Mindfulness as a skill, a tool, and a practice

Mindfulness has gotten very popular lately, but there isn’t always clarity on what it actually is. A lot of attempts to make it even more mainstream as a self-care and wellness practice often end up being clumsy or turning people off. It’s a shame because everyone can benefit from it, whether you’re a student, a CEO, a single parent, an artist, or a teenager.

Ken’s tracks are great for anyone looking to get a better understanding of mindfulness as a skill, a tool, a practice, and a way of life. His lessons not only break down what mindfulness actually is but the benefits and how to use it effectively. He guides us through breathing exercises and thoughtful guided meditations to reconnect with the effortlessness of who we really are. He even talks about the ways that mindfulness often trips people up in their personal practices, like how even when we try to focus on just our breath, our thoughts run off somewhere without us even noticing. And that’s part of the practice, to be aware of when our mind does that. It’s easy to follow it places and get distracted, especially if you’re a chronic daydreamer like I am. When you grow up daydreaming to cope and escape from life, it’s hard to break the habit.

But he goes deeper than just a surface practice for managing thoughts and ruminations. There’s an emphasis on how society trains us to over-identify with our thoughts and how damaging that is not only to us as individuals, but our overall health and happiness. Mindfulness is not just about reducing stress, but getting back in touch with who we really are. Having an awareness of the patterns our mind and thoughts follow is key to overcoming the false selves we’ve built up over our lifetime. We pack on trauma and addiction like a shell until we’re so convinced the shell is a part of us. 

Listen to Mindfulness Course and more self-improvement audio programs on Audiojoy — download free on iOS or Android.

Content Review by Stefanie Cunningham