Newsroom

Mindful May in 2022

Posted 22 Apr 2022

Mindful May

We have all heard about ‘mindfulness’ but what is it and what are the benefits of mindful activities for our mental wellbeing?

Mindfulness is more than taking a break from our daily routine. It can be defined as a moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience without judgment, and tuning in to the present moment. It can be promoted by certain practices and activities for example, paying attention to colours of a sunset or through yoga.

Some of the potential benefits of regular mindfulness practice are:

• Reduced rumination and fewer depressive symptoms
• Stress reduction
• Decreased anxiety
• Boost to working memory.
• Improved ability to focus attention and suppress distracting information
• Greater cognitive flexibility. People who practice mindfulness meditation appear to develop the skill of self-observation

You’ll find more detail on the benefits of mindfulness in this article on the American Psychological Association website.

Mindful Mondays in May

During May, Act Belong Commit is encouraging everyone to find time for a simple mindfulness activity at the start of every week, with a different activity for each ‘Mindful Monday’, from mindful colouring to spending time in nature. You can download our five suggested mindfulness activities as social media tiles and posts below:

We will be promoting these five mindfulness activities on social media:

• Mindful Colouring
• Nature and Mindfulness
• Mindful Breathing
• Mindful Yoga
• Body Scan

As with all exercise, the benefits of mindfulness come from regular practice. If you find these exercises help you, why not make mindfulness part of your daily routine?

2022 Health Awareness Calendar

Mindful May is one of many promotional initiatives in our 2022 Health Awareness Calendar. The calendar captures the many promotional days and weeks during the year which provide great opportunities to share the Act Belong Commit message.

Want to get more involved?

If you or your organisation would like to be involved in this or any other Act Belong Commit initiatives, we’d love to hear from you.

Contact us  to join the many other organisations, schools and community groups that have become Act Belong Commit Partners and support the mental health and wellbeing of people in your community.