A brief introduction to mindfulness
Meditation and mindfulness are standard techniques many individuals use to cope with daily life stressors and mental health concerns. For many, worrying about the future or regretting the past can cause stress. Mindfulness is a technique to bring your awareness and attention back to the present. This practice can occur within one session or become a routine you can add to your daily life. Understanding the history of this technique and how you can use it to improve your well-being can help you integrate mindfulness practice into your life.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a state of being in which you focus on the present moment. When practicing mindfulness, the intention is not to eliminate thinking altogether. Instead, the ultimate goal is usually to center your attention on the present moment instead of the past or future. Mindfulness can help relieve various concerns and physical symptoms, including but not limited to stress, symptoms of anxiety and depression, rumination, and some forms of chronic pain. It may also improve sleep, provide you with a sense of calm, and assist in managing emotions. Some studies have found that mindfulness in the form of meditation can increase hippocampus size, which is a part of the brain responsible for cognition and memory.
Practicing mindfulness
When practicing mindfulness, you may find yourself trying to focus on the present yet worrying about the past or the future. It can be normal to have racing thoughts during mindfulness or mindful movement if you're new to the practice.
When your mind wanders, it may be tempting to fight it. However, doing so may cause more frustration. Instead, try to let the thoughts flow through your wandering mind without focusing on them. Notice them as they enter, then let them go, envisioning them floating in and out. If it helps, you might imagine your thoughts as leaves flowing down a river.
Continually try to ground yourself in the present by noticing the physical sensation of the ground beneath your body or feet, how your body feels against your clothing, what you can smell, your own breathing, and the sounds around you. Observing your thoughts and sensations without judgment can be a vital component of mindfulness.
The East vs. the West
Mindfulness has become popularized in Western culture but originated from Eastern practices and Buddhist philosophies. Mindfulness may reduce stress by reminding individuals to be fully present in the moment. These practices have elements derived from Buddhism, the teachings of Buddhist monks, and Zen philosophy, which is the genesis of where the idea of being in the moment began.
Jon Kabat-Zinn is a meditation and yoga teacher who studied mindfulness in the East and was one of the first to bring this practice to the West. He created mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). This practice has been popularized and turned into a form of therapy called mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). These teachings and practices from Eastern cultures and philosophies have been incorporated and transitioned into Western culture.
When you're focusing on the rising and falling of your breath, you're learning how to manage your thoughts and feelings. Jon Kabat-Zinn did intensive mindfulness research at the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts. He is known for body scan meditation and promoting the benefits of meditating. Kabat-Zinn's mindfulness research was considered ground-breaking by many. He showed how to cultivate mindfulness in everyday life, and his research indicates how powerful mindfulness can be. In addition, Kabat-Zinn was responsible for a significant transition from mindfulness as a religious practice to a form of therapy.
Jon Kabat-Zinn: Mindfulness and stress reduction
Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., is a scientist, writer, and meditation teacher who was one of the pioneers in mindfulness. He's known for creating body scan meditation and integrating mindfulness into mainstream society. Kabat-Zinn taught countless students how to incorporate mindfulness meditation practice into their everyday lives.
Kabat-Zinn is the Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. It is there that he founded the renowned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic. Since 1979, Kabat-Zinn has been helping numerous people cope with mental health issues, often with mindfulness as a tool. He saw the connection between mindfulness and stress management and noted how practicing mindful living had a powerful impact on people's spiritual and emotional lives.
In 1995, Kabat-Zinn started the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society. He retired from the medical center in 2000, but the Center for Mindfulness has expanded in recent years. Dr. Saki Santorelli took over in 2017 and helped the center grow and flourish into an internationally renowned institution.
Mindfulness meditation and stress reduction
Mindfulness and guided meditation may be effective ways to reduce stress levels. It is common for many thoughts and negative emotions to come up when you're trying to meditate. Your thoughts and emotions may be there, but mindfulness is often about letting them exist without trying to change them.
You can practice mindfulness at any point in your life, and there are many ways to do it. For example, you can try sitting meditation or practice mindfulness by focusing on an object, such as a tree outside. Mindfulness meditation isn't necessarily done in any one way; it can be a versatile and personalized practice.
One way to learn about different mindfulness techniques is by reading. Jon Kabat-Zinn wrote a best-selling book called Wherever You Go There You Are. In this book, he outlines mindfulness meditation's basic practices and emphasizes the present moment's value.
How to cultivate mindfulness
Mindfulness is a state of mind you can learn to practice in your daily life. You may learn how to do this by attending mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. To cultivate the positive emotions associated with mindfulness, try to consistently remind yourself to stay in the present moment by training your brain to return to it. Returning to the present might mean finding a mantra, making a mental note to center your focus, keeping reminders on your phone, or setting designated times to disconnect from technology.
