Teaching Mindfulness

Mindfulness is another way of meditation. Meditation was used to seek to improve one’s psychological or physical health, or spiritual growth. (Brantley, 2007). The history of Mindfulness comes from Buddhism and his search for enlightenment and a foundation of the four noble truths. The Buddha teaching focus on the four noble truths which consist of knowing suffering exists, there is a cause of suffering, there is cessation of suffering and there is a path that leads to the cessation of suffering. (Van Gordon, 2015). The four noble truths were not only there to represent the Buddha’s experiential understanding of suffering, but also to express the truth (Van Gordon, 2015). Studies of Buddhism and the Four Noble Truths teach us that there is always going to be suffering in our life but to find ways to overcome suffering (Tsering, 2005).

A parent might walk into a classroom in the middle of mindfulness moments and weep for joy. An entire classroom filled with silent, still, and reflecting teenagers might seem like a miracle, but that is far from how the students perceive it.

Kabat-Zinn (2011) explains that MBSR program is related to instruction of Buddhist philosophy without Buddhist wording to being reachable for a non- religious audience. Furthermore, Hozel et al. (2011) showed that four or five days of twenty minute mindfulness meditation in adults decreases depression, improves immune-system and enhances ‘visual-spatial memory’, ‘working memory’ and ‘sustained attention’.

MBCT is commonly used in studies as a comparison tool against other treatments to determine which is more effective for that situation. MBCT has been commonly combined or compared with other psychotherapies such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). The different psychotherapies each incorporate mindfulness in a different manner. Each practice places emphasis in different areas such as the validation of an individual’s skills used in DBT, or the idea of self-regulation used in MBSR. Combining the primary components of MBSR and cognitive therapy prompted the development of MBCT (Beckerman & Corbett, 2009). MBCT is an eight-week group-training program that

This paper is about my experience with mindfulness based meditation and scientific inquiry of these experiences. Mindfulness based meditation is describes as technique used to cultivate nonreactive, non-judgmental and stable awareness of the present moment (Garland and Gaylord, 2009). The end goal is to sustain this meta-cognitive state for a long period of time. I practiced non-denominational form of mindfulness based meditation for the first time in my psychology class, which was devoted towards intellectual and experiential examination of meditation. The practice was conducted in a group it was instructed by our own professor and it begun at the end of class. There was one sessions per week and each session was structured meaning it was

Using 45 randomly selected college students with no histories of neurological or mental disorders, the researchers randomly assigned subjects to either a group receiving MBCT or a “waiting list” group. Their findings concluded a systematic reduction in anxiety and negative thoughts as measured by four different scales. These results were consistent over five points, which were pre-test, mid and final sessions, and in both one and six-month follow-up points. Kaviani et al. believed that the results of their study proved that even the non-clinical population could benefit from MBCT to reduce depression and anxiety produced from isolated stressful incidents (2011). Kaviani et al. (2011) noted that the strictly female convenience sample used in their study could limit the generalizability of their results to the whole population. They also suggested that failure to measure mindfulness prior to the study and lack of another intervention group for comparison could present issues with interpretation of the

This source provides a description of the pedagogical revolution that is occurring in our universities regarding mindfulness. University curriculums are now being implemented with mindfulness. This will for a greater dissemination of mindfulness and I want to discuss this specifically in my

read about how mindfulness mediation can improve mood, quality of life, and attention for those adults who struggle with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). What they were trying to discover was ways to alleviate the signs or impairments that can occur with an individual with affective problems or impaired attention. Most adults with ADHD have a hard time with staying alert and attentive to their surroundings. In the study, all participants in the treatment group received an 8 week course where they were taught meditation techniques and those in the control group did not receive any sort of meditation techniques but instead were prescribed an ADHD medication to take. The medication obviously helped those not receiving the meditation

For example, a student making an offensive remark can disrupt the entire class as students start to laugh. Nevertheless, mindfulness practice is unique as it focuses on emotional and awareness support for students. Similarly, teachers can benefit from mindfulness practice as it allows them to establish an effective buffer from distracting and stressful experiences. Thus, mindfulness practice can be valuable for ensuring classroom focus remains on teaching and obtaining educational outcomes.

2. The Mindfulness Studies certificate is a semester-long program for those looking to expand their knowledge in the quickly popular mindfulness practice. The program will let students explore the role of mindfulness in medicine, psychotherapy,

My choice of mindfulness was influenced by my desire to incorporate a mindfulness meditative practice into my life to assist with coping with my diagnosed depression and anxiety. Previously in my therapy, I used mindful practices, such as mindfulness sitting meditation along with Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), and while the mindful practices, were helpful, I did not fully commit to the practices. The 5 Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), a 39-question survey that categorizes mindfulness into five items: Observing, Describing, Acting with Awareness, Non-judging and Non-reacting (Baer, R., Smith, G. T., et. al., 2006). The questions are answered on a basis of 1 (never or very rarely) to 5 (very often or always true).

The second stated “long-term meditators would show superior performance to short-term meditators”. And the third stated “concentrative meditators would be more subject to expectancy effects…mindfulness meditators would show superior performance relative to concentrative meditators when the stimulus was unexpected” (Valentine & Sweet, 1999, p. 63). Using the Wilkins’ Counting Test (a measure of sustained focused attention) the control group was placed in a classroom to perform the test while the meditation groups were tested post meditation sessions in a separate room. The test was comprised of a series of tones which each group was asked to count (the meditation groups were told there would be three rather than two sets). The results confirmed the three hypotheses, overall concurring the use of meditation leads to improved concentration with little difference between concentrative and mindfulness meditation (Valentine & Sweets, 1999).

With Mindfulness training, individuals will be encouraged to intentionally attend in an open, accepting, and discerning way in distressing thoughts and feelings, and consistent engagement rather than avoiding it (Black, 2011). In addition, mindfulness will also allow an individual to consciously appraise situations in a non-judgmental manner, wherein their emotions and beliefs about the present situations are detached. With this, it will enable them to properly process the situation, which will give rise to their respective emotional responses and stop a person from having dysfunctional beliefs or distorted thought

Mindfulness, in particular, is associated with perspective taking and empathetic responding, relatedness and interpersonal closeness, and emotional communication, and anger management. Therefore, mindfulness may help a teacher be more responsive to individual students. Teaching is an extremely emotionally-demanding profession. Fortunately, studies show that mindfulness-based interventions may promote resilience and reduce the emotional exhaustion that precedes burnout. This can help teachers promote their own sense of well being and self care, in turn maintaining their care and compassion for their students.

Before taking the class, and before really understanding the benefits of mindfulness, I must admit, I did not really take mindfulness exercises seriously. I tried a few exercises, led by a phone application, but I constantly wondered what these exercises were supposed to achieve. I always thought to myself, “I know what happens around me, being mindful is great, but specific exercises for this seemed exaggerated.”