Mindfulness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a special form of attention. You consciously direct it into the here and now. It is important that you don't judge the situation, i.e. don't think "I'm not feeling well right now" or "I'm feeling really well". The only thing that counts is being mindful of your conscious perceptions of thoughts, feelings and physical sensations in the moment. You are open and unprejudiced towards what you focus your attention on. This should help you to develop a self-concept that you can use to build resilience. Resilience is referred to as psychological resistance and helps you to cope well with challenging situations.

In mindfulness, you actually just observe and do not give meaning to what you perceive - you do not categorize or interpret the moment. This means that you must not react in a state of focused attention. Sounds simple, but it's not that easy!

Where does the concept come from?

The concept of mindfulness has become the focus of stress management in recent years. The challenges of an increasingly fast-paced world go hand in hand with stress, depression and burnout. Focusing on the moment slows us down and leads to a more conscious self-image. However, mindfulness is not an idea of the digitalized postmodern age, but goes back to Buddhism. "Sati" is the Buddhist word for mindfulness and roughly means "the intention of the mind" (Chang-Gusko 2019, 5). Siddharta Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, is said to have described the concept of mindfulness as:

"The seen should be merely a seen, the heard merely an heard, the sensed through the three other bodily senses merely a so sensed, and the cognized merely a cognized" - Siddharta Gautama (quoted from Thera 1989, 4)

In recent years, mindfulness has also been of great interest to psychological research, especially with regard to stress management. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) aims to break down patterns of behavior and reaction in order to build resilience.

What does research say about mindfulness?

According to the World Health Organization, stress is one of the biggest threats to mental health. A study by the Techniker Krankenkasse health insurance company also shows that around 60% of respondents in Germany frequently experience stress (see TK 2016, 9). We can be stressed in all areas of life, but stress is particularly common among students during their studies. In the 2018 survey of RPTU students, almost 30% reported experiencing a high level of stress at university (Lesener et al., 2018). This percentage is above the German average of just over 25% (Grützmacher et al., 2018). Stress is therefore a very relevant area of health that should be actively addressed.

There are studies on the effectiveness of mindfulness exercises in various contexts. One advocate of the concept of mindfulness is the American professor Jon Kabat-Zinn, who has tested and applied mindfulness primarily in clinical settings. There have also been a number of studies on stress reduction in students through targeted mindful exercises. A meta-analysis (2017) summarizes 19 studies in which the effectiveness of mindfulness-based training for students in the field of medicine and other health areas was examined. The meta-analysis concludes that mindfulness-based interventions have a positive impact on stress, anxiety and depression while improving mood, self-efficacy, empathy and mindfulness (see McConvile, McAleer & Hahne, 2017). And another meta-analysis examining 51 studies also concludes that mindfulness-based interventions can improve factors such as stress, anxiety, depression and Wellbeing. Compared to other interventions such as relaxation and breathing techniques or nutrition or exercise programs, mindfulness-based interventions have a stronger positive effect on stress or anxiety, and the different interventions have similar effects on factors such as depression and Wellbeing (see Dawson et al., 2019). Other studies also show a clear connection between the implementation of mindfulness in everyday student life and stress reduction (cf. Krautz 2019, 182).

The studies thus confirm that mindfulness can be very helpful and useful. Test for yourself whether mindfulness exercises can also help you to deal with stress in everyday university life. Below we present two exercises that you can do from the comfort of your own home or in the library. Mindfulness to go, so to speak!

FACTS

Body awareness & meditation

Body awareness refers to the ability to assess one's body and movement possibilities and to perceive them with all senses. This is influenced by a variety of factors, e.g. visual and acoustic abilities, communication processes or social and emotional development. It is also about an awareness of the relationship between body and mind.

Further information

Breathing

We breathe an average of 12 to 18 breaths per minute. We usually don't even think about it, not even whether we are doing chest or abdominal breathing or a combination of both. It is usually a combination of both, but what are the differences between the two techniques and are there any advantages?

Further information

Apps & Podcasts

We tested various free mindfulness apps that work on both Android and iOS. We also listened to various podcasts on the topic.

Further information

Amberg, M. (2016). Leadership competence mindfulness. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.

Chang-Gusko, Y.-S. (2019). "History and definitions of mindfulness." In Mindfulness in work environments. FOM-Edition, Edited by Yong-Seun Chang-Gusko, Judith Heße-Husain, Manfred Cassens and Claudia Meßtorff. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 3-22.

Chang-Gusko, Y.-S-, Heße-Husain, J., Cassens, M., and Meßtorff, C. (eds.) (2019). Mindfulness in working environments. FOM Edition. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.

Dawson, A., Anderson, J., Jones, P. & Galane, J. (2019). Mindfulness-Based Interventions for UNiversity Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Applied Psychology: Health and Wellbeing,12 (2), pp. 384-410.

Frey, D. (2016). Psychology of values. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Grützmacher, J.; Gusy, B.; Lesener, T.; Sudheimer, S.; Willige, J. (2018). Health of Students in Germany 2017. A cooperation project between the German Center for Higher Education Research and Science Studies, Freie Universität Berlin and Techniker Krankenkasse

Krautz, B. (2019). "Mindfulness at universities and colleges - Early access to stress regulation and personal development." In Mindfulness in working environments. FOM-Edition, eds. Yong-Seun Chang-Gusko, Judith Heße-Husain, Manfred Cassens and Claudia Meßtorff. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 179-94.

Kuschel, H. (2016). "Mindfulness." In Psychology of Values, ed. Dieter Frey. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 13-24.

Lesener, T., Blaszcyk, W., Gusy, B. & Sprenger, M. (2018). How healthy are students at the University of Kaiserslautern? Results of the survey 06/18 (Publication series of the AB Public Health: Prevention and Psychosocial Health Research: No. 02/P18). Berlin: Free University of Berlin.

Löhmer, C. & Standhardt, R. (2018). Timeout instead of burnout: practicing the art of mindfulness. 7th edition. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.

McConville, J., McAleer, R. & Hahne, A. (2017). Mindfulness Training for Health Profession Students - The Effect of Mindfulness Training on Psychological Well-Being, Learning and Clinical Performance of Health Professional Students: A Systematic Review of Randomized and Non-randomized Controlled Trials. Explore, 13 (1), pp. 26-45.

Schnetzer, R., (ed.) (2014). Mindful self-awareness. essentials. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.

Schnetzer, R. (2014). "Terms." In Mindful self-awareness. essentials, ed. Ronald Schnetzer. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 3-12. Schrör, Torsten, ed. 2016. leadership competence through mindful self-awareness and self-leadership. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.

Schrör, T., (2016). "Mindfulness." In Leadership competence through mindful self-awareness and self-leadership, ed. Torsten Schrör. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 27-35.

Techniker Krankenkasse (2016). Relax, Germany - TK Stress Study 2016. Accessed on 17.02.20 at https://www.tk.de/resource/blob/2026630/9154e4c71766c410dc859916aa798217/tk-stressstudie-2016-data.pdf.

Thera, N., (1989). Satipatthana: Mindfulness and clarity of knowledge. Accessed on 02.02.20 at www.palikanon.com/diverses/satipatthana/satipatt_03.html.

Weiss, H., Harrer, M. & Dietz, T. (2019). The mindfulness book. Basics, exercises, applications. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.

Weiss, H., Harrer, M. & Dietz, T. (2012). Das Achtsamkeitsübungsbuch für Beruf und Alltag. Stuttgart: Klett-Clotta.