Mindfulness Meditation Mental Health

Mindfulness is an incredible skill, it is a practice that is taking the world by storm and helping more and more people live in their present.

With results from these self-report analyses, the anxious arousal over time after each of the four classes involving meditation compared with the control group grew increasingly more significant. This positive relationship demonstrates the affirmative effect of meditation. The important details in this study that also help support the findings in the first article mentioned in this paper, are the results that reduced distress was encouraged in this study by meditations ability to aid breast cancer survivors in emotion regulation which in turn led to reduced stress (Boyle et al., 2017). We can now start to see how these articles link emotion in support of the argument of benefits of meditation to the brain.

“Mindfulness” takes on a slightly varied definition based on the practitioner and the researcher. The Oxford dictionary (2016) defines mindfulness as “A mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.” Weijer-Bergsma et al. (2012) states, “Mindfulness is a form of attention training using meditation techniques, in which participants learn to pay attention in a specific way” (pp. 238-239). Mindfulness has also been described as “the process of engaging a full, direct, and active awareness of experienced phenomena that is spiritual in aspect and that is maintained from one moment to the next” (Van Gordon et al.,

A large body of research on meditation suggests how mindfulness meditation practices have helped mental health issues. Nevertheless, we also have to look at the fact that previous research outcomes may have also had flaws. For example, they lacked a control group. Meanwhile, other research projects may have fallen victim to what's known as an "expectancy bias." Psychiatry Research took all these elements into account. To solve the bias, researchers told their subjects how the study involved stress reduction, but they didn't mention meditation.

Research has commonly shown that people who meditate have lower levels of stress and anxiety. Stress and anxiety are common sources or symptoms of depression, anxiety disorders, and a number of other mental disorders. Stress and

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.

Some view meditation as new age, hippie nonsense because it is not a social norm to sit in silence and dig beneath the surface of the mind. Others liken it to tuning an instrument before playing it. I subscribe to the latter; nonetheless, meditation is an ancient practice that can be traced back 2,500 years. However, neuroscientists are just now beginning to measure the effects that it has on the brain. While there are many types of meditation, they all have the same function; reaching an internal state of consciousness in which one is attending to a specific focal point. The content of this paper will be predominantly about mindful meditation and how it positively affects the brain. The process of mindful

Mindfulness meditation is a mental exercise that emphasises on the sensations of breathing while in a relaxed state of mind. The participants in mindfulness meditation by closing eyes and remained focused on the circulation of their breath, participants begins to identify the tangential ideas and beliefs, accept them, but eventually go back to their breathing.

Physiological. Over the decades, scientists have found that physiological changes are evident in those who meditate over long periods of time. A study by Lazar et al. (2005), showed that long time meditators have a thicker cortex than non-meditators. The area of the brain evaluated in this study was the right hemisphere, which is the center of sensory, cognitive and emotional processing. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) processes were used to measure the cortex of the brain. Researchers concluded that meditation slows age-related declines in cortical structure, and the respiratory rate and blood pressure levels were lower amongst long-time meditators (Lazar et al., 2005).

I found this article very interesting as it talks about the benefits of meditation and how great it affects our brain as well as how much it required to gain its maximum benefit. It also discusses how mindfulness-based medications could aid in treating various conditions such as depression, stress, anxiety and chronic pain.

Argumentative thesis: Although many people assume medications such as antidepressants are the only way to treat patients with depression, meditation is a better choice of treatment as it prevents relapse in patients that are recurringly depressed, is accepted by a large portion of patients that are typically unwilling to take medication to treat their depression, and rebuilds brain structures affected by the mental illness,

The study shows that meditation can positively affect brain function. It may sound illogical, how could mind training actually impact the physical structure of the brain. However, the study shows that mindfulness mediation could enhance the function of one’s memory, sense of self, empathy and stress response. Practice of mindfulness mediation is like the brain talking to itself, the thoughts are floating through our consciousness. By doing more mediation, the brain can get more practices. Therefore, neural responses would be shorter; the brain can have more time to rest.

Meditation has long since been used as a means of promoting proper restorative mental health benefits. When a person meditates, it becomes possible to calm and relax the mind. This can put an end to much of the psychic noise that is present within the deep recesses of the mind. Now, this is not to say that meditation alone will cure all mental and emotional ills one may possess. Yet, it can definitely help in many regards towards calming the mind and allowing the healing process to take place.

In this paper, I will describe my initial thoughts about the practice of mindfulness and my development regarding practicing it. Furthermore, I will explore the idea of being a mindful therapist and how I am hoping to apply this with patients in the future.

Start by enhancing your ability to focus. The scientifically proven way to improve your focus and therefore your ability to have more willpower is through meditation. Research to the benefits of meditation and mental health is overwhelmingly positive. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to find a study saying meditation is negative for you. It isn’t even just the positive impact on your mental strength – studies have shown meditation to be beneficial for your physical health as well. Meditating can provide you with more energy, which is useful for your mental strength as well. When you have energy, you are more able to make good decisions and have the mental and physical strength to keep moving forward.