MindfullnessI read an interesting article in Science Daily about a study that showed meditating for 8 weeks appears to make measurable changes in the regions of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress.

In the study, a  particular group listened to a guided meditation on average for 27 minutes each day for 8 weeks.

Now you might like the idea of improving your memory or reducing your stress levels but might not be able to commit to approximately 30 minutes of meditation each day. We all have busy lives and not everyone likes listening to whale music, what I suggest to my clients is that they see meditation as being mindful, being in the moment.

Choose a time that suits you – breakfast, lunchtime, evening it doesn’t matter. Just a time when you can have a few minutes to yourself, where you can focus on you, appreciate what is around you, being in the moment not in the past or future worrying about things. Some people take their lunch outdoors and use that time, others use their journey time to or from work, what time of day suits you? How much time can you give each day to being mindful and what are you mindful about? What is important is that you do what suits you.

Like most things in life it can take a little practice to become mindful and many people when starting out find that their mind wanders back to what they’ve got to do next or some problem they might have, if this happens to you then just gently bring your focus back to the moment and remember that something is always better than nothing. If you can only manage 30 seconds or a minute then don’t worry, next time or the time after that you might find that the time has increased, it’s not a race so go at a pace that suits you.

If you would like to know more detail about the study I have mentioned then please click here.