Mindfulness meditation offers many measurable benefits. Research has shown that habitual mindfulness helps us regain and maintain a sense of peacefulness, clear thinking, and renewed energy. Practicing mindfulness assists us to:
- Stress less – restoring calm by reducing anxiety and the tendency to overthink and worry
- Improve focus – including boosting memory and aiding concentration
- Enjoy good zzzz’s – helping many fall asleep faster and sleep more soundly
- Increase awareness – building our ability to perceive and then, respond with flexibility
- Ease depression – facilitating a sense of well-being
- Boost workplace productivity – fostering job satisfaction, employee wellness, and a better work-life balance
In his December 2019 TedxTalk, “How mindfulness changes the emotional life of our brains,” Richard J. Davidson notes that we have the power to “rewire” our brains through regular procedural learning. Mindfulness, even practiced over a short time, can help us “change our minds” regarding our sense of awareness, connection to others, and our life purpose.
Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center developed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, shown to help alleviate stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain. And a 2011 research paper titled, “Effects of Mindfulness on Psychological Health,” published in Clinical Psychology Review, concluded that mindfulness brings about “various positive psychological effects, including increased subjective well-being, reduced psychological symptoms and emotional reactivity, and improved behavioral regulation.”
A study published in 2018 in the Journal of Occupational Health Therapy found that mindfulness training could improve productivity and work-life balance. In Psychology Today, a 2018 article titled “New Research Suggests Mindfulness Improves Job Satisfaction” stated that regular mindfulness practice has been linked to better stress management, employee wellness, and significantly lower healthcare costs.
Best of all, starting small is effective. Davidson recommends beginning with three minutes a day. This brief time is enough to fire up the mechanism of change in your brain, change that can lead to increased wellness and joy in living.
Our Mindfulness Space 