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There are various ways types of meditation such as:

• Buddhist Meditation
• Hindu Meditation
• Chinese Meditation
• Christian Meditation
• Guided Meditation

Mindfulness meditation has Buddhist origins. However, it’s not only practiced by followers of the philosophy.

What is mindfulness meditation?

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.1

Mindfulness meditation is not guided to any particular goal. It doesn’t build any intention. In fact, its sole goal is to help practitioners to be present in the moment. Awareness of what is, without judgment or the selection of thoughts, is the objective.

Benefits of mindfulness meditation

Mindfulness meditation isn’t done with a defined result in sight. Still, it has showed applications in different aspects of our life. Among all the known benefits, I’ll focus on 5 on this post:

1. Stress reduction

In modern society, stress is a ghost hunting us all the time. Many find in (mindfulness) meditation a solution to this struggle.

During the practice of mindfulness meditation, your thoughts stop going through your endless to-dos, full agenda, and countless obligations. It’s like you can remove yourself from an oppressing environment and enjoy nothing but your presence and the now.

According to a study from 2013, there’s a correlation between the increase of mindfulness and decrease levels of cortisol, the stress hormone.2

2. Support for individuals with arthritis

While mindfulness meditation doesn’t cure arthritis itself, it has showed significant results in the support of patients.

In a Norwegian study, positive results were showed after 12 months of practice regarding:3

• psychological distress
• self-efficacy pain and symptoms
• self-care ability
• overall well-being

3. Depression in adolescents

Researchers at the University of Leuven worked with more than 400 Flemish students varying from 13 up to 20 years old.4

According to their findings, school-based mindfulness programs can help to reduce and prevent depression in adolescents.

4. Weight loss

7 out of 10 psychologists considered mindfulness meditation “excellent” or “good” when it comes to supporting weight loss.

It happens because even though the practice does not involve the control your thoughts, it keeps negativity in check. When you are in the present, there’s no room for cravings or overeating. And you are also able to .

5. Self-knowledge

Every single day, we are bombed with . It can be so overwhelming that we reach a point in which we may lose sight of who we truly are and what is external perception. Having to please “everyone” to be accepted and survive the continuous rat race, doesn’t help us either.

In this chaos, it has been proved that mindfulness meditation improves self-knowledge.5

How to practice mindfulness meditation

To practice mindfulness meditation, all you need is a silent place where you can sit comfortably. The most common position is sitting on the floor, but those who may not feel at ease in this position can get the same results by using a chair.

If you are also standing on a line, instead of letting your thoughts run wild, you can also “disconnect” yourself from the surrounds and meditate. You’ll not have the silent aspect, but it’s still better than letting stress take over.

If you know you are not going to fall asleep; you can also do mindfulness meditation lying down. But if the temptation of taking a nap is strong, it’s not recommended.

Fix your attention on your breath and nothing else. Mainly, in the beginning, your mind may open a pandora box of thoughts. Don’t try to control them or “make them go away”. Don’t judge or get emotional. Just focus on your breath. Let your thoughts come and go “as they wish”. With time, this will happen with less frequency and intensity.

To avoid “worrying” about the minutes set a timer for the duration of the session. This way you won’t have to look at the clock to check the time. . It’s available for desktop, iPhone, and Android.

Once it’s meditation is done, allow your body to “awake” slowly. While you will go back to your daily responsibilities, you want to take the mindful mood with you.6

Takeaway

Jacobs TL, Shaver PR, Epel ES, Zanesco AP, Aichele SR, Bridwell DA, Rosenberg EL, King BG, Maclean KA, Sahdra BK, Kemeny ME, Ferrer E, Wallace BA, Saron CD. – Self-reported mindfulness and cortisol during a Shamatha meditation retreat. – Health Psychol. 2013 Oct;32(10):1104-9. doi: 10.1037/a0031362. Epub 2013 Mar 25. Heidi A Zangi, Petter Mowinckel, Arnstein Finset, Liv R Eriksson, Turid Ø Høystad, Anne Kristine Lunde, Kåre B Hagen – A mindfulness-based group intervention to reduce psychological distress and fatigue in patients with inflammatory rheumatic joint diseases: a randomized controlled trial – Ann Rheum Dis doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2011-200351 Filip Raes, James W. Griffith, Katleen Van der Gucht, J. Mark G. Williams – School-Based Prevention and Reduction of Depression in Adolescents: a Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial of a Mindfulness Group Program – Mindfulness, October 2014, Volume 5, Issue 5, pp 477-486 Erika N. Carlson – Overcoming the Barriers to Self-Knowledge,Mindfulness as a Path to Seeing Yourself as You Really Are – Perspectives on Psychological ScienceMarch 2013 vol. 8 no. 2 173-186 Gaëlle Desbordes, Lobsang T. Negi, Thaddeus W. W. Pace, B. Alan Wallace, Charles L. Raison, and Eric L. Schwartz – Effects of mindful-attention and compassion meditation training on amygdala response to emotional stimuli in an ordinary, non-meditative state – Front Hum Neurosci. 2012; 6: 292. Published online 2012 Nov 1. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00292