Here’s why mindful meditation is beneficial for you

While sitting upright, eyes closed, feet flat on the floor and palms resting on the laps, individuals can practice mindfulness by paying attention to their physical sensations, emotions, thoughts and especially their breath.

In recent years, several rigorous scientific studies have shown certain benefits of a regular mindful meditation practice.

Research published in Clinical Psychology Review in 2013 evaluated the efficacy of Mindfulness-based therapy (MBT) using a comprehensive effect-size analysis. Researchers examined over 200 studies of mindfulness among healthy people and discovered that mindfulness-based therapy was especially effective for reducing anxiety, stress, and depression.

This is just one example. Many such studies have investigated the benefits of mindful meditation in different medical conditions.

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Benefits of mindful meditation

While no such study suggests mindful meditation being a standalone treatment for diseases, the benefits of this practice are far-reaching for mental and physical health. The following are some of these benefits.

Relieves stress

Interestingly, stress reduction is the most commonly reported benefit of mindfulness so far. Mindful meditation is believed to reduce the release of inflammatory chemicals caused by stress, called cytokines.

Meditation allows individuals to calm their inner chatter while bringing perspective and clarity to what’s going on inside them, enabling them to deal with stress.

Improves physical health

Another great advantage of mindfulness techniques is that they help to improve physical health in several ways. For example, mindfulness techniques can help treat heart disease, reduce chronic pain, lower blood pressure, alleviate gastrointestinal difficulties, and improve sleep.

Meanwhile, mindful meditation trains individuals to become more sensitive to the needs of their physical bodies. This helps people to develop the ability to exert greater control over their unpleasant feelings like pain.

Controls anxiety

Individuals can only control and manage anxiety if they understand it well. Mindful meditation allows people to understand the erratic nature of anxiety while obtaining a better sense of triggering situations.

With meditation, people tend to learn about the thoughts that define them and thoughts that are unreal. This, in turn, changes their relationship with anxiety and improves their ability to regulate emotions.

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Boosts concentration and improves memory

Daily practice of mindful meditation is believed to improve concentration among children and adults while bolstering their ability to keep information active in their minds.

Mindfulness boosts the areas responsible for helping individuals remember things more vividly, focus better and enhance self-awareness. More precisely, mindful meditation targets core brain networks, which play a crucial role in many cognitive tasks, making brain activities more efficient.

Builds emotional resilience

There is considerable evidence that shows mindful meditation increases resilience while improving life satisfaction among individuals.

Mindfulness practices strengthen the emotional and logical centres of people’s brains, increasing their awareness of and attention in the present moment. With such practices, individuals can experience emotions without judgment and regulate their behavioural responses, building emotional resilience.

With so many excellent benefits of practising mindfulness, individuals can simply improve their well-being by starting with just a few minutes a day. You can do it anywhere without special equipment or enrol on mindfulness meditation courses to enhance your quality of life. Remember, Brilliant things happen in a calm mind!

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