This is why meditation is so good for our mental health

We all know meditation can help our mental health, but why? It could all come down to self-compassion.

As lockdown begins again, we are all looking for ways to look after our mental health. For many, the picture of serenity is sitting cross legged with closed eyes, taking part in some kind of meditation. After all, it’s pretty common knowledge that the practice of meditation can make us feel more zen. 

For a long time, it’s been unclear as to why meditation is so beneficial for our wellbeing. Now, though, a study published in January by the Journal Of Clinical Psychology has revealed the answer.

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In the study, researchers identified that consistent meditation practice tends to have a positive impact on our mental health thanks to the development of one essential skill: self-compassion.

The research, which was conducted by a team of researchers at the Pontifical University of Salamanca in Spain, looked at the outcomes of meditation for 828 people, consisting of 414 “meditators” and 414 “non-meditators”. 

To do this, the participants filled in questionnaires which measured self-compassion. As is to be expected, they found that meditation was positively associated with mental health – and used their results to hypothesize exactly why this might be.

According to the study, meditation has the potential to develop and boost our levels of self-compassion, which then puts the framework in place for other healthy “mechanisms” to grow, such as the ability to experience greater meaning from life and the strength to stop avoiding difficult conversations and experiences.

“After reviewing some of the contributions of previous research on this subject, we proposed that three variables could play an important role,” the study’s lead author José Ramon Yela said. “[These include] the capacity for self-compassion; experiencing that life has meaning – that is, that there are valuable and important things in life and valuable objectives to pursue; and finally, reducing the extent to which a person avoids thoughts, emotions or experiences that may be unpleasant but are part of his or her life.”

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Self-compassion is, essentially, the ability we have to be compassionate and caring towards ourselves. Instead of negative self-talk – in which we may tell ourselves we need to change because we’re “bad” or “not good enough” – self-compassion is all about being nice to ourselves and our situation. Practicing this is more important than ever right now, as the world is turned upside down.  

As Dr Kristin Neff writes for Self Compassion, when you have self-compassion, “you may try to change in ways that allow you to be more healthy and happy, but this is done because you care about yourself, not because you are worthless or unacceptable as you are. Perhaps most importantly, having compassion for yourself means that you honor and accept your humanness.”

Self-compassion can also be split into three components: the ability to be kind towards yourself and be less self-critical, the ability to recognise that the human experience is never plain sailing and difficult moments are a part of life, and the ability to be aware of unsettling or upsetting emotions and negative feelings and let them pass without ruining their day.

In this way, then, meditation can help us to nurture a kind inner-voice to help guide us through the inevitable difficult patches which crop up every now and then (or as in our current climate, more regularly than we’d like) – so it’s no surprise that it can help with our mental health.

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As the latest research from Mind shows that more than half of adults reported worsening mental health during lockdown, Stylist have launched the Work It Out campaign, encouraging everyone to take a minimum of five breaks throughout their working day to combat the rise in burnout and anxiety. One of these breaks should be focused on simple meditative breathing – a proven strategy to combat stress, and even recommended by the NHS to reduce stress. 

Remember, it’s completely normal to experience rough patches and reach out for help when we need it – so having that ability to be kind to ourselves and avoid negative self-talk is an essential skill we should all be looking to develop. 

If you, or someone you know, is struggling with their mental health, you can find support and resources on mental health charity Mind’s website or see the NHS’ list of mental health helplines here.

Images: Unsplash

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