Mindfulness
How do we create sustainable well-being, even while traveling? With brief moments of mindfulness—by pausing and witnessing.
Most of my professional training and certifications included teachings on mindfulness so that I could share these skills with clients. I loved this meaningful work.
But I first had to practice mindfulness, as a student, myself. The more I practiced, the more…
I felt a calm awareness
suffering felt cradled
life felt more meaningful
life felt easier
I felt a sustainable sense of emotional well-being
I’m far from perfect at this, but I'm still in awe that when I take mindful action in a challenging moment, the calm it brings allows me to handle the next moment with more ease.
Wait, what does it Mean to Be Mindful?
Here are some definitions of mindfulness that paint a picture of what mindfulness looks like…
“Mindfulness is the practice of filling our minds with the present, moment by moment.” —Niroga Institute
“Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention to the present … observing one’s thoughts and feelings without judging them as good or bad.” —Psychology Today
“A Buddhist-inspired collection of practices aimed at helping us to cultivate moment-to-moment awareness of ourselves and our environment … ‘mindfulness’ is a big umbrella that covers many different kinds of practice.” —Berkeley University Greater Good Magazine
“Mindfulness involves paying attention to our experience in the present moment, with curiosity, compassion, and acceptance. It is a blend of modern psychology and the ancient wisdom of meditation, which helps us to live life more fully and with a greater sense of perspective.” —University of Oxford Mindfulness Centre
“Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us. While mindfulness is something we all naturally possess, it’s more readily available to us when we practice on a daily basis.” —Mindful
“Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you're sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress. Spending too much time planning, problem-solving, daydreaming, or thinking negative or random thoughts can be draining. It can also make you more likely to experience stress, anxiety, and symptoms of depression. Practicing mindfulness exercises can help you direct your attention away from this kind of thinking and engage with the world around you.” —The Mayo Clinic
The Science Behind Mindfulness
But what about the science behind mindfulness? Is there any scientific proof that mindfulness actually helps us in the ways that we believe?
UCLA Health Research shares that mindfulness appears to…
reduce anxiety
reduce depression
reduce stress
improve emotion regulation
activate human altruism, increasing “social cooperation, especially among subjects with low baseline willingness to contribute”
improve ADHD in adolescents and adults
reduce “loneliness and pro-inflammatory gene expression in older adults”
improve “executive function … among children with executive function difficulties previous to the course”
improve self-compassion
decrease pregnancy-related anxiety
improve sleep quality
improve insomnia
improve fatigue interference
improve fatigue severity
reduce pro-inflammatory gene expression
reduce inflammatory signaling
reduce vasomotor symptoms
increase positive affect
increases experiences of peace and meaning
The Niroga Institute notes research that appears to have shown—in a challenging urban school—that mindfulness…
lowered levels of perceived stress
increased self-control
increased school engagement
increased emotional awareness
increased distress tolerance
altered attitude towards violence
reduced teacher stress
improved teacher social well-being
improved teacher emotional well-being
improved class climate
improved student engagement
improved teacher ability to recognize a student's perspective
improved teacher ability to recognize how their own judgments/biases impact their reaction to student
Research reviewed by the American Psychological Association (APA) appears to show mindfulness…
reduced rumination
reduce depressive symptoms
improved memory
improved ability to sustain attention
reduced stress
increased positive affect
decreased anxiety
decreased negative affect
improved depression
improved anxiety
improved somatic distress
decreased neural reactivity
changed neural responses (shifting “people's ability to use emotion regulation strategies in a way that enables them to experience emotion selectively, and that the emotions they experience may be processed differently in the brain”)
improved working memory
improved focus
decreased emotional reactivity
improved cognitive flexibility
improved self-observation
improved “adaptive responses to stressful or negative situations … faster recovery to baseline after being negatively provoked”
improved relationship satisfaction (“ability to respond well to relationship stress … communicating one's emotions to a partner”)
improved “emotionally stressful effects of relationship conflict”
improved “ability to express oneself in various social situations”
improved self-insight
improved morality
improved intuition
improved fear modulation
improved “functions associated with the brain's middle prefrontal lobe area”
increased immune functioning
improved well-being
reduced psychological distress
increased information processing speed
decreased task effort
decreased thoughts “unrelated to the task at hand”
The APA also notes how healthcare professionals appear to be impacted when they practice mindfulness…
increased empathy
increased compassion
increased self-compassion
improved nonjudging
improved reactions
improved taking on others’ perspectives
improved counseling skills
improved attentiveness
improved comfort with silence
increased attunement with self
increased attunement with clients
improved overall wellness
decreased stress
decreased anxiety
decreased depressive symptoms
decreased rumination
decreased negative affect
decreased mood disturbance
decreased fatigue
improved quality of life
decreased negative psychological symptoms
less fatigue
less anger
less stress-related cortisol
greater attention
greater self-regulation
