The Effects Of Mindfulness Through Meditation And Yoga On The Brain

In today 's society, people across the world are coming to a better understanding of the problem of mental illness, and the need to provide help for those suffering with mental health related issues in our communities. Sadly, this acceptance is still very low worldwide. In Ontario, “approximately 70% of mental health challenges have their onset in childhood or youth. In other words 1 in 5 children and youth have a mental health challenge” (Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services, 2016).

Over forty million Americans suffer from a mental health condition; and, unfortunately, fifty six percent do not receive any treatment at all. “Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in thinking, emotion and behavior”(Psychiatry.org). People live with their conditions even though their quality of life and personal relationships may be negatively affected. When one lives in a state of denial about having a mental illness, they are cheating themselves out of living life to their fullest potential and will achieve true freedom only when they face the illness head on and seek recovery.

Mindfulness therapy falls under the umbrella of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT is an evidenced based treatment that was derived as a way to treat individuals who are at risk for emotional dysregulation on a more long-term basis (Craighead, 2016). Mindfulness includes education about the client’s illness, meditation techniques and drawing a connection between specific thoughts and feelings. This is all done in an effort to teach individuals to more routinely notice their thoughts and avoid rumination and negative thinking patterns that can lead to feelings of negative self-worth, guilt and excessive self-criticism (Williams & Kuyken, 2012). According to research from six randomized controlled trials with a total of 593 participants Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral therapy was shown to reduce relapses of depression in 44% (Williams & Kuyken, 2012).

Dickinson, Friary and McCann (2016) state that Kabat-Zinn’s (2011, 1991) Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program is connected to mindfulness. Bishop et al (2004) claim that suggesting Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as a means of treating people’s sufferings has significantly increased the clinical uses of mindfulness.

Yoga has been shown, through research, to reduce anxiety (Kirkwood, Rampes, Tuffrey, Richardson, & Pilkington, 2005). Yoga is widely practiced by groups of people for various reasons and with ranging levels of devotion. Some seek out yoga and other Eastern religions to seek a higher plane of knowledge and inner peace. Others simply want the benefits of the calming exercises. Some parents may even become upset with the idea of teaching religion in school, but in this aspect, yoga and its benefits are easily taught and can be easily practiced and mastered in a classroom for amazing benefits for students who need to learn to assess their anxiety levels and address them in a way to help alleviate some of the anxiety that is negatively impacting their focus and learning.

Both dependent variables were scored on a scale of 0 to 1, one indicating the presence of a bias. 88 psychology students participated in the study. In each intervention, there were 44 participants. The mindfulness intervention consisted of 34 females and 10 males, with age ranging between 19 and 50 (M= 24.1 SD=7.2). The control intervention consisted of 31 females and 13 males, with age ranging between 19 and 47 (M= 23.5,

Psychology is supposed to be based off of science. By establishing mindfulness and other practices like meditation and yoga as psychological practices, it then serves as a treatment for the amount of stress and lack of joy and productivity Americans find in their lives. As highlighted in Mindful America by Jeff Wilson mindfulness practices are now incorporated into medical clinics across America and are scientifically proven to aid it therapy and help heal and cope with illness. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), a psychological practice based off the Buddhist religion with the intent to reduce

This essay is about the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in the treatment of depression. The purpose of this essay is to address the question, how mindfulness works to improve mental health when used as part of psychological treatment? Firstly, a brief overview is given about what depression is and what the symptoms are, based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5). Secondly, It will discuss mindfulness, as it is defined in mental health treatments. The main body of this essay will cover a description of what MBTC is, where it comes from, how it works, and how this treatment is activated in mindfulness based therapies. The final section will review three studies that have used MBCT in the treatment of depression.

Just like your body needs exercise to stay fit and healthy, the brain also needs it to stay fresh. Brain is not static and it has the ability to adapt to different situations all the time. But if you want it to stay creative and fresh then you have train it with the help of some brain exercises. One of the best exercise for brain is meditation.

The stress levels are increasing as the world is advancing. The joint family is split into nuclear family and every member of the family is equally busy with their schedule. There is hardly any bonding with the family and the person feels lonely and bore, this is also a reason for depression. The anxiety has increased among people with the competitive world demanding for the best in every aspect. If the work place is not friendly and supportive and an employee undergoes repeated failure in his project; say in terms of punctuality, performance, behavior and so on he will be feeling helpless. This helplessness and continuous failures can lead him to depression as well.

Coelho, H. F., Canter, P. H., and Ernst, E. (2007). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy: Evaluating current evidence and informing future research. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75(6), 1000-1005.

Mindfulness meditation can be very well described as the discipline which has the best of both areas, yoga and meditation. Adopting theses practices in your routine life can not only help you in attaining peace of mind and soul; you can also feel a positive energy surging inside you. They also lead you to a state of self realization, where your mind is away from the anxieties of the past and the anticipations about the future. And when you experience such perfection and balance of the mind and body, life becomes one beautiful journey and you set on an incredible ride with it.

On many Occasions, physicians may be unable to attribute any physiological medical explanation for a patient’s reported pain symptoms. As the mind and body are one, the physical manifestations of pain may be directly related to a manifestation of the mind. As the mind has the ability to induce physical pain upon the body, it may also have the ability to abolish such somatic pains with conscious efforts of mindfulness meditation on states of distress.

This study is significant because stress can be detrimental to one’s physical, emotional, and mental health. Schreiner & Malcolm (2008) suggests that, “mindfulness training is beneficial in reducing the symptoms of subclinical "depression and anxiety and can substantially reduce stress” (p. 1). It is always important to find ways to help manage and reduce daily stressors. I think that many people would care about this study, because stress is something that everyone experiences throughout their life in one way or another. Although stress is not always negative, most of the time, it is. Most people would want to know how they could manage and reduce their stress. I think that my study will make contributions of relief for those who are looking for ways to manage stress, relax, focus,

Mindfulness is the process of becoming aware of the present moment and observing thoughts, emotions, sensations and perceptions as they arise without judgement to unwanted thoughts or sensations (Morrison & Bennet, 2012/2016). To accomplish mindfulness there are two necessary components. On the one hand, it is necessary to regulate attention to become fully aware of the current experience. On the other hand, it is essential to adapt to the experience to be open and accepting (Morrison & Bennet, 2012/2016). Mindfulness, and especially Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), is based on the beneficial belief that it can ease symptoms “related to psychiatric, psychosomatic and physical disorders” (Bohlmeijer, Prenger, Taal & Cuijpers, 2010).