Mindfulness and meditation practices to calm your mind
Why they work and why they’re so misunderstood
Many people decide meditation isn’t for them after only a few attempts. I know this was certainly true of my first experience.
My mind would not settle. Thoughts kept interrupting. I heard every noise, the cars outside, a dog barking, the person next to me breathing too loudly, someone else sneezing, so many distractions! Ten minutes felt endless!
I expected a sense of peace, but instead of feeling calm, I was slightly irritated and a little bit bored. Why couldn’t I do this? It felt like everyone else in the room had it figured out, but I couldn’t even manage to keep my eyes closed the entire time, let alone “empty my head of thoughts”. Instead, I felt like I had more thoughts than ever!
This reaction is common, and it’s based on a misunderstanding.
Mindfulness and meditation are not practices of calm. They are practices of attention. And attention, unlike relaxation, is something the brain can be trained to do, even when the experience feels awkward, restless, or less than satisfying. But training takes practice.
Mindfulness isn’t about stopping your thoughts
One of the most persistent myths around meditation is that it should quiet the mind. In reality, mindfulness often does the opposite at first: it reveals just how busy the mind already is.
The awareness that your mind is running around like a monkey can feel very uncomfortable. But noticing the distraction doesn’t mean you’ve failed at mindfulness — it is mindfulness.
Because with practice, each time you become aware that your attention has wandered and you gently bring it back, you are engaging the very process the practice is designed to strengthen. Calm may arrive later, or it may not. Don’t stress about that. Either way, the brain is still learning the art of awareness.
What’s actually happening in the brain
Mindfulness works because of neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to reorganise itself based on repeated experience.
For a long time, scientists believed the adult brain was largely fixed. We now know that it is constantly reshaping itself in response to what we practise, what we focus on, and how we respond to stress.
When stress dominates daily life, the brain adapts accordingly. The nervous system becomes more reactive. Attention fragments. Emotional responses accelerate.
Mindfulness interrupts this pattern by training three core skills:
Focusing attention
Noticing when attention drifts
Deliberately redirecting attention
Each meditation session, even if you only practice for five minutes, strengthens neural networks associated with concentration, emotional regulation, and cognitive control.
Structural changes linked to mindfulness
Our mind is an amazing machine. The right side of our brain can generate ideas if we merely use and exercise it. We have the power to rewire it through practising mindfulness.
Brain imaging studies have shown that consistent mindfulness practice is associated with measurable physical changes in the brain.
Research examining participants before and after structured mindfulness training found:
Increased grey matter density in the hippocampus, a region involved in memory and emotional regulation
Reduced activity and volume in the amygdala, the brain’s threat-response centre
Improved connectivity in brain networks responsible for attention and decision-making
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) found, “Focusing on the present can have a positive impact on health and well-being, reduce anxiety and depression, lower blood pressure, and improve sleep. It may even help people cope with pain.”
What’s important here is not the promise of feeling calmer all the time, but the ability to respond to stress with greater flexibility, reduce mental health symptoms and improve the quality of your life. While external pressures may not disappear, the nervous system simply stops reacting as though everything is an emergency.
Attention, emotion, and choice
Many emotional issues aren’t caused by “feelings” themselves, but by how quickly the mind becomes caught in them, replaying and obsessing over them.
With mindfulness, the brain’s capacity to recognise activated emotional reactions as they arise is strengthened, so you have a chance to pause, reflect and deactivate before acting on them. The goal is to give yourself time to choose a response rather than defaulting to old habits or impulses.
Over time, this creates psychological distance between you and your thoughts. Instead of being pulled into every worry, judgement, or mental loop, you begin to observe your thoughts with more space, from a distance.
This isn’t detachment. It’s a learned perspective.
There’s more than one way to meditate
Formal seated meditation is one way to practise mindfulness, but it’s not the only way and for many people, it’s not the easiest place to start.
Stillness can feel surprisingly intense and physically uncomfortable, especially if you’re anxious, overstimulated, or used to constant mental activity and movement. In these cases, involving the body can help the nervous system settle more naturally.
Mindfulness can be practised through:
Gentle movement or stretching
Walking with attention to rhythm and sensation
Progressive muscle relaxation
Grounding through the senses
Slow, intentional breathing
These practices aren’t alternatives to mindfulness. They are mindfulness simply expressed through different entry points.
The breath is a steady anchor
Breath awareness sits at the heart of mindfulness because it directly influences the autonomic nervous system.
Slow, intentional breathing can reduce physiological stress, lower your heart rate and blood pressure, support emotional regulation, and improve focus and mental clarity.
Even brief moments of breath awareness can signal safety to the brain, shifting the body out of fight-or-flight and into a calmer, more regulated state.
For many people, breathwork feels more accessible than meditation because it provides something concrete to focus on. You don’t need to change the breath or force it; simply noticing it is enough to begin.
Small practices, lasting impact
Unless you’re a monk with lofty goals, mindfulness shouldn’t be about “mastering” the technique or achieving a particular state of nirvana. Simple, consistent practices tend to work better than ambitious ones.
Research suggests that even short daily practices—five to ten minutes—can reinforce the neural pathways that support steadiness and focus. Sustained over a few weeks, it’s possible to improve your attention, working memory, emotional resilience, and stress tolerance.
You don’t need to enjoy mindfulness for it to benefit you. You don’t need to feel calm, zen, or transported. You don’t need to get it “right” because there is no right way to do it.
You only need to return again and again (and again) to the present moment.
And over time, with practice, that return really does become easier.
I’m proud to say that while I’ll never reach enlightenment, my continued meditation practice has greatly improved my focus, regulation and overall mental health.
Meditation and mindfulness at The Place Retreats Bali
At The Place Retreats, mindfulness is a daily part of our lives and vital to everything we do. Our Balinese haven is a supportive, luxurious sanctuary where clients can focus on their mental well-being as they learn to practice mindfulness and meditation. Free from the pressures, distractions, and stress of everyday life, guests at The Place Retreats rediscover themselves through our evidence-based therapies and personalised care.
Our mindfulness retreats offer a wide range of activities from daily yoga and integrative therapy to support for any emotional healing. We offer specialised retreats for your personal development. All of our retreats are led by experienced therapists and take a holistic approach, integrating body, mind, and spirit.
At The Place Retreats, you'll find:
Japanese Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine
Craniosacral Therapy
Medical Qigong
Rolfing® Structural Integration
Massages (Esalen® Massage & Bodywork, Balinese Massage, The Ultimate Healing Massage)
Integrative Therapy
Individual Sound Therapy
Full-Spectrum Breathing
Private Yoga Sessions
And so much more!
If you're ready to calm your mind with a meditation and mindfulness retreat, reach out and schedule your free 15-minute consultation with one of our team members today.
