjust a movement.
  • Reduced pain and its associated conditions, such as depression (Khoo et al., 2019).
  • Reduced stress and anxiety associated with Pain and lower levels of emotion disturbance (Brown & Ryan, 2003; Carlson & Brown, 2005)
    • Through mindfulness you can to take a step back and it can help you realize that anxiety is just a temporary emotional state which will eventually go away. Additionally, through this process of acknowledging all mental states as changeable, the anxiety will become less frightening and less overwhelming. This will help endure and maybe even end the inner suffering caused by pain (Shapiro et al., 2006)
  • Better relationship and management with pain.
    • In regards to pain and mindfulness you’re trying to change your perception and relationship to pain. You’re learning to relate to the original emotion that the pain evokes in a different manner. You’re not trying to fix it but instead explore the possibility to relate to it in a different way. Mindfulness will allow you to attend to your emotions and regulate them better. Additionally, mindfulness help improved your adaptive coping skills and hence, you don’t become triggered by your past habits and experiences.

Ultimately, as a physiotherapist I believe mindfulness is a very useful and vital tool that is actually underused by many healthcare professionals. I believe it is a tool that can be utilised by many individuals to help transforms their lives to move better with less stress, anxiety and pain.

References

  1. Alidina, S. and Marshall, J. (2013). Mindfulness workbook for dummies. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley.
  2. Alidina, S. (2015a). The Mindful Way through Stress. (1st ed.). The Guilford Press.
  3. Alidina, S. (2015b). It’s Not Mindfulness Without Kindness – Mindful. [online] Mindful. Available at: https://www.mindful.org/its-not-mindfulness-without-kindness/ [Accessed 4 Aug. 2019].
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  5. Brown, K., Ryan, R. and Creswell, J. (2007). Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects. Psychological Inquiry, 18(4), pp.211-237.
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  10. Crane, R. (2017). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. (2nd ed.). Routledge.
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  22. Shapiro, S., Carlson, L., Astin, J. and Freedman, B. (2006). Mechanisms of mindfulness. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62(3), pp.373-386.
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