Mindful Meditation Research Paper

Days will pass away even weeks, barely you will feel it, there will come a time when you will leave with regrets, you will face uncountable questions from your soul, especially questions akin to why have not I started it?

In terms of stress reduction, mindfulness refers to the development of skills “characterized by a nonjudgmental awareness, openness, curiosity and acceptance of internal and external present experiences” (Chiesa & Serrety, 2009. p. 593). The constant practice of mindfulness exercises accounts for the reduction of stress. In their review of ten articles relevant to the effectiveness of mindfulness practices on stress reduction (MBSR), Chiessa and Serretti, (2009) found a significant positive effect of mindfulness practices compared to no treatment, in reducing stress levels in healthy people. MBSR is a psychoeducational group intervention (Cadwell et al, 2010), where participants receive formal training in various

Stress is an emotional state that is difficult to define because everyone experiences stress in different ways. Pathologically speaking, stress is the brain’s response to certain demands for change and can be positive or negative depending on the individual. This state of mind is induced by physical and emotional stimuli; this in turn generates a response that affects many aspects of a person’s wellbeing. Psychological, behavioral and biological stressors all play a role in an individual’s mood, sense of well-being, behavior and health (Schneiderman, Ironson, & Siegel, Stress and health: psychological, behavioral, and biological determinants, 2005). These factors can threaten our internal homeostasis which

On our first day of eighth grade, we were introduced to the word mindfulness. According to Jon Kabat-Zinn (the founder of modern day mindfulness), “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; On purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” Mindfulness involves a conscious direction of awareness about everything that is happening around you. But, there is a difference of being aware of something to being mindful about something. To be mindful, you have to be purposely aware of something, not just vaguely aware.

This study elaborates on how mindfulness meditation can be used to sooth anxiety. “Mindfulness meditation is premised on stabilizing attention, acknowledging discursive sensory events as ‘momentary’ and ‘releasing’ them without affective reaction” (Zeidan, Martucci, Kraft & Coghill, 2014). For this study specific participants were selected to go through a process form results for the existing hypothesis. Zeidan et al. (2014) “We hypothesized that mindfulness meditation would be more effective at reducing anxiety than simply attending to the breath (ATB) because mindfulness meditation wold recruit mechanisms associated with cognitive control and emotion regulation.”

In the research concerning transcendental meditation, variables linked with and most often tested in relation to TM include stress, anxiety, depression, ego development, and cognition, all of which contribute to overall well-being. Sample sizes in these studies vary greatly, some consisting of smaller groups and other that synthesize information collected from larger studies. There is also great variation in terms of time, some studies spanning over only a few months while others study groups over the span of ten years. This diversity within the studies is helpful in gaining a more well-rounded understanding of TM and its effects.

The article “Capitalizing on Behavioral and Emotional Strengths of Alternative High School Students Through Group Counseling to Promote Mindfulness Meditation” appeared in the September 2013 issue of The Journal for Specialist in Group Work. This research article was written by Betsy L. Wisner and Christine Lynn Norton.

Meditation therapy places one's mind into an Alpha (resting) or theta (relaxing) brainwave state and causes the brain's rhythm to slow and antibodies and endorphins (natural pain killers) to be released into the patient's system. The body's metabolism, breathing and heart rate will slow and blood pressure will decrease. Simply put, at its core, meditation therapy will help patients clear their minds of all toxic thoughts, concentrate and focus on themselves, help them practice patience and prepare them for recovery.

Almost everyone is preoccupied with happiness but yet the population seems to be increasingly unhappy. As society and human experience changes we can’t help but ask ourselves how can we fix an increasingly unhappy and dissatisfied society? Mindfulness meditation is a progressively popular solution to this issue. Mindfulness meditation stems from Buddhist tradition and is a practice that includes focusing one’s attention. Does mindfulness meditation have real psychological effects? And if so can they help improve quality of life? Many studies have been conducted proving that mindfulness meditation does have real psychological effects and can help individuals live a more meaningful and happy life. This can be proven through research related to neuroscience, depression and happiness.

Richard Davidson from the University of Wisconsin has observed the effects of mindfulness on the brain through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) (Barker, 2008). From his results, he explains that meditation nurtures happier moods that as a result increase activity in the left prefrontal cortex. Benefits like this have led mindfulness to be integrated into cognitive therapy. Essentially, to treat depression, anxiety, and borderline personality disorders (Barker, 2008). This integration has created a new therapy known as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression (MBCT). This therapy is the product of Segal et al. (2012) who tested mindfulness on patients undergoing depression (Barker, 2008). He and his colleagues observed that people practicing meditation are less likely to relapse back into depression compared to those who do not. Although MBCT has not reflected significantly results on treating depression, it is in fact more beneficial to treat other

Collect: A review of current studies agree that meditation seems to reduce stress, reduce depression relapse and reduce the distress associated with mental illness, cancer treatment and chronic pain. The current trend is mindfulness meditation, but Zen meditation, vipassana meditation, mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy also seem to be beneficial. Meditation increases

In this chapter, the most important concept for me is what to do about hindrances. Needless to say, all of us will face some hindrances in our life, it could be very serious or unworthy of being mentioned. The key point never is hindrances itself, we should look ahead. I think there is no hindrances that we cannot overcome.

It is human tendency to want to avoid pain with pleasure. Students have immeasurable pressures accumulated from exams or term papers. A healthy way to reduce stress is by teaching students’ mindfulness meditation. Often, students that know how to practice mindfulness are less likely to abuse substances. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, by the time “individuals reach their senior year of high school, 50 percent will have abused an illicit drug.”

Meditation in its truest sense does not only help people in developing tranquility, calmness, and inner peace but also to grow as a true person. However, some people have misconceptions about meditation as being a hippy act or something associated with marijuana smoking. They did not realize that meditation is done so that the mind can think better to improve the condition of life.

Since meditation and breathing techniques can be done at the exact moment stress has occurred , meditation and relaxation plus breathing techniques correlate with decreasing stress around the brain. Common types of neurological side effects of stress are headaches and dizziness, so through different types of meditation techniques, Mind and Body Therapies could help with attention disorders and reducing depression,“...long-term meditation practice is associated with an enhancement of cerebral areas related to attention. From a clinical viewpoint, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has shown efficacy for many psychiatric and physical conditions and also for healthy subjects, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is mainly efficacious in reducing relapses of depression in patients with three or more episodes”(Chiesa & Serretti, 2010, p. 1239-1252 ). Mindfulness meditation, or paying attention in a specific way, is able to calm the body down, which enhances the body's ability to concentrate creating a better thinking atmosphere, and decreasing depression by calming down the body which decreases a depression relapse. Another type of Mind and Body Therapy is relaxation and breathing techniques that are also used with reducing stress. Other than meditation there are, relaxation and breathing techniques which utilize awareness of breathing rate, rhythm, and volume. Often breathing techniques are used to minimize physiologic responses to stress, possibly by increasing parasympathetic response” (Wahbeh, Elsas, & Oken, 2008, para 2). The breathing techniques are able to create a more calm nature, which is able to decrease the stress that is surrounding the brain. A simple exercise like deep breathing can be done everyday and anytime without having to go to a yoga class, which is why it is so beneficial because it helps at