Mindfulness Training: Nourish Your Life

Jon Kabat-Zinn, professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts and creator of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction technique, known as MBSR, defines mindfulness as the awareness that arises from paying deliberate attention in the present moment and without judgment.

With more than 4,000 scientific articles on mindfulness, there are numerous scientific evidence, which confirms its effectiveness in various areas. The National Centre for Alternative and Complementary Therapies of the US Department of Health indicates that mindfulness training is effective against blood pressure, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, ulcerative colitis or insomnia. It has been shown that the practice of mindfulness facilitates changes in the brain that involve a thickening of the grey matter.

Here are five great benefits of mindfulness.

1. Controls and reduces stress, anxiety and depression

Mindful breathing exercises help relax your Central Nervous System and release substances such as serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins, chemicals that cause physical and mental well-being.

Likewise, it has been scientifically proven that doing mindfulness exercises helps reduce anxiety, stress, and depression, in addition to reducing, sleep disorders and improving self-esteem.

2. Refocus your attention voluntarily

Imagine for a moment, you are in front of an incredible natural scenery where you can see mountains, trees, a river, and a beautiful sky. However, for some reason, you only focus on the piece of land that is under your feet, and the more you carry your attention to this point, the less you can turn to see this fascinating scenery.

The mind works in a similar way; the incredible natural scenery would represent all the possibilities that you can create from a single situation, but if you only focus on certain thoughts, you will lose all sight.

Mindfulness allows you to exercise your capacity as an observer in the face of different circumstances that may arise, which enables you to focus your attention on what you want. On the other hand, the autopilot can cause minor errors or make you choose the path you never wanted.

The practice of mindfulness transforms your perspective of reality by being aware of how you feel, the thoughts you have and the best way to act through a broader and more balanced vision.

3. Your brain changes!

The brain can transform itself and create new neurons, abilities known as neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. The practice of meditation and mindfulness gives your brain the possibility of restructuring itself and building new neural bridges because by observing the thoughts and behaviours that were automatic in you, the possibility of becoming more aware and changing what you do not like.

We currently know that one of the most effective techniques to strengthen the brain is meditation, as it allows you to increase the volume of certain areas related to the regulation of emotions and attention, which improves your focus, memory, creativity, and even productivity.

For example, we have the research carried out by psychiatrists at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Dr. Sara Lazar, in which 16 people who had never meditated in their lives underwent MRI scans to start a mindfulness program later.

At the end of the program, a second MRI was performed. It showed an increase in the grey matter of the hippocampus, an area that regulates emotions and memory. Likewise, it was also found that the grey matter of the amygdala, responsible for emotions such as fear and stress, decreased.

4. Delays aging

The telomeres are a part of the DNA found in the nucleus of cells. Overtime, with cell replication, the telomeres become shorter, causing the body to age.

Australian scientist Elizabeth Blackburn, Nobel Laureate in Medicine, conducted a study of mothers constantly exposed to stressful situations and concluded that telomeres suffered greater wear when experiencing this state of mind.

In this way, the scientist began to investigate methods to avoid stress and telomere wear and ranked meditation as one of the most efficient activities.

5. Reduce pain and improve your health

Mindfulness helps reduce pain by increasing tolerance and awareness. In addition, the effects it has on the brain allow the health of the whole body to be improved, as it stimulates a state of greater tranquility.

Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, the precursor of mindfulness practice, studied a group of people suffering from chronic pain. In this study, patients practiced mindfulness for eight weeks, and then he tested them with the McGill-Melzack Pain Questionnaire. The results showed that 72% of them managed to reduce their discomfort by at least 33%, while 61% of people who suffered some other type of pain managed to reduce it by 50%.

These are just some of the many benefits that mindfulness can bring to your life. Performing daily activities with awareness will allow you to observe each moment, which will always bring advantages since you can cook, bathe, drive, walk or watch the phone and television with full attention, this will help you experience each moment as something unique and totally new.

My experience of mindfulness

In my professional practice as a coach and facilitator, there is an extraordinary qualitative leap marked by the appearance of mindfulness in my life.

The practice of mindfulness has been with me for more than ten years. During this time, I experienced all the benefits mentioned above and more as I deepened my self-knowledge.

My own need for tools to deal with daily challenges and find a place to feel safe and calm, regardless of external circumstances, raised my interest in mindfulness.

As I deepened the practice, it has gradually opened up a new dimension for me to be in the world personally and professionally.

My Coaching is, thanks to mindfulness, richer, deeper, more respectful, more intuitive, more relaxed for me, and much more effective for my clients.

As Jon says, cultivating mindfulness requires paying attention, living in the present, and putting what we perceive, feel, know, and learn to good use in the process. This is what we aim at in our course in Personal Mastery

A Course in Personal Mastery

To achieve this transformation easily and effectively, we have developed a Course in Personal Mastery. It is an extraordinary training methodology for coaches, professionals and students, based on a blend of mindfulness and other best-known techniques such as NLP, Coaching, Meditation, and Hypnosis.

In this course, we integrate powerful Mindfulness, NLP, and Coaching practices. We develop an attentive and present mind, more aware and freer from internal dialogue and from thoughts, prejudices, beliefs, emotions, etc., that make it difficult to put our mind and heart at things that matter most to us.

We help develop, integrate and personify the eight coaching competencies developed by the International Board of Professionals Coaches & Therapists (IBPCT). We mindfully embrace and sustain whatever others bring into conversations. We accompany them to explore with a beginner’s mind, to become more aware of their own internal processes and to open up new possibilities of action for their lives.

We bring you the best of the different worlds: Coaching, Mindfulness, and NLP. With this, you can help yourself and others to increase their well-being in an easy, kind, respectful, profound and extraordinarily effective way.