![\"Mindfulness](\"https:\/\/gozen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/meditation1.jpg\")
<\/a>What does it mean to be \u201cin the moment?\u201d\u00a0 Too often, we don\u2019t take the time to stop and look around us.\u00a0 We are so caught up in our own minds that we fail to notice what is happening outside of ourselves.\u00a0 For instance, I used to walk the same five blocks to get to school every single day.\u00a0 As I walked, my mind would be spinning with thoughts of tests, homework, band practice, and friends.\u00a0 One day, out of the blue, I stopped for a moment and looked up.\u00a0 Suddenly, my entire view changed.\u00a0 I noticed a rooftop covered in sunflower pots that I had never noticed before.\u00a0 I noticed that the air smelled like cinnamon as I passed a neighbor\u2019s house.\u00a0 The same five blocks that I thought I knew so well turned into five completely different streets.<\/p>\nThis practice of bringing ourselves back from the mess in our heads to the present moment is known in psychology as mindful awareness, or mindfulness meditation.\u00a0 Mindfulness is the focusing of attention or awareness on ourselves, our bodies, and our surroundings. \u00a0Rather than letting ourselves get carried away by our thoughts and feelings, mindfulness meditation teaches us to observe our thoughts and feelings nonjudgmentally, and watch them pass by as though we are outside observers peering in to our own brains.<\/p>\n
Mindfulness meditation can change your brain!<\/b><\/p>\n
Scientists used to believe that once we reach a certain point in our development, our brains are done forming forever.\u00a0 They believed that we start with small little baby brains, learn lots of stuff, and create bigger adult brains that are set for life.\u00a0 However, brain researchers have discovered that this is not the case at all!\u00a0 Our brains are, in fact, moldable and changeable.\u00a0 In the neuroscience community, this is known as plasticity (think of plastic, which can be reshaped into tons of different things).<\/p>\n
This plasticity stuff is really good news for us.\u00a0 It means that we have the power to change how we think and feel.\u00a0 And most importantly, it means that we can become happier, healthier, smarter, and more compassionate people.\u00a0 We are not stuck with the brains we are given\u2014change is in our hands.<\/p>\n
While there are many ways to change and reshape our brains, mindfulness meditation is one tool that is scientifically proven to lead to important and positive brain change.\u00a0 Take the following study, for example.\u00a0 Researchers divided people into two groups: one group was taught mindfulness meditation exercises and one group was not.\u00a0 Both groups went about their business for 8 weeks.\u00a0 The mindfulness meditation group kept on meditating, week after week, while the other group did not meditate.\u00a0 The researchers took pictures of these people\u2019s brains before and after the experiment.\u00a0 When they examined these pictures at the end of the study, they found that the mindfulness meditators had strengthened areas of the brain associated with memory and empathy, and weakened areas of brain associated with stress.\u00a0 The non-meditators did not show these same changes.\u00a0 These results are staggering.\u00a0 Mindfulness meditation literally changed the size and shape of areas in these people\u2019s brains, making them sharper, kinder, and less stressed out.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, 50% of the participants who learned to meditate gave up their seat to the woman, while only 15% of the non-meditators offered their chair.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that the people who learned to meditate all of the sudden became amazingly nice people, and the non-meditators were rude and unhelpful.\u00a0 It\u2019s the impact that meditation can have on your view of the world.\u00a0 When you feel at peace with yourself and get outside your own head, you are more receptive to the needs of others.<\/p>\n Mindfulness meditation has also been scientifically proven to improve the body\u2019s immune response to disease, reduce pain and stress hormones, and increase attention.\u00a0 People who practice mindfulness have a higher quality of life and even appear to be physically healthier!<\/p>\n Mindfulness meditation in action<\/b><\/p>\n Let\u2019s think of an example of a situation where your emotions or thoughts might get the best of you.\u00a0 Sometimes when we are angry or sad or nervous, our emotions can feel out of control.\u00a0 Imagine that you are quietly listening to your iPod in the car, when your little sister swoops over and grabs the iPod from your hands.\u00a0 She plugs the headphones into her ears and starts listening to her favorite Disney songs.\u00a0 You feel your anger rising as you attempt to grab the iPod back, which turns into a full-fledged fight over the device.\u00a0 Your mom or dad turns around from the driver\u2019s seat and yells at you to settle down and give your sister the iPod, because you\u2019re the oldest and you should know better.\u00a0 Infuriating! Little siblings always get away with everything!<\/p>\n You get more and more angry as you sit and watch your sister using your<\/i> iPod.\u00a0 Your parents are so unfair!\u00a0 They always take her side.\u00a0 Hours later, you still find yourself feeling mad about that car ride.\u00a0 Your chest feels tight like it sometimes does when you are really pissed off.\u00a0\u00a0 In situations like these, you can pull out mindfulness meditation from your tool belt!\u00a0 But what exactly should you do?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s are some mindfulness exercises to try:<\/p>\n The most important element of mindfulness meditation is not to get down on yourself for \u201cdoing it wrong.\u201d \u00a0Just dive in and give it a try! It can be really <\/i>difficult to quiet your mind.\u00a0 It\u2019s like having someone tell you not to think about pink elephants\u2014and then all you can to do is think about pink elephants!\u00a0 When you first start using your mindfulness tool belt, negative thoughts may come rushing into your mind.\u00a0 Expect these thoughts.\u00a0 Expert meditators have spent years and years practicing their craft.\u00a0 However, you can and will build up your skills with repeated practice.\u00a0 Remember–your minds are moldable, so start molding!<\/p>\n Condon, P., Desbordes, G., Miller, W., DeSteno, D. (In press). Meditation increases compassionate responses to suffering. Psychological Science<\/i>.<\/p>\n Grossman, P., Niemann, L., Schmidt, S., & Walach, H. (2004). Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits-A meta-analysis. Journal of psychosomatic research<\/i>, 57<\/i>(1), 35-44.<\/p>\n H\u00f6lzel, B. K., Carmody, J., Vangel, M., Congleton, C., Yerramsetti, S. M., Gard, T., & Lazar, S. W. (2011). Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging<\/i>, 191<\/i>(1), 36-43.<\/p>\n Klatt, M. D., Buckworth, J., & Malarkey, W. B. (2009). Effects of low-dose mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR-ld) on working adults. Health Education & Behavior<\/i>, 36<\/i>(3), 601-614.<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you hear the word \u201cmeditation,\u201d you might picture men and women sitting on yoga mats, breathing in and out and chanting \u201cOmmmm.\u201d \u00a0Soothing music plays and an instructor in flowing pants chants peaceful melodies. This is how some people meditate.\u00a0 However, you don\u2019t need yoga mats or a perfect \u201cOmmmm\u201d to get yourself into … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[531,141],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parents","category-mindfulness-meditation","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gozen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gozen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gozen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gozen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gozen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gozen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gozen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gozen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gozen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gozen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>Practicing meditation can even make you a more compassionate person, according to some research!\u00a0\u00a0 Researchers at Northeastern University and Massachusetts General Hospital created an experiment where they took meditators and non-meditators and placed them in an office waiting room.\u00a0 An actress who was part of the experiment entered the waiting room on crunches.\u00a0 She appeared to be in pain as she staggered in, looking to sit down.\u00a0 The only problem\u2014no empty seats.\u00a0 So, who gave up their seat for the woman?<\/p>\n\n
References<\/a><\/h4>\n