When asked what I do for a living, I reply “I teach Yoga.” Almost always the follow-up question is “What kind of yoga?” The times when I’m feeling more talkative I respond “Mindfulness Yoga”. The follow-up to that is a quizzical look.

As defined by my teachers of the Mindfulness Yoga and Meditation Training I completed at Spirit Rock, Mindfulness Yoga is an inter-disciplinary method that blends the insights and practices of yoga with the mindfulness and meditation of Buddhism. Although the act of blending Yoga and Mindfulness together is new, Mindfulness is not, dating back to the time of the Buddha. In laymen terms, Mindfulness is about being in the present moment – letting go of past memories or future thoughts; paying full attention to what you are doing, moment by moment. Mindfulness training involves learning how to be aware of your mind, body and emotions and is taught in yoga, meditation, tai chi, and other similar practices.

Being a yoga and meditation teacher in the Western world, where prescription pills and burn-outs outnumber deep-breathing and meditation, I look for any way to plead my case. My latest finding, from CNNhealth.com, is an article on a study completed at West Virgina University.

The goal of the study was to relieve stress and 103 people participated. Some were given hand-written instructions on how to handle stress at work (the details of the instructions were not disclosed) and the others were taught Mindfulness exercises like yoga, pranayama (breathing techniques), and meditation. All techniques taught or given were designed to help people cope with too many e-mails, ringing phones and the occasional unpleasant co-worker. The program itself lasted eight weeks but participants were followed for another three months.

According to the article, “[Stress] increases your heart rate, your blood pressure and your respiration. Over the long-term, the response gets internalized, which can lead to neck pain, back pain, digestive disorders, sleeplessness. Many people deal with those problems by overeating, drinking or smoking.”

Those who received the mindfulness training, on the other hand, had less psychological distress and significantly fewer medical symptoms like lower blood pressure and fewer aches and pains. One participant even reported that the back pain that followed her for the last ten years went away, a claim not unsual when talking about Mindfulness (see Jon Kabat-Zinn’s work).

Mindfulness can also be extended to daily activities such as walking, eating and talking (all of which is taught in my weekly meditation class on Tuesday nights – see my schedule for more info). By doing so,you will be able to see why they call it the “present”.

UCLA also completed a study a few years ago that found the same thing: Mindfulness exercises provide excellent stress-reducing tools.