It is becoming more widely known and accepted that meditation and mindfulness can have HUGE health benefits on your physical and mental wellbeing. There are now loads of great apps which provide simple mindfulness practices which make it easy to introduce it into your daily life.
The science speaks volumes on the benefits of meditation and mindfulness. An article from Forbes talks about the scientific benefits associated with practising mindfulness on a daily basis. Citing the following outcomes:
The science speaks volumes on the benefits of meditation and mindfulness. An article from Forbes talks about the scientific benefits associated with practising mindfulness on a daily basis. Citing the following outcomes:
- Reduction of anxiety disorders
- Reduction of age and race bias
- Reduction of depression disorders
- Increased body satisfaction
- Improved cognition
- Improves your brain’s ability to reduce distractions
So, what is meditation and mindfulness and how can it benefit your life?
Meditation is defined as “the ability to focus one’s mind for a period of time, in silence or with the aid of chanting or noise, for religious or spiritual purposes or as a method of relaxation”. It is also defined as an ability to think deeply about something or nothing at all, keeping space free in your mind to think about nothing.
Mindfulness could be argued to be the outcome of meditating, defined as “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique”.
Meditation and mindfulness are important practices to train your brain to be present in the moment. It teaches you to manage your thoughts and feelings even when presented with the most stressful of situations.
People often wonder, what am I supposed to think about when I’m meditating?
The beauty of meditation is that there is nothing to think about and that is the point. It is less of a contemplation activity and more of creating a wide-open space in our mind, allowing any thoughts to come and go as they please but consistently bringing your focus back to your breath.
Mindfulness could be argued to be the outcome of meditating, defined as “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique”.
Meditation and mindfulness are important practices to train your brain to be present in the moment. It teaches you to manage your thoughts and feelings even when presented with the most stressful of situations.
People often wonder, what am I supposed to think about when I’m meditating?
The beauty of meditation is that there is nothing to think about and that is the point. It is less of a contemplation activity and more of creating a wide-open space in our mind, allowing any thoughts to come and go as they please but consistently bringing your focus back to your breath.
What are the benefits of mindfulness and meditation?
1. Improved well-being
Being mindful can help make it easier to enjoy life and help you to stay focused on enjoying the present moment rather than worry about the past, future, your success or self-esteem. Focusing on the here and now helps you to fully engage in conversations or activities, as well as enhancing your capability to deal with unexpected events. You will find you can form deeper connections with others and your patience will grow the more you practice.
2. Improved physical health
Mindfulness is scientifically proven to relieve stress, treat heart disease, reduce your experience of chronic pain, lower your blood pressure and even improve sleep.
You don’t even realise the effects that daily stress can have on your body, even if you take 3 deep breaths right now you will feel your body start to loosen and shock yourself at how tight you were holding it!
3. Improved mental health
As previously mentioned, meditation and mindfulness is being used to treat many mental disorders, most prominently anxiety and depression disorders. However, it is also proven to help treat eating disorders, OCD and even substance abuse.
Mindfulness works by teaching you to accept things and respond in the best way rather than to react and fight them.
4. Improved immune system
There is science to support the fact that mindfulness helps affect our disease-fighting cells. When we encounter a virus or disease our bodies send out immune cells that circulate in your blood and fight the infection. Mindfulness meditation has been proven to increase the amount of cell activity in patients with cancer, potentially aiding the regression of the disease.
5. Reduced psychological pain
Mindfulness gives one the ability to better understand their thoughts and so helps people who have experienced trauma or addiction. The effects of mindfulness for drug addictions are hugely compelling as it allows people to better tolerate their cravings and avoid relapse. This may be due to the fact drug addictions come about due to physical cravings but arise due to the temporary relief that the substance can have on one’s psychological suffering. Implementing mindfulness practice can give you more power over your own thoughts, therefore improving your chances to beat addiction or mental illness.
6. Better memory
Everyone suffers from a bad memory sometimes, but did you know that many of these forgetful moments occur due to something called ‘proactive interference’ which is where older memories interfere with your access to newer memories. A study found that training in mindfulness resulted in the biggest improvements to short-term memory with the greatest reductions in proactive interference.
