5 elementos essenciais para spirituality
Our mind will wander. Even the pros get distracted by thoughts during meditation and forget to follow their breath, because no matter how practiced we are, the mind is always going to think.
Meditation is a highly personal activity, with everyone finding their best own way to practice. Some find guided meditations to be useful, especially when starting out, to help focus their attention.
Add to this that we have entered what many people are calling the “attention economy.” In the attention economy, the ability to maintain focus and concentration is every bit as important as technical or management skills.
Now, as you get more comfortable meditating, you may find yourself sometimes experiencing moments of spaciousness that feels like no thoughts are happening. If that occurs, cool! Enjoy the sensation. But thoughts happen. Becoming less attached to them is one of the main reasons why we meditate.
Mindfulness is good for our bodies: A seminal study found that, after just eight weeks of training, practicing mindfulness meditation boosts our immune system’s ability to fight off illness. Practicing mindfulness may also improve sleep quality.
Mindfulness helps health care professionals cope with stress, connect with their patients, and improve their general quality of life. It also helps mental health professionals by reducing negative emotions and anxiety, and increasing their positive emotions and feelings of self-compassion.
Then, they were given the Stroop test—a test that measures attention and emotional control—while having their brains monitored by electroencephalography. Those undergoing breath training had significantly better attention on the Stroop test and more activation in an area of the brain associated with attention than those in the active control group.
That said, some types of meditation, including guided meditation and yoga nidra, are often done lying down. You’re less likely to drift into sleep when following someone’s voice.
Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior? Submitting your rating Get the science of a meaningful workplace delivered to your inbox. Submit
People might associate meditation with sitting in silence and stopping all of our thoughts and feelings to become calm. But that’s not really how the mind works, and neither does meditation. Rather than trying to stop our thoughts, we practice letting thoughts come and go.
Jason Marsh: Mindfulness describes a moment-to-moment awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations. It’s a state of being attuned to what’s going on in your body and in the surrounding environment—being in the increase positive energy present moment without thinking about the future or what happened in the past.
A helpful trick for dealing with thoughts and other distractions in meditation is to name them as they arise. It’s just like it sounds: When a thought comes into your mind, silently say “thought.” When a bit of emotion starts to stir, simply name it— “sadness,” for example.
, to demonstrate how MBCT enables people to relate mindfully to the self and with others. The key, it seems, lies in the way MBCT enhances relationships: Less stress about relationships in turn helps prevent future episodes of depression. Three specific themes emerged from the study:
The benefits of meditation go beyond feeling more calm. Meditation has been found to support our health and also to improve our overall outlook. Maybe more importantly, meditation is a way to enter into a kinder, more generous relationship with yourself and others.