What is Mindfulness?
The word Mindfulness means COMPASSIONATE and LUCID AWARENESS, a sense of knowing what is happening in the external and internal world, as it is happening.
Most of us are more used to its opposite: “mindlessness” –when we are not really conscious of what is going on, and liable to make mistakes.
In the Buddhist tradition, Mindfulness is explained as a momentary sense and impression of how past, present and future moments arise and cease.
And in practice, Mindfulness purposely brings one’s attention in the present moment without judgment, and has two main parts: attention and acceptance.
- Attention typically involves directing one’s awareness to breath, thoughts, physical sensations in the body and the feelings experienced on the moment.
- Acceptance involves observing those feelings and sensations without judgment. Instead of responding or reacting to those thoughts or feelings, one aims at acknowledging them and letting them go, the result being an increased ability to manage them.
The scientific back-up of Mindfulness
In the 1970’s, the professor Jon Kabat-Zinn and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre researched thoroughly Mindfulness and gathered evidence for its effects on focus, anxiety, stress, depression, chronic pain and general health.
As a result, a growing awareness of the importance of our emotional fitness through Mindfulness has risen, in a very similar way to the journey of acceptance of physical exercise in the 20th century. Early on, sports were not recognised for their physical and mental positive effect, and somebody going to jog would be labelled as a lunatic!. But after a large body of scientific evidence was gathered, sports became identified as a powerful tool to regulate health.
The introduction of Mindfulness in UK and USA institutions
Mindfulness meditation benefits now from a general acceptance, and the Pr Jon Kabat-Zinn is one of the Patrons of the UK Mindfulness Initiative which has led the Mindfulness programme in the British Parliament.
Mindfulness is recommended by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a way to prevent depression in people who have had 3 or more bouts of depression in the past.
Mindfulness has also entered the corporate work environment, for instance at the Californian Company Google where meetings are used to start with a Mindfulness intro.
Chade-Meng Tan, head of Mindfulness training up to 2015 at Google states:
“If you are a company leader who says employees should be encouraged to exercise, nobody looks at you funny, the same thing is happening to meditation and mindfulness, because now that it’s become scientific, it has been demystified. It’s going to be seen as fitness for the mind.”
Tan also says that mindfulness opens the doorway to loving kindness, which is at the heart of business success.
«In many situations, goodness is good for business, if you, as the boss, are nice to your employees, they are happy, they treat their customers well, the customers are happy to spend more money, and so everybody wins.”
The On-Line Mindfulness session
A 20 min seated session, with a few gentle twists and breathing techniques, bringing the feeling of grounding and clarity into our daily lives.
The session teacher: Aneta Grabiec
Aneta Grabiec is already providing the same format session to many UK companies very successfully.
Author of 3 Well-being eBooks and numbers of wellness articles published nationwide, Aneta Grabiec has always been passionate about the science of wellness through her studies of psychology (BA), NLP (MA), Nutritional Therapy (Nutritional Therapist Diploma ), Detox and Toxicology (The Detox Specialist and Toxicology Expert Diploma), the Science of Yoga (BWY, Yoga Alliance). With over fifteen years of experience and care for the others, Aneta helps people reach a healthy mind-body connection, with exercise and nutrition as the recipe for longevity and happy, healthy living.
Her Website:
www.thewellnessdesigner.com
