The Science of Mindfulness

The Science of Mindfulness

In the past 35 years, there has been an increasing interest in researching mindfulness and its effects on the body, brain, and emotional well-being.

The mechanisms of action - how the practice of mindfulness affects our physiology and psychology - are complex, but have been theorized to include the following:

Reduction of stress and of the researched, potentially detrimental effects of stress physiology on brain and body (see below).

Development of increased awareness of physical sensations, thoughts, emotions, and all aspects of one’s internal and external environments. Such awareness offers opportunities to step out of autopilot and conditioned reactions to consciously choose more adaptive, healthy responses – for instance, disengaging from maladaptive thought and behavioural patterns, including those causing vulnerability to stress reactions and psychopathology.