How mindfulness can help people live less stressful lives

Lord Stone of Blackheath writes about how mindfulness can help older people and the country at large.

Despite advancements in technology with instant connectivity, across the globe, there’s a general feeling that, in real terms, communication is breaking down everywhere. We don’t really communicate at all, except in shallow, superficial ways, often by text or email rather than in person.

So what is require is a paradigm shift. People say that to change the system, each one of us, individually, needs to attempt to change ourselves for the better.

In order to assist this change, we have established an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Mindfulness.

What is Mindfulness?

Mark Williams, professor of clinical psychology at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, says that mindfulness means knowing directly what is going on inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment and that mindfulness can be an remedy for the “tunnel vision” people can develop when busy, stressed or tired. Mindfulness is a state of mind, which helps us to be present in this moment and aware that we are all connected to each other, so that we can experience something greater than our habitual selves and therefore, live and work more compassionately.

We must all try to help individuals change first and then ‘mindfulness’ should become part of our system of managing our nation.

Changing as individuals

I spent a weekend last month with politicians from ten different countries, including representatives of the UN. We discussed wiser Governance with the Brahma Kumaris in their Global Retreat Centre in Oxford. Their Spiritual Leader Dadi Janki is in her hundredth year and travelled from India to be with us. One of our main conclusions was that good governance would entail engendering individual self-sovereignty. As an example of this, over the past 2 years 115 Parliamentarians have all completed an 8 week course of Mindfulness practice, where they have learnt how to accept that they need to change themselves and learned how not to be in a constant state of anxiety, aggression and pressure.

Can Mindfulness help us to run the country?

In health, the NHS is expanding the provision of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (NBCT) as a treatment for many mental and physical conditions and has proven to NICE (the National Institute for Clinical Excellence) that it is more cost-effective, longer lasting And cheaper than other interventions. It can help people deal with anxiety and stress in the long-term, by providing them with strategies to cope. Key figures within the NHS, including the new Chief Executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital, Peter Steer, Julia Samuels Dr Bob Klaber and Dr Hyde at St Mary’s Hospital, London are all convinced that Mindfulness, used effectively amongst Healthcare workers, is an excellent way to reduce stress throughout their hospitals and improve care and attentiveness, as well as  engendering compassion and kindness towards those in their care.

In education, Professor Patrick Pietroni at the University of Chester is shortly intending to set up an International Institute for the study of Compassion, which could help inform and develop compassion across Government and society.

In the criminal justice system, His Royal Highness Prince Charles gave us a great example of compassion last month, when he agreed to a very difficult, face-to-face meeting with Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein. The Forgiveness Project, of which I am a patron, similarly works to bring together criminals and perpetrators with victims and their families to face each other personally, which often transforms the lives of both. It helps to reduce anger and release grief, as well as stopping the cycle of reoffending. It enables victims to lead more active lives and saves the Government money and resources spent in supporting broken lives.

How mindfulness can help older people

Sleep disorders

A study in in Los Angeles of people aged 55+ who had trouble sleeping were asked to follow a mindfulness programme.After six weeks, the participants showed improvements in their sleeping. People in this meditation group also saw improvements in terms of their levels of fatigue and depression.

The findings suggest that ‘mindfulness meditation’ may be introduced to older adults as a short-term solution to assist with moderate sleep disturbances.Previous studies had shown that other types of mind-body exercise, such as tai chi, can also improve sleep in older adults.

Mindfulness programmes are generally accessible within communities at low cost. offered at a low cost.

Anxiety and depression

Most people have issues that they struggle to let go of and mindfulness can help them deal with these more productively. It also helps people notice signs of stress or anxiety earlier.Studies have found that mindfulness programmes can bring about significant reductions in stress and improvements in mood.

How to be mindful

You can begin by practising a few simple steps on a daily basis:

• Pick a time of day to aim to be aware of the world around you. Try different things, such as going somewhere new for lunch, sitting in a different part of a room and taking note of your surroundings.
• Observe your own thoughts. It takes practice to put the mind in a different mode, but it is a worthwhile exercise
• Try meditation , where you sit silently and pay attention to the sensations of breathing or other regions of the body
• Practice yoga, where you move through participants a series of postures to flex the body and concentrate on your breath
• Try tai chi,  where you perform a series of slow movements, concentrating on your breathing

Lord Stone of Blackheath is a life peer in the House of Lords.