We view mindfulness as the process of being aware of one’s internal processes and environment.¹ A concept stemming from ancient East Asian spiritual traditions including Buddhism and others, the application of mindfulness into Western mental health contexts largely began in the 1970's, following the growth of Zen Buddhism in the West in the 1950's and the integration of meditative techniques into psychotherapy in the 1960's.²

Ever since, a growing body of research has shown mindfulness to yield a wide range of psychological and physiological benefits including improved subjective well-being and behavior regulation, reduced rumination, stress reduction, improvements in working memory, enhanced focus and concentration, decreased emotional reactivity, cognitive flexibility, greater relationship satisfaction, increased self-insight, improved immune system functioning, decreased task effort, and increased information processing speed.^2,3 Evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in managing symptoms has also been reported for a variety of disorders including anxiety disorders, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, substance use disorders, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit hyperactvitity disorder (ADHD), autism-spectrum disorders (in adults), hypochondriasis, somatisation disorders, chronic pain, and potentially certain presentations of psychotic disorders. ^4,5,6,7,8

Furthermore, research shows that it's not only mental health clients who stand to benefit from the effects of mindfulness. Therapists who practice mindfulness meditation may develop greater levels of empathy and self-compassion, improvements in self-reported counseling skill, decreased stress and anxiety, improved quality of life, reduced fatigue, and decreases in stress-related cortisol levels.³

Research has explored various mechanisms that may help explain why mindfulness appears to produce such a wide array of benefits. Neurological imaging studies have indicated that mindfulness produces neuroplastic changes in various regions of the brain that promote learning, memory capacity, and attention, as well as improved emotional and behavioral self-regulation.^9,10 Mindfulness also appears to induce relaxation through increased output in the vagus nerve which plays a role in cardiorespiratory regulation.⁹ Training in mindfulness meditation has been shown to elicit structural and functional changes in regions of the brain such as the precuneus (an area of the brain linked to higher-order cognitive processes such as episodic memory, visuo-spatial imagery, and self-processing¹¹) which correlate with reductions in anxious and depressive symptoms.¹² Structural changes and increased functional activity in other brain regions have also been implicated.¹³

We believe mindfulness has another benefit — it's easy to imagine its usefulness as a tool for improving our lives. While the science supporting its effectiveness can be difficult to understand, mindfulness as a concept can be understood with relative ease. For example, it's easy to conceptualize how being more aware of the situations we find ourselves in can make it easier to navigate through them; how being aware of our options can help us to make better decisions; how being more in tune with our thoughts and emotions can enable us to put them into perspective.

In a therapeutic setting, mindful awareness is linked to acceptance, or the "ability to observe and accept — rather than judge or avoid"¹⁴ our experiences. That is, mindfulness is a skill that encompasses both the capacity to focus on our experiences, and also to embrace their existence without attaching any particular meaning to them. This detachment bestows upon us greater flexibility and freedom in our experiences, instead of being determined by them.

We view mindfulness as a practical skill which is both essential and pervasive in our everyday lives. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) are evidence-based treatment methods which harness the power of mindfulness to elicit positive change.