Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness Meditation is very good for mental and physical health. It is the psychological process of bringing one’s attention to the internal and external experiences occurring in the present moment, which can be developed through the practice of meditation and other training.

A new study has revealed that after eight weeks of mindfulness meditation a person responds to stress alters, basically for people with anxiety disorder, the level of levels of stress hormones and inflammatory markers are significantly reduced.

Mindfulness meditation can be defined in many ways and can be used for a variety of different therapies. When defining mindfulness meditation, it is useful to draw upon Buddhist psychological traditions and the developing scholarship within empirical psychology.

Mindfulness is a modern, Western practice that is founded on modern vipassana, and the training of sati, which means “moment to moment awareness of present events“, but also “remembering to be aware of something“. It leads to insight into the true nature of reality, namely the three marks of existence, the impermanence of and the unsatisfactoriness of every conditioned thing that exists, and non-self. With this insight, the practitioner becomes a so-called Sotapanna, a “stream-enterer“, the first stage on the path to liberation.

Mindfulness meditation is practiced sitting with eyes closed, cross-legged on a cushion, or on a chair, with the back straight. Attention is put on the movement of the abdomen when breathing in and out, or on the awareness of the breath as it goes in and out the nostrils. If one becomes distracted from the breath, one passively notices one’s mind has wandered, but in an accepting, non-judgmental way and one returns to focusing on breathing.

Meditators start with short periods of 10 minutes or so of meditation practice per day. As one practice regularly, it becomes easier to keep the attention focused on breathing. Eventually, awareness of the breath can be extended into awareness of thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Benefits of Meditation:

• Meditation Helps Preserve the Aging Brain
• Meditation Reduces Activity in the Brain’s “Me Center”
• Its Effects Rival Antidepressants for Depression, Anxiety
• Meditation May Lead to Volume Changes in Key Areas of the Brain
• Improves Concentration and Attention
• Meditation Reduces Anxiety — and Social Anxiety
• Meditation Can Help with Addiction
• Short Meditation Breaks Can Help Kids in School

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