The Proven Benefits of Mindfulness

There has been a rapid growth in the number of mindfulness research publications over the past three decades, suggesting that mindfulness has become more and more widely-used in clinical interventions. 

​We have summarized the key benefits of mindfulness and gathered in this post some of the more accessible research on the benefits of mindfulness for your reference (you can click on the embedded links to read more):

Mindfulness and Anxiety

• Decrease in anxiety
• Decrease in the frequency and intensity of panic attacks
• Increase in left brain activation associated with positive moods and decreased anxiety
• Reduction in symptoms of worry
• More focus on present awareness
• More control over tendency to ruminate

Mindfulness and Emotions

• Better stress regulation
• Less emotional reactivity
• Less depression, anxiety and anger
• Decrease in tendency to be afffected by negative emotions from others
• Enhanced interpersonal relationships (between partners, among family members, and socially)
• Prevention in the relapse of depression
• Increased self-compassion

Mindfulness and Brain Change

• Increased grey-matter density in regions involved in learning and memory, emotion regulation, self-awareness and perspective taking.
• More cognitive flexibility (e.g. more adaptive to stressful situations)

Mindfulness and Children

• Improvement in academic functioning
• Increase in children's attention and social skills
• Decrease in anxiety symptoms in children
• Decrease in aggressive behaviour in adolescents
• Decrease in test anxiety 

Mindfulness and Educators

• Increase in self-regulation, self-compassion, and mindfulness-related skills (observation, non-judgment and non-reacting).

The classic 8-Week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program is one of the most established mindfulness programs taught and practiced around the world today. Do check out the latest MBSR program we are offering!