Depending on your needs and lifestyle, there are often several ways to check back into the present moment. In mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, guided meditation may teach you how to manage your thoughts and feelings. Guided meditation may help you cope more effectively with the challenges you're facing throughout the day. Studies have found that even ten minutes a day of meditation can have positive mental health impacts.
Practicing daily mindfulness
You may be able to integrate mindfulness practices into your daily life in many ways. Mindfulness meditation is one of them, and another may be eating mindfully. Mindful eating involves taking a moment to savor food as you eat it and become aware of how the food makes you feel with all your senses. This simple practice of eating mindfully may reduce stress, as you are not forcing yourself to rush through your lunch. It might also encourage you not to place judgment on what you're eating.
Guided meditation can be another way to cultivate mindful awareness. You can find guided meditations online, through meditation apps and podcasts, or you can ask for suggestions from your therapist or friends. Initially, it may help to have somebody as a guide to show you how to meditate and direct your thoughts rather than do it yourself. One of the tenets of mindfulness, which comes from Zen Buddhism, is to have a teachable heart or a beginner's mind, which essentially means being open-minded and curious about the practice.
Even people who are experienced meditators can benefit from guided meditations. With guided meditation, paying attention to the technique may be more effective, which can be life-changing for those who believe they can't engage in the practice due to concentration issues. Learning mindfulness may take time, but it may become easier the more you practice.
Counseling options
If you're experiencing difficulties in your life, making mindfulness practices a part of your daily routine can be a productive way to reduce stress, relieve symptoms of mental health conditions, and improve your overall well-being. For many individuals, mindfulness helps them by supplementing the benefits of traditional therapy. If you're interested in trying mindfulness-based therapy, consider online counseling.
Through online therapy platforms like BetterHelp, you can get matched with a licensed therapist familiar with mindfulness techniques and strategies. They can guide you through practice and help you overcome the challenges you're facing in your life. By attending therapy at home, you may feel safer and calmer while practicing these new skills.
Studies have also found that online therapy can effectively manage and treat various symptoms of mental health conditions. One study assessed the efficacy of an online mindfulness-based intervention for treating mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers found that participants experienced reduced stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms. These findings support the idea that therapy and mindfulness can each help improve mental health.
Takeaway
What will happen to you when you start practicing mindfulness?
Beginning a meditation practice can be both encouraging and frustrating. Many people start practicing mindfulness hoping to feel an immediate improvement in their focus, mood, and mental clarity. However, meditation may involve repeatedly getting distracted or bored, especially for new meditators. This can be discouraging, making participants question whether they’re really achieving anything.
However, the experience of noticing distractions and redirecting your attention is often seen as an essential part of the meditative process. Positive effects may follow these initial frustrating experiences. Even after seemingly unproductive mindfulness practice sessions, you might notice improvements in:
- Mood
- Relaxation
- Alertness
- Focus
What is the basic introduction to mindfulness?
Since its core practice involves simply setting aside judgment while observing your feelings and thoughts, mindfulness can be practiced in many different ways. For a brief introduction to the most basic version of mindfulness practice, you can follow these steps:
- Sit down in a comfortable, alert position.
- Set a timer — 5-10 minutes may be a good length of time to start with.
- Close your eyes.
- Pay attention to how your body feels as you breathe in and out.
- Whenever thoughts catch your attention, take note of them without following the train of thought.
- If you notice that you’ve gotten swept up in your thoughts, return your attention to the breath without criticizing yourself.
- Continue this practice until the timer goes off.
By repeating this basic practice every day, you can develop a robust mindfulness practice. As you gain more experience, you may want to increase the length of time you devote to this exercise to 20-30 minutes. Many people find it helpful to make this shift gradually.
How do you introduce mindfulness in your life?
A wide variety of additional methods besides the quiet sitting practice described above can allow you to practice mindfulness in daily life. Many of them aim to bring a state of mindful attention to everyday activities.
For instance, the practice of “mindful walking” involves going for a short walk and maintaining awareness of your bodily sensations and surroundings without judgment or analysis. Studies suggest that this technique may improve both mindfulness and mood. You can apply a similar method to almost any simple activity, from washing the dishes to listening to music.
Over time, these practices may build up your familiarity with the state of mindfulness and your ability to consciously enter it. When that happens, you can start to call on this feeling when you find yourself distracted, upset, or engaging in difficult mental tasks.
How does mindfulness help us in our life and study?
Developing more mindfulness may offer a wide range of practical benefits. Here are a few examples that have been observed in experimental trials:
- A milder stress response
- Decreased anxiety and depression
- Less impulsive behavior
- Reduced aggression
- Greater cognitive flexibility
- Improved mental focus
- Better memory
- Enhanced academic performance
- Greater job satisfaction
- Improved job performance
Researchers are still working to understand how mindfulness practice leads to positive results like those described above. Current theories suggest it may involve improvements in the ability to relax, focus the mind, and manage emotions.
