Mindfulness is simple to describe: notice what’s happening right now, in your body and around you, without judging it. You can start today. Take five slow breaths before you look at your phone in the morning, and pay attention to how each one feels. Regular practice may help with stress, low mood and pain, though it won’t work for everyone, and in a few cases it can make things harder.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness means being aware of your thoughts, feelings, body and surroundings as they are, rather than getting carried off by them. It has roots in Buddhist traditions, and today it’s widely taught as a secular practice. In the late 1970s Jon Kabat-Zinn developed an eight-week programme called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), which brought the idea into hospitals and universities.
You don’t have to clear your mind, feel calm or sit cross-legged. The practice lies in noticing when your attention has wandered and bringing it back, again and again, with a bit of kindness.
What are the benefits of mindfulness, according to research?
The evidence is real but modest. A large 2014 review in JAMA Internal Medicine found moderate evidence that mindfulness programmes can reduce anxiety, depression and pain, with small to moderate effects. The same review found low evidence for stress and little evidence for some other outcomes, and it didn’t find mindfulness to be better than other active treatments such as exercise, medication or behavioural therapies.
So it may help, and it’s reasonable to try. People who practise often report better focus, more patience and fewer impulsive reactions, but those reports are personal and the results vary. Beware anyone who promises a cure.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, an adapted version led by trained clinicians, is used in the UK and elsewhere to help people who have recovered from depression lower the risk of relapse. That’s clinical care, and quite different from a mindful moment at the end of a yoga class.
Who should be careful with mindfulness?
Mindfulness can be unhelpful for some people with a history of trauma. Turning your attention inwards can bring up flashbacks, panic or a feeling of being disconnected from your body. If that happens, stop, open your eyes and focus on something outside you, such as the room or the sounds around you.
If you’ve experienced trauma, or you have depression, psychosis or another mental health condition, talk to your doctor or a mental health professional before you start. Mindfulness doesn’t treat these conditions, and it shouldn’t replace care you’re already receiving. Chronic pain and other physical conditions need a doctor’s advice too.
How do you practise mindfulness?
Four techniques cover most of what you’ll be taught:
- Mindful breathing. Feel each breath come in and go out, without changing it. Start with three minutes.
- Body scan. Move your attention slowly from your feet to your head, noticing sensations. It’s often done lying down, and yoga nidra classes have a similar feel.
- Mindful observation. Choose one thing, such as a plant or the surface of the sea, and study it closely for a few minutes.
- Awareness of thoughts. Watch thoughts arrive and leave, as if they were cars passing on a road. Try labelling them, for example as “planning” or “worrying”.
A few minutes each day is a better habit than a long session once a month.
How can you be mindful in everyday life in Malta?
The easiest practice borrows time you’ve already got:
- Your first swim of the day. Feel the cold on your skin and listen to your breathing, without thinking about work.
- A walk on the Sliema promenade or Mellieħa Bay. Leave your headphones behind and notice your feet, the wind and the light.
- The bus or a traffic jam. Malta supplies plenty of opportunities. Feel your feet on the floor, take three slow breaths and let the driver in front be annoying.
- Your coffee or pastizz. Eat one thing a day without a screen, and taste it properly.
- A conversation. Listen until the other person has finished, rather than planning your reply.
None of this needs a special setting. The sea helps, but mindfulness works just as well in a flat in Birkirkara.
Where can you find mindfulness classes in Malta?
The providers in our directory rarely advertise mindfulness as a stand-alone class. You’re more likely to find it within meditation, yoga or breathwork. We don’t currently list a provider offering an eight-week MBSR or MBCT course, so for that kind of structured programme, ask your doctor or a psychologist.
These are the nearest fits:
- Claire Yoga Malta, the Yoga Space in Mosta, runs weekly classes combining movement, breathwork, somatic practice and meditation, centred on a trauma-informed approach. A class like this may feel gentler, but it isn’t therapy.
- Ananda Marga in Gżira runs a weekly meditation class and offers free personal meditation instruction, within a spiritual tradition.
- Lotus Room in Żebbuġ teaches meditation and holds sound baths alongside its small yoga classes.
- Feel at Harmony in Msida teaches restorative yoga and yoga nidra, both of which suit people who find sitting hard.
- Echoes of Calm from Heritage Malta combines gentle movement with mindful breathing at historic sites. These are one-off sessions, so check What’s on.
- Hale in Mġarr places yoga and breathwork alongside therapy services, which may suit you if you’d like both under one roof.
Slow yoga can be a good way in, too, since the long holds in yin yoga give you plenty of time to practise staying with a sensation. For more options, see our guide to meditation in Malta.
Is mindfulness used in Maltese workplaces and healthcare?
We can’t tell you how widely it’s used, because we don’t have reliable figures on either. Claims about growing adoption are easy to make and hard to check, so we won’t repeat them here.
What we can point to is practical. The Breathing Space in Sliema offers well-being packages for companies, and that’s one place for an employer to start. Rajadhiraja Yoga in Birkirkara advertises company yoga at clients’ workplaces, though its details are unconfirmed, so check that it’s still running.
For employers, a short class can be a pleasant benefit, but it doesn’t fix an excessive workload or a stressful culture. Taking part should also be voluntary, for the reasons given above.
If you’re looking for mindfulness as part of your health care, start with your GP, who can tell you what’s suitable and what’s available to you.
What’s the best way to start this week?
Pick one anchor from the list above, such as your morning coffee, and do it every day for a week. Add three minutes of mindful breathing before bed. If it feels useful, try a guided class. If it doesn’t, or if it leaves you feeling worse, you’ve lost nothing, and there are many other ways to look after your mind, from exercise to time with friends to a good beginners’ yoga class.