What is mirror gazing meditation? All you need to know about it

Mirror gazing helps you to focus on your body language, facial expressions, and stream of thoughts. This form of meditation can help you reduce stress.
mirror
This is your guide to mirror gazing meditation! Image courtesy: Shutterstock
Grace Bains Published: 24 Oct 2021, 12:00 pm IST
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In general, meditation teaches its practitioners to focus on the present moment, breath by breath. It is described as a means of noticing what comprises in each moment of our existence, be it pain or joy. There are many ways to meditate, and one such form is mirror gazing, which involves mindfully looking into a mirror and focusing on your reflection to gain perspective on your thoughts, physical posture, expressions, and self-identity.

What is mirror gazing meditation?

According to renowned yoga expert Abhishek Otwal, “Meditation is an incredibly powerful tool for relaxing and slowing down the mind and bringing about any kind of breath awareness. Whether you’re holding postures, flowing through sequences, or are in a seated meditation pose, everything falls into place, when you pay attention to your breath.”

Recently, actress Rytasha Rathore took to Instagram to enlighten her fans and social media followers about mirror gazing meditation. She wrote:

“What thoughts and feelings come up when you make eye contact with yourself? Apparently there’s a thing called mirror gazing meditation and I’m told it’s quite powerful. There’s something about the reflection that makes you reflective. The eyes are a window to the soul – so instead of gazing into some fkboi’s eyes – it’s better I gaze into my own for a bit, yes? Yes,” she wrote.

Check out the post here

How can mirror gazing meditation help?

While it’s natural to think that looking into the mirror is a vain pursuit, with the correct focus and perspective, it can actually help meditate and de-stress. Mirror gazing meditation is a practice of gazing into a mirror and making eye contact with your own reflection. This makes you look inwards and generate mindfulness, and observe your emotions and body language.

This practice is designed to facilitate mindfully paying attention to one’s body language, facial expressions, and gain insights into one’s stream of thoughts, without any judgement. So, unlike other forms of meditation, where the focal point are your thoughts, mirror gazing requires you to focus on your physicality as well, be it your facial expressions or body language.

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Mirror gazing meditation can improve your mental well-being! Image courtesy: Shutterstock
Here’s how it can improve your mental well-being

Self-compassion: When gazing into a mirror, you might notice your imperfections and flaws. However, with recurring meditative sessions, you could initiate developing a realistic and forgiving perspective on your idea of self, making you more compassionate about yourself.

Emotional awareness: Many of us are guilty of bottling up our emotions, and hiding our true feelings. A mirror will help you to face the reality head-on, and trigger resurfacing of worries and issues that you harbour. Confrontation with your feelings will make you aware of your emotional state and communicate better regarding the problem areas. This helps to create a strong identity of self, adopt a path to resolving the latent emotional issues, and build confidence.

Here’s how you can practice mirror gazing meditation

Step 1: Place yourself in front of a mirror and make eye contact with your reflection.

Step 2: Focus on your breathing, facial expressions, and stream of thoughts.

Step 3: Pay attention to the sensation in your joints and body parts, and the temperature of your body.

So, ladies, try mirror gazing meditation to boost your mental health and reduce stress levels.

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About the Author

Grace is someone who likes writing enough to make a living out of it. When she isn’t writing, you will find her having chai and reading a book. ...Read More

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