What is a Mindfulness Practice and How Does it Help?
Much of our thinking and daydreaming time is spent planning, fixing, and otherwise analyzing events from the past or those we imagine happening in the future. Although there may be no particular cause for distress in the present moment, our bodies and minds tend to react to our thoughts as though they are actual events. If the thoughts are stress inducing, then the brain orders a host of commands to prepare nearly every organ in our body as if we are under threat — provoking all sorts of unpleasant symptoms. When these commands are carried out too often and over extended periods of time, we begin to experience a negative impact on our bodies, i.e. our hearts, our lungs, our digestion, and our entire immune system and our minds, i.e. moods, perceptions, emotional reactions. Mindfulness teaches us how to purposely interrupt this health depleting cycle. When we learn to notice where our thoughts are leading, we can take a moment to pause, recognize what’s happening, and choose to let the
