Mindfulness Meditation Practice and Stress

¶ … breathing meditation for 15 minutes in accordance with the principles and techniques described by both Seward (2015) and Stahl & Goldstein (2010), I enjoyed the process but it was challenging. My mind could not stand still. I thought a lot about the work I had to do that day, as well as some relationship problems that I had been having. Thinking about my work led to sensations like stress, anger at myself for procrastinating, anxiety about feeling incapable of fulfilling some of my duties, and worried I would not make a deadline.

Many issues came up, especially related to feeling guilty about things that I had said to people during an argument, and feeling afraid of what others thought of me when I said them. I also ended up thinking, or worrying, about the future because my job situation is somewhat unstable. Fear, guilt, and anger all arose, but being able to bring my attention back to the breath really helped me to loosen my attachment to these emotions and provide some distance and perspective.

In fact, I learned before starting the meditation that the best approach is to allow the thoughts to rise, but do not "follow" them or become attached to the emotions. At first I did not really understand how to do this, but after a few minutes I was able to let things go without becoming anxious or upset that my mind kept wandering.

I thought about everything from how hungry I was to what I would be eating for dinner, to what I looked like and wanted to do with my hair. Never did I feel "empty" or that my mind was at total peace, but I did use the meditation as an opportunity to become "mindful" about what I think about consciously and subconsciously throughout the day. I realize now more than ever that even when I am not meditating, all of these thoughts and worries are lingering in my subconscious.

I believe that these underlying thoughts and emotions can be detrimental to my sense of well-being and even to my productivity because they can be distracting. If I am having trouble concentrating, it might be because of these types of worries or concerns that I noticed when in the meditation. In the future, I might write down some of the issues, thoughts, and emotions in my head as I am meditating or throughout the day if I can take the time to be mindful.

One of the sensations that kept arising during the fifteen minutes was impatience. I was shocked how many times I peeked at the clock, certain that I had already missed the alarm. Fifteen minutes went by slowly during this meditation, which caused the sensation of impatience to arise. I tried my best to simply accept the way I felt. I also did notice several uncomfortable physical sensations that arose, such as pain in my foot where it was pressing into the floor.

Towards the end of the meditation my foot fell asleep, too. I appreciated the opportunity to practice for this fifteen minutes and intend to continue the practice, especially as science is consistently revealing the positive results of mindfulness meditation. The benefits of mindfulness meditation, even when done for short periods of time as with these fifteen minute intervals, are supported in the literature. Davidson et al.

(2003) measured the brain's electrical activity before and after an eight-week mindfulness meditation program and found that not only did the meditators improve in terms of brain function, but also that their immune systems were stronger in measurable ways. When it comes to why mindfulness meditation works well,.