When I was struggling with terrible, life sucking anxiety years ago, i discovered mindfulness. Over time and practice, mindfulness has taught me to be more aware in this present moment with heart, on purpose and without judgment. (Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction defines mindfulness in this 2:20 video here.)
I want to feel confident that when I’m teaching mindfulness to students and clients that it can make a genuine difference in their lives. I believe that the practice of mindfulness as a well grounded, evidence based foundation of wellness.
With single minded purpose, I have studied and practiced mindfulness over the last 25 years, seeking peace from this incessant worry and chatter in the mind. I have attended silent meditation retreats, practiced daily for 20 years, received formal training from the Centre for Mindfulness Studies and am now certified as a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Facilitator.
So I have personally found mindfulness helpful, but now that I’m teaching it, I want more evidence based proof. So here’s some recent research that supports my personal experience. But first, I wanted to talk about stress.
Research shows about 25% of Canadian adults say they experience “quite a bit or extreme stress” most days–meaning they feel overwhelmed or they can’t cope.
Why are we more stressed? We all know we are more digitally wired 24/7 than ever before, but also family and community ties are weaker and our society focuses more on money and image than previously. And, of course, the worry about climate change is showing up as a significant stressor in people’s lives, on top of key political shifts.
So does mindfulness meditation really help with this ever increasing stress in a postmodern world where we are always rushing to get someplace else?
In 2018, a report was released called “Mental Wellness: Pathways, Evidence and Horizons”, by the Global Wellness Institute’s Mental Wellness Initiative (2018). The editor of the report, Professor Gerry Bodeker (University of Oxford), says that “Meditation is mainstreaming now, and it’s just in time to counteract the epidemic of stress that threatens our society.”
So how does mindfulness meditation do this? When you practice mindfulness daily over time, mindfulness meditation generates slow Theta brain waves at 4-8 cycles/second. Theta waves are our gateway to learning, memory and intuition. They are predominant in daydreaming and are linked to relaxed, open and connected states of mind.
One study showed that an eight-week mindfulness program, with daily practice, shrank the amygdala, the “fight or flight” centre of the brain. The amygdala is also associated with fear and stress. Likewise, the prefrontal cortex of the brain was shown to thicken during mindfulness practice—the cortex includes high-level brain processes such as planning, decision-making and awareness.
As Zev Schuman-Olivier, director of the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion at Cambridge Health Alliance says, “What we see with mindfulness meditation is improvement in attention and cognitive control…and in emotional regulation again and again.”
Mindfulness has been a path over many years that has guided me to deeper calmness, increased softness and higher awareness. Along with other pillars of my wellness like yoga, exercise, nutrition and close community ties. I invite you to explore in depth your pillars of wellness…and I’m happy to help with that as a life coach.
By being open to this present moment more often, I have found a shift in my attitude to stress, most days. Plus, I am more confident that when I’m teaching students mindfulness it can make a genuine difference in their lives, both from personal experience and from the research. Mindfulness is not a passing fad, but a well grounded, evidence based pillar of wellness that can contribute to personal and societal wellness in a world that seems wrought with stress.
Susan Young, M.Ad.Ed., PCC, RSSW, is a Professional Certified Coach, Mindfulness Facilitator and registered Yoga Teacher in private practice in Kingston. Susan is a skilled and trained facilitator who has practiced mindfulness with a passionate commitment for over 20 years with teachers in Canada, the States and India
