This article: Benefits of Mindfulness, powerfully and elegantly describes some of the benefits gained from Mindfulness practice. In my experience, Mindfulness practitioners – who are able to sustain their practice – practice because they feel the need to gain perspective and a calmer mind. More traditionally, you might say they ‘hit bottom’ or recognize the fact of life’s inevitable struggle. And – it is useful to know, when you decide to end the struggle, that your meditation practice actually helps.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Mindfulness improves well being

Increasing your capacity for mindfulness supports many attitudes that contribute to a satisfied life.
Being mindful makes it easier to savor the pleasures in life as they occur, helps you become fully engaged in activities, and creates a greater capacity to deal with adverse events.
By focusing on the here and now, many people who practice mindfulness find that they are less likely to get caught up in worries about the future or regrets over the past, are less preoccupied with concerns about success and self-esteem, and are better able to form deep connections with others.

Mindfulness improves physical health

If greater well-being isn’t enough of an incentive, scientists have discovered the benefits of mindfulness techniques help improve physical health in a number of ways. Mindfulness can:

help relieve stress
treat heart disease
lower blood pressure
reduce chronic pain
improve sleep
alleviate gastrointestinal difficulties.

Mindfulness improves mental health

In recent years, psychotherapists have turned to mindfulness meditation as an important element in the treatment of a number of problems, including:

depression
substance abuse
eating disorders
couples’ conflicts
anxiety disorders
obsessive-compulsive disorder

Some experts believe that mindfulness works, in part, by helping people to accept their experiences — including painful emotions — rather than react to them with aversion and avoidance.

It’s become increasingly common for mindfulness meditation to be combined with psychotherapy, especially cognitive behavioral therapy. This development makes good sense, since both meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy share the common goal of helping people gain perspective on irrational, maladaptive, and self-defeating thoughts.