5 Benefits of Mindfulness

Meditation can help you improve your focus, regulate your emotions, have more harmonious relationships, and more…. 

1.     Improve your focus 

When you are mindful you consciously choose where to focus your attention. Staying in this ‘mindful posture’ and practicing regularly, the ability to return your attention to your chosen point of focus rewires the part of your brain responsible for attention regulation, and so builds your 'focus muscle'. Each time you practice mindfulness you’re laying down the path for concentration and attention to be more well-travelled, and so ‘thicker’. This is what changes the neural pathways and so changes your brain to be more able to focus your attention, more in a ‘flow state’ and less thrown around by the mind’s fancies and its distractions.

2.     Regulate your emotions

When you practice mindfulness meditation you become less at the whim of your emotions so you can make better decisions (as they are more conscious, and therefore discerning), and also improve your tolerance. With regular practice you can develop the ability to take a pause, or a breath, after an emotional trigger. You can then consciously respond, rather than impulsively react. These gaps, or spaces, you experience between trigger (stimulus) and action (response) can be life changing; allowing you time (even just a second) to consciously decide what to do or not do next, empowering you to live intentionally. 

3.     Cohesive relationships

Practicing regularly supports your ability to relate better with others. Relationships improve as a result of your ability to pause and not be so caught up in the emotions that present when you’re working with difficult people or have challenging relationships.

4.     Release stress

The most effective way I've found to ease stress and tension is with the mindfulness practice of tuning in to the senses. Not just the five basic senses but also the sense of the breath, the sense of yourself as an observer of your experience, and many other subtle sensations available for you to experience in the body. Why does this work? Because sensing inhibits thinking (just as thinking inhibits sensing) so the more you tune in to your sensory experience, the more you shift out of your stressed out thinking mind. Try it out with some of my favourite practices…..

5.     Improve energy

Time and time again I hear people tell me how much more energy they have when they begin to incorporate ‘spot meditations’ in their day and how they are more present in meetings and catch themselves before reacting to triggers. You don’t need to practice for long periods of time to notice the benefits. ‘Little and often’ is my recommendation, to help you regulate emotions, make conscious decisions, improve focus and through this process conserve energy. 

If you’re interested in learning more about mindfulness, chat with Nicky about how she can help with 1:1 sessions for individuals, or group sessions for workplaces, friends, or family groups.

More blogs on mindfulness:

10 more benefits of mindfulness
Gratitude is a super power