mindfulness

• it helps to practice 'being in the moment'
• it can help to focus your attention on heaviness of body parts to relieve stress
• it can help to reduce stress by giving you a break from worrying about other things
• it requires you to deliberately focus on the physical sensations of your body and the stress/anxiety will subside if practice regularly
• benefits of mindfulness - better sleep, cognitive improvements, lower blood pressure, less anxiety
• disadvantages of mindfulness - could be time consuming, embarrassing for some, reduce sleep, increase the stress response
• ways to practice mindfulness

  formal - meditation

  informal - during everyday activities
• eval + it is effective - HUBERTY found that there was a decrease in sleep disturbance
• eval + it is ethical - doesnt require for the patient to bring up past trauma - causes little to none anxiety for the client - encourages acceptance of the process of thinking instead of trying to change it
• eval -- can cause side effects - can be distressing for those doing formal mindfulness meditation - may not be suitable for everyone