What are the benefits of mindfulness meditation?
Interest in mindfulness and its potential to relieve a broad range of mental and physical health issues has increased significantly in the past two decades. Advocates claim it takes just a few minutes each day, and can be done almost anywhere. But what exactly is it, and how can it help us?
Awareness
Three components feature in most definitions of mindfulness, the first of which is awareness. Focusing on the present moment, and being aware of our physical and emotional experiences is key. It sounds simple… but it’s not always that easy! According to research, we spend around half of our daily lives unintentionally on auto-pilot, letting our minds wander, fretting about something that just happened, or something we expect might happen in the future - and that makes us anxious and unhappy. See the report here. But with practice, taking the time to be fully conscious of where we are, what we’re doing, and how we’re feeling, can help us to refocus our attention.
Decentering
The second component of mindfulness is called decentering. This involves us developing an ability to take a step back, and observe and explore our thoughts and experiences from an objective third-person stance. The challenge is not to latch onto a particular idea or sensation, or to get caught-up in thinking about the past or the future. Instead, we notice what emotions come and go, and discover what produces our feelings of well-being or distress. At times, this process may not seem relaxing at all, but over time it leads to greater happiness and self-awareness as we accept, and become comfortable with our experiences.
Compassion
The third component of mindfulness is compassion. It’s about being kind, understanding and non-judgemental when paying attention to our thoughts. Being patient and sympathetic, instead of angry and frustrated when we find our minds wandering. In this way, we develop compassion for ourselves, rather like a parent attending to a young child.
Getting started with mindfulness
There’s more than one way to practice mindfulness, but the goal of any technique is to achieve a state of alert, focused relaxation by deliberately paying attention to thoughts and sensations without judgement. This allows the mind to refocus on the present moment. Identifying an everyday activity where our thoughts tend to wander, such as on the train journey to work, when eating lunch, or listening to music, is the ideal time to try mindfulness meditation.
Find a quiet space and sit in a comfortable upright position. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and relax. Let go of your worldly worries like putting down a heavy bag.
Focus your attention on your breath. Feel the air go in and out of your lungs, noticing the pauses in-between. Try not to control or change your breath; instead, allow the air to come and go naturally.
Start counting your breaths softly. Count from one to ten, and then repeat. Start again from one, if you lose the sequence because your mind wanders.
Try this for a couple of minutes or so at first. It’s normal to get distracted and to find it difficult, but it becomes easier and more satisfying the more you do it.
Now focus on what your senses say to you. What can you see, hear, taste, touch and smell? Don’t analyse or think about it too much, just notice what you’re sensing.
Allow your emotions to be present. Practice a steady and relaxed naming of your feelings; joy, anger, sadness, frustration. Accept the presence of your emotions with curiosity and compassion – and without judgement. Then let them go, just as if you were at an airport watching the planes land and take-off again.
If your attention wanders, that’s okay. Noticing is part of mindfulness. Gently bring your mind back to your breathing.
Focus again on your senses and your emotional reactions. Anchor yourself in the present moment while everything else drifts harmlessly by.
Throughout your day, look for opportunities to be more mindful. Whether you're riding in the subway or you're taking a hot shower, try to be fully aware of what you're doing and what's happening around you. When your mind wanders, congratulate yourself for noticing and gently bring your attention back to the current moment.
Find the right amount of mindfulness for you. Five minutes of really effective mindfulness once or twice a day is better than trying to make it happen all the time.
The benefits - physical health
Mindfulness has been shown to impact a broad range of health outcomes in randomised controlled trials (RCT’s). With regard to the physical health effects, there’s evidence that mindfulness interventions can increase body awareness, promote relaxation, and improve stress management and coping skills, all of which can reduce stress-related physical health issues such as chronic pain, immune system functioning, and heart disease.
The benefits – mental health
When it comes to our mental health, mindfulness interventions can help us recognise and regulate the thoughts, emotional responses, and automatic behaviours that are central to our mental health. This is seen as an important psychological mechanism to help us make changes, so that instead of being overwhelmed by our problems, we’re able to take control and manage them. Find more information here.
The benefits - cognitive outcomes
Formal mindfulness practices focus on training multiple features of attention, such as noticing when the mind wanders, repeatedly reorienting attention back to a focus area (e.g. sensations of breathing), developing sustained attention, and learning how to foster an open, accepting form of attention. RCT studies, predominantly in young adults, have shown that these skills also improve attention-related cognitive outcomes such as working memory and reading comprehension. Find more information here.
The benefits – relationships
As we develop compassion for ourselves, it’s only natural that we’ll start to feel it for other people. So rather than scrolling through our phone the next time we’re sitting next to a work colleague, friend, or significant other, we could try listening and responding to them in a more mindful way. Being curious, asking open-ended questions, and acknowledging what they say without judging them, will help them feel heard and valued. Even though we may not agree with their position, showing compassion will help us understand it.
Thank you for reading this blog post. If you have any thoughts to share, or ideas for future posts, please do let me know. I would love to hear from you.