“Keeping your attention on the breath for the full duration on each in-breath and full duration of the out-breath. Riding the waves of your own breathing as a raft would ride up and down on the waves at the seashore.” Two days in class, we started off our session with Professor Deifelt, leading us in mindfulness meditation. Personally, I really appreciated this five minute exercises because it allowed me to focus on my breathing instead of everything else I normally stress about. After the exercise was over I found myself paying closer attention to class since I was not worrying about the rest of my life. After reflecting on this I asked three other classmates on their opinions about mindfulness meditation. Kari said “she liked the meditation …show more content…
Similarly, to myself, Dylan “really enjoyed the mediation since it was very relaxing and made me feel calmer after it was done. I have not really meditated outside a set structure on my own, but after doing this exercise I could see myself trying it from time to time, especially if I am under a good amount of stress.” Shelby also enjoyed this exercise because “I felt complete control over my body. I also could feel the energy in every inch of my body along with my mind and had an overwhelming sense of clarity. This feeling I experienced lasted longer than the mindfulness meditation exercise. Finally, Elizabeth believes “meditation is helpful to a certain extent, and I like it when I have the time to do it completely. Currently I am not practicing, I would consider starting if I knew for a fact it would be helpful in reducing stress and help me to …show more content…
A total of eighty participants (forty from each site) agreed to participate in this research. The participants’ eligibility requirements were: “membership in the community center support group, ability to access the online modules of the intervention, and agreement to complete baseline and post surveys” (Tkatch, p. 737). Interventions for these participants were facilitated by a certified mindfulness facilitator. The instructor lead them through an eight-week course through a combination of deliveries of methods either online or in person on education, mindfulness meditation, and self-care. After the eight weeks, the participants were asked to fill out a post survey. Only twenty-two participants filled out the pre and post surveys to the highly reliable and valid tests such as the Zarit Short Burden Interview, 12-item Veteran’s Rand. These twenty-two participants’ data was analyzed to conclude that “over the course of intervention, mental health improved and caregiver burden, stress, loneliness, and anxiety decreased (P<.05). There was no significant changes in social support” (Tkatch, p. 738). In such a short time period and intervention time in a weekly basis for the caregivers, their burnout levels decreased significantly. Being able to use mindfulness meditation is a huge benefit to care givers to prevent burnout and impact their care that they give to the care
Mindfulness is a concept or practice that was founded nearly 2600 years ago. It is a very integral component of the Buddhist faith and is believed to be associated with many benefits including self-control, tolerance, flexibility, objectivity, concentration, mental clarity, emotional intelligence, kindness, compassion, acceptance, and equanimity.
People with GAD dwell on their worries excessively, give to much attention to their fearful thoughts, and respond emotionally to negative images. Meditation can help the person to step back from these thoughts, emotions and images and view them as an observer watching from the outside this helps to reduce the stress response and put negative thinking into perspective. Meditation helps control of physical tension by inducing the relaxation response (Wilson, 2009).
The information presented during this course has increase my knowledge and experience about my role as an early childhood educator. The resources presented helped me to learn ways to promote healthy development and well-being of all children and how to be an advocate for them. I believe this class enriched my knowledge about infant-toddler care and education to the point that I would most like to express to others its importance. One thing that I would like to share is that infant–toddler care and education is crucial for physical and cognitive development. The caregiver/parent interaction is necessary for the children to keep alive the desire for communication and learning. I would like to express to others that we should keep in mind at all times that children are unique individuals that deserve care and respect. The caregiver should be a role model from day one, so the child will learn to copy her, and later on impart the same behavior to others. She should interact with the children to develop a relationship that will help the child to express feelings and emotions in a nice way. Also, I would like to express the importance of teamwork. Parents and caregivers need to work together in developing relationships to promote healthy development for children. According to Mary Benson McMullen and Susan Dixon, “ Each family and professional must learn to work and make decisions together to support the child’s healthy development and to ensure the family’s well-being” (McMullen & Dixon, 2006). In my opinion caregivers need to start developing the relationship with the parents from day one, and supporting their wishes on what they prefer for their child. One way of doing this is by respecting thei...
For thousands of years people have practiced mediation for spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. Albeit there are many mediation types, in this paper I will be discussing and focusing on mindfulness mediation. Before further exploring mindfulness mediation, it is crucial to define mediation as a whole. Tang, Holzel, & Posner, 2016 state “Meditation can be defined as a form of mental training that aims to improve an individual’s core psychological capacities, such as attentional and emotional capacities” (p.213). Having that in mind, we can dive into mindfulness mediation. Mindfulness meditation is defined as “nonjudgmental attention to present-moment experiences (Tang, Holzel, & Posner, 2016).” A useful analogy to consider is going to the gym, going to the gym allows one to enhance the body, well similarly, practicing mindfulness is akin to taking the mind to the psychic gym, it enhances it. Mindfulness meditation involves focusing on your breathing and then bringing your mind’s attention to the present all while dismissing discursive thoughts and maintaining a special focus on breathing.
