To close our #ReadForYourMind campaign, we spoke to spiritual teacher Katie Queue about the benefits of mindfulness and how reading can support your mental health.
What is mindfulness?
Katie, who has been voted as a ‘Top Advisor’ by some of the world’s most prestigious psychic platforms, believes mindfulness can help you gain back control of your mind. She said: “It’s a process in which you can gently remind yourself that it is indeed YOU who is in control and ultimately allow you the space and time to work with your mind to navigate the best route to that in which you want to succeed.
“Mindful, broken down, means ‘Mind-full’, it is about being fully present in your mind and becoming more directorial when it comes to your own processes. A bit like being lead admin for your own filing cabinets.”
Where to begin with mindfulness?
With so much information out there, it’s hard to know where to start when it comes to practising mindfulness for the first time.
“There is no One fits all,” explained Katie, who grew up in a religious and spiritual household. “I personally am mindful in a queue in Waitrose, or I zone out when I am queuing up.
“Mindfulness is basically the art of coming back into centre and into your mind and being parental about it. This can happen when you both control your environment, so for example, in a yoga or meditation pose, or when you are walking along minding your own business. The only thing you have to do, is to get back into your body and mind and not be intimidated by the disorganisation.”
How do I incorporate reading into my mindfulness routine?
I know us readers like to incorporate reading into anything we can, but when it comes to mindfulness it can actually make all the difference.
“Read something nice,” said Katie. “Reading is a romance and should be approached in a way in which you are fully understanding that each word from the page soothes your mind.
“So choose something beautiful. Choose something that carries you and something that perhaps you don’t quite understand but it brings an emotional sensation to it.
“Truth be told, I read a lot of poetry and although there are words and structures there that I do not fully understand, it brings a peace and a calm to it. So reading to gain an emotional experience rather than to learn something new, can definitely support a mindfulness practice.”
How do I stay clear from ‘fakes’ in the mindfulness industry?
When wanting to get into the spiritual world, dodging frauds can seem daunting.
“There is a huge fake industry that has emerged which I absolutely cannot stand,” said Katie. “Like all groups and segments of the human form, there can be a lot of hijackers who want to use the spotlight for their own gain. A spiritual person, quite like a religious person or an academic person, can use what they know against you to control you and that is exactly what I want to bring attention to, because once we are able to identify what a genuine intelligent and spiritually sophisticated person is, then we can most definitely save you a lot of money when you book for people who haven’t a genuine concern amongst them.
“Look for proof, years of experience and follow your gut on whether you want to work with someone or not. Judgement is everywhere, even within religious groups. You should feel safe and like you really know you can learn from this person. Look for a good heart.”
Don’t forget to check out BLOT’s #ReadForYourMind campaign over on Instagram.
If you liked this post then read Reader’s recommendations: Books that depict mens mental health well or The power of bibliotherapy: How reading can make you healthier and happier next.
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Katie Queue
Katie Queue is a Spiritual Teacher and Life Coach who has over 20 years in the Corporate field and who has been practicing and working in the Spiritual field for over 30 years. She has clients all over the world where she guides them on the best path to take and comforts where needed and also works for a number of top worldwide Psychic companies offering the service of psychic medium.
Sophie Olejnik
sophie.blotmag@gmail.com
Sophie is a trainee journalist at The University of Sheffield who specialises in feature writing. She has a keen passion for books and would love to work in the publishing industry in the future. She’s particularly passionate about how our ever-changing planet is represented in the books we read.
Favourite genres: Thrillers and Contemporary Fiction.