Spirituality is an area of my life that has much room for growth and improvement – I got into meditation about 4 years ago because I was enthralled with the idea of Astral Projection. I really wanted to see what that Out-Of-Body experience (OBE) would be like and I was (and still am) fully open to their possibility. Unfortunately, I never was able to induce in myself an OBE, however, that desire soon transformed into an actual meditation practice. Now, meditation and mindfulness help me stay in the present moment, reduce social anxiety and nervousness, and contribute to my overall health and well-being. Today’s article is going to be your guide to meditation and mindfulness how they can work for you.

Let’s start with some key ideas.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness, like it suggests, is being fully engaged in what is happening around you, what you’re doing, and in the environment you’re moving through. As authors on the Mindful blog say,

“Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.”

Quote from Mindful Staff in this article.

Although the term mindfulness often gets used in relation to meditation, they are not the exact same. Mindfulness is a tool you can use to meditate; many call it mindfulness meditation – where you are fully immersed with yourself in the present moment. In mindfulness meditation, you let everything flow and you don’t try to force your mind to be quiet. You simply focus on your breathe and the space within and around you.

Nonetheless, mindfulness goes beyond meditation. It helps reduce anxiety and depression, encourages the body to move into a parasympathetic state (rest and digest), eliminate stress, and improve immune function. [1,2,3]

What is Meditation?

Unlike mindfulness, which is a state of being, meditation is an exercise that you use to enhance mental clarity, strength, and train attention and awareness. Meditation is also a practice that many people use to connect with the spiritual side of life; like my intention of an OBE when I first started meditating.

It’s quite hard to define meditation because like diet, it’s going to look different for every individual person. It’s not always sitting in a lotus position with your fingers in a ‘Gian Mundra’ (thumb and index finger touching, forming a small circle). Meditation could be going for a walk in nature, or cooking your favorite meal, writing in a journal, or simply sitting with your eyes closed.

Meditation also comes with thousands of cited benefits. A consistent practice can greatly reduce blood pressure, risk of heart disease, eliminate stress, influence the gut microbiome, and suppress inflammation. [4, 5]

Mindfulness Meditation

When you combine mindfulness and meditation, you can double dip from the benefits of both practices. Mindfulness meditation is the act of focusing completely on the present moment while you are meditating. Generally, you are seated with your eyes closed. You can play music or universal frequencies in the background or even better, do it outside where you can hear the sound of birds chirping, trees swaying, and wind brushing against your body.

Even a short 1-2 minute mindfulness meditation will work wonders on your mental and physical health. Time can no longer be your excuse. [6]

In my experience, mindfulness meditation has helped become incredibly more responsive rather than reactive. It’s trained my brain to not overly jump into my emotions after some trigger, but to instead pause and think about the best course of action. Mindfulness meditation also taught me how to breathe properly and deeply – something I would have never imagined I was doing wrong in the first place. [7]

How to practice mindful meditation

Practicing mindful meditation is easy. It can be as simple as taking a few moments throughout your day to focus and realign with your breath; it doesn’t have to be a 30 minute endeavor. A great starting place is to try this breathing routine:

4 rounds:

• Inhale for 7 seconds
• Hold for 8 seconds
• Exhale for 7 seconds
• Hold for 8 seconds

You’ll notice a much greater sense of relaxation and clarity immediately after doing this exercise. If you want to take it a step further, you can close your eyes and attempt these types of longer breaths for a few minutes. But again, remember its not always about one big practice once during the day – it’s more about consistency throughout the day. The more you practice mindfulness meditation in little moments throughout the day, the greater the benefit.

Conclusion: Be mindful today

Even if you aren’t spiritual, mindfulness and meditation are great tools to help you reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and improve your health. And although they aren’t the exact same, the combination of the two creates a powerful practice to help you feel grounded, clear, and relaxed. Mindfulness meditation is something you can do right now and experience the immediate benefits – take a moment right now to focus on your breathe and set your intention for today.

How do you practice mindfulness and meditation?

Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time, stay well, stay healthy, and thrive!

References

[1] Hofmann, Stefan G, and Angelina F Gómez. “Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Anxiety and Depression.” The Psychiatric clinics of North America vol. 40,4 (2017): 739-749. doi:10.1016/j.psc.2017.08.008

[2] Thomas, Zoë et al. “Brief Mindfulness Meditation for Depression and Anxiety Symptoms in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis: A Pilot Feasibility Study.” Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN vol. 12,12 (2017): 2008-2015. doi:10.2215/CJN.03900417

[3] Pascoe, Michaela C et al. “Yoga, mindfulness-based stress reduction and stress-related physiological measures: A meta-analysis.” Psychoneuroendocrinology vol. 86 (2017): 152-168. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.08.008

[4] Stancu, Catheline et al. “Bénéfices de la meditation chez l’adulte hypertendu” [Benefits of meditation on the hypertensive adult]. Revue medicale suisse vol. 14,618 (2018): 1588-1592.

[5] Househam, Ayman Mukerji et al. “The Effects of Stress and Meditation on the Immune System, Human Microbiota, and Epigenetics.” Advances in mind-body medicine vol. 31,4 (2017): 10-25.

[6] Kral, Tammi R A et al. “Impact of short- and long-term mindfulness meditation training on amygdala reactivity to emotional stimuli.” NeuroImage vol. 181 (2018): 301-313. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.07.013

[7] Azam, Muhammad Abid et al. “Effects of a 12-Minute Smartphone-Based Mindful Breathing Task on Heart Rate Variability for Students With Clinically Relevant Chronic Pain, Depression, and Anxiety: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.” JMIR research protocols vol. 8,12 e14119. 2 Dec. 2019, doi:10.2196/14119