Mindfulness in Brief

Thinking outside the present moment is one of the key mental tools that differentiates humans and other animals. However, when it comes to our wellbeing, this skill isn't always beneficial.

One of the key mental skills that sets humans apart from other animals, is our ability to think outside the present moment – ruminating on the past and daydreaming about the future allows us to learn, improve, and problem solve with more flexibility than any other species on the planet. Our brains aren't geared towards engaging in the present moment – studies have shown that we spend up to 50% of our waking time thinking about something other than what we are currently doing (mind-wandering). While this ability has evolutionary benefits for learning and problem-solving behaviours, this constant mind-wandering is also associated with decreased happiness, and neural activities that are associated with anxious states of mind.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness, perhaps one the most widely-known positive psychology strategies, has been posed as a solution for the effects of mind-wandering. Adapted from Buddhist meditations, mindfulness exercises promote a non-judgemental awareness of the present moment, through either “formal” meditations, or “informal” exercises. Regular mindfulness practice over a period of weeks and months is consistently associated with decreased stress and anxiety, and positive changes in the regions of the brain involved in stress management and emotion regulation.

Mindfulness is thought to target wellbeing through improving emotion regulation, and promoting decreased emotional reactivity. In layman’s terms, the goal is to create some mental distance between yourself and your experiences, allowing us to process our emotions more calmly. Let's discuss an example scenario where something has gone wrong - say you’ve dropped a cup of coffee. In a state of high emotional reactivity, perhaps brought about by exhaustion or stress, we would experience an immediate and strong negative emotional response, like a punch to the gut. A strong emotional response to undesirable events leads to heightened stress hormones, and can sometimes result in regretful behavioural responses. In contrast, in a state of low emotional reactivity, maybe on a well-rested day where everything else has gone perfectly, we experience a mental separation from this immediate emotional response (it may not feel so physical, for example), and acknowledge the emotions as they come to us, rather than being overwhelmed by them. Our brains function in a remarkably similar way to muscles: if you repeat psychological behaviours associated with a particular part of your brain, that part of your brain gets bigger and activates more readily. As such, the idea with mindfulness practice is that over time and repetition (think weeks rather than days), the structures of our brains are more geared towards these "good day" emotional responses.

How can we practice Mindfulness?

There are two primary ways of practicing mindfulness: Formal Mindfulness, meditation-based exercises that can be completed as an extra daily task, and Informal Mindfulness, activities that consciously prioritise present moment awareness in our daily lives. Both formal and informal mindfulness have been scientifically evaluated and found to be effective at promoting mental wellbeing, so don't feel any pressure to choose one or the other - whichever practice is the most natural for you is perfectly fine. Rather than viewing this time as “thinking about nothing”, try and view it as a heightened state of focus and awareness.

Informal Mindfulness Practice

Informal mindfulness practice is very simple and easy to incorporate into your day-to-day routine. This practice revolves around spending as much time as you can throughout the day in awareness of the present moment. For example, when brushing your teeth, try to be aware of the sensations associated with brushing your teeth in the absence of distractions and conscious thoughts. Or, when eating, focus on the taste and texture of your food alone, rather than letting your mind wander to other topics. When you are walking outside, try to open your awareness to the sounds, smells, and sights around you, without putting your thoughts into words or drifting elsewhere. This can be done with any activity in the day - during physical exercise, for example, is another common one.

Formal Mindfulness Practice

Can be practiced for as long as you prefer - guided meditations commonly range from ten to twenty minutes

1. Awareness of the breath. In this practice, sit upright with the back straight, eyes closed, and the feet planted firmly on the floor. Focus your awareness on the physical processes associated with the breath: whichever aspect is most salient to you. This may be the movement of your stomach, the sensation of the air flowing in and out of your nose and mouth, or the sound that your breathing makes. Try and stay focused on the breath in this way without allowing thoughts or emotions to distract you – if you find that your mind has wandered, simply acknowledge this wandering and return to the sensation of breathing.

2. Body scan. In this practice, sit upright with the back straight, eyes closed, and the feet planted firmly on the floor. Focus your awareness on the sensations in your feet and toes as they press into the floor. After some time here, shift your awareness to the sensations you can feel in your legs, perhaps as they press against the chair. Continue in this way through each body part until you reach the top of your head, then spend some time trying to cultivate this awareness of your body as a whole. If you become uncomfortably aware of any painful sensations during this time, try to relax those areas, or sit with the discomfort in a non-judgemental way. However, if this proves distressing, feel free to move on in your own time.

3. Sensory. In this practice, sit upright with the back straight, eyes closed, and the feet planted firmly on the floor. Focus your awareness on the sense of touch, and what you can feel in the present moment. After spending some time with this sense, transition your awareness to your sense of hearing, and what you can hear in the present moment. Continue this practice, and transition through your senses of smell and taste.

There are a number of apps that are also targeted towards formal mindfulness meditations, such as Headspace, Calm, Smiling Mind, etc.

Author's Note

It's important to acknowledge that everyone has different areas of psychological fitness and flexibility, so these activities may be more difficult for some than for others, or more useful for some than for others. This is completely ok - just like physical exercise, different mental exercises suit different people.

References

1. Killingsworth, M., & Gilbert, D. (2010). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science, 330 (6006), 933. Doi: 10.1126/science.1192439

2. Corballis, M. (2013). Wandering tales: Evolutionary origins of mental time travel and language. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 485. Doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00485

3. Brewer, J., Worhunsky, P., Gray, J., Tang, Y., Weber, J., & Kober, H. (2011). Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity. PNAS, 108(50), 20254 – 20259. Doi: 10.1073/pnas.1112029108

4. Hindman, R., Glass, C., Arnkoff, D., & Maron, D. (2014). A comparison of formal and informal mindfulness programs for stress reduction in university students. Mindfulness, 6, 873 – 884. Doi: 10.1007/s12671-014-0331-1

5. Morgan, L., Graham, J., Hayes-Skelton, S., Orsillo, S., & Roemer, L. (2014). Relationships between amount of post-intervention mindfulness practice and follow-up outcome variables in an acceptance-based behaviour therapy for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: The importance of informal practice. Journal of Contextual Behavioural Science, 3(3), 173 – 178. Doi: 10.1016/j.jcbs.2014.05.001

6. Santarnecchi, E., D’Arista, S., Egiziano, E., Gardi, C., Petrosino, R., Vatti, G., Reda, M., & Rossi, A. (2014). Interaction between neuroanatomical and psychological changes after mindfulness-based training. PLOS ONE, 9(10), e108359. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108359