Have you wondered how much mindfulness per day you need to practice to actually see the benefits? As you may know, mindfulness is a powerful discipline that promotes the overall wellness of a person is also a fundamental way to practice a holistic lifestyle.
The world is not doing the best right now in terms of mental wellness and Simple Holistic Wellbeing we are here for you in the best way we know how we can be. We believe everyone deserves to be happy and lead a less stressful life.
So we came up with a guide on how much mindfulness per day should be enough for your heart and soul to relax, rejuvenate and find peace for yourself. Read on below to find out more.
How much mindfulness per day as part of a holistic lifestyle?
To answer the question of how much mindfulness per day, we have to understand what mindfulness is in the first place, so let us start with the basics. According to Mindful:
“Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of what we are and what we are doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what is going on around us”
If we remain unaffected by reality, we are welcome to stay in our own little world of preoccupation and therefore do what makes us happy.
Mindfulness does not allow you to be bothered by your surroundings, however good or bad it may be, and that is when you know you have achieved mindfulness at its best.
Why I say mindfulness does not let you get affected even with the overwhelming good around you is because even good disrupts our peace within ourselves and we often end up making bad decisions in the fit of uncontrolled happiness.
Result? We regret every bit of it later.
Mindfulness is how you achieve control in your own life and stay content with control.
Here, we do not look at control as being oppressed from liberty but as a restraint to protect ourselves from the world’s torment.
The term mindfulness itself declares its meaning. When we divide the word mindfulness, we see mind plus fullness. That is exactly what we are looking to achieve here.
Anything related to progressive mental health, mental wellness, and wellbeing, feeling of bliss, gaining satisfaction from life in whatever position you are in, and finally remaining unaffected by anything and everything around you is the true indicator of a mindful person.
How does mindfulness help us in holistic living?
Jon-Kabat-Zinn created a wellness program in early 1979 named “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program” and Harvard University modeled the theory into their own and launched several meditation classes, healing lessons, and relaxation classes through the Centre for Wellness and Health Promotion.
Started in 2012 and in 2018 alone, this program has helped the lives of more than 750 students. You can only imagine the numbers in 2023 and beyond.
Herbert Benson, a well-known connoisseur and scientific researcher on meditation has also seen proven effects on the human body – reduced blood pressure, controlled and functional heart rate, and enhanced brain activity.
The thing of wonder is that this happened as early as 1975. So with the advancement of today’s scientific technology and improved holistic methods, we can only imagine how many increased positive effects it can leave on our bodies today.
It is no secret anymore that mindfulness is the ultimate medicine for a healthy, stable, and happy life.
Studies worldwide have proven the fact that mindfulness not only calms the mind and helps you attain peace and stability in life but it also comes with numerous other benefits when it comes to physical and mental wellness.
From managing stress to coping with sadness and illness to battling strongly against anxiety and depression and even trauma, mindfulness is the ultimate dose to heal yourself and cleanse your soul.
In short, it brings you one step closer to yourself.
Talking of other benefits related to physical health, memory, and intelligence, mindfulness offers help here as well.
Being a mindful person means having a stable mind, better sleep, enhanced memory, improved concentration, better flexibility of the body, and improved emotional intelligence as well.
There is no reason why you should not choose to be a mindful person today.
And now if we have answered why mindfulness leads you to a blissful, happy, and healthy life, now is the right time to answer how much mindfulness per day you need to make this happen.
How much mindfulness per day do you need to contribute to your holistic Lifestyle?
Buddhist monks and Indian Sadhus have been practicing mindfulness for thousands of years and commit almost the whole day to meditating and connecting with the divine.
Only by following this process, they are said to possess supernatural powers and also have the power to not only heal themselves but others as well.
This is the power of practicing long-term mindfulness and most importantly, adhering to the discipline associated with it.
First and foremost, know that different person’s requirements for mindfulness will always differ.
But we are everyday people who cannot commit hours to practice mindfulness and therefore our approach to mindfulness should be realistic yet effective.
The good news is, there is indeed a realistic approach to being mindful every day which you can do at your own convenience.
Consider a situation- You’re working your hectic 9-5 and stressed out, constant exposure to your laptop screen is hurting your eyes, the pressure of meeting deadlines is putting you in a state of anxiety, and you also have got lots of work to complete at home, in such a situation it is very easy to get increasingly stressed and anxious over the smallest things.
