Woman doing Yoga on dock outdoors - How Mindfulness Helps People With Traumatic Brain Injuries

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES: How mindfulness and meditation can support healing

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) can impact all aspects of your life, causing you to feel overwhelmed and frustrated about the lasting effects.

Fortunately, there are many methods of rehabilitation that can assist you with getting back to your usual self. Mindfulness and meditation are two tactics that can help people with brain injuries experience a sense of normalcy again.

Mindfulness and brain injuries


Mindfulness is a process of mental training that teaches you how to focus on your breath. Having trouble regulating your emotions and your attention span are common symptoms of a traumatic brain injury, but mindfulness can help mitigate these effects.

There are 10 different levels of cognitive functioning after a brain injury. The rehabilitation process and recovery prognosis can differ, depending on the type and the extent of the brain damage you’ve suffered. The levels of cognitive functioning range from no response to stimuli to a purposeful and appropriate response.

Practicing mindfulness can be beneficial to those at various levels of recovery, and you can develop your mindfulness skills through practices like Yoga and other forms of meditation.

Yoga and other mindfulness practices


Woman doing Yoga on dock outdoors - How Mindfulness Helps People With Traumatic Brain Injuries

Mindfulness practices focus on helping the practitioner become aware of their feelings, sensations, thoughts and emotions. The body and mind can struggle to find balance after a brain injury, resulting in mental distractions and deterring healing, but mindfulness can help bring both the mind and body back into balance.

Some practices you might find helpful are breathing exercises and body scans. To start, try a few mindful breathing techniques, such as deep or patterned breathing. These can help you centre yourself and bring your focus inward. Additionally, doing a body scan involves mentally visiting every area in your body while you’re sitting or lying down, with the aim of finding anywhere you’re feeling tension. Give yourself a gentle reminder to relax and release the tightness.

These exercises can help you focus, relieve pain and regulate emotions.

Doing Yoga is another excellent way to strengthen the mind-body connection. Balance, muscle strength, breath and focus are all incorporated into Yoga practices and can work wonders for quieting your mind.

These practices can reduce the stress and anxiety that brain injuries typically induce. They prompt you to use your whole body to create a sense of calmness and engage in relaxation techniques that promote healing.

The slow movement of Yoga makes it so versatile that even those who use a wheelchair can participate. The benefits are plentiful, and they aren’t limited to only those with an active lifestyle— one study has found that Yoga can actually help relieve some PTSD symptoms. Repeated practice can also help you cultivate balance and good posture, along with reducing your stress levels.

Incorporating mindfulness into your day


Mindfulness can help you regulate your mental health and get you back on track in your recovery process. Ultimately, the practice teaches you to be present in the moment. It’ll encourage you to focus on your surroundings by concentrating on your breath and body, regardless of whether you’re doing Yoga or meditation or completing a daily activity such as walking or eating.

To incorporate mindfulness effectively into your day, take the following four suggestions into account.

Be consistent

Choosing a time of day to meditate or be mindful will be helpful throughout your recovery. Try forming a routine by deciding on a specific day or time of the day to practice.

Note your emotions

Giving your thoughts or feelings a name can increase your awareness of them when they come up, and give you more control over them. As you’re concentrating, acknowledge what you feel, name it and let it go. This is a process called noting that can help you manage your emotions.

Embrace the present

Relinquish the idea of living in the past or future and allow yourself to focus on the present. Remember—practice doesn’t make perfect, but it could make progress.

Watch yourself closely

Acknowledge the thoughts that force their way into your mind, such as worries. Recognize what they are and what their purpose is. They may not go away, but with this technique, you can gain more control over them instead of letting them control you.

Meditation for brain injuries


Young man meditating outdoors - How Mindfulness Helps People With Traumatic Brain Injuries

Traumatic brain injuries can alter your sense of self and perception. No two injuries are the same, so there is no one-size-fits-all recovery package that can heal every survivor. Meditation, however, has benefits that apply to every person who practices it—even those without a brain injury.

The benefits of meditation are vast and easy to recognize once you get started. Meditation can improve cognitive functioning and memory. This is essential for TBI patients who are trying to sort through flashbacks and piece together what happened to them on their terms.

Meditation can relieve symptoms of depression and boost your mood over time if you practice consistently. It also decreases the brain fog you may experience after a TBI and will give you more energy.

6 essential meditation tips


There are many ways you can incorporate meditation into your daily routine, as outlined below, and this begins simply with finding a quiet place in which you can focus. Once you do so, keep the following tips in mind.

Choose a focal point

There is no right or wrong time to meditate, as long as you can limit distractions around you and apply focus. It’s best to concentrate on something that can anchor your attention, like a candle flame or a form of audio like white noise or gusts of wind. No matter what it is, find something to be your focal point throughout your meditation session.

Sit up straight

Find the sitting position that works best for you. You can sit with your legs crossed, or straight in a chair. Whatever you choose, ensure that your spine is as straight as possible.

Recognize your feelings

Set a timer for five minutes and pay attention to your surroundings. Where are you mentally, as well as physically? How are you feeling? Try to empty your mind—remembering the mindful noting practice above can help you accomplish this. Let go of everything negative you may be experiencing.

Always return to your focal point

After your five minutes are up, shift your focus back to the focal point you chose at the beginning of your meditation. Breathe deeply and relax your body entirely, starting at your head and working your way down to your toes. Allow yourself to feel present in the moment and let everything else melt away.

Assess your meditation

Take a few moments afterward to assess how you thought your mediation experience went. It’s common to feel like you gained nothing from your moments of meditation and become frustrated about thinking it would work.

The irony is that, although you may have these concerns, the meditation likely did have an effect. If you keep at it, you will start to reap its rewards.

Every meditation experience is different, so you could feel different each time you meditate. Clearing your mind can be challenging, but those quiet moments add up and can help you the next time you attempt to block out negative thoughts.

Keep these things in mind before you decide to take meditation out of your recovery plan. A few pushups won’t define your arm muscles, but they’ll help you build strength over time. Meditation has similar effects on your brain muscles, so if you stick with it, you could start benefitting from the results sooner rather than later.

Using mindfulness and meditation for TBIs


You can practice mindfulness and meditation from anywhere. While these practices may not take away all your symptoms, they’re great resources to have in your tool belt during your recovery journey.

Many free mindfulness and meditation programs are available online, through multiple platforms, so it’s best to visit Google and check a few out. Find out what works best for you and get back to living your best life while in recovery. You’ve got this—allow mindfulness and meditation to help you thrive.

Medical disclaimer: This page is for educational and informational purposes only and may not be construed as medical advice. The information is not intended to replace medical advice offered by physicians. Please refer to the full text of our medical disclaimer.

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