Mindfulness- Ways and Benefits
By Michaela Jones
The practice of mindfulness (link to full video) can improve both physical and mental wellness.
In response to stressors — the pandemic, midterms, and other life events — mindfulness, the basic human ability to be fully present, works to create a positive shift in one’s mind and body.
It helps achieve a calmer and more peaceful physical environment to be in.
This positive shift can best be established through incorporating mindfulness practice into a daily routine.
“The daily exercise I use is meditation,” said Mallorie Cracroft, 40, an OB/GYN physician and wellness coach from Provo, Utah, who has been practicing medicine for nine years now.
Meditation is an aspect of mindfulness practice that helps individuals observe their thoughts and feelings without judgment.
There are other ways in which mindfulness is implemented into daily routines.
“Yoga is what I use to practice mindfulness,” said Jennifer Andrus, an independent yoga instructor from Maple Valley. “It’s the best way to get my ‘breath work’ in while still moving my body and getting a workout in every day.”
Furthermore, the benefits of mindfulness manifest in both physical and mental wellness.
As she has coached a number of patients on how to practice mindfulness through the specific use of a mantra, a particular form of the meditation she mentioned previously, Cracroft says she has found that her body responds to her own advice.
“I feel like my muscles relax, my breathing slows down. I just feel a calmer place in my body,” said Cracroft, who has also been incorporating the use of a mantra for three years.
In terms of mental wellness, practicing mindfulness can help to regulate emotions and stress.
“Mindfulness can affect the production of chemicals that change our mood,” writes Caroline Harper, the clinical lead for mental health at Bupa, UK, one of the UK’s leading private healthcare specialists. “We know that connections between different regions of the brain change when we are mindful.”
Developing certain triggers and cues through the practice of mindfulness — meditation, a mantra, or something more physical like yoga — can train the brain to respond to stressors in calmer and more controlled ways.
