Practised for more than 2,500 years, mindfulness has its roots in Buddhist spiritual teachings of the East, although more recently it has found popularity in the West as a secular practice for wellbeing. Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist and author of many books on mindfulness, defines it as ‘the energy of being aware and awake to the present moment.’2 Traditional mindfulness practices include formal meditation, as well as disciplines such as yoga, chi kung and tai chi. However, you do not need to take up any of these activities to bring mindfulness into your life, as mindfulness practices also include simple breathing exercises, mindfullly doing daily tasks (such as washing the dishes or walking), saying mantras or focusing on an object, such as a crystal. In other words, mindfulness can be any practice in which the aim is to stay present to what’s happeing in the moment. In Part 2, you’ll find a range of exercises to create a mindfulness practice in your life.
As you focus on the present moment without judgement of what is happening, either inside your mind or in the outside environment, mindfulness brings a more peaceful way of being. And when your mind quiets and settles on the present moment, you may find you enter a more creative state of mind, often described as ‘being in the flow’, and so life starts to feel more dynamic and joyful. You may have experienced this ‘flow’ state when absorbed in a task that you enjoy. Practising mindfulness you can bring this state into every action.
Mindfulness focuses your mind on what is being sensed and experienced in each moment, as you notice, without forming an opinion, sights, smells, sounds, textures and tastes, in addition to thoughts, emotions, feelings and bodily sensations. Resting in the present moment deepens perceptions and switches off the tendency to chew over the past or worry about the future. But mindfulness also develops ‘skilful thought’ – thinking that is purposeful and relevant in the moment. It teaches us to stay calm and centred, bearing in mind that ‘this too will pass’ but without needing to escape or accelerate change.
For me, the biggest question about mindfulness was how I could stay in the present moment when that moment could be unbearably awful. Housebound, virtually blind and severely disorientated for five months, all I could do was sit with my crystals. They supported me and offered hope and comfort in each moment. Similarly, many people with intense, chronic physical or mental pain, serious illnesses or extremely challenging life situations find that mindfulness helps them to cope with the seemingly unendurable. With the help of my crystals, I came through into mindfulness. So can you.
In the last few decades, neuroscientists around the world have been studying mindfulness. Researchers have discovered a whole range of benefits that a regular practice can bring, due to the proven effectiveness of mindfulness in reducing stress and anxiety levels,3 which in turn leads to: better physical and mental health; improved cognitive functioning; greater immune system efficiency; a decrease in the physical and psychological symptoms of stress (such as high blood pressure); improved digestive and bowel function; enhanced ability to cope with pain, even though it may not disperse; and the slowing down or stopping of automatic and habitual reactions.
The fast-paced lifestyle of the 21st century is a recipe for stress, and long-term stress, even if low grade, is known to negatively affect every major system in the body, leading to symptoms that can range from headaches, insomnia, low libido, mood swings and heartburn to more serious health consequences such as raised blood pressure, reduced immune function, hormonal disruption and bowel issues.4 No wonder the buzzword on everyone’s lips is mindfulness, as study after study has shown that adopting a regular mindfulness meditation practice can significantly reduce levels of stress and so make a positive impact on mental and physical wellbeing.5 Perhaps even more surprisingly, the antidote doesn’t take years or even months to take effect. In fact, in one study conducted by the Oxford University online ‘Be Mindful’ course, participants showed a 58 per cent reduction in anxiety levels, a 57 per cent reduction in depression and a 40 per cent reduction in stress within one month of starting a mindfulness practice.6 And research reported in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience showed that meditators don’t need to be actively meditating to benefit from the changes their practice brings about in the brain.7 During meditation, the amygdala region – the integrative centre for emotional behaviour and motivation – is ‘reset’ to better handle emotional processing and anger control, and the change is maintained during non-meditative states.
Holding a Carnelian helps you to make mindful decisions.
Given the body of evidence, it is not surprising that mindfulness programmes are being recommended by the UK’s NHS8 and that mindfulness practices for pain and stress developed by Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor Emeritus of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, are now offered by medical centres, hospitals and health-maintenance organizations across the world.9 Mindfulness has even been adopted by the US marines, after a recent study confirmed that, after just eight weeks, practising mindful meditation for 15 minutes a day increased the soldiers’ ability to handle stress both on and off the battlefield and led to improved mental and physical fitness.10
Mindfulness is proving effective in other areas, too. A study undertaken at the University of California, Santa Barbara, found that college students trained in mindfulness performed better in verbal-reasoning tests. They also experienced improvements in memory and cognitive function with wide-reaching effects.11 (We will look at research into mindfulness in the workplace in more detail on pages 40 –43.) And in another study, carried out by Consumer Reports with the American Psychological Association, seven out of ten psychologists rated mindfulness training as being ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ for weight loss.12
You will find that the benefits of your mindfulness practice soon begin to build. As your stress levels reduce so your sense of wellbeing will increase, and you will be more able to manage short- or long-term stress, emotional responses, change, anxiety and fear, challenging situations and decision-making.
Longer term, a regular mindfulness practice leads on to a whole host of life-enhancing benefits. Your self-esteem will grow, with increased self-acceptance (allowing yourself to simply be), as well as tolerance for other people. You will be more aware – and accepting – of your body and your intuition will deepen. You may find you have greater energy and enthusiasm for life, get on with others better, can relax properly and become more creative. Sustained mindfulness will help you to bring balance and resilience to your work and home life. You will find yourself responding to situations from choice, not as a knee-jerk reaction. You will become freed from the restraints of the past. You may well develop a greater appreciation of music, the arts, dining or whatever activities you enjoy. Mindfulness will help you achieve your own goals, rather than other people’s, and really get the most from each moment as it happens.