In our stressed out and busy world, it’s hard to even have time for meals, much less time to meditate.
But here’s the good news: you can spend just ten minutes a day practicing mindfulness meditation and still enjoy its benefits.
Adam Moore and his colleagues at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK found that practicing mindfulness meditation in brief daily intervals can positively impact and improve our level of concentration.
To investigate whether even a modest practice of mindfulness would boost concentration, the researchers recruited 40 healthy adults who were then randomly assigned to a meditation group or a waitlist control group (age and gender were matched across groups).
Over the course of 16 weeks, participants in the meditation group were taught simple mindful breathing exercises, and observed a meditation schedule of ten minutes minimum per day, at least five days per week. Each participant kept a meditation log and recorded his or her frequency and duration of practice each week.
Next, the researchers tested participants at three different points during the study, using a combination of self-report questionnaires and a Stroop task given in tandem with an EEG monitor. The task consisted of four color words shown in both the same color as the written word (i.e., red, blue, green), and in different colors (i.e., red, blue, green); participants identified the color of each word as quickly and accurately as possible.
Here’s what they found.
Practicing mindfulness meditation regularly, even in brief increments, significantly affected brain functions related to performance on the Stroop task.
To put it another way: the study showed that a very manageable meditation schedule – a mere ten minutes a day – is enough to improve our focus and concentration.
What’s more, the results showed how the skills we develop and sharpen during mindfulness practice can help us in our everyday lives.
One flaw to consider – and which the researchers acknowledge – is the general imperfection of waitlist controls, so we want to be cautious of concluding that all of these effects were caused solely by the mindfulness meditation practices.
Nevertheless, this study is a reminder that encouraging patients to practice mindfulness, even for only ten minutes at a time, can add great benefit to the health and functioning of their minds.
If you’d like to read the full study, it was published online in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience in February 2012.
Making mindfulness work amidst clients’ busy schedules is just one of the hurdles in getting clients to try mindfulness – and then also stick with it.
That’s why we’ve assembled some of the top experts in the field to share their knowledge and show us practical applications for using mindfulness successfully with our patients. Just click here to view our courses.
Do you have a particular success story about incorporating mindfulness into a patient’s lifestyle? Please share it with us below in the comments.
You should build your own peoicptern of what god is, for example I believe that god is everything and everything is god, we are all one. Nature is equal to god and nature is a living thing ALL IN THEIR OWN WAY, planet earth, sun, flowers, animals or everything else you see are a living thing in their own way. God doesn’t have to be the god we hear about from many religious people. I used to be allergic to the word GOD but with time I have changed my views and built my own view of what god means
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”I am not a master, but masters eventually learn to meditate wherever they are and whatever they do.” Yes 8) Wise words.
May we all be happy
May we all be at peace
May we all be free from suffering.
I lived with Buddhist monks for 6 months as a student, meditating for 2 hours daily and once for 3 daily 12 hour sessions. Then i went on to lead a busy life as a doctor and parent. I eventually learned to meditate in 5-10 minute periods whenever the occasion arose, even while on hold on the phone or in line at the store. Just be aware of your body and posture- any symmetrical spine-straight posture, unfocused gaze and counting breaths can put you into the meditative state. I am not a master, but masters eventually learn to meditate wherever they are and whatever they do.
lets look globally for what focus does for our mind/body.
My focus that I have developed has given me the most power I can have over my life. What? How?
I can focus on my breathing track anytime a trigger, a thought, fear, anxiety, anger or issues arise. Random thoughts loaded with fearful and anxious emotions flow on through me, changing my whole life. The cognitive grabbing of emotion or thought has ended for the most part for me..
Whay used to give me constant worry and guilt now fades in less than a minute. Focus has the ability to let go of judgment and comparison, which lets the ego I relax.
We, with strong focus skills can be aware of this moment without emotion or thought. This opens up the universe for us.
Rick Hanson says What fires together wires together, what we ignore fades.
Easy, letting go of emotion and thought frees us to be free and present.
The ability to not judge a shitty day as awful but to accept it as part of life can contain happiness. It has for me. life just is and we do not need to run, to dissociate into the past or worry about the future.
I believe the ego is a marble floating in our subconscious, right brain swimming pool. The ego or cognitive side limits joy and happiness and causes our issues. expectation clouds our existence. Life just is stop judging and focus on this moment.
Chasing leisure and avoiding anything unpleasant is trouble for us.
well this morning at 5.45 pm there was as nromal earth disturbance period .. so i wake up and find myself i was completely disturbed .. bodyflow is nor more than 3 . breath is right side 100% and as i keep looking inside of my body .. there is no any place where is not disturbed.. the flow is 0 level .. body is almost feverish and a soft cramp in my back and legs but as i looked this libmic area .. there was flow and did not disturbed what a mystery
As a psychiatrist who does psychotherapy and couple counseling for anxiety and depression as well as stress management, I have always included teaching meditation as part of the treatment plans. The two most common problems volunteered are “I can’t do it ” and “I do not have time” .
With some patients i suggest simply mindfully focusing for 2 minutes every hour. I think this helps people stop automatic reactions and allows them to recognize how capable they can be to begin to develop this mental skill.
So thank you for providing more scientific evidence of how effective even 10 minutes can be to help focus the mind. Looking forward to the series to learn how others are doing this.
Larry Drell, MD
drdrell.com
counselingandtherapydc.com for practical info on anxiety, depression, and stress management and mindfulness meditation.
Yes this is absolutely sure you will not have any idea ever and even one day if you beamce enlighten then may be some sense will come and see some hills but the real mountain is far away and its difficulty to climb and it is really hard sometime not a joke AT ALL This is my Karma in a way but is also way to share what is possible .. so i am not suffering at all but enjoying to keep discovering the more higher and higher mountain to have hope that i am able to help all of you.