Why Mindfulness?
LEGO has so many amazing applications, all of which spark joy. Annie found that through her toughest challenges, creativity with LEGO was her guiding light. In those moments of uncertainty LEGO gave her unique focus.
A few years later, Annie realised that in those moments LEGO was driving her mindfulness practice and Building Mindfulness was born.
What is Mindfulness all about?
Mindfulness is about relaxing, gaining that extra element of self-awareness and being grateful for your subconscious actions in a conscious way. Acknowledging each breath as you inhale for example, is a mindful practice. For Annie, her choice is play for mindful relaxation because it helps her unwind, but also brings excessive joy. And it turns out that 8 in 10 adults agree that play helps them relax too.
Do LEGO and Mindfulness click together?
Building with LEGO is the perfect way to exercise mindfulness. It pulls you into your present moment, it directs your focus to your fingertips, it offers a wholesome, creative goal that is relaxing and calm, it lights up the brain with thoughts about patterns and connection and your senses of touch, hearing and sight are excited by colour, sound and texture. And it’s joyful, bright and fun so you can build for yourself and you can include the people you love when you’re building too.
Annie O’Reilly
Mindfulness Practitioner
Annie was raised in a home of counsel and mindfulness practice and studied under her mother’s counselling practice. As a teen she was also struck down with a rare brain infection and diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy. One of the prescribed treatments during recovery was regular meditation and calming techniques to help reduce seizure rates and severity. But Annie also believes that anyone has the ability to hone specific skills such as meditation and mindfulness. It takes practice, dedication, belief in your abilities (yes, you are doing it right!) and commitment to master your desired skill. Annie has now been practicing mindfulness and sharing her practice for over 20 years.