Why Mindfulness Meditation?

Mindfulness-based interventions have gained popularity in practice and in research since the 1980s. Numerous studies have documented the benefits of mindfulness-based interventions. Research has also demonstrated that patient outcomes are improved when clinicians integrate mindfulness practices (Grepmair et al., 2007). Benefits of mindfulness include stress/anxiety reduction, reduced rumination, decreased negative affect, less emotional reactivity/more effective emotion regulation, and increased focus (Davis & Hayes, 2012). There are a number of different forms of mindfulness-based interventions, but they are largely variants of mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Beside the above benefits, we can perhaps also look at it this way - mindfulness-based interventions or meditation exercises are very cost-effective because we don’t even have to go to therapy all the time to practice them and can easily be added to our self-care routine. In a way, mindfulness can teach us to be our own therapist.

References:

Davis, D., & Hayes, J. (2012). What are the benefits of mindfulness: A wealth of new research has explored this age-old practice.

Grepmair, L., Mitterlehner, F., Loew, T., Bachler, E., Rother, W., & Nickel, M. (2007). Promoting mindfulness in psychotherapists in training influences the treatment results of their patients: A randomized, double-blind, controlled study.