Mindful meditation has gained popularity in
recent years and it’s no wonder, as even a 10 minute a day mindful meditation
practice can transform your body, your mind and your life. Mindful meditation
has been practiced for thousands of years, and is simply the process of
bringing one's awareness to the internal and external experiences occurring in
the present moment. Mindfulness is a skill that is developed through the
practice of focusing your mind on the experience of the present moment that
will leave you calm, grounded and feeling more connected to the people and the
world around you.
For thousands of years’ people who meditate have
shared their amazing stories of how their lives have changed because of their
practice and now science is telling us why it works. Research shows that the
practice of mindfulness is strongly associated with greater well-being and improved
health, specifically decreased stress, decreased depression, pain, anxiety, and
insomnia, all while increasing quality of life. Meditation makes you calmer and
better able to handle difficult situations, as meditation is the work of
training your mind to respond from a place of clarity instead of reacting to
everything that is going on around you.
What Does Mindful Meditation Do to My Mind and
Body?
A 2016 Harvard University study found that
people who meditate have an increased amount of gray matter in the auditory and
sensory cortex. Mindfulness trains your brain to pay attention to your
breathing and to the present experience, which enhances your senses while
shutting cognition down. More gray matter in the frontal cortex, is associated
with increases in working memory and executive decision making. The best thing
about this study was that increased grey matter, enhanced senses, mental
clarity, less stress, less anxiety and less depression were found in people who
had meditated for years and in people who had meditated for as little as 8
weeks.
The Harvard Study found that mediating literally
changes the brain and the brain stem, most notably by strengthening the PONS,
the area of the brain responsible for producing regulatory neurotransmitters as
well as the left hippocampus which is responsible for learning, cognition,
memory and emotional regulation, the TPJ which is associated with perspective
taking, empathy and compassion and by shrinking the amygdala, the fight or
flight part of the brain, which is the central hub for anxiety, fear and stress
in general.
So the research shows us clearly that a mindful
meditation practice has an impact on our minds, but how does this transfer to
our body? The answer is simple; by developing body and self- awareness and
learning to regulate emotion and attention, we make better decisions for
ourselves and reduce harmful stress hormones. Through meditation you will learn
how many mindless things you do and you’ll start to change your habits when you
bring more attention to how you live your life. As mindful meditation increases
our capacity to deal with emotions and make better decisions we begin to reduce
stress. When you reduce stress and stress hormones you reduce your risk of
inflammation based diseases like cardiovascular disease, you lower your blood
pressure and boost your immune system as your body is not constantly overloaded
dealing with stress and stress hormones. With less stress you are calmer at the
end of the day and can fall asleep easier allowing your body to rest properly
which gives you more energy, and so it goes.
How You Do It
In mediation circles a funny joke about meditation is; ‘Don't just do something, sit there,’ and that is exactly how you begin to meditate. You begin mindful meditation by sitting on the floor or in a chair. If you are new to meditation I recommend that you sit inside in a peaceful spot until you are comfortable keeping your awareness on your breath for 10 minutes, as it can be easy to lose focus in a busy setting or outside with a view, a breeze, a fly or the sun. Set a timer for 10 minutes and begin. You’ll want to maintain an upright posture, close your eyes and focus your attention on the experience of your breath moving in, through and out of your body, overtime you can expand your attention to your whole body and to the sounds and smells in the room. Don’t try to change the rhythm of your breath and don't judge your breath, simply notice what your breath feels like. You can place your hands on the tops of your thighs with the palms facing up with the middle finger and thumb touching or you can place them on your legs or on your abdomen to physically connect with the movement of your breath.
Every time you notice that you are thinking that
the timer is broken, or about your to do list, or about how you need to scratch
an itch or stretch your legs, simply bring your awareness back to your breath.
When you notice yourself following thoughts about your life, just let the
thought go, with the acknowledgement that you are not your thoughts and bring
your attention back to your breath. It’s common to feel frustrated when you
begin a mindful meditation practice as we often judge how well we think we are
doing by how comfortable we feel in the practice, but that isn’t how mindful
meditation works. Initially mindful meditation will not be comfortable and you
may find yourself resistant to maintain a regular and consistent practice which
is a clear indication that you need to meditate. When you begin meditating the
10 minutes will feel like an hour and you may find yourself redirecting your
attention to your breath every other breath, but that is how you develop
mindfulness, by realizing the experience of time and by training your mind to
stay calm and focus. Meditating is hard work, but over time it will become
easier. You will begin to feel the benefits of mindful mediation very quickly,
within just a few sessions and it will make you feel better and improve your
health in as little as 8 weeks.
As you begin your experience with meditation,
please be sure to share your stories and your tips to make mindful meditation
practice better in the comments below.
