Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a way of learning to relate directly to whatever is happening in your life, a way of taking charge of your life, a way of doing something for yourself that no one else can do for you — consciously and systematically working with your own stress, pain, illness, and the challenges and demands of everyday life.

 

When we practice mindfulness, we are open to every experience, present in every moment, and in close contact with the unfolding of our own lives. Our awareness develops and becomes spacious, open, and relaxed. When we live mindfully, we slow down enough to understand what’s really going on, and can find our way more effectively through difficulties. Through the regular practice of mindfulness, calmness and clarity emerge and help us to find a place of stability and strength.

 

Mindfulness is rooted in ancient meditation principles and, more recently, scientifically researched and developed to respond to a wide range of defined client groups, including those suffering from chronic pain, anxiety and depression.

Mindfulness coaching and training can be delivered to individuals and/or groups in a particular context (such as social work or teaching).

It is an ideal approach for personal development, and mindfulness based coaching helps people to reach into themselves for the inner resources that can be unleashed and utilised in times of difficulty.

In this time of recession, redundancies, financial difficulties and anxieties about the future, mindfulness can offer helpful strategies and perspectives to those who commit to practice.

What is Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction?

The MBSR course schedule consists of five or eight weekly classes. This highly participatory, practical course, pioneered by Jon Kabat-Zinn, includes:

• Guided instruction in mindfulness meditation practices
• Gentle stretching and mindful movement
• Group dialogue and discussions aimed at enhancing awareness in everyday life
• Individually tailored instruction
• Daily home assignments
• Four home practice CDs and a home practice manual

Two decades of published research indicates that the majority of people who complete the course report:

• Lasting decreases in physical and psychological symptoms
• An increased ability to relax
• Reductions in pain levels and an enhanced ability to cope with pain that may not go away
• Greater energy and enthusiasm for life
• Improved self-esteem
• An ability to cope more effectively with both short and long-term stressful situations.

The course is challenging and life-affirming. The instructors are accomplished and skilled at creating a safe, supportive, and deeply engaging learning environment.

What is Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)?

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy is based on the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course, developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale adapted MBSR into an 8 week course specifically designed for people who have experienced more than three episodes of depression.

In addition to the skills and attitudes taught in MBSR, participants in MBCT courses are taught skills to disengage from habitual ‘automatic’ unhelpful cognitive patterns. Rumination, or the repetitive re-running of negative thoughts, increases vulnerability to depression relapse. MBCT teaches the intentional ‘shifting’ of mental gears, using present moment awareness. The focus is on becoming more aware, moment by moment, of thoughts and feelings as mental events. This facilitates a different relationship to thoughts and feelings, allowing them to be seen as aspects of experience which move through our awareness and which are not necessarily the reality in any given moment.

Targeted versions of MBCT have also been developed, for example MBCT for chronic fatigue syndrome and for oncology patients.