Stillness: The Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation

October 2025 | Vol. 69, No. 3
Written by Jade McNulty, PCOM OMS-III

How do you find stillness? We get twenty-four hours in a day, but how often are you really present? The medical field is a constant stream of stressful encounters and never-ending decision-making. A twelve-hour shift can fly by in the blink of an eye without any awareness of the time passing. Days turn into weeks, and all of a sudden, years have gone by. 

To combat this, it is important to find grounding in the present moment to avoid missing it. Meditation provides an outlet to find that grounding and root yourself in something sturdy. It may feel difficult to dedicate time for yourself, but it’s impossible to pour from an empty cup. It is just as important to look after yourself as it is to look after your patients. Self-care is necessary for survival, and only a few minutes per day could change your life for the better. 

Define Meditation

Meditation is a bit of an abstract idea, but it can be conceptualized as focusing your attention on one particular thing, or nothing at all. Common points of focus include your breathing pattern, concentrating on both the in and outs of your breath, and/or how your body feels as breath flows in your body. Another goal is to avoid thoughts for a minute. Instead of thinking about what you have to do later in the day or fantasizing over your next meal, you simply think about nothing. Thoughts may arise, but instead of dwelling on them, you can just acknowledge them and let them pass you by. 

How Long Do I Do it for?

Contrary to popular belief, there is no set time for something to be considered a “proper” meditation. Common increments of time include one minute, five minutes, ten minutes, thirty minutes, an hour, and beyond. If you are new to the practice, I would suggest starting with one minute and progressing from there. 

Similar to length of time, there are no set rules about the frequency of practice. Daily practice gives you an opportunity for stillness every day, but maybe all you need is to utilize it when you are in high-stress situations. Find what works for you.

What Do I Use?

Meditation requires nothing more than yourself and a comfortable place to sit, but a way to keep time is recommended. There are a multitude of apps available with both guided and non-guided meditations for a variety of prices. Additionally, YouTube is a great resource for finding free meditations. An alternative option is to use the clock application on your phone. The stopwatch feature can give you more freedom in your practice, but if you want something more regulated, you can use a preset timer. Just make sure you program the alarm sound to something more calming than the sound of harsh beeping.

Showing Up

Now that you have finished with preparation, it’s time to tackle the hardest part: showing up. This habit is new and foreign to your daily life. It will take time to acclimate and to learn when and where to incorporate your practice into your daily routine. Take time to make adjustments and find what works best for you.

The easiest way I've found to incorporate new habits into my life, including meditation, is by integrating them into a portion of my usual routine. For example, I brush my teeth every morning and night, so now every time I pick up my toothbrush, I meditate for one minute. Another example would be taking a pause when your coffee is brewing, or right before you get in the shower. Attach it to something you do every day without fail so that you can work off preestablished consistency in your routine. After you find a time that works best for you, it's time to begin your practice.

The Act of Meditating

The length of a minute—something you don’t realize until you're doing a meditation or a plank. My first minute meditation was spent fidgeting and peeking at the timer, sure that somehow I had missed the alarm. I thought something was wrong—there was no way that only thirty seconds had passed. If you are anything like me, meditation will feel uncomfortable at first. But just like magic, every day will feel a bit easier. Maybe on day two you don’t check the clock until forty seconds, and by the end of week one, you don’t check it at all. Practice is progress, and every meditation is a step in the right direction towards inner peace.

If you find it extremely difficult to keep your eyes closed and need something more visual to focus on, I recommend trying out a box breathing technique. A personal favorite of mine is this free one from the Calm app on YouTube (1). In essence, you follow a visual cue for inhalation and exhalation with pauses in between. I use this in times of high stress when I have difficulty clearing my mind but still seek a calming practice.

Benefits of Practice

One minute of meditation might be the best spent minute of your day. The act of concentrating on your breath and connecting with the world around you helps to both calm down your nervous system and regulate your moods. 

Though this is a new area of focus in research, the evidence is there. Studies have shown positive effects on both attention and memory, as well as enhanced emotional regulation (2). One study in particular assessed the effects of a popular meditation app on stress in college students and found significant stress reduction (3). The beneficial effects are numerous and transformative. See for yourself the positive effects of mindfulness on your life.

1. Calm Breath Bubble: https://youtu.be/iaQed_Xdyvw?feature=shared

2. Brief, daily meditation enhances attention, memory, mood, and emotional regulation in non-experienced meditators: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S016643281830322X?via%3Dihub

3. Efficacy of the Mindfulness Meditation Mobile App “Calm” to Reduce Stress Among College Students: Randomized Controlled Trial: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31237569/