7 Reasons to Begin a Mindfulness Meditation Practice Today

“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.” – Buddha

Mindfulness Meditation has been around for centuries. This ancient practice has soared in modern day popularity. Mindfulness is an open attention to and awareness of the present moment. Mindfulness meditation has one purpose; to end personal suffering.  

The world is uncertain just as life is uncertain. The current global pandemic, high unemployment and the various school systems inability to give parents and students direct answers have exacerbated the personal suffering of many. Personal peace has become elusive for some, and nonexistent for others. Fear, excessive worry, helplessness, and intrusive thoughts have become the normal state of mind for millions of people across the globe.  Mindfulness Meditation gives rise to hope.

In October of 2019, The Harvard Gazette published an article entitled “Learning Not to Fear” in which a scientific study was done to assess the impact Mindfulness Meditation has on the brain. The study found that “Mindfulness training may improve emotion regulation through changing neurobiological responses associated with our ability to remember that a stimulus is no longer threatening,” said Gunes Sevinc, first author of the paper, who is a postdoctoral research fellow at MGH.

The article went on to state that “Fear and anxiety have a habitual component to them — the memory of something that provoked fear in the past will trigger a habitual fear response when we are reminded of the event, even if there is no actual present-moment threat. The data indicated that mindfulness can help us recognize that some fear reactions are disproportional to the threat, and thus reduces the fear response to those stimuli. Mindfulness can also enhance our ability to remember this new, less-fearful reaction, and break the anxiety habit,” said Sara Lazar of the MGH Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program, the study’s senior author.

Whether you are looking to gain more peace, more self -awareness, more self – acceptance, more happiness, more energy, or improve emotional wellness for work, school , or family life, a mindfulness meditation practice can help in the achievement of those goals by boosting ones overall health, happiness, and energy, despite external circumstances. There is no end goal, only mindful progress.

 It’s a beautiful life now has compiled a list of 7 reasons to begin a mindfulness meditation practice today.

1. Increases Positive Emotions: Mindfulness Meditation fosters a sense of inner peace and emotional regulation, therefore reducing stress and anxiety. Various studies, like the article by the Harvard Gazette mentioned above, have shown practicing mindfulness meditation increases positive emotions and decreases negative emotions and stress.

2. Increases Mental Clarity, Awareness & Focus: Mindfulness meditation positively changes the brain by heightening the ability to focus, which in turn increases mental clarity, memory skills, attention skills, and the ability to tune out distractions, while promoting self-regulation and empathy.

3. Encourages Healthier Eating Habits: Mindfulness Meditation can encourage healthier eating habits by creating an awareness and connection to the body that will highlight hunger cues. Another positive connection mindfulness meditation can create in regards to the body is the in the moment awareness of food choices. In an article published by The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkley and written by Jill Suttie entitled” Better Eating Through Mindfulness”.

Researchers are learning that teaching obese individuals mindful eating skills—like paying closer attention to their bodies’ hunger cues and learning to savor their food—can help them change unhealthy eating patterns and lose weight. And, unlike other forms of treatment, mindfulness may get at the underlying causes of overeating—like craving, stress, and emotional eating—which make it so hard to defeat.

•  

4. Fosters Positive Relationships: Healthy relationships require care, attention, communication, trust, and commitment. Practicing mindfulness meditation creates more empathy and self-awareness. The ability to stay in the moment increases. These qualities make romantic relationships more satisfying. Each partner may begin to feel more optimistic and relaxed, which in turn can bring each person closer to one another.

Parents who practice mindfulness report being happier with their parenting skills and their relationship with their kids, and their kids were found to have better social skills.

•  

5. Mindfulness Meditation Improves Sleep:  Mindfulness Meditation evokes a relaxation response. A June 15, 2020 updated article in the Harvard Health Blog entitled “Mindfulness Meditation Helps Fight Insomnia, Improves Sleep” shared that small study published a few years ago in JAMA Internal Medicine   suggests that mindfulness meditation — a mind-calming practice that focuses on breathing and awareness of the present moment — can help improve sleep. The study conducted by JAMA Internal Medicine included 49 middle-aged and older adults who had trouble sleeping. The article went on to state that” half completed a mindfulness awareness program that taught them meditation and other exercises designed to help them focus on “moment-by-moment experiences, thoughts, and emotions. The other half completed a sleep education class that taught them ways to improve their sleep habits.”

Both groups met six times, once a week for two hours. The study found that compared with the people in the sleep education group, those in the mindfulness group had less insomnia, fatigue, and depression at the end of the six sessions.

6. Improves Mental & Physical Energy Levels: Mindfulness meditation naturally increases both mental & physical energy. If you want a great mental energy boost, try being mindful throughout the day. Remember that mindfulness is present moment awareness and when you think about the present moment, you are not wasting energy worrying about the future or dwelling on the past, which raises both mental and physical energy.  

7. Improves Overall Health: The final and most important reason to consider beginning a mindfulness meditation practice today is the improvement of overall health that comes from practicing mindfulness meditation. In an article published by Harvard Health entitled “What Meditation Can Do for Your Mind, Mood, and Health” points to the fact that you can’t see or touch stress, but you can feel its effects on your mind and body. Chronic stress can contribute to headaches, anxiety, depression, heart disease, and even premature death. Practicing mindfulness meditation can dramatically improve overall health and limit stress.  

Our Life is shaped by our mind, for we become what we think -Buddha