The Power of the Mind

If moments of relaxation are few and far between for you, mindfulness meditation might be just the thing you need. Adding this healing practice to your routine is easier than you might realize, but most importantly, meditation has been shown to have health benefits. In 2011, a team led by Harvard-affiliated researchers conducted a mindfulness study in which changes in the brain’s grey matter were documented, showing improvements in the areas of “memory, sense of self, empathy and stress” (McGreevey, 2011).

Many people think meditation requires sitting for 30 minutes or more, but beginners can start with a mere two minutes a day. This helps lower stress while cultivating a meditation habit. The idea is not to change external situations such as family demands or work deadlines. For two minutes a day we simply relax, breathing normally but deeply, and observing our current situations without judgement and without criticism. As meditation guru, Tamara Levitt says, we just observe them and let them pass, like passing clouds in the sky, finding tranquility in the midst of chaos. If we become distracted, we gently redirect our mind to the breathing. It’s easy to find ourselves overwhelmed by thoughts of deadlines, events and responsibilities, but as we calmly take the time to observe our thoughts one at a time, we are better able to de-escalate stressors before they take control of our mind.

References

McGreevey, S. (2011). Eight weeks to a better brain. Harvard Gazette. news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/01/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain/.