Blogs looking at some of the science in psychology, biology and neuroscience around training the mind in mindfulness, compassion and insight, partly inspired by our work with our colleagues from University of the West of Scotland on the Masters Degree in (Teaching) Mindfulness and Compassion, and from the University of Aberdeen on the Masters Degree in Studies in Mindfulness, which are both run in partnership with the Mindfulness Association.
Also, the Mindfulness Association and the Everyone Project are supporting two PhD students in the field of Mindfulness and Diversity, Equality and Inclusion. As part of their work over the next few years they will be contributing blogs to inform and engage those who are interested in this topic.
Benefits of Self-Compassion The Mindfulness Association approach to mindfulness training is unusual in that it incorporates training in self-compassion. In addition, we offer a training in compassion meditation, starting with self-compassion, for those who have completed mindfulness training. Self-compassion as formulated by Kristin Neff (2011) has three components. The first is to turn towards what…
In the wake of the pandemic overall there are lower levels of mental and physical wellbeing. Levels of stress and anxiety are being exacerbated by worries about the cost of living crisis, the war in Ukraine and ongoing environmental degradation. In an aging population with less access to the NHS many are living with chronic…
Secular mindfulness began in the clinical realm with Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), which was developed in the early 1980s by John Kabat-Zinn in the US for people experiencing chronic health conditions. This inspired the development of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in the mid-1990s by Mark Williams and others within the UK as an…
I did the members teaching this week on this topic of living without regret. To prepare for it I looked at some research on this topic. Research by Gilovich et al (1995) looks into what people regret most in their lives and why, and indicates that mistaken actions generate more regret in the short term,…
We are in the process of developing a new course called ‘Living Well to Die Well’ and as part of this process I have been looking at the evidence base for compassion meditation in relation to the process of dying. This is in relation to the person who is dying, the bereaved and also those…
We are in the process of developing a new course called ‘Living Well to Die Well’ and as part of this process I have been looking at the evidence base for mindfulness meditation in relation to the process of dying. This is in relation to the person who is dying, the bereaved and also those…
Here at the Mindfulness Association we offer a long term systematic training in meditation that moves through practices for cultivating mindfulness, compassion, insight and wisdom. As we do this we don’t leave the previous practices behind but they form a foundation for future practices and also provide a rich collection of practices to revisit whenever…
Mindfulness is a way of being in our daily lives as well as a way of being that is central to most types of meditation. We practice mindfulness meditation as a way of becoming more mindful in our daily lives. But what do we mean by mindfulness or being mindful? Here at the Mindfulness…
Last week in the new Mindfulness Based Healthy Living course we were exploring exercise and sleep habits for promoting health and wellbeing. In the realm of sleep we are looking at improving sleep hygiene and introducing periods of non-sleep deep rest, such as bodyscan, yoga nidra and progressive relaxation. So, I thought it would be…