Group mindfulness training can help soldiers to improve mental fitness and resilience to deal with the stress of battle, a study has found.
It said meditative activities in teams helped troops to anticipate and respond together to tough situations, making both intellectual and emotional challenges more manageable.
It warned, however, that individual meditation harboured “self-help connotations” that may be “perceived as less universally appealing in the military, where dedication, service, and self-sacrifice are important values”.
The three-year study, by the Institute for Employment Studies and Cranfield University, was commissioned by the Ministry of Defence to investigate whether mindfulness could be “leveraged for strategic benefits” to the military.
Mindfulness, which is defined as a state of being alert, awake and fully present, has been shown to