Neda F. Gould, PhD

Neda Gould, PhD, a clinical psychologist in the 

, directs a daily mindfulness program. In this video, she will share with you a bit about what mindfulness meditation is and then guide you through a brief practice. 

Mindfulness is something that I found incredibly helpful for myself in general in terms of 

, and certainly during this stressful time it has been even more valuable. Essentially, mindfulness is bringing your attention to the present moment. It is a pretty easy concept to think about in terms of just returning your attention to what you are doing as an anchor to the present such as your breathing. 

You will notice when you practice or if you have been practicing, it does take time to begin to be able to return our attention to the present moment; but it can be an incredible way to reduce stress, as so much of our time is spent thinking about the future and the past. 

During a stressful period, our thoughts are generally stress-related. So I'd like to guide you through a brief meditation practice focusing on the breath. The breath is a great anchor because it is always in the present moment and it is rhythmic, and so it's a simple way to begin if you've never done meditation before.

Mindfulness meditation can be an excellent resource to manage stress and anxiety during uncertain times. Dr Neda Gould, faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Director of the Mindfulness Program, leads daily meditations. Sessions are 30 minutes in length and include a variety of mindfulness meditation practices in a virtual format. Open the following zoom link at the scheduled times to join.

Videos

Mindfulness is an effective tool to reduce stress and bring us to the present moment. 

Using Mindfulness of the Breath for Stress Reduction

In this video, Neda F. Gould, PhD, Associate Director of 

Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Anxiety Disorders Clinic

Johns Hopkins Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

, discusses her work in mindfulness for patients as well as faculty. She describes what mindfulness is and how it can be useful for stress management, and she will walk through a practice session.

Mindfulness is a tool that I found really helpful in managing stress in my own life and so I found that it was a gift that was given to me that I like to share with other people. Mindfulness is basically bringing your attention to the present moment. Much of our time is about the past and thinking about the future, and that can contribute to our distress. Our minds often latch on to worst case scenarios and catastrophes, and we really miss out on the present moment. Mindfulness is a way to build resilience.

During stressful times, it is a muscle we need to build and so there are a couple of ways to build that muscle of being in the present moment. One is informal meditation or mindfulness practice and the other is formal. The formal practice will be the meditation I'll guide you through in this video. But informally at any point during the day, pause and bring attention back to the present moment. That can help us build that muscle of being present more often.

It turns out that if we can do that repeatedly over time, we are happier if we are in the present moment, and we're actually more productive. By focusing on the present moment, we can lower our stress and anxiety. Informally you can pause at any point during the day and just take a breath. That simple practice can turn off the stress response and start to turn on the relaxation.

As soon as you can bring your attention to the sensations in the body, you can separate or get a little bit of space from the narrative of the mind, and that helps us relax as well as our bodies always in the present moment. Our mind is rarely in the present. So I'd like to spend just a couple of minutes walking you through a meditation practice, you can certainly use apps or whatever you'd like to continue this if you find it useful.

In this video, Neda F. Gould, PhD, discusses her work in mindfulness for patients as well as faculty. She describes what mindfulness is and how it can be useful for stress management, and she will walk through a practice session.

Author | Neda F. Gould, PhD

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Using Mindfulness of the Breath for Stress Reduction

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