The Benefits of Mindfulness

If you’re new to mindfulness or wondering what on earth it’s all about, perhaps you’re wondering – what's the point?

Why should I bother with this malarky?!

I could suggest that you read my previous two blogs on mindfulness – What is Mindfulness and the Nine Attitudes of Mindfulness.

However, perhaps you want to get straight to the point – what are the real, tangible benefits of mindfulness?

I’d like to start by telling you that mindfulness has been extensively researched – not only anecdotally, but also clinically and academically. Mindfulness is now known to have such significant benefits on us that it is recommended by NICE (the British Institute that approves drugs and therapies).

In particular, the two well-known 8 week courses are often promoted as being a good entry point into mindfulness: the MBSR (Mindfulness Bases Stress Reduction Course) and the MBCT (Mindfulness Based Therapy). (As an aside, I teach both – but also a combination of the two, which pulls in the ‘best bits’ from both, and is more flexible in its approach.)

If you google the benefits of mindfulness – you'll be inundated with information.

The list I’ve compiled below – and it’s not complete – has been sourced from academic papers.

If you’re interested, use google scholar to search ‘benefits of mindfulness’. This will give you actual academic studies.

This blog post isn’t about how mindfulness helps you achieve these benefits – for this, have a look at my previous two blogs.

Instead, this blog is about what mindfulness helps you with.

Mindfulness has been proven to help:

• Reduce stress

• Reduce and allay anxiety and depression

• Increase resilience

• Lower blood pressure and heart rate

• Improve the immune system

• Helps manage chronic pain such as fibromyalgia

• Improve cognitive ability (attention and focus)

• Curbs rumination and negative thoughts

• Increase patience

• Increase gratitude

• Increase self-compassion

• Improve relationships

• Improves sleep

• Improves endurance

Of course, some of this takes time. As with many things in life, the more you put in – and the more you practice – the more benefits you will cultivate and feel.

If these benefits are something that you feel would be useful to you, get in touch, and let’s explore how we can help you.