what is mindfulness

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?

"mindfulness ... can more accurately be seen as a self-defence course in sanity" . p14.

Dr Stephen McKenzie and Dr Craig Hassad, Mindfulness for life.

The practice of mindfulness has existed for a very long time and is found in various forms in all cultures, religions and countries. The most recent change has been that scientific research has now caught up to centuries of practice to the point where mindfulness is increasingly attaining mainstream acceptance as an evidence based clinical practice. The techniques are accessible to everyone and have very real, scientifically proven benefits.

Mindfulness is a name given for those times when we are fully aware of ourselves and our environment. It involves awareness of reality, using our senses to see what is, without judgement. When we forget to be fully in the present, when we live with our eyes shut, we miss the moment.

It is often easier to talk about what being unmindful means. This is what happens when we lose our keys, forget why we went into a room, can't remember what the person we are speaking with just said, don't remember how we got home, or lose track of what the teacher is talking about. Or as I recently did hop in the shower with my glasses on. Costs to being unmindful including lack of enjoyment, wasting time, making mistakes, miscommunication, increased anxiety and stress.

What happens if I can't sit still for 30 minutes?

If the thought of sitting down meditating for 30 minutes at a time makes you want to scream and run for the hills, be assured that this is not necessary to access the benefits of mindfulness. Sitting down mindfulness can be introduced at a slow pace with short bursts of awareness throughout the day. Or you may choose to be supported to learn ways to incorporate mindfulness without any formal sitting down practice.

Mindfulness isn't meditation

The practice of mindfulness involves training our mind to be fully in the present. This is done through formal and informal practice. Formal mindfulness practice is often called mindfulness meditation. It involves sitting in an upright posture, or sometimes lying down.

Informal mindfulness involves practicing techniques moment by moment as we go through our day. These techniques include practicing non-judgment, releasing entrenched thought patterns, and noticing and adjusting our posture and physical changes in response to an event or thought.

Mindfulness and anxiety

People who are anxious tend to be living in the future where they are imagining all sorts of possible worst case scenarios. Conversations, events and lives are lived inside the head. Whilst these lives are being lived in the mind the body is experiencing this alternate life as if it was really happening. This can result in a stress response (often called the "flight or fight response") as our body prepares itself for a threat to our future. This can result in some of the following physiological reactions
increased heart rate
increased breathing
increased blood pressure
blood thickening as it prepares to clot against injury
increased blood flow
slow down of our less important body systems such as the digestive system so that blood flow goes to prepare the muscles for action
immune cells get ready to fight infections

Practicing mindfulness (not meditation) brings the mind back to the present, away from these scenarios and reduces the stress response.

Science

Meta reviews find support that mindfulness is a successful intervention in treating depression, anxiety and improving mood.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20350028.

Also see
http://www.mindful.org/the-science
http://sharpbrains.com/blog/2014/06/06/does-mindfulness-work-hint-first-define-work/#more-16257

Research into mindfulness effectiveness
http://www.mindfulexperience.org/evidence-base.php
http://www.emmaseppala.com/20-scientific-reasons-to-start-meditating-today/#.U5KIXhYmOog

Books

McKenzie, S Dr. & Hassad, C Dr. 2012, mindfulness for life, Exisle Publishing, N.S.W.
Hawn, G, 2011, 10 mindful minutes, Piatkus, Great Britain
Kaiser Greenland, S, 2010, The mindful child, Free Press, New York

Mindfulness