Mindfulness

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the awareness of and non-judgement of your present experience. In other words, it is the act of being in the present moment without judgement. Mindfulness is the cornerstone to numerous therapeutic approaches, as it helps to gain awareness of the thoughts and emotions that are impacting your behaviours. It is with mindfulness that we can learn to fully integrate our experiences and find new ways to cope with them.

Although it is one of the ways that you can practice mindfulness, meditation is not the only way. There are plenty of exercises, practices, and techniques for grounding yourself into the present moment.

They say that anxiety lives in the future and depression lives in the past; therefore, when mindfulness is practiced, we naturally will experience a reduction in distress.

Who can Mindfulness help?

Mindfulness practices have a variety of physical and mental health benefits, some of which are the following:

• Reduced anxiety and depressive symptoms

• Improved emotion regulation

• Improved stress management

• Increased focus and concentration

• Better sleep

• Coping with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

• Reduction of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms

• Chronic Pain reduction

Click here for more information on specific research studies from above.

Research has found that in a study examining treatment of depression and anxiety, mindfulness-based approaches were just as effective as other evidence-based approaches.

We spend 47% of our waking hours thinking about the past or the future when studies suggest that the more time we spend in the present moment, the happier we are.

Visit mindful.org for more information on Mindfulness, including mindfulness exercises

“The real treasure offered by mindfulness – its most amazing gift – is that mindfulness provides us with the opportunity to respond rather than simply react."

Kristin Neff