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Mindfulness: Development of an Inner Listening Ability

Mati Lieblich, Founder - Partner Center for Compassionate Mindful Education (RA);  Gabi Peretz, Chief Psychologist at the Ministry of Health.
15 June 2025

Mindfulness is the practice of developing awareness to whatever is happening in the present moment through attention, stability, alertness and friendliness. Mindfulness practice includes structured and gradual instructions in which the practitioner focuses attention on physical sensations, emotions, and thoughts. Regular practice enables an observation of the inner experiences from a balanced psychological distance, without being carried away or without avoidance. This creates inner stability that helps one better cope with unpleasant experiences while reducing automatic reactions. Mindfulness can become a daily habit that enables conscious selection of actions and reactions. 

Over the past 30 years, numerous studies on mindfulness indicated tremendous benefit for various populations. Practice was found to help cope with anxiety, depression, chronic pain, ADD, and even life-threatening illnesses. Mindfulness was also found to improve quality of life and emotional well-being, contribute to interpersonal relationships, increase positive emotions, empathy as well as learning and memory capabilities. 

Is Mindfulness suitable for everyone 

Mindfulness is ideal for many populations but for people with mental health disabilities or for people suffering from trauma, the exercise must be personalized and accompanied by professional instruction. 

Who is certified to coach mindfulness 

Training in mindfulness coaching for the general public is provided for people with extensive experience in the exercise. A therapeutic background is not necessary to be a mindfulness coach for the general public. In contrast, training in mindfulness coaching for people with a history of mental health symptoms is provided only to individuals with a therapeutic background in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, social work and art therapy.  

Mindfulness – how do you begin practicing? 

You should begin with supervision by an experienced coach or rely on recorded instruction and digital courses. Practice includes stable sitting, directing attention to the sensations of the body and soul, expanding awareness of the entire body and observation of feelings and thoughts. 

Mindfulness is the practice of developing awareness to whatever is happening in the present moment through attention, stability, alertness and friendliness. The practice includes gradual instructions in which attention is first directed to physical anchors, such as breathing and physical sensations, and slowly expands to emotions and thoughts that spontaneously arise .  

Continuous practice over time and accompanied by appropriate instruction allows one to develop the ability to observe inner experiences – feelings, emotions, and thoughts – from a balanced psychological distance, without being drawn to them or avoiding them. This creates inner stability that helps one better cope with unpleasant experiences while reducing automatic reactions to stimuli in the environment. Mindfulness can become a daily habit that enables conscious selection of reactions and actions, even in complex interpersonal situations. 

The impact of mindfulness exercise on the soul

Mindfulness exercise positively affects mental well-being and helps develop emotional skills: 

  • Automatic response delay: the exercise allows for a conscious choice instead of an impulsive reaction that may result in an unpleasant experience. 
  • Balanced psychological distance from the experience: ability to observe thoughts and emotions from a balanced place, without avoidance or suppression.  
  • Change with regards to thoughts, emotions and physical sensations: development of awareness of movements of thoughts, emotions and physical sensations that allow for a stable and friendly attitude towards them. Thoughts move at their own pace, physical sensations change and emotions arrive in a wave. Unpleasant sensations may continue but the exercise teaches us to allow space for acceptance, stability and a broad perspective that improves coping. 
  • Creating room and space: the exercise provides room and space, while developing a sense of stable inner presence, even when the experience is tumultuous or difficult. 
  • Understanding of common humanity: the exercise allows you to understand that the processes you have experienced  in life are part of the common human experience shared by all people. This understanding allows one to meet the other from an open, curious and alert place.  
  • Improvement in  interpersonal relationships: people practicing mindfulness report that the exercise increases empathy and facilitates a more inclusive and conscious communication. These effects require continual practice with skilled instruction of at least several months.

Mindfulness – improving how you feel during emotionally stressful times

Mindfulness exercises help improve mood during emotionally stressful situations in the following manner: 

  • Focusing on the present

    Focus on physical sensations and breathing reduces obsessive thoughts about the past or future that are typical of stress.

  • Non-judgmental acceptance of experiences

    The exercise teaches one how to accept experiences, without judgment or struggle, even when they are unpleasant. That doesn’t mean that one accepts things as they are but that it allows you to develop an ability to learn how to cope with the challenges in a more creative manner. 

  • Creating a sense of inner ‘safe space’

    Long-term practice and persistence will help develop a sense of inner stability that facilitates better coping with the current circumstance.A sense gradually forms that there is an inner safe space that can be trusted even when the experience is tumultuous or extremely stressed.  

