Mindfulness and Meditation (Honours Project)
Honours project by @vibha2109
Mindfulness
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a process of bringing ones attention to happenings and experiences of the present moment. The fundamental idea of mindfulness is to be aware of the present moment- paying no attention to the mistakes, regrets and thoughts about the past; and the worries, fear and thoughts about the future, but living in the present.
Source of image: http://sites.uci.edu/mindfulhs/what-is-mindfulness/
Origin and History
People have been practicing mindfulness for thousands of years. It has origins in the Eastern religious traditions- Hinduism and Buddhism.
1. Hinduism: Mindfulness has been associated with Hinduism for millennia. From the discussions in the Bhagavad Gita (the holy book of Hinduism) about yoga to Vedic meditation, the history of mindfulness mostly lies in Hinduism.
2. Buddhism: Mindfulness is an important component of Buddhist traditions. According to Buddhist teachings, mindfulness is used for gain of self-knowledge and wisdom, which gradually and eventually leads to enlightenment or the transcendence of suffering and desire.
Lord Buddha practicing meditation
Source of image: https://www.tes.com/lessons/pNDzQTHITpd8gw/buddhism
The Role of Mindfulness in Psychology
The applications of mindfulness is popular and used widely among people suffering from mental illnesses like anxiety and depression. The therapeutic and calming effects of mindfulness on the mind helps with unwanted thoughts, automatic thoughts, rumination, harmful thoughts, worries, etc. Jon Kabat-Zinn, an American professor, developed his Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, an eight-week program aimed at reducing levels of stress. MBSR served as an inspiration for another mindfulness-based therapy program, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), aimed at treating Major Depressive Disorder. MBSR and MBCT are now widely used by psychologists to treat patients, alongside traditional psychology.
Positive Psychology and Mindfulness
Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living. It is a scientific approach to studying human thoughts, feelings, and behaviour with a focus on strengths instead of weakness, building the good in life instead of repairing the bad, and taking the lives of average people up to great instead of focusing solely on moving those who are struggling up to normal (Peterson, 2008).
Recently, a group of researchers attempted to directly incorporate mindfulness with positive psychology in an intervention they called the Positive Mindfulness Program (Ivtzan et al., 2016). The goal of this study was to combine mindfulness training and positive psychology treatments to increase the well-being of participants. The researchers were successful, and since this study was entirely conducted online, it showed that positive psychology is an excellent way to bring the ancient Eastern practice of mindfulness into the modern Western world.
How do I develop Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is somewhat of a skill. It gets easier and more apparent in our lives with practice. 20 minutes of practicing mindfulness twice per day is said to be ideal. It might involve setting aside time for mindfulness meditation sessions, doing yoga, or it could involve practicing mindfulness during daily activities such as washing the dishes, as Thich Nhat Hanh (a Vietnamese Buddhist monk) practices.
Source of image: http://yogadublin.com/blog/2017/01/10/mindfulness-vs-meditation-the-difference-between-the-two
Yoga and Mindfulness
Yoga and mindfulness can also be directly related, as some yoga practices can even just be considered mindfulness practices, and vice-versa, as they both involve awareness of ones body. One study examined this by measuring mindfulness in people who practice yoga. The researchers found that people who are heavily involved with a yoga practice had higher levels of mindfulness than people who were only slightly involved with yoga or were not involved in a yoga practice at all (Gaiswinkler & Unterrainer, 2016).
Source of image: http://tlvz.com/en/5-yoga-poses-to-reduce-the-stubborn-belly-fat/
Meditation
Mindfulness can be developed using the practice of meditation. Meditation can be defined as a practice where an individual uses a technique, such as focusing their mind on a particular object, thought or activity, to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state.
How do I meditate?
Body positions
Positions such as the padmasana (full lotus), ardhapadmasana (half lotus), sukhasana (crossed legs), vajrasana, and kneeling positions are popular in Buddhism and Hinduism, but other postures such as sitting, supine (lying), standing and kinhin (walking) can also be done.
The full lotus pose
Source of image: http://yogameditationhome.com/articles/padmasana-lotus-pose-for-enlightenment/
The half lotus pose
Source of image: http://www.mindfulnessarts.org/POSTURE.htm
Vajrasana
Source of image: https://www.stylecraze.com/articles/how-to-do-the-vajrasana-and-what-are-its-benefits/
Tools required
Most meditation practices do not require tools of any sorts other than our own body. This depends on the type of meditation that is being practiced. For example, guided meditation requires the audio source of the directions, whether it be a person in the same room, a smartphone or a computer. Some ancient religions of the world also have a tradition of using prayer beads as tools in devotional meditation.
Directions
Different forms of meditation practices have different directions. There are three main forms of meditation:
1. Focused Attention (FA) meditation, involves the voluntary focusing ones attention on a particular object, ones breathing, image, or words. These include paying attention to the breath, to an idea or feeling, or to a mantra (chanting), and single point meditation (focusing on one point).
2. Open Monitoring (OM) meditation, involves non-reactive monitoring of the surroundings and experiences in the present moment. An example is shikantaza (silent reflection).
Some practices use both of the above techniques, including vipassana (reflection of thoughts through observation of bodily sensations), samatha (calming meditation), and Headspace (a meditation app).
3. No thought meditation, in which one is fully alert, aware, and in control of their body but does not experience any unwanted thoughts.
Benefits of Mindfulness
Mindfulness has a huge number of benefits. Here are a few:
1. Improved immunity and physical health
2. Enhanced brain power, memory, and cognitive recall
3. Reduced stress, anxiety, depression, harmful and unwanted thoughts, etc.
4. Improved mental, emotional, and physical healing
5. A more powerful intuition
6. More apparent inner peace
7. Feeling a deeper connection to all living things
8. Increased love and compassion
9. Clear and lucid thought, with boosted levels of creativity
10. Better and more restful sleep
Source of image: https://liveanddare.com/benefits-of-meditation/
Who should practice Mindfulness?
