What is mindfulness?

Meditation? Mindful eating? Why do therapists care so much about this, and why are they obsessed with it? Why is there so much research on it? Mindfulness is simply the act of being aware. When you’re present, you’re observing, not thinking about the future. If you’re not thinking about the future, you’re less likely to be anxious. Not thinking about the past can make a person less likely to be depressed, and less regretful.

Learning to be in the moment helps with attention, anxiety, or depression.

This is just one of many approaches that unfortunately for some people can backfire. For example, if a person has PTSD or dissociation they tend to disconnect. When a therapist to says, “you need to practice connecting or practice being in the moment”, that might actually induce a traumatic association. If you have PTSD be very cautious about the mindfulness meditations. It might be easier to do something like mindful eating.

With mindful eating take a bite of something, absorb the taste, and enjoy the meal. This maybe something that’s more grounding and less overwhelming for someone with PTSD.

Mindfulness meditation can be used to look at emotions and to process a current emotional state. This happens by being aware of your emotional experience. Such awareness can decrease the intensity of that emotion. In a person with PTSD, they may want to try it with a therapist.

Mindful exercises.

These are just exercises designed to increase your awareness. Like breathing, everyone has been breathing their entire life but there might be things that they have completely ignored. Let’s take the spot just beneath your nose and above your lip, and as you breathe in through your nose focus on the sensation as you breathe out. Do you feel a sensation there? If so, interestingly you’ve been experiencing this feeling your entire life and have never paid attention to it.

That’s a quick mindfulness activity, just picking something and observing it. Sometimes emotions are like that, sometimes our emotions are in the background, and we ignore them. Bringing them forward and listening to them can help process what’s going on. Practicing mindfulness can be helpful for reducing anxiety

What if that doesn’t fit you? Try another technique to induce mindfulness. There are other benefits like helping with the blood flow in the brain which as you get older changes. It can help with oscillations in the brain that have to do with alpha waves. It doesn’t need to be done long, 20 minutes a day for like a couple months is sufficient. There are other techniques so, don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t work.