Why Mindfulness?

Stressed Out?

If you are like many others, you probably fall into what is known as “the busy trap”-- you are stressed, overworked, and overscheduled by self-imposed busyness [3]. You may feel like you cannot find time to relax. Stress can lead to premature aging, mental anguish, and physical toil. However, you can prevent these negative side effects, and even reverse them, by being mindful in your everyday life.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is simply paying attention to the present moment. Meditation, yoga, and other mindfulness practices have been used in other cultures for centuries as a form of introspection, relaxation, and exercise but have only more recently been explored in American culture. Research has only scratched the surface of these ancient practices, and yet already many benefits have been discovered:

• Improved health [4]
• Improved quality of life and life satisfaction [4]
• Improved longevity [1]
• Reduced stress and anxiety levels [4]
• Decreased feelings of loneliness and depression [2]

Practicing mindfulness does not have to take a lot of time or energy.

What is Desire Higher?

This blog, Desire Higher, aims to inform those who are new to the idea of mindfulness and/or those who are beginners at yoga and meditation. Desire Higher will help you incorporate the principals of mindfulness into your everyday life, regardless of how busy you are. As a busy person who has incorporated mindfulness into my life, I look forward to sharing how these techniques can benefit you in a no-nonsense way free of New Age methods. Future articles will include on the best meditation techniques for beginners, beginner yoga routines, and how to work mindfulness into any daily lifestyle.

References

[1] Brown, R. P., & Gerbarg, P. L. (2009). Yoga breathing, meditation, and longevity. Annals Of The New York Academy Of Sciences, 1172, 54-62.

[2] Creswell, J., Irwin, M. R., Burklund, L. J., Lieberman, M. D., Arevalo, J. G., Ma, J., & Cole, S. W. (2012). Mindfulness-based stress reduction training reduces loneliness and pro-inflammatory gene expression in older adults: A small randomized controlled trial. Brain, Behavior & Immunity, 26(7), 1095-1101.

[3] Krieder, T. (2012, June 30). The busy trap. The New York Times. Retrieved at http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-busy-trap 

[4] Ospina, M. B., Bond, T. K., Karkhaneh, M., Tjosvold, L., Vandermeer, B., Liang, Y., Bialy, L., Hooton, N., Buscemi, N., Dryden, D. M., & Klassen, T. P. (2007).Meditation practices for health: State of the research. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.