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Slowing Down, Living Better Through Mindfulness Meditation

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- What if we told you there was a way to reduce stress and anxiety while improving your productivity and relationships...and it doesn't have to cost you a dime?

Millions of people across the country are turning to something called mindfulness meditation.

The practice has become so popular that hundreds of hospitals, including some in Minnesota, now offer meditation classes.

The steps are simple.

Alex Haley, who teaches mindfulness meditation at the University of Minnesota's Center for Spirituality and Healing, described his students' initial reactions to the practice as a sense of relief.

"I can feel this sense of not having tension and stress about all the things I have to do," Haley said.

The practice begins with sitting still, taking long breaths, and in some cases, saying a certain phrase to yourself.

"A lot of what I hear from my students is that they just notice that they feel more connected, because they're more present," Haley said.

This type of meditation is becoming more mainstream as life becomes more fast-paced.

Philosophy major Andrew Decker says it gives him better control of his moods.

"It's easy to get caught up in the rat race," he said. "For me, I have classes, I have work, all these things I am supposed to do. Sometimes, it's nice to sit down and say, 'What do I actually want to do?'"

Folks are doing it at home and at work.

Every Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m., a group of Allina Health employees meet in a conference room to meditate.

Allina's hospitals and clinics started offering mindfulness meditation classes to the community three years ago, in response to patients asking for help managing stress and doctors seeing success with it.

Pat Vitale oversees the classes and says that patients tell him the meditation helps them deal with stressful, jam-packed schedules.

"No matter where we are currently, we are always thinking of where we need to be, what's coming next, what's happening next, where am I supposed to be?" she said. "So, we are not actually living the life we have created for ourselves. We are living a life where we're thinking about tomorrow."

People need help relaxing.

"We are constantly firing off that stress response off every day, and for a lot of people all day long, repetitively, which then dumps a ton of adrenaline in the body," she said.

Vitale says meditating just 20 minutes a day twice a day will improve your focus and help you relax.

"Your brain waves lower, your blood pressure lowers, your respiration lowers," she said. "You make better choices. Those choices mean your relationships are better. You're healthier, it's easier for you to understand other people's point of view. You make choices that take time and you think about the outcome."

And science agrees.

In the largest-ever analysis of research on the subject, people suffering from depression who received mindfulness-based therapy were 31-percent less likely to suffer a relapse during the next 5 months.

Another study found that mindfulness meditation improved anxiety and depression after 8 weeks.

Studies on the topic are frequently written about in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"One of the things I am blown away by is how often people don't even realize how stressed out they are," Vitale said.

She added that 85 percent of hospital patients are seeking treatment for stress-related illnesses.

If we were more relaxed as a society, we'd all be healthier.

At the University of Minnesota, Haley says new students are often skeptics of the practice.

"Students will come in and say 'Wait, what? We are going to just sit here?'" Haley said.

Mindfulness meditation is a skill that has to be learned. That's why people are encouraged to take a class to fully understand the practice.

In addition to the University of Minnesota, and the Allina hospitals and clinics, you can find meditation classes at some yoga studios. And there are also apps that can guide you.

Here are some links to mediation classes/apps:

Allina Health Community Classes

Change To Chill

Center for Spirituality and Healing, Community Classes

Yoga Sol Studio

Common Ground Meditation Center

Meditation Apps

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