How often should you practice mindfulness?
Most mindfulness instructions recommend practicing at least once per day to achieve the largest benefits. This can be discouraging to people who struggle to fit a consistent meditation regimen into their lives. However, recent studies offer evidence that even practicing mindfulness inconsistently can lead to significant improvements in measures like mindfulness, positive mood, and well-being.
That doesn’t mean there are no advantages to practicing daily. Many researchers have found that as little as one meditation session can have measurable short-term effects on things like mood or task focus. Skipping days of mindfulness practice might mean missing out on these immediate benefits.
Does mindfulness improve quality of life?
Many people report better quality of life as a result of mindfulness practice. A 2017 meta-analysis assessed more than 100 studies and found that mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) led to moderate but statistically significant improvements in mental health, well-being, and personal development.
In addition to boosting overall life satisfaction, mindfulness practices may offer tangible help with specific life challenges. For example, it may assist people living with chronic pain by reducing pain perception and improving mobility and daily functioning.
How long does it take for mindfulness to be effective?
Many people report positive effects almost immediately from mindfulness training and/or meditation. In chronic pain patients, a 10-minute mindful body scan may decrease emotional distress and perceived pain. Other studies have found evidence that a single session of meditation measurably reduces physical reactions to anger — even in people who have never meditated before.
Achieving more substantial and stable effects may require sticking with frequent mindfulness practice for a while. Eight weeks is usually the minimum time allotted for a standardized mindfulness-based course of practice. Many participants will likely feel the benefits sooner than that, though. Researchers have observed robust decreases in anxiety and increases in focused awareness after as little as four weeks of practice.
Is mindfulness necessary to be successful in life?
There’s no evidence that any specific practice of mindful awareness or meditation is necessary for life success. Many people have achieved great things or led fulfilling lives without ever hearing about mindfulness-based practices, let alone engaging in them.
On the other hand, mindfulness as a personality trait may be associated with many desirable life outcomes. Trait mindfulness describes a person’s overall ability to pay attention to the present moment, act in a focused manner, and observe their thoughts and feelings without judgment. These qualities can be helpful in many different life situations.
Some researchers have found possible correlations between a person’s level of mindfulness and things like:
- Attentiveness
- Emotional intelligence
- A sense of purpose
- Job performance
- Career satisfaction
- Relationship quality
- Life satisfaction
These findings suggest that there may be significant long-term benefits to developing greater mindfulness.
How can mindfulness help you manage emotions?
Mindfulness may assist in emotion control in several different ways. A 2017 research review identified two types of pathways by which mindfulness practices help people modulate their feelings :
- “Top-Down” processes that develop the conscious mind’s capacity to reframe emotions. Mindfulness meditation often involves paying close attention to the flow of your thoughts and feelings without allowing yourself to be swept up in them. This may strengthen your ability to recognize when a particular emotional reaction is inappropriate — for example when your anger is arising from hunger or stress rather than because someone has harmed you.
- “Bottom-up” processes that moderate instinctive, automatic emotional responses. Mindfulness practice may also involve adopting an attitude of nonjudgmental acceptance toward your own internal sensations, including the bodily feelings accompanying your emotions. This might help promote a state of physical and mental relaxation, decreasing the inner tension that can accompany intense feelings.
Neuroimaging studies on people who have undergone mindfulness training have found evidence in support of both types of mechanisms. Researchers have found that the practice of mindfulness appears to increase activity in brain areas like:
- The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), which seems to play a role in controlling attention during emotional stress
- The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), which appears to be involved in identity formation and emotional reframing of past events.
- The insular cortex, which has been linked to awareness of the body and control of physiological processes.
By strengthening these brain regions, mindfulness may help you to identify, accept, and work through your emotions without letting them negatively influence your behavior.
How does developing a strong understanding of mindfulness help one practice emotional wellness?
One important way that mindfulness may improve your well-being is by changing your understanding of yourself and your mind. The practice typically involves taking a detached, accepting view of mental states.
Adopting this view helps many people let go of the guilt, shame, fear, or distress they experience in response to their thoughts and feelings. Instead, these inner states are seen as events in the mind that arise spontaneously or in response to experience. The practitioner of mindfulness can stop viewing themselves as responsible for the emotions they feel and focus on how they can take constructive actions in response.
Psychological studies suggest that this attitude of acceptance may be one of the most important aspects of mindfulness for promoting emotional wellness. It’s associated with improvements in a variety of measures of well-being, including sleep quality, stress relief, life satisfaction, happiness, and reduced levels of depression and anxiety.
- Previous Article
- Next Article