Should Your Mindfulness Practice be Formal or Informal?
I am often asked about the differences between formal and informal mindfulness practices, more specifically, which one is more beneficial. My answer is hardly an answer, because I respond with the question “What are you hoping to gain from your practice?”
Before I share my personal thoughts and experiences regarding both, let’s begin by looking at what constitutes an informal, as well as a formal mindfulness practice.
Informal mindfulness practice involves weaving mindfulness into our existing daily activities and routines (such as brushing teeth, preparing food, folding laundry, walking the dog, taking a shower—you get the picture!), by bringing a kind and gentle awareness to them. In this way, we switch from doing”(left-brain analyzing, thinking, planning) to being (right-brain experiencing, sensing). Informal practices do not require us to allot any specific resources (time, place, etc..) towards their completion.
Bringing mindfulness to an activity involves pausing for a moment to notice what is happening within us and around us, observing our most immediate experiences (such as breathing, thoughts, bodily sensations and feelings), engaging all of our senses and watching our thoughts as they arise— all while practising self-love and gratitude. This should not be mistaken for a forced break in which we run through a mental checklist of what we feel, see, hear and think, as quickly as possible. Instead, it is an opportunity to bring our whole self, including our attention, to whatever we are engaged in.
Formal mindfulness practices, on the other hand, require planning and the intentional and regular commitment of time, as well as possibly other resources, such as a designated space, meditation music and/or a meditation cushion (however, none of these are required). The most popular formal practice is sitting meditation, but there are others, including walking and lying down meditation (body scan), as well as mindful yoga.
I tend to encourage the individuals and families whom I support to develop a Kindfulness practice to adopt both a formal sitting practice (meditation), in addition to bringing mindfulness awareness to everyday activities, throughout the day. This is the easiest and most effective way to re-wire and re-organize our brains, so that we can reap the benefits of mindfulness, including:
Experiencing a deep relaxed awareness of mind and body
Changing our relationship with stress, fear, worry, anger and other uncomfortable emotions and sensations
Being less reactive and more responsive, thereby carving space for more conscious and creative choices
Seeing more clearly (with fewer biases)
Developing a reservoir of peaceful and calm energy
Gaining insights and self-awareness (identifying patterns of behaviour that are and are not serving us)
Knowing ourselves more deeply and fully, so we can access our inner wisdom
Being more compassionate with ourselves and others
Although formally practising mindfulness, via sitting meditation, allowed me to truly know myself on a deeper experiential level (and, more specifically, to develop the discipline and perspective required to refrain from having expectations and being judgmental, to discover the inner workings of my mind and my body, as well as their intricate relationship, to learn to observe my thoughts, emotions, and body sensations without getting drawn into or stuck in them, to learn about impermanence and how not to identify as closely with our self, to experience the quantum field and to change my relationship with suffering), if it wasn’t for informal practices, I would have never been able to find enough time (as a mother to two little ones) to create the habit of regularly cultivating kindfulness, which allowed me to notice almost immediate positive outcomes, thereby motivating me to incorporate more formal and informal practices into my lifestyle~ so that it actually became a way of living and being.
This is why I genuinely believe that the marriage of both kinds of practices is necessary to enhance our relationships with others and with ourselves, as well as our health, feelings of peace and sheer joy. In my experience, it was the combination of these practices that enabled me to truly realize their capacity for helping me to connect with my highest self.
If you’re looking to begin a Kindfulness practice, the best advice I can offer (after a decade of coaching busy individuals and families to adopt Mindfulness and Self-love practices into their lifestyles) is to start by identifying routine activities that you already complete on a daily basis (but which you likely engage in while in auto-pilot mode—meaning, you do not bring mindful awareness to them). Then, think of ways you can practice engaging in these activities with more attention and curiosity. For example, eating is an everyday activity, and we can bring mindfulness to it by paying attention to the full experience of eating and using concentration and awareness with our five senses and the thinking mind, in every moment. It is normal for our minds to wander, so when you notice this is happening (which means you are aware!), gently but firmly move your attention back to the activity, without any criticism or judgment about your wandering mind.
This is how we can slowly begin to incorporate Kindfulness into our lives and to strengthen our brains and minds. Slowly incorporate Kindfulness into more of your daily activities, so that you provide opportunities for yourself to be present for more moments each day. You will likely find that this will carry-over into more of your day, and as you add additional informal practices, you will cultivate greater presence and calm energy in your life, until it becomes your preferred way of being.
That said, we all have to eat, so why not invite mindful awareness to your next meal? I promise you won’t regret it ;)