Benefits of Mindfulness
Improve Your Emotional and Physical Well-being
Do you find yourself mindlessly browsing the internet, minding your phone, or working with other distractions in the background? We seem to constantly be scurrying, worrying, doing, and running on an endless treadmill with no time for simply being. How often are you even aware that you've lost your connection with the present moment?
Mindfulness is a moment-to-moment, non-judgmental, awareness of the present, typically using our sensation of the breath or a sense of our body as an anchor for our attention. Just like any other skill, mindfulness grows stronger the more you practice it.
Scientists have studied mindfulness for over 30 years and have found that the practice fosters stress reduction and overall happiness.
The Roots of Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a 2,500-year-old practice for cultivating our capacity for awareness and acceptance of the present moment. Most religions have similar techniques for cultivating present moment awareness. For example, Christianity uses the practices of Lectio Divina and Contemplative Prayer. Over the past sixty years, the practice of meditation has moved into the mainstream and medical studies have demonstrated that mindfulness can improve physical health and enhance our attitudes, outlooks, and behaviors.
What are the Benefits of Mindfulness?
Mindfulness enhances your ability to deal with everyday struggles
Mindfulness Alleviates Stress. Mindfulness improves emotional regulation, decreases avoidance behaviors, and facilitates resilience and adaptability.
Mindfulness Improves Health. Mindfulness has been found to enhance post-traumatic growth and decrease stress and anxiety in patients suffering from chronic and potentially terminal illnesses. While it may not take away the symptoms, it does make them more manageable.
Mindfulness Increases Self-Compassion. Practicing mindfulness leads to an experience of increased self-kindness, reduced rumination, and decreased depressive symptoms.
Mindfulness Enhances Performance. Mindfulness is associated with greater executive functioning, including increased attentional control, working memory, problem-solving, and decision making. Meditators develop greater self-awareness, feelings of connectedness, and emotional regulation, leading to improved teamwork and conflict resolution skills.
Mindfulness Improves Overall Well-Being. Mindfulness supports attitudes that contribute to a satisfying life and practitioners of mindfulness have been found to take better care of their overall health.
How can Mindfulness Help You?
Learn to accept your present moment experience - including difficult and painful emotions - rather than react to them with aversion and avoidance or resentment and repression.
No matter your intention, mindfulness helps a wide variety of goals including stress regulation, dealing with physical pain, coping with the symptoms of chronic disease, increasing effectiveness in work and school, and in developing and maintaining positive relationships – including with your self.
Getting Started on Your Own
Mindfulness isn’t just about sitting still. In fact, you can practice mindfulness at any point in your daily life. Choose any activity, whether pushing a shopping cart, washing dishes, brushing your teeth, showering, or even right now.
Begin by taking three deep breaths, and as you continue the activity, pay attention to each of your senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, and mental activity). Take note of any sensation as it arises, for example, how your body moves or how it feels in contact with the chair or ground. What sounds are present in your environment? If thoughts or feelings arise, simply notice them as well. Welcome them, but don’t engage with them and allow them to arise and pass. Regularly tune in to the feeling of your breathing.
Bring a sense of willingness and exploration to your daily activities. Be willing to welcome and accept anything that arises and try not to judge your self, your thoughts, or others. If something surprising occurs, or something that you didn’t expect, bring your sense of willingness and exploration to your reaction, and simply observe, non-judgmentally, each moment as it arises and passes.
Ready to try a guided sitting meditation?
Simply find a quiet space free of distraction, get comfortable, and press play...
Want to Explore More?
Are you interested in learning more about mindfulness before you sign up for the course? Check out these helpful articles:
- What is Mindfulness?
- What are the Benefits of Mindfulness?
- How Does Mindfulness Work?
- What Does the Science Say About Mindfulness?
- Begin By Breathing
Try an Online Course
Below, you may explore mindfulness classes for our online community.
