Mindfulness

Train your attention on the present moment. Observe your mind and body as if from a distance.

Mindfulness is a concept commonly referenced in meditation, mental health, and spirituality. It's generally considered a good practice for mental health and well-being.

Mindfulness is a mental model that doesn't require any religious or spiritual affiliation.

The extent to which mindfulness does or doesn't benefit your mental health is being actively researched, but regardless, the core tenets of mindfulness make sense from a rational perspective.

In general, mindfulness means:

• Focusing your attention on the present moment, rather than obsessing over the past or future.
• Understanding that you're more than the sum of your parts. Your mind and body are important, but they don't make you who you are.
• Developing awareness of your thoughts and feelings, rather than being reactive to them, as if observing them from a distance.

In Jiu-Jitsu, mindfulness helps us learn more rapidly by observing how our mind and body react. We can use our observations from mindfulness as feedback on how to improve our mental and physical game.

For example, in Jiu-Jitsu mindfulness may enable you to:

• Identify self-defeating thoughts and remove their power
• Understand your fears and get comfortable being uncomfortable
• Realize when you are not controlling your breathing
• Realize when your body is tense and you should loosen up.

Further study:

• Mindfulness - Wikipedia
• Mindful
• Headspace