greater immunoreactivity
decreased PTSD symptoms
Berkeley University’s science-based magazine, Greater Good, reports that mindfulness appears to provide…
sharpened attention
improved problem-solving
“trait-like changes”
improved stress resiliency
lessened “inflammatory response in people exposed to psychological stressors”
increased compassion
more effective compassion
increased “willingness to take action to relieve suffering … lessening amygdala activity in the presence of suffering, while also activating circuits in the brain that are connected to good feelings and love”
quieted “‘default network’—the part of our brains that, when not busy with focused activity, ruminates”
improved mental health
improved relationship stress/cortisol resiliency (cortisol levels more quickly returned to normal after conflict)
easier breakups/divorces
improved parent/child relationships
“mindful parenting is also linked to more positive behavior in kids”
activated empathy
activated emotional regulation
reduced “many kinds of bias” (psychological, homeless, racial, elderly, sunk-cost/”tendency to stay invested in a losing proposition”, negativity)
reduced tendency to focus on the negative
reduced negative reactions
increased positive feelings
“increased activity of telomerase, an enzyme implicated in longer cell life and, therefore, longevity … but … could be due to factors like education or exercise, each of which has its own buffering effect on brains”
Berkeley’s magazine also notes why meditation may not seem good for everyone…
“sitting quietly with oneself can be a difficult—even painful—experience”
“individuals who have experienced some sort of trauma, sitting and meditating can at times bring up recent or sometimes decades-old painful memories and experiences that they may not be prepared to confront … experiencing fear, anxiety, panic, numbness, or extreme sensitivity to light and sound that they attributed to meditation”
“type of meditation matters … each practice appears to create a distinct mental environment, the long-term consequences of which are only beginning to be explored.”
When and Where Does One Practice Mindfulness (Especially While Traveling)?
As we adventure through life, we don’t have to wait for meditation or yoga to practice mindfulness. Mindfulness can happen at any moment, in any (safe) location, and in just a few minutes. I find it most beneficial in beautiful and difficult moments.
No matter where we are currently located (on a sidewalk, standing in line), if we want to soak in a moment of beauty or handle a difficult situation better, we try to step aside for a moment of mindful pause. We’re not perfect, but if we do it, just about anything feels possible afterward.
My Favorite Way to Practice Mindfulness (anywhere)
I take three (non-judgmental) steps, especially if I feel a strong emotion…
pause (in the moment)
pausing was initially difficult for me to do
because I tend to talk about what I’m experiencing
or I want to take immediate action to solve it
pausing can be one of the most vital things I do, instead
it only takes a moment to pause
I always feel better after I pause
pausing, in itself, is quite the reward
witness (what is happening within)
it took me a while to understand how to simply witness
because, in my mindfulness training, we were taught to “notice”
and the word “notice” prompted my brain to feel on “alert”
it also prompted my brain to wonder what to do about everything I noticed
so I found a word that would stop me in my tracks
I found a word that would keep my mind where it needed to be
“witness” (to my brain) makes me think of a calm bystander
“witness” (to my brain) makes me simply witness an experience
this I can do
breathe (until any strong emotions pass)
as we pause and witness what is happening within, we remind ourselves to breathe
the first time I practiced this breathing (while feeling a strong emotion), it felt like an eternity
it felt like an eternity of torture, to be more exact
I wanted to speak about what I was feeling—not breathe until it passed
yet, in reality, it only took about three minutes of breathing before that strong emotion passed
now, it takes about fifteen seconds
dr. greger shares the science of how to breathe to “strengthen the mind-body connection…”
“There’s a nerve, called the vagus nerve, that goes directly from our brain to our chest to our stomach, and connects our brain back and forth to our heart and our gut, and even our immune system.
“When you hear about the mind-body connection—that’s what the vagus nerve is, and does.
“When you breathe in, your heart rate tends to go up. When you breathe out, your heart rate tends to go down … test it out on yourself … by feeling your pulse change as you breathe.
“Practicing slow breathing a few minutes a day may have lasting beneficial effects on a number ‘of medical and emotional disorders,’ including asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, and depression.
“Slow breathing, five or six breaths per minute, split equally between breathing in and breathing out should do it. So, like, five seconds in, then five seconds out, all the while breathing ‘shallowly and naturally’—you don’t want to hyperventilate. Natural, shallow breaths, but just breathing really slowly.”
Mindful Reading
I love publications that share more ways mindfulness can live in our lives—including a bit about its Buddhist origins…
There is No Mindful Perfection
I find it so important to emphasize that it’s impossible (for me) to be mindful all the time. There is no mindful perfection here.
Sometimes I forget to practice mindfulness. Upon reflection, those moments are my reminders to keep practicing.
Sometimes I don’t feel like practicing mindfulness, or I don’t think it will help me. Again, upon reflection, those moments are my reminders to keep practicing.
I still try to see the meaningful lessons that these experiences might have taught me.
I like to tell myself that when something goes wrong, it could have been some universal intervention, protecting me from something worse ... or allowing for something better.
A realigning of the stars, if you will. Then I thank my lucky stars.
