Mindfulness is an attention training that encourages focusing on mental contents and the experience of the present moment. This approach aims to achieve better emotional regulation, greater awareness of our thought, emotional, and behavioral processes, and greater stability. Abstract human thought gives us the ability to fantasize about past, future, or imagined moments, which leads us to feel emotions associated with these thoughts. The primary objective of meditation is to calm the agitation of the mind. Thus, in Mindfulness, we practice observing our mental and bodily processes, which are then considered fleeting events. This enhances the observer-observed duality, which reduces the intensity of emotional reactivity to our thoughts.
Mindfulness involves training in various mindfulness techniques and transmits the theoretical and practical knowledge necessary for understanding and practicing the techniques in one’s own environment and in different everyday situations. The individual will retain all the teaching materials provided (audio recordings of guided mindfulness sessions, paper materials with theoretical content) that they can then use to practice and remember the mindfulness techniques they’ve learned and enjoy all their benefits.
Practice
In mindfulness practice, mental content is organized, one learns to discern beneficial emotions from destructive ones, and one faces and accepts the present situation with absolute acceptance. It also increases awareness of mind and body; we are “connected” to ourselves and our environment.
Benefits of Mindfulness Practice:
- Emotional Regulation
- Self-awareness, Introspection
- Cognitive, emotional, and behavioral flexibility
In the last 30 years, the growing number of research and neuroimaging tests carried out demonstrate its effectiveness in relieving, among other symptoms: depression, stress, anxiety, hypertension, pain, substance addictions, emotional dysregulation.