And you will easily ruin your whole day.
But a mindful person will take things one at a time and not sweat all over it. How to be that person and practice realistic mindfulness, you’re wondering? Sit back and relax, we here at Simple Holistic Wellbeing have got your back!
Mindfulness at different levels
Beginner
If you’re just getting started with mindfulness and are just aiming to reduce stress, deal with mental health and relax your immediately reactive, anxious mind, try 10 minutes of deep breathing.
It could be beneficial if you can do this routine twice, once in the morning and once post-office to maintain a schedule.
You could also do this whenever the need for it calls.
Intermediate
An intermediate-level mediator and practitioner of mindfulness will focus on attaining calmness of mind and improved concentration.
In this scenario, he/she can start off with some light stretches to train the body for the upcoming meditation and then he/she can do thirty minutes of deep breathing and incorporate other breathing techniques.
Advanced
If you’re confident that you have gone through a subsequent level with the practice of mindfulness, are already gaining some effective results from it, are adhering to the discipline involved, and are remaining consistent with it on a daily basis, then we here at Simple Holistic Wellbeing can get you started off with the advanced level of practicing mindfulness with us.
So the question is, how much mindfulness per day do you need for an advanced level of mindful practice?
Since we’re at the advanced level, congratulations comrade, we’ll talk about two types of meditation for you to get one step closer to yourself:
Chakra-Balancing Meditation
The Chakra-Balancing Meditation – Chakras are the energy within your subtle body. And the purpose of this meditation is to listen to different parts of your body and mind and accordingly respond to their needs.
To practice this meditation, lie in absolute rest for 10 minutes.
Take deep, slow breaths where you exhale even slower.
Start emphasizing your focus on the spine area, then you want to focus on different colours (which emphasize a particular portion of the body, and the organ system associated with it).
The process is intense and extremely effective.
You then want to end the session by relaxing again and looking for any sensations that you feel within your body.
Indian Mantra
The powerful Indian Mantra – Indian meditation techniques date back to the ancient 3000 BCE and it had emerged with the Upanishads and Vedas, which is one of the most researched ways of life.
Mantra chanting is one of the most popular, effective, and research-backed ways of coming face-to-face with oneself and also with God.
If you have a troubled mind and are in the quest of finding a purpose in life, try chanting mantras on a religious basis.
Once you try mantra meditation, you are never going to look back.
If you are still skeptical about trying out mindfulness for yourself due to various reasons, I remember a line in which O’Shaughnessy, who leads mindfulness workshops at Harvard, had said: “Just try”.
She herself was confused about finding the time and committing herself to such a routine being an investment banking executive, but nevertheless, she had skeptically signed up for a workshop in 1999, and would you believe that she is heading Harvard’s mindfulness workshop today after quitting her job and launching her own app to encourage mindfulness and mediation in people?
Yes, that is the potential of disciplined mindfulness. And no, you should not have any excuse left to not get started off with practicing mindfulness today. We promise that it will lead you to a better tomorrow.
How long/ how much mindfulness per day will help you see results?
When we talk of mental wellness and mental health, we are also going to take into consideration that improving health conditions, whether physical, mental, or psychological, will take time. And the time taken will depend from person to person.
A study has proven the fact that for an average person, 8 weeks of regular and effective 13-minute meditation has seen considerable improvement in his/her memory, emotional intelligence, and emotional control and has dealt well with bad mood and anxiety.
While this is a figure in that particular research, do not be disheartened if you do not see results in 8 weeks. For you the time needed might be more but the results that you face are going to be worth it.
There have also been many other experts and practitioners of mindfulness who have seen themselves or others get results in the first 10 minutes of a beginner-level meditation, claiming that it had instantaneously calmed their minds.
Conclusion
Mindfulness is a broad concept and it takes years to master for many people. And especially for beginners, time and patience will challenge you every single second, so make sure, you conquer the challenge without giving up.
Do not expect results on the first day itself if you do not see any, know that you have forever to see them. Mindfulness has no religion or biases, it is a way of life that helps people and has helped them for ages. So giving up is not an option if you want to better yourself.
If you have been wanting to improve your mental wellness and wondering how much mindfulness per day can help you achieve it, we hope we have answered you question. Did you try any of these techniques? Have you got something else that worked well for you? Please let us know in the comments below.
