Strategic Development / Peak Performance
Mindfulness:
Mindfulness is "the intentional, accepting and non-judgmental focus of one's attention on the emotions, thoughts and sensations occurring in the present moment"which can be trained by meditation practices derived from Buddhism.
It has been popularized in the West by Jon Kabat-Zinn with his Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. Mindfulness is also an attribute of consciousness long believed to promote well-being.
Clinical psychology and psychiatry since the 1970s have developed a number of therapeutic applications based on mindfulness for helping people who are experiencing a variety of psychological conditions. Clinical studies have documented the physical and mental health benefits of mindfulness in general, and MBSR in particular. Programs based on MBSR and similar models have been widely adapted in schools, prisons, hospitals, veterans centers, and other environments.
Mindfulness can be explained as "Paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non judgmentally".
Historical development:
Mindfulness is founded on modern vipassana, the training of sati, which means "moment to moment awareness of present events", but also "remembering to be aware of something".
Jon Kabat-Zinn and MBSR:
In 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at the University of Massachusetts to treat the chronically ill.
This program sparked the application of mindfulness ideas and practices in Medicine for the treatment of a variety of conditions in both healthy and unhealthy people.
MBSR and similar programs are now widely applied in schools, prisons, hospitals, veterans centers, and other environments.
One of MBSR's techniques - the "body scan" - was derived from a meditation practice ("sweeping") of the Burmese U Ba Khin tradition, as taught by S. N. Goenka in his Vipassana retreats, which he began in 1976.
Mindfulness practices were inspired mainly by teachings from the Eastern World, particularly from Buddhist traditions. It has since been widely adapted in secular settings, independent of religious or cultural contexts.
Popularisation:
Mindfulness is gaining a growing popularity as a practice in daily life, apart from buddhist insight meditation and its application in clinical psychology.
Mindfulness may be seen as a mode of being, and can be practiced outside a formal setting.
In 2000, The Inner Kids Program, a mindfulness-based program developed for children, was introduced into public and private school curricula in the greater Los Angeles area.
In the U.S. business world, interest in mindfulness is rising strongly. Many companies are providing training programs in mindfulness. These include Fortune 500 companies (such as Raytheon, Procter & Gamble, Monsanto, General Mills, and Comcast) and others (such as BASF Bioresearch, Bose, New Balance, Unilever, and, formerly, the failed Nortel Networks).
Mindfulness-practice:
According to Steven F. Hick, mindfulness practice involves both formal and informal meditation practices, and non meditation-based exercises.
Formal mindfulness, or meditation, is the practice of sustaining attention on body, breath or sensations, or whatever arises in each moment.
Informal mindfulness is the application of mindful attention in everyday life.
Mindfulness meditation:
Mindfulness meditation is practiced sitting with eyes closed, cross-legged on a cushion, or on a chair, with the back straight.
Attention is put on the movement of the abdomen when breathing in and out, or on the awareness of the breath as it goes in to and out of the nostrils.
As thoughts come up, one returns to focusing on breathing, one passively notices one's mind has wandered, but in an accepting, non-judgmental way.
Meditators start with short periods of 10 minutes or so a day. As one practices regularly, it becomes easier to keep the attention focused on breathing. Eventually awareness of the breath can be extended into awareness of thoughts, feelings and actions.
Mindfulness-based stress reduction:
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a cognitive and behavioral therapy program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, which uses a combination of mindfulness meditation, body awareness, and yoga to help people become more mindful.
In recent years, meditation has been the subject of controlled clinical research.
This suggests it may have beneficial effects, including stress reduction, relaxation, and improvements to quality of life, but that it does not help prevent or cure disease.
While MBSR has its roots in spiritual teachings, the program itself is secular.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT):
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a psychological therapy designed to aid in preventing the relapse of depression, specifically in individuals with Major depressive disorder (MDD).
It uses traditional cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) methods and adds in newer psychological strategies such as mindfulness and mindfulness meditation.
Cognitive methods can include educating the participant about depression. Mindfulness and mindfulness meditation, focus on becoming aware of all incoming thoughts and feelings and accepting them, but not attaching or reacting to them.
Like CBT, MBCT functions on the theory that when individuals who have historically had depression become distressed, they return to automatic cognitive processes that can trigger a depressive episode.
The goal of MBCT is to interrupt these automatic processes and teach the participants to focus less on reacting to incoming stimuli, and instead accepting and observing them without judgment.
This mindfulness practice allows the participant to notice when automatic processes are occurring and to alter their reaction to be more of a reflection. Research supports the effects of MBCT in people who have been depressed three or more times and demonstrates reduced relapse rates by 50%.