The Power of Pause

For wellbeing, it’s important to feel good as often as possible, and at least several times a day. But could a mindful pause – just for the span of three cycles of breath (around 15 seconds) – really help you to feel good and access more resources?

Yes, mindfulness really works. Here is the science to prove it, and how you can get started today, at home and at work.

Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present to whatever you are experiencing right here and now, through a moment-to-moment awareness of your thoughts, feelings, sensations, and environment. It is “paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

To mindfully pause is to interrupt your automatic reactions to life’s events and the stories that flow from those reactions. Pausing allows your mind to take a break, so that you can be with life as it is – versus how you think it should be.

Step back from the precipice

In today’s fast-paced world, many of us experience the stress of trying to meet high expectations across the multiple roles we play in the world – as a caring parent, brother or sister, partner, child, friend, manager, coach, colleague, employee, community member.

And meeting the emotional, psychological, economic, and physical challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic has added another layer to that stress. We may not be consciously aware of it, but many of us are sitting close to the edge of our tolerance window, and it doesn’t take much of a nudge to push us over the edge.

In this environment, taking care of your own well-being is critical, and benefits not only yourself, but also those around you.

Pausing gives your nervous system a much-needed chance to re-set and allows you to step back from the edge of losing your cool at home and at work.

Take a Mindful Pause

A woman who I practice mindfulness with, is a top cardiologist working in New York City. She shared her version of a mindful pause practice, that she uses to refresh and ground herself in between speaking to each of her patients as she does her rounds on the ward.

Her practice is simple, infinitely caring, and deeply respectful. You may wish to try it now.

Breathe In – Invite yourself to be Present – feel the presence this awakens in your body as you breathe out.
Breathe In – Invite yourself to be Genuine – touch into your heart and what really matters most in this moment as you breathe out.
Breathe In – Invite yourself to Radiate Out – feel and trust your connectedness to the ever-present web of interdependent beings and our shared humanity. You are not alone.

Another variation on this practice, which can be used at work, involves recognizing the role you are playing – whether as a manager, colleague, employee, listener etc. – and tapping into your desire to embody that role more deeply, genuinely and with greater mindfulness.

Pause and breathe for 15 seconds. From this clear space ask yourself: What is my role here in this situation? How might I honour this role more fully? Trust the guidance that emerges from your conscious reflection.

simple practices to help you feel good

Some other simple mindful practices that invite a sense of well-being include:

Going for a short walk
Taking off your shoes or loosening any tight clothing
Making a cup of tea
Listening to music
Taking four long slow breaths. With the exhale, imagine that a gray cloud of stress, worries or troubles is leaving the body. With the inhale, imagine that peace, love, and wisdom are filling the body.

how mindfulness helps

Research shows that mindfulness improves psychological measures in both clinical and non-clinical populations. In one meta-analytic review (Chiesa and Serretti, 2009) mindfulness was found to reduce stress and trait anxiety while increasing empathy in a cohort without a medical or mental health diagnosis.

The first study to explore the brain changes in meditators found that experienced meditators had cortical thickening in areas related to emotional, sensory, and cognitive processing when compared to non-meditators (Lazar et al., 2005). Another study (Luders, Toga, Lepore, and Gaser, 2009) found that experienced meditators had greater cell volumes in the right prefrontal cortex, an area responsible for emotional regulation, than non-meditators.

With mindfulness we are teaching ourselves to pay attention with kindness to the present moment. It is a small behavioural change that can have a profound impact on how the body functions, and, ultimately, on our lives.

The 2009 Nobel Prize in physiology of medicine was awarded to Australian researcher Elizabeth Blackburn, along with Carol Greider, and Jack Szostak for the discovery of telomeres and telomerase. Telomeres are the caps on the ends of chromosomes where our genes reside, and telomerase is a protective enzyme.

Telomeres keep our chromosomes from aging, much like the little plastic bits on the tips of a shoelace keep it from unravelling. Cognitive stress and constant dwelling on potential threats creates a stressful environment that, in turn, shortens telomere length.

Mindfulness, however, can have a beneficial impact on telomere length by reducing cognitive stress and arousal, and that can decrease cellular aging (Epel et al., 2009).

The first study to document how meditation can change telomere length and therefore cellular aging recruited thirty participants who spent three months on meditation retreat and were compared to matched wait-list controls. The results indicated that decreases in negative affectivity and other positive psychological changes were linked to increased telomerase activity, telomerase being the enzyme responsible for telomere production (Jacobs et al., 2011). The meditation retreat changed cellular aging!

Cells that fire together wire together

Does this mean that you could reverse aging and smooth those smile lines around your eyes, simply by washing the dishes more mindfully at the end of the day? Probably not – and while mindfulness is a simple technique, it does take some time and practice.

Proven benefits of mindfulness include:

A reduction in stress and feelings of overwhelm.
Improved ability to recognize and regulate emotions, and a reduction in anger, depression, and anxiety.
Increased empathy and compassion.
Stronger immune system and faster recovery time from illness.
Improved focus, concentration, and efficiency at work.
Improved communication and relationship skills.
Improved decision-making and goal clarity.
Enhanced creativity.

You’ve probably heard the saying that cells that fire together, wire together. This is why a daily or near-daily mindfulness practice is recommended. It isn’t the intellectual grasping of the concept of present-moment awareness that rewires the brain, but the actual practice of coming back to the present moment with kindness over and over and over again. We are literally rewiring our brains with our ongoing practice of kind attention.

It takes time to train the mind to be present, here and now – and it’s an investment that will bring profound rewards for you, your loved ones, and the world.

Start with one mindful pause. Be fully here for this now moment. And the next now moment. And the next. And then watch what unfolds and blossoms in your life.

references

Epel et al (2009) Can Meditation slow rate of cellular aging? Cognitive stress, mindfulness and telomeres https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3057175/ (Accessed 18 April 2021)

Jacobs et al (2011) Intensive meditation training, immune cell telomerase activity, and psychological mediators https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21035949/ (Accessed 18 April 2021)

Lazar et al (2005) Meditation experience is associated with increased corticol thickness https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361002/ (Accessed 18 April 2021)

Luders et al (2009) The underlying anatomical correlates of long-term meditation: Larger hippocampal and frontal volumes of gray matter

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3184843/ (Accessed 18 April 2021)

"The present moment is the doorway to true calm. It is the only place you can love or awaken – the eternal present. You cannot know the future. But here and now you can create a life of dignity and compassion, a day at a time. You can plant beautiful seeds and learn to tend them with love and courage amidst the unfolding mystery."