The researchers emphasized the benefits of short meditation for self-confidence

Dissatisfaction with appearance can affect not only how a person perceives his reflection, but also his psychological well-being. At the same time, working on your attitude to your own body does not necessarily have to start with attempts to change your appearance or constantly analyze your flaws. Research has shown that one possible approach may be to develop a more self-friendly attitude. About how a short meditation influenced the perception of one's own body and why it was not necessary to focus on appearance — in the material of Izvestia.

20 minutes of meditation per day

Researchers from La Trobe University in Australia have tested whether a short meditation program aimed at developing self-compassion can improve a person's attitude towards their own body. The results are published in the journal Mindfulness. The randomized controlled trial involved 227 people aged 18 to 39 years.

The participants were divided into two groups. The first one meditated for 20 minutes every day, and the second one was waiting for the program to start. The practices were aimed at developing awareness, self—kindness, and an understanding that imperfections and difficulties are part of the common human experience.

After completing the program, participants who practiced meditation reported a more positive attitude towards their own body, improved psychological well-being, and decreased self-criticism. These changes remained noticeable six weeks after the end of classes.

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Why didn't you have to think about your appearance

The peculiarity of the program was that the participants were not specifically asked to focus on appearance, analyze the flaws of the figure or change the idea of their own body. Although some practices involved attention to bodily sensations, the exercises did not contain instructions related to appearance.

The first author of the study, Joshua Marmara, a psychologist at the Department of Psychology, Counseling and Therapy at La Trobe University, noted that many programs aimed at improving body image work directly with feelings about appearance.

The authors attribute the results to self—compassion - the ability to deal with one's own difficulties with understanding and awareness, rather than harsh self-criticism. This approach does not mean that a person should ignore problems or reject changes. It's about not turning your own imperfections into a reason to constantly judge yourself.

Does the result depend on the regularity

The researchers also checked whether the severity of the changes was explained by how often the participants practiced meditation on their own. It turned out that the frequency of classes alone did not determine the scale of improvements.

This doesn't mean that regular practice doesn't matter. The result only shows that in this study, the number of sessions did not explain why some participants had more pronounced changes than others. Therefore, one cannot say that meditation alone is enough to improve one's attitude towards the body, or that the duration of practice does not play any role.

In addition, the researchers studied a specific program that combined mindfulness and self-compassion. The results obtained do not allow us to automatically transfer conclusions to any meditation practices or assert that they all have the same effect on the perception of appearance.

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How Meditation can Help in Everyday Life

Associate Professor of psychology at La Trobe University and co-author of the study, Sian McLean, emphasized that short self-compassion programs can be conducted online, spending relatively little time. This makes them a potentially accessible way to support psychological well-being.

According to the researcher, attitudes towards one's own body remain an important topic for people at different stages of life, so the available tools to help develop self-acceptance may be of practical importance.

However, the authors believe that further research is needed. It remains to be seen whether the positive changes persist for longer than six weeks and whether the results will be similar in more diverse groups of people. So far, the work shows the promise of a specific meditation program, but it does not prove that it is equally effective for everyone.