2. Agenda
•What is mindfulness?
•Why should you care?
•Inner Peace, Happiness and Mindfulness
•How does it work?
•What odes it feel like?
•How to be mindful?
3. What is Mindfulness
• Mindfulness is a state of mid where you have complete open
attention on the present moment. When you're mindful, you observe
your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them
good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you
by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to
experience.
• It’s an eastern philosophy concept developed over past 2000 years
4. Why should you care?
• A lot of benefits!
• Reduced rumination. Several studies have shown that mindfulness
reduces rumination. In one study, for example, Chambers et al. (2008)
asked 20 novice meditators to participate in a 10-day intensive
mindfulness meditation retreat.
• Stress reduction. In 2010, Hoffman et al. conducted a meta-analysis
of 39 studies that explored the use of mindfulness-based stress
reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. concluded that
mindfulness-based therapy may be useful in altering affective and
cognitive processes that underlie multiple clinical issues.
5. More benefits
• Increases working memory A 2010 study by Jha et al., documented
the benefits of mindfulness meditation among a military group who
participated in an eight-week mindfulness training, a nonmeditating
military group and a group of nonmeditating civilians. They both were
highlu stressful
• Better quality of life. Using qualitative and quantitative measures,
nursing students reported better quality of life and a significant
decrease in negative psychological symptoms following exposure to
mindfulness-based stress reduction training (Bruce, Young, Turner,
Vander Wal, & Linden, 2002).
6. Inner peace and happiness
• Happiness is not about smiling all of the time. It's not about
eliminating bad moods’
• What is happiness? The most useful definition—and it's one agreed
upon by neuroscientists, psychiatrists, behavioral economists, positive
psychologists, and Buddhist monks—is more like satisfied or content
than "happy" in its strict bursting-with-glee sense. It has depth and
deliberation to it. It encompasses living a meaningful life, utilizing
your gifts and your time, living with thought and purpose.
• Happiness can be easily achieved thru mindfulness
7. How does mindfulness work
• Mindfulness works on a number of levels.
• From a physical point of view, formal mindfulness practice causes the
relaxation response. The relaxation response means your breathing
slows, your blood pressure drops, you relax and feel calmer.
• From a brain science point of view, regular mindfulness reduces the
reactivity of the Amygdala, the fight or flight part of your brain. This
means you become less reactive and less stressed out about things, in
particular worries, and thoughts that previously may have caused you
stress, are not so problematical.
8. How does mindfulness feels like
Mindfulness isn’t one particular state, but rather a deepening in to the
feeling of the experience you are having right at this moment – which
could be pleasant or unpleasant.
There is no good or bad way to do it. Just do it is the only mantra
One thing is for sure though, you can only experience what
mindfulness is like by actually doing it.
9. How to be mindful
• Write down everything that’s on your mind on one piece of paper (use
more than one piece if you need).
• Create three columns on a second piece of paper, and label them: To Be
Done; Maybe Later; and Delete. Sort all the items on the first piece of
paper into the three columns on the second piece of paper.
• Take each item from the Delete column, send it off into space, and tell it
never to return (with a corny little ceremony if that helps).
• Take the items from the Maybe Later column and put them on a Maybe
Later list. (If you don’t keep one, start one).
• Take the items from the To Be Done column and put them into your
planning system. (If you don’t have a planning system, get one).
10. Summary
• Mindfulness is highly relaxed state of mind, which is more of an
experience a state where you are not worried or thinking about
anything
• Mindfulness is a form of meditation and has various benefits from
stress reduction, reduces deep over thinking, improves working
memory and so on
• The way mindfulness works is thru relaxation response and reduces
the Amgylada responsivity.
• You can’t know what mindfulness feels like unless you do it.
11. Review Questions
• What exactly is mindfulness?
• When and How can you be mindful?
• Why should you be mindful?
• How does mindfulness work?
12.
13. References
• American Psychology Association -
http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/07-08/ce-corner.aspx
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3679190/
• https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/mindfulness
• https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199207/the-secrets-
happiness
•
Meditation: In Depth | NCCIH. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation/overview.htm
