Mindfulness

Much talked about these days, and with great benefits for health, mindfulness is being aware of, or paying attention to, the present moment in an open, curious, intentional and non-judgemental way. In Portuguese, mindfulness can be translated as atenção plena or consciência plena — full attention or full awareness.

It may seem odd that there should be a practice for paying attention to the present moment — after all, it is in the present moment that we live. But are we fully attentive, fully aware?

What is going on upon the stage of the mind? Rumination over a past that has already gone, worry about a future that has not yet arrived. Thoughts, ideas, judgements and information fill our minds and disconnect us from what is happening in the present moment.

Amid obstacles, problems, plans, anxieties and fears, we live mostly focused on our thoughts — and the miracle that life is passes us by completely unnoticed.

Mindfulness, or “full attention”, emerges as a way of getting out of our “heads” and into the life that is happening.

To do this, mindfulness draws on formal practices, such as meditation, and informal ones, such as simply paying attention to what is happening in the present moment.

The practice of mindfulness has beneficial effects recognised by science at many levels: improvements in anxiety and stress levels, better emotional regulation, a reduction in depressive states, increased attention and memory, effects on blood pressure, the immune system, chronic pain and insomnia, improved relationships, greater wellbeing and energy, and more.

Although it is an ancient practice with its origins in Buddhism, mindfulness was introduced in the USA in 1979 by Kabat-Zinn, who structured the practice into an 8-week programme, stripping it of its religious content, and applied it to a group of patients with a view to reducing stress. The results were so good that he gave up his career as a researcher and devoted himself to mindfulness-based stress reduction programmes. Mindfulness is currently a treatment recommended by the British National Institute of Health for anxiety and depression.

Mindfulness is becoming ever more popular, is widespread in countless countries, and is entering many domains beyond health alone.

In education, mindfulness programmes for children and adolescents exist in several countries. Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden have already incorporated meditation into their official curricula. In Portugal, schools in Marinha Grande, Loures, Lisbon, Olhão and Aveiro are pioneers in introducing mindfulness.

In the world of work, Google stands out as the best example, having developed for its employees, in 2007, the mindfulness-based programme “Search Inside Yourself”. Today the programme runs throughout the corporate world in many parts of the globe.

In the armed forces, the American Marines are assessing the effect of mindfulness training on soldiers’ performance and on their capacity to cope with stress.

Even in the British Parliament, mindfulness courses are given to politicians!

If your curiosity has been piqued, here is a suggestion: choose an activity you do every day (brushing your teeth, walking to the café, washing the dishes, etc.) and, whenever you do it, be totally and fully attentive to the task, without passing any judgement, and bringing your attention back whenever you become distracted.