Mindfulness and the Mind-Body Connection
Mindfulness continues to be a buzzword, and is used frequently. And, yes, we are still going to explore it because sometimes it gets lost in translation. Additionally, we will be exploring what mindfulness has to do with the mind-body connection. Hopefully, that will help give our discussion a different perspective and twist so that this is useful to you.
What is Mindfulness?
In simple terms mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to the present moment (moment-by-moment) of what you are sensing, thinking, feeling (emotions and body sensations), and the surrounding environment with a nonjudgemental perspective. John Kabat-Zinn also argued that mindfulness helped build wisdom and compassion and how important is as our lives depended on it. This practice sounds so simple when it is typed in black and white. However, in reality mindfulness can be so much harder to practice, especially when it comes to refraining from judging. The human brain does tend to naturally go into judgment mode influenced by social and cultural norms, our own personal experiences, and psychological biases. More specifically, judgement arises from natural cognitive processes, a desire to reinforce beliefs, as a survival instinct, to use cognitive shortcuts, to form first impressions, as a defense mechanism, or as a way of self-judging when compared to others (Cooksey, 1996). The other big piece to this definition is the sensing, thinking, and feeling part of the definition, which is where we will discuss the mind-body connection.
Mind-Body Connection
The mind-body connection references the intricate bi-directional relationship between our thoughts, emotions, and physical health or the body. The big emphasis here is the linkage of our mental and physical states as they interconnect and influence one another. To help illustrate this point, think about how you feel when you are sick. What happens to your mental state? Chances are you are not in a happy space. Instead, you may be upset, sad, tired, frustrated, annoyed, etc. Now think about a time when your mental state was very happy and excited. Chances are your body was reflecting your mental state. Maybe your body was buzzing with energy or you felt lighter. These examples are potentially over simplistic, but hopefully drives the point home. And in case you need scientific data to back up the simplistic example the American Heart Association offered the following statement that included this data (Levine et al., 2021):
Clear connection between psychological health (PH) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) and risk.
Mounting evidence that PH may be casually connected to biological processes and behaviors that influence and cause CVD
Data offers that when interventions are directed at improving PH there is a beneficial impact on cardiovascular health.
There are many more articles I could have cited, but today is not about mountains of evidence like some previous posts.
Building Trust
Now that we have the basics down, there is one final point for this blog post, building trust between the mind and body. In some cultures, the mind is overemphasised. The body gets lost in the mix. So, what do you think happens? The body loses trust in you that it will be heard or listened to in times of challenge and in times of peace. So the lesson becomes about building that trust back. We have to earn the trust of our bodies by listening to them, and that is where mindfulness comes back into the picture. We need to live in the present moment so that we can begin the process of attuning and listening once again because remember the importance of both the mind and body as they are connected. So now we are back to the beginning. Begin your mindfulness journey!
The word minfulness written on a piece of paper sitting on the table in front of the window.
take action today moment:
If you are someone who is new to mindfulness, take small steps to begin practicing mindfulness. Make an intention to do the dishes mindfully or step outside for a moment and listen to the birds or sound of the wind. In this case, remember quality or quantity! If you are someone who is not new to mindfulness, how can you really remember to include your body in the process of mindfulness? Start to really pay attention to even the smallest sensations in your body without judgement or the need to dismiss them.
Learn More About Mindfulness:
References
Cooksey, R. W. (1996). The methodology of social judgement theory. Thinking & Reasoning, 2(2-3), 141-174. https://doi.org/10.1080/135467896394483
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2015). Mindfulness. Mindfulness, 6(6), 1481-1483.
Levine, G. N., Cohen, B. E., Commodore-Mensah, Y., Fleury, J., Huffman, J. C., Khalid, U., ... & American Heart Association Council on Clinical Cardiology; Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology; Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing; and Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health. (2021). Psychological health, well-being, and the mind-heart-body connection: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 143(10), e763-e783. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIR.00000000000009
Rosenberg, S. (2017). Accessing the healing power of the Vegas Nerve: Self-help exercises for anxiety, depression, trauma, and autism. North Atlantic Books.