7. Stronger relationships
A study from 2018 found that people who practice mindfulness are more accepting of their partner’s flaws or imperfections. This may be because mindfulness can improve your acceptance, relationship satisfaction and empathy towards your partner, resulting in a happier and more loving relationship.
Being mindful can help make it easier to enjoy life and help you to stay focused on enjoying the present moment rather than worry about the past, future, your success or self-esteem. Focusing on the here and now helps you to fully engage in conversations or activities, as well as enhancing your capability to deal with unexpected events. You will find you can form deeper connections with others and your patience will grow the more you practice.
2. Improved physical health
Mindfulness is scientifically proven to relieve stress, treat heart disease, reduce your experience of chronic pain, lower your blood pressure and even improve sleep.
You don’t even realise the effects that daily stress can have on your body, even if you take 3 deep breaths right now you will feel your body start to loosen and shock yourself at how tight you were holding it!
3. Improved mental health
As previously mentioned, meditation and mindfulness is being used to treat many mental disorders, most prominently anxiety and depression disorders. However, it is also proven to help treat eating disorders, OCD and even substance abuse.
Mindfulness works by teaching you to accept things and respond in the best way rather than to react and fight them.
4. Improved immune system
There is science to support the fact that mindfulness helps affect our disease-fighting cells. When we encounter a virus or disease our bodies send out immune cells that circulate in your blood and fight the infection. Mindfulness meditation has been proven to increase the amount of cell activity in patients with cancer, potentially aiding the regression of the disease.
5. Reduced psychological pain
Mindfulness gives one the ability to better understand their thoughts and so helps people who have experienced trauma or addiction. The effects of mindfulness for drug addictions are hugely compelling as it allows people to better tolerate their cravings and avoid relapse. This may be due to the fact drug addictions come about due to physical cravings but arise due to the temporary relief that the substance can have on one’s psychological suffering. Implementing mindfulness practice can give you more power over your own thoughts, therefore improving your chances to beat addiction or mental illness.
6. Better memory
Everyone suffers from a bad memory sometimes, but did you know that many of these forgetful moments occur due to something called ‘proactive interference’ which is where older memories interfere with your access to newer memories. A study found that training in mindfulness resulted in the biggest improvements to short-term memory with the greatest reductions in proactive interference.
7. Stronger relationships
A study from 2018 found that people who practice mindfulness are more accepting of their partner’s flaws or imperfections. This may be because mindfulness can improve your acceptance, relationship satisfaction and empathy towards your partner, resulting in a happier and more loving relationship.
How do I start practising meditation and mindfulness?
The easiest way to introduce mindfulness into your daily routine is with an app. Our recommendation is the Headspace app which offers a huge range of guided meditations with specific goals in mind. The app clearly categorises each practice and provides a monthly course of 30 days for each goal.
You can choose whichever ones suit you the best and then move on to the next one. The app also has mini video clips which can clearly explain some of the ways in which you can start to manage your emotions as well as articles to further explain some of these concepts.
Other ways to start practising could be during your regular yoga practice. This is a great time to introduce mindfulness if you already practise yoga in your routine. We can help to teach you about mindfulness and fully immerse you into the practice on our yoga retreats abroad, leaving you with a new skill which can drastically improve all areas of your life.
So, what are you waiting for? Take 10 minutes and try it out for yourself with this guided meditation mindfulness from Calm.
You can choose whichever ones suit you the best and then move on to the next one. The app also has mini video clips which can clearly explain some of the ways in which you can start to manage your emotions as well as articles to further explain some of these concepts.
Other ways to start practising could be during your regular yoga practice. This is a great time to introduce mindfulness if you already practise yoga in your routine. We can help to teach you about mindfulness and fully immerse you into the practice on our yoga retreats abroad, leaving you with a new skill which can drastically improve all areas of your life.
So, what are you waiting for? Take 10 minutes and try it out for yourself with this guided meditation mindfulness from Calm.