Mindfulness meditation is so much more than “being present in the moment.” Virtually every client will greatly benefit from applying mindfulness meditation skills that encompass self-control, objectivity, affect awareness and acceptance, enhanced emotional flexibility, improved concentration, and mental clarity, and acceptance of self and others in nonjudgmental compassion.
There are incredible empirically supported benefits of mindfulness meditation practice including metacognitive awareness (decreasing ruminating thoughts), increased emotional-regulation, stress reduction to lessen anxiety, depression and somatic distress, improvements in working memory, increased focus and attention with cognitive flexibility, and increased self-observation, intuition, and self-compassion.
Additionally, continued mindfulness meditation practice has the ability to shrink the amygdala, which is the brain’s center for “fight or flight” response; thickens the pre-frontal cortex, the center for awareness, concentration and decision making; neural connections associated with attention and concentration get stronger; brain scans of meditators show a reduced activity in pain response regions!
The best part is that EVERYONE can learn to meditate. Our clinicians practice what they teach and love to incorporate mindfulness meditation training into sessions in order to aid the holistic wellness approach.
