The Secret Life of Your Microbiome by Susan Prescott

Author:Susan Prescott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Published: 2017-07-10T04:00:00+00:00

Mindfulness

The extent to which an individual absorbs the benefits of walking in a forest or within other natural environments may be determined by their awareness of the present moment — their mindfulness. Definitions of mindfulness are more plentiful than pizza shops in New York, with each one claiming to be the best. Mindfulness is often considered a soft science, and as such, it seems that academics make attempts to overcompensate for its perceived fluffiness by developing all sorts of clunky, constrained definitions. We want to avoid that trap.

In general, mindfulness is a mental state that involves purposeful awareness of unfolding experiences as they happen. This includes nonjudgmental observations of emotions, thoughts, and sensations. Meaning that the mindful person is an independent observer of the flow of consciousness. It involves suspending rumination on past events and future planning, and disengaging from strong attachments to beliefs and baggage that might otherwise dictate emotional responses.

Even these descriptions of mindfulness sound complex. In simple terms, if an individual walked into a forest alongside a creek and a waterfall or two, from our perspective mindfulness would mean entering that environment from a childlike vantage. Entering the natural environment as if it were the first time it had ever been experienced. The first time seeing the deep bark on trees and the water tumbling over a ledge into a crystal pool 40 feet below. The entire in-the-moment experience — its sights, sounds, smells — absorbed with a childlike wonder.

Despite its deep roots within complementary medicine, meditation, and traditional Asian philosophies, mindfulness — and training to foster mindfulness — are proving themselves to be as evidence-based within the westernized biomedical framework as drugs and various medical devices. Strong evidence supports mindfulness as a means to curb anxiety, depressive symptoms, and pain. Just like purpose in life, mindfulness is a psychological asset linked with biological benefits. Remember the telomeres, those shoelace cap-like ends protecting our DNA? Mindfulness is associated with lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, inflammatory cytokines (the ones that can compromise mood), and a higher production of the very chemical that protects the telomeres against premature shortening.

Although mindfulness can be cultivated through experience and education, it shouldn’t really be considered a technique per se, but rather as a way of being. A lifestyle in and of itself. In addition to psychological wellbeing, nature relatedness has also been associated with the trait of mindfulness. This might be a clue as to why being nature related is so good for us. That is, living life in a mindful way, and more specifically, spending time in nature in a mindful way, is likely to be the bridge between gaining only some health benefits afforded by nature, and receiving the true abundance of nature’s bounty. Living in close proximity to biodiversity will get you only so far — it’s the purposeful engagement with biodiversity that gets you to nature’s health-promoting riches.

Much like nature relatedness, mindfulness can be cultivated through education and experience. The practice of mindfulness meditation — a

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.