The Benefits of Mindfulness?

[Gareth]

This is going to be one of the 5 main articles on the site, but I haven't actually written anything yet for this, and I don't think that I'm going to. You see, the benefits of mindfulness are so far-reaching and they depend completely on the mind that is entering the process to begin with. I know what the benefits of mindfulness have been for me, but everybody is different and the major benefits for someone else might not be the same.

I'm still not sure exactly how to structure the article. Maybe I will link to this thread, I think more likely is that I will use this thread to collate a list of the major and most frequent benefits and put them into the article in a concise way.

So tell me the benefits that mindfulness brings to your life.

[FeeHutch]

It helps me to connect with my body, listen to it and respect it's needs.

It gives me a firmer sense of being grounded and present in my own life.

It encourages me to really listen and respond rather than react.

It helps me accept feelings I have tried in many different ways to ignore.

[BioSattva]

Mindfulness helps me in every domain of my life it seems.

Here are some articles related to scientific studies indicating a wide variety of benefits:

New Scientist: Meditation boosts genes that promote good health, 2nd May 2013: "Clusters of genes that became less active were those governed by a master gene called NF-kappaB, which triggers chronic inflammation leading to diseases including high blood pressure, heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease and some cancers."

Daily Mail News: Living in the moment will improve your memory, working life and relationships, researchers say, 27th March 2013: "Just two weeks of mindfulness training on how to 'live in the moment' can significantly improve reading comprehension, memory capacity and the ability to focus. [...] The University of Oxford’s Centre for Suicide Research found that mindfulness meditation can cut the recurrence of depression by 50 per cent..."

BPS News: Mindfulness in Schools is Discussed on Today, 27th March 2013: "...the findings of a study that shows both boys and girls report improved well-being and lower levels of stress after undergoing nine-week mindfulness programme as part of the school curriculum."

TIME Article: Can ‘Mindfulness’ Help You Focus?, March 27th 2013: "“The present demonstration that mindfulness training improves cognitive function and minimizes mind wandering suggests that enhanced attentional focus may be key to unlocking skills that were, until recently, viewed as immutable.”"

Guardian News: NHS recognises that mindfulness meditation is good for depression, 26th February 2013: "Mindfulness meditation has been shown to give patients control over their own depression and anxiety levels and levels of chronic pain, according to a paper published earlier this month in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience."

Financial Times News: A few minutes to refocus, 20th February 2013: "“They feel the tension leave them and become more present and able to focus. People who are calm and better focused make good decisions for those around them.”"

These are just the most recent relevant news items I posted on my blog. There have been lots of such articles over the past few years, and I am sure there will be plenty more to come...

[Gareth]

Very comprehensive thank you.

[FeeHutch]

I am going to put these links on my list of things to tweet while Gareth is away so thank you Bio

[Tzu]

Mindfulness helps me connect with emotions. As a child subjected to "the silent treatment" (as was my whole family), I learned to avoid my feelings. Mindfulness helps me sit with feelings and to just feel them. And to let out the pain, if there's pain.

With the skills I'm learning in counseling, I find that the combination of mindfulness, self-compassion, self-kindness, self-care, and skills approach to effectively "being" every day make for an improvement. It's not been fast.

The mindfulness really helps me to defuse (Russ Harris' The Happiness Trap, ACT skills) more readily and faster from feelings. Internal a family Systems language helps as well. "Part of me feels"... The mindfulness is key. I FEEL. I always did before mindfulness. I just would throw a gray, wet blanket on it because I didn't know what to do with it.

It's not about religion for me. I happen to be an agnostic atheist. It doesn't interfere with my values. I'm learning to regain footing more quickly when knocked, kicked, pushed, shoved, and just falling off my surfboard on the emotional tides of life.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, Elisha Goldstein, Russ Harris, Chris Germer, Bob Stahl, Tara Brach are just excellent guides to mindfulness practice. Most are secular, a few Buddhist.

Good stuff. I meditate about 20 minutes a day at this juncture. Some days 15 minutes if I'm short of time in the morning. I meditate during my punch hour if time permits. Even 10 minutes can be useful.

Tzu

[Gareth]

Thanks for joining in Tzu! I'm a 30 min per day man myself, plus heaps and heaps of informal practice. I started at 5 minutes a day and added a minute whenever I felt ready. I got to 30 minutes and that felt like the right amount.

Please stick around and join our community.

[JonW]

Wonderful post, Tzu.
I can completely relate to a background of "silent treatment" and avoidance of feelings at all costs.
For me, the underlying principle of mindfulness is that awareness heals. The healing arises when we learn to allow whatever comes up to come up, just watching it and experiencing it, being as fully present as possible. There's something truly magical about the process. The magic of being human.

[FeeHutch]

Welcome to our community Tzu and thanks for sharing.

[Gareth]

Ok, I've read through the replies and put this up on the benefits page of the site:

The Benefits of Mindfulness
The potential benefits of mindfulness are huge and wide-ranging. To a large extent, the benefits depend on the mind which enters this process to begin with. Some people for example may benefit most from a greater connection with their body while others get the most benefit from learning how to deal with troublesome thoughts. There is a thread in the forum here where members have given their personal experiences of how mindfulness helps them. There are also regular blogs on the main site where people talk about how mindfulness has had an influence on their life. In future we hope to expand this and include video testimonials also. Here is a list of of the potential benefits of mindfulness:

■A greater connection with the body, thereby being able to act better in it’s interests.
■Improved personal relationships, as mindfulness helps place a check on automatic reactions; it also enables us to listen more effectively
■A greater acceptance of troublesome thoughts and emotions. Mindfulness also allows us to let go of these before they can develop and have a negative impact on us.
■There is growing medical evidence that regular meditation makes positive improvements to the way the brain works and also other aspects of the body.
■Improvements to memory, concentration and cognitive ability.
■A dramatic reduction in levels of stress and anxiety.
■An improved ability to fall to sleep at night.
■An improved relationship with pain brought about by learning how to accept the pain and become more at peace with it instead of being locked in constant struggle.
■A general feeling of wellbeing.
■A rise in productivity brought about by being able to deal with distractions more effectively.
■Increased creativity brought about by being able to let go of doubts that otherwise might be a hindrance to creativity.