First steps in practicing mindfulness

To begin practicing, you should be supervised by an experienced coach. You can also rely on recorded instructions or attend a mindfulness course. The Ministry of Health has two free courses on Campus IL that can be viewed online:

  1. Mindfulness The Art of Inner Listening
  2. In Good Eyes – The Art of Inner Support

The actual exercise involves sitting stably on a chair or on the floor, with the body in an upright and relaxed position, and then focusing on the sensations and breath of the body. Whenever attention wanders from these sensations to different thoughts or moods, it is important to practice refocusing attention to the anchor of the body’s sensations, the breath, in a determined but gentle manner.  

The exercise also includes practicing the ability to expand attention to the feeling of the entire body. This can be done by imagining that the entire body inhaling and exhaling, or by imagining an imaginary marker we use to draw the outline of the body, and then inhale and exhale. In other words, practice relaxation and a kind of ‘landing’ into the sensation of a sitting body. Over time, these instructions will include observing emotions and thoughts in a  manner that emphasizes their wave-like motion- so that you learn to encounter it more stably and with a more accepting and friendly attitude towards what came up. For detailed instructions, see recorded exercises from the Campus IL courses. 

Who is mindfulness suitable for? 

The answer to the question of whether everyone can practice mindfulness is not conclusive. On the one hand, many studies show that mindfulness is ideal for many populations, including for people with mental health disabilities or complex physical disabilities, such as depression, anxiety, chronic pain, etc. On the other hand, for people with mental health symptoms or for anyone who has experienced trauma, the exercise must be personalized and accompanied by professional instruction. 

Mindfulness for children 

Mindfulness can be extremely effective for children, particularly when it is relayed through game and adapted instructions. Studies on curricula that integrate mindfulness, compassion, and social-emotional learning have shown improvements in school climate, attention span, relationships with teachers, as well as fewer stereotypes of others. Parents and educators interested in studying about the subject should become familiar with the “In Good Eyes - The Art of Inner Support” program of the Ministry of Health, which offers many exercises, and read studies on the Center for Compassionate Mindful Education website. 

Who can coach mindfulness  

Training for mindfulness coaching for the general public is provided to people with extensive experience in the exercise. A therapeutic background is not necessary to be a mindfulness coach for the general public. In contrast, training in mindfulness coaching for people with a history of mental health symptoms is provided only to individuals with a therapeutic background in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, social work and art therapy. This training is taught in mindfulness-based psychotherapy schools, or as part of the MBCT program training - mindfulness-based group intervention and that is integrated into cognitive behavioral intervention. Today, some clinical psychology departments in universities conduct mindfulness courses, resulting in some clinical psychologists in Israel being familiar with the exercise, at least initially. If you have any doubt or if you want to know whether the mindfulness coach has adequate training: it is important that you directly ask the coach about their familiarity with the relevant type of coaching for your condition. Do not hesitate to ask to see the certificate of completion of the coaching program. 

The science behind mindfulness exercise

Your experiences and exercises shape the brain and vice versa, and the two cannot be separated. This awareness reinforces the understanding that the changes that occur as a result of practicing mindfulness are real and significantly impact your life. While practicing mindfulness medication, several changes are occurring in the patterns of brain activity. 

There are several physiological mechanisms that explain the positive impact of mindfulness exercise: 

  • Changes in the brain’s electrical and chemical activity: Changes in brain waves and in neurotransmitters affect mood, attention, memory and cognitive function. 
  • Brain plasticity:The exercise helps reshape the brain, improving areas associated with attention, emotional regulation, self-awareness and other functions. 
  • Reduction in default network activity: This network is active during ‘rest’ time, when the brain slows down and causes thoughts to wander. Practicing mindfulness reduces its activity, both during the exercise and in moments of rest, weakening the connections between areas associated with self-processing and emotional appraisal. This reduction improves your ability to be present at the moment while reducing wandering thoughts.  
  • Improved emotional regulation: Changes in areas of the brain related to emotional regulation improve one’s ability to cope with negative emotions and stressful situations. 
  • Improved immune system function: Studies show that practicing mindfulness affects immune system activity, improving the efficacy fo treatment of certain diseases. 
  • Improved attention: Improvement in various attention functions that are supported by various nerve networks. 
  • Improved ability to cope with pain: Anatomical and functional changes in areas of the brain that are associated with cognitive assessment of pain levels improves the ability to cope with pain. 