Today, meditation is used as a way to improve healthy living, reduce stress and relax. While it is primarily meant to focus the mind and bring you to enlightenment, these other goals are perfectly fine ones as well.
Meditation has the reputation of being practiced solely by lone monks and gurus sitting in lotus position humming a mantra, but over the course of the lecture it was possible to establish that it was not true. Meditation can be done by anyone willing to do it regardless of religion, age, gender, or any other factor that could play into it. Aside from that, meditation has scientific backing to its logic and why people should do it. In the video lectures, a study involving brain scans and meditation was mentioned several times.
From personal experience, mindfulness meditation gives me a feeling of obtaining a healthy mind and body from the attention and peace I obtained. Such feelings resulting from proper practice of mindfulness meditation is not limited to my own testimony though. According to the Satipatthana Sutra, those who practice such in-and-out breathing become “ardent, aware, and mindful” (“Satipatthana Sutra,” Accessed on 2010). However, it is unclear whether such reported experience is genuine or has effect, or if such mindfulness meditation is similar to a placebo effect.
In order to fully understand the problem on compassion fatigue and caregiver burnout, the definition of each as well as distinction between both should be discussed. Firstly, burnout is described differently from that of being depressed or overworked. It is a process wherein a person is in a state of mental fatigue, empty and drained of energy (Espeland, 2006). For Maslach (1982), individuals who interact with people on a daily basis are likely to experience burnout which is thought to be a syndrome of emotional fatigue, depersonalization and a reduced sense o...
Understanding the brain and the different signs will help acknowledge the issues within a person to help them cope with the issue. It is important for one to be aware of their selves and their reactions/behaviors. On the other hand, the studies address the different types of mediation and possible consequences. When introducing a specific technique, there are always pros and cons, and people that are for or against the matter. Meditation is known as healing of the body and/or mind and can be religious. Those different types were address and justified for the understanding of the use for the
Practicing mindfulness is something that most people probably have on their daily to-do list, but never getting around to it because they either don’t believe it’ll work or feel too busy with their lives to stop for literally just a minute to breathe. When going into this activity, my to-do is exactly what was in mind. It’s the list that is never completed. So, having this as an actual assignment was exactly what I needed to get a jumpstart on my mindfulness techniques in my daily life.
In the past two decades, many philosophers, spiritual leaders, and psychological transitions have accentuated the importance of the quality of consciousness for the maintenance and enhancement of well-being. One of the characteristics of consciousness that has been discussed in relation to well-being is mindfulness. In concentration with the psychology discipline, mindfulness meditation practices have been increasingly used to treat a majority of pain, stress and anxiety-related conditions and also, increasing well-being. The ideology of mindfulness meditation has core roots in Buddhist philosophy and other pensive traditions where awareness and conscious attention are actively cultured (Brown, Kirk Warren,2003).
Meditation is not a time devoted to thinking or reflecting about oneself, but a time to redirect one’s thoughts and emotions away from the outside world and onto something simple, such as the wind or one’s own breathe. By learning how to meditate, an individual can learn how to react appropriately to “the circumstances one finds oneself in, i...
Prior to practicing mindfulness, I would run from place to place and moment to moment. I never took a moment to stop and take in all that surrounds me, because I was always too busy running towards the next big thing and looking for future happiness. Mindfulness was frustrating at the beginning, because for so long I was used to tuning things out and living in the present seemed like a waste of time. Once I began to live in the present it seemed as if I had a “senses awakening.” I was able to live in the present and experience all that life had to offer in the present and it exploded my mind with the beauty surrounding me that I missed. I was able to take in my surroundings through my senses and still my mind, which brought me back to the center. Through this sense of centering and living in the present, a walk from class to class became a time to touch base within my self and come back to the present before the next thing. I learned that stilling my self in the present creates a better me for the future and a happiness in the
It is well known and proven that over time the benefits of meditating on a regular basis promotes the development of inner calmness, connectedness, focus, flow, a clear clarity of mind, a focused and more stable grounded concentration, along with coherency of thought, increased creativity, being more open and receptive to receive insights, solutions to problems and new ideas, a balanced and harmonious centred inner equilibrium, a relaxed happy body, mind and spirit, which in turn assists as a preventative tool that creates and maintains positive overall vibrant health and wellbeing.
Meditating on a daily basis is crucial to our overall health and well-being. The World Health Organization defines health as, “The absence of illness or maladies but also as a psycho-dynamic state consisting of people 's physical, mental, social and spiritual aspects.” Oshita, D., Hattori, K., & Iwakuma, M. (2013) Studies have shown that regular mediation sessions reduce high blood pressure and stress. Another wonderful side effect of meditating is feeling an overwhelming sense of peace and happiness. Everyone should meditate!