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Exploring the Scientific Impact of Mindfulness By Sally Nazari, PsyD
even had an entire conversation with someone and realize that you have no idea what you just talked about. It may even have gotten
Mindfulness has become a
buzzword that's gotten a lot of atten- tion over the last few years, but not many people really get a full under- standing of what it is. The benefit of this is that a lot of awareness has been brought to this powerful exer- cise. And yet, unfortunately, much of the important components of it have become overlooked in the shuffle. Because of this, many peo- ple have an incomplete and partial understanding of Mindfulness. In the "Beyond the Couch" podcast, I set out to help bring to lightmuch of the scientific backing to how and why Mindfulness works to benefit us.
In particular, the way
Mindfulness can impact us and help us to work through the various dis- ruptions and stressors in our lives can really bring a deeper level of benefit, growth, and enduring change as we redefine and recreate our lives. With things changing in our
lives, even when that change is internal, we might be feeling a bit restless and stuck in a rut. You may be finding yourself feeling a bit overwhelmed and rundown. In fact, you might even feel this in your physical body where you may be having a hard time catching your breath and feel your muscles tight- ened and clenched. Maybe you are feeling rushed from one thing to the next without a moment to slow your racing mind down. You're even catching yourself walking into a room and don't even know why. Or, you find yourself looking for your cup of coffee and realize it has been in your hand while you're frantical- ly searching for it. You may have
to a point that things have become so frazzling that, more and more, you're finding yourself reactive without knowing what set you off and you are just having a hard time focusing on what you are trying to do. You wish you could find a way to just clear your head, de-stress, refocus, and find your footing again. With a brief and consistent
Mindfulness practice, you can find simple ways to get yourself feeling more focused, alert, and calm again so that you can get into a productive and meaningful mindset. This way, you are ready to tackle all of the things you are juggling from a state that can help you make the best choices for your meaningful, ful- filled life. Mindfulness refers to a practice
that focuses on awareness of the present experience without judg- ment and without attachment or reactivity. This allows our mind to be calm and peaceful so that we can have greater clarity and even increase happiness, peace, and decrease discomfort. It tends to be difficult for most
people to control their mindset - we often feel as if our thoughts are maintained by external circum- stances. As we build our Mindfulness practice, we can more easily maintain awareness and con- trol of our thoughts and mindset. To understand this, we will
explore a concept called neuroplas- ticity - or, the changing nature of our brain. Generally, our brain is looking
to proactively solve future problems and rework past issues so that, when they arise again, it is best prepared to quickly and efficiently resolve them. This, however, keeps us from being fully immersed in the present moment. Not only this, but ourmind does not see a distinction between a past, future, or present stressor. It gets us to react to past and future stressors with stress in the here and
now. To our mind, it's all the same. As a result, overthinking, worrying, depressive thoughts, and anxiety elicit the stress response of fight, flight, and freeze. Over time, this can make us vulnerable to mental health issues. Mindfulness has been shown to
reduce the size of the amygdala, which is our brain's center for fear and negative emotions. This is important because it also helps to reduce the stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. Overall, shifting our state in this way helps us to respond in more productive ways to the things going on in our lives. There is a further cumulative effect of this benefit in that it first allows us to participate in our lives in ways that allow us to build confidence,
self-efficacy, more meaningful and relationships.
Furthermore, Mindfulness practice on a consistent basis facilitates cre- ating and building more positive and adaptive neuronal connections while simultaneously dissolving the older, less helpful neuronal connec- tions.
Modern scientists began study-
ing the brains of people who regu- larly engaged in meditation prac- tices sixty years ago. They found that these practitioners could weath- er stressful events with more resilience, come up with more orig- inal and creative ideas, and engage in improved cognitive functioning such as memory recall. In the last ten years, however, we have come to also discover that every time we think, feel, or act, a neural connec- tion occurs in our brain. Things that we think, feel, or do most often strengthen these connections and pathways. In the same vein, those connections that we don't use become weakened and begin to fall away. We can notice this with our habits that have become automatic and often mindless. Our thoughts and thought patterns work in the same way. We can notice this with our
habits that have become automatic and often mindless. Our thoughts
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