What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is awareness. It is a state of mind that can be trained, enhanced and made very powerful through consistent daily training. A Mindful Defense mindset is what will make the difference in your ability to anticipate and react rationally and effectively if a threatening situation should occur.
A mindful person is by second nature keenly aware of their here and now situational experience. They are in tune to their breathing, mind and body responses, and have control over their ability to stay sharp and persevere should the need arise. They do not repetitively live their daily routines on auto-pilot. A mindful person will have the ability make a cognitive choice instead of a knee-jerk reaction.
Part of Mindful Defense training is enhancing your natural ability to remain mentally and physiologically strong. You will gain the ability to deal with threatening situations that you can not otherwise foresee or control. You can choose to empower yourself, secure your safety, and transform your life through mindfulness.
What are the 3 key components to developing an Self-Defense Awareness Mindset?
- Focused breathing
- Situational Awareness
- Positive Self-Talk.
Mindfulness is simply learning to focus by paying attention to your breath. It is developing your senses to have a fresh awareness to your present life environment and state of mind. It is creating a positive mindset that affirms to you that you are a strong person that can and will show up for yourself under any stressful circumstance.
Mindfulness and Attention to Breath
Focusing on your breath, breathing smoothly, calmly and equally in and out though your nose natural calms you down. Your heart rate slows when you breath deeply. Connect to the rhythm of your breath and focus on diaphragm breathing rather than chest, by placing your hand right above your belly button and watching your abdomen rise and fall. Focus on your exhale. We often forget to breath out under stress! This practice should be done several times a day and especially during times of stress. It benefits your ability to focus and and will serve you well under stressful circumstances. Physiologically, under stress, tension causes our muscles to contract and constricts our breathing. That is why it is so important to learn diaphragmatic breathing, often know as belly-breathing.
Awareness of Surroundings Check-In
Taking time to deeply connect with your present life reality will enhance your life skills to alert when anything is not as it should be. It gives you a heightened awareness of all of your senses. Getting in touch with your present internal experience can be done anytime, anywhere. Here is how it is done:
- Visually scan and notice what is around you as if it was all new to you.
- Listen and notice all sounds.
- Notice and locate any areas of tension in your body.
- Notice your state of mind, your thoughts, your mood.
You don’t have to change anything you notice, just practice the art of observing. This will help you perceive circumstance and react to them efficiently
Positive Mindset and Self-Affirmations
Mindfulness training requires you to be Confident. You will have negative, self-doubting thoughts that you need to learn to turn around. Develop a positive Mantra for yourself. You already have what it takes to develop your Mental Grit!
These Mindful Defense components all come together through daily Practice. You can consistently tack them on to your normal daily activities. You can make this easier to stick by leaving yourself post-it notes or set reminders. These mindful practices then become habits. Only then, after those mindful habits are developed will they transform into Mindful self-defense intuition. Your Mindful Defense intuition will be there for you when you are faced with your battle.
