Closing your eyes and focusing on the world around you is one of the ways to experience the benefits of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. A new video series from Project UROK, called AskADoc, explores how meditation can help the mind and simultaneously improve the body. But there's a right way to maximize the benefits.

Dr. Andrea Letamendi, psychologist and scientist, explains how powerful just 20 minutes of meditation can be for a person’s mental state. Studies show people who regularly meditate have experienced improvements with their memory, social relationships, academic performance, attention, empathic awareness, and better stress regulation. Meditation can also reduce anxiety, depression, impulsivity, and anger.

"It’s not just think positively or ignoring bad things," Letamendi said. "It’s turning into your feelings and thoughts without judgment, whether they’re good, bad, positive, or even painful. Mindfulness is an amazing tool for emotional and physical health."

Meditation is a type of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy used in hospitals and rehabilitation facilities throughout the world. By paying attention and listening to your heart and honing in on your surrounding environment, the body is able to reduce levels of stress hormones, redirect attention to the present instead of being held captive in past or future thoughts, which is what ultimately allows the mind to be calmed. Letamendi asks viewers to take a deep breath, look around the room, and test it out for themselves.

Watch the video above for more on how you can improve mental health.