Anyone and everyone! For anyone interested in beginning to practice mindfulness, here are a few guided meditations and mindfulness exercises:
https://www.7cups.com/exercises/mindfulness/
Source of image: http://complementsholistics.co.uk/mindfulness/
Conclusion
Mindfulness is a practice which has a rich history rooted in the traditions of ancient cultures, but it is still benefiting millions of people to this day. This practice can greatly increase ones mental, emotional and physical well-being, and its become more accessible than ever, thanks to the recent popularity leading to the rapid spread, as well as technology. With the rise in mental illnesses and awareness about them, mindfulness should also be encouraged.
For anyone looking for more information, you can visit these websites.
References:
https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/history-of-mindfulness/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness
https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/what-is-positive-psychology-definition/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation
https://eocinstitute.org/meditation/mindfulness-meditation-technique/
https://liveanddare.com/benefits-of-meditation/
http://www.mindfulnessarts.org/POSTURE.htm
Some questions for discussion
1. Do you practice mindfulness?
2. In what way do you practice mindfulness?
3. How often do you do it?
4. How has it impacted your thoughts, moods, and your life in general?
5. If you do not practice mindfulness, will you give it a try now after reading this post?
Do you practice mindfulness?
Yes!
2. In what way do you practice mindfulness?
I do body scans regularly and focus on the breath/deep breathing because building those skills and that discipline helps when Im anxious
3. How often do you do it?
Lately once day, but more regularly once a week
4. How has it impacted your thoughts, moods, and your life in general?
It helps me to take better control of my mind and body when I feel out of conteol, such as during an anxiety attack. It also helps me to decrease worry by accepting and living in the moment
@vibha2109
That is really awesome. Very well done. I think this is very important topic in today's busy world and people should realize it's importance. I am glad you chose this topic and it is very well put together. Good job!❤️
1. Do you practice mindfulness? Yes, I've been doing that for almost 4 months now.
2. In what way do you practice mindfulness? I meditate. When I feel anxious I try to do activities that make me feel present, such as running, exercising, breathing or simply using some simple grounding techniques.
3. How often do you do it? I meditate at least once a day, I run 3-4 times a week, usually for 40 minutes /1 h each time.
4. How has it impacted your thoughts, moods, and your life in general? Since I started doing things that made me think about the present and not the future/past, I feel much better. I started running mainly to take care of my mental health (and that's why I'm including this activity in this post about mindfulness), and since then I've made huge improvements. It doesn't mean that everything is perfect right now, but at least I can say I have healthier coping mechanisms, and I noticed that my general mood is much better than before. Plus, meditation helped me become more consistent in my activities. For example, I always struggled with maintaining habits, but since I started meditating I've gained the necessary discipline to learn 2 new languages and to start running (I hated it until 5 months ago).
So, I wouldn't say meditation and mindfulness are the cure for anxiety and depression, not everyone gains benefit from these activities, but they're worth a try.
@givemethewords
Hey! Thank you for your reply 
I'm so happy to hear that the wonderful ways that you practice mindfulness in, have benefited you! Great job on all the achievments and on making an effort to make it better for yourself 
Running sounds like an amazing practice! Keep going on with the amazing work!
Take care! 
@vibha2109 Great job! Quick question: are these projects through the 7Cups intern program?
@vibha2109 I have been practizing mindfulness for 4 years already. It has been a great way to connect and live the moment in a healthy way. I have been in two meditation groups too. One with chanting and music and the other with guided meditation.
when i first began meditating, it was in response to the suggestion of a Doctor of Acupuncture, whose skills had given me a new 'lease on life'. he also recommended that i use a form of brain rehab, called Binaural Beats. i put them together and found the most powerful way for a beginner to meditate~!
you can find Binaural Beats on YouTube, but i bought (in 6 month increments) a 7 year therapeutic plan from CenterPointe.com. it boosted my IQ by at least 15 points, and put several major 'psychiatric' diagnoses "in remission" (my docs claim there is no 'cure'). it's been 13 yrs now, and my meditations are for hours a day, almost daily. it is the finest way of life i never imagined~!
best wishes to all who set their mindfulness on meditations and being present~!
@GusteeMoon123
Omg, that's a very inspiring story! I'm so glad meditation has played such a huge role in your life and that it has benefited you to such an extent!
I will check out binaural beats myself, and the other link that you provided as well. Thank you so much!
Best of luck to you too, and take care!
@vibha2109 Hello Vibha! How are you doing? I hope you are doing well and are having a wonderful Friday so far! Congratulations again on graduating! I'm so happy for you! Also, this is such an amazing honors project! You did a wonderful job!
1. Do you practice mindfulness?
Yes, I have been practicing it for quite a number of years despite not being aware of it until recently.
2. In what way do you practice mindfulness?
I eat mindfully, meditate, become aware of my senses, become mindful of my surroundings, etc.
3. How often do you do it?
I do it every day, usually multiple times a day. It's just a part of who I am.
4. How has it impacted your thoughts, moods, and your life in general?
It has helped my soul feel lighter and happier. I feel at ease, at peace, relaxed, grateful, and in tune with the Earth.
@SaimaK
Hey Saima! Thank you for your kind words! They mean a lot! I hope you're having a great weekend
I'm glad to hear that mindfulness has become a part of your day-to-day life! It's very inspiring.
I hope you are doing well! Take care
@vibha2109 Thank you so much, Vibha! I hope you are doing well and are having a great weekend as well! Take care!