Mindfulness studies 

Over the past 30 years, numerous studies on mindfulness indicated tremendous benefit for various populations. Practice was found to help men and women coping with anxiety, depression, chronic pain, ADD, and even provides emotional help to people coping with life-threatening diseases. Mindfulness was also found to improve quality of life and emotional well-being in the general population, contribute to interpersonal relationships, increase positive emotions, empathy as well as learning and memory capabilities.

Frequently asked questions about mindfulness

Mediation is the overall name for various exercises that are largely designed to calm the soul, develop focus, strenghten the internal bond or gain deeper insights. The exercise generally is performed in a quiet location, in a comfortable sitting position, and largely requires the dedication of a certain amount of time. Mindfulness can be practiced in a various of ways, as part of the daily routine, such as when washing dishes, walking or eating, while focusing on feelings, thoughts and emotions that arise. In other words, meditation can be thought of as a ‘framework’ that can contain mindfulness. 

When beginning to practice mindfulness, one should find a quiet location that allows you to practice without interruption of strong sounds or people entering the room. With time, one can learn how to direct the type of attention of mindfulness even in surroundings that involve noise or people - but it is important to remember that this takes time, and if you are just beginning, you should practice in a quiet location.

Everyone has times when they feel more alert, such as in the morning. Practice should begin at these times, in the morning or at any time we feel less tired. Practicing mindfulness is about learning a new habit. As such, you should try to find time when you can practice every day. On the other hand, you should not be inflexible in  your thoughts about the practice since, in reality, just like with physical training in sports or daily habits of brushing your teeth, it is better to practice during the day when you have time, and not postpone it because you do not have a regular time.

Some people practice mindfulness before bedtime, when emphasis of the practice is on relaxation and calm. This type of practice may help you calm down but because there is a chance of falling alseep, it will be difficult to remain aware throughout. Over time, and with practice, one can learn how to remain calm  while also remaining alert and aware.

In principle, anyone can practice mindfulness but if you are experiencing emotional turmoil, or if you experienced a traumatic event or if you are displaying signs of mental health crisis, you should practice in a group with a coach who underwent relevant training. It is important to involve the coach before the start of the course of your condition and to determine whether the coach is familiar with it and can adapt the exercise to your specific condition.

People can practice mindfulness alone with a recording or digital course. If you chose a digital course, you should begin from the beginning and regularly perform the course exercises. The courses are largely built in a gradual manner.

Beginners should find organized instruction in a course with a coach who can provide you with feedback and answer questions. It is difficult to explain the exercise in words since it is an experience. It is good to have a coach who will clarify things for you. Group exercise also helps in that you can hear about the experiences of other participants and learn from them.  

Not at all. You should find a stable and relaxed position that will allow you to remain in that position over time without moving too much. You can practice sitting on a comfortable chair, with both feet stably placed on the ground and the back in an upright and relaxed position. If you prefer sitting cross-legged, you can practice that way. Once you gain experience in the exercise, you can practice mindfulness when walking, standing or lying down, during daily activity, etc.

Mindfulness is training attention and not just guided imagination or relaxation. Music does not help with the exercise and affects mood so that it is less than ideal for practicing and may divert attention from the exercise. We can learn to listen to music in a way that does not distract us, initially at least it is recommended to practice focusing on the body and breathing without additional stimuli.

We recommend practicing for 20 minutes, in order to learn to stabilize attention, but mindfulness can be studied and practiced for shorter periods of time. If you are experiencing turmoil or a crisis, we recommend choosing a much shorter practice and occasionally practice with eyes wide open.

That is an important question. Mindfulness is quality of awareness, so there is no particular situation that should happen or another situation that is "wrong." In other words, the first thing that we learn is that there is no ‘success’ or ‘failure’ in practice. The idea is to pay attention to your feelings. People imagine that they are supposed to feel calm, or that thoughts will not come during practice. What we actually feel is that gradually and over time, a more stable place is created within you that can see "how I am now" without being immediately swept away by a reaction. Of course, over time, this state is accompanied by feelings of well-being and relaxation - but they do not necessarily have to occur especially not when you're just starting to practice.

If that is the case and you noticed it, the good news is that you are aware of this and that is already wonderful! You are not alone: this is actually the experience of most people most of the time. Practice only exposes your situation to you, and this is good, although it occasionally may be unpleasant. There are many techniques for working with these feelings. This includes you simply titling the situation such as “thought” or “unrest” and then return to the anchor of the body’s sensations and natural breathing. Brain research reveals that changes accumulate over hours of practice, and over time, the ability to concentrate and focus becomes increasingly stronger. Don’t give up! 

Read more and try to practice on the following websites