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/

https://youtu.be/amGf0nWvgtc

https://www.calm.com/

https://www.headspace.com/

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?