Kindermind Center

What does it mean to practice mindfulness?

Mindfulness is about coming into the “being” mode ie to feel alive, to consciously exist, to fully embrace the moment, what Thoreau calls to be in “the bloom of the present”, instead of being stuck in the cycle of zombie-ness (autopilot, disconnected from reality), or in constant “driven-doing” mode ie needlessly judging, fixing, needing to control and avoiding. A sign of disconnectedness is grasping and feeling overwhelmed and dysregulated, and escapism.

How we pay attention and what we pay attention to can colour our experiences. Attention is the gateway. Hence we intentionally wake up from being lost in the stories we tell ourselves to paying attention, with our whole being, to the present moment as it is, with curiosity, care and a sense of playfulness if you will. When we’re open to what is going on and unfolding inside us, the flow of our feelings and thoughts, we open ourselves to the possibility of healing and living each moment with ease instead of resistance and resent.

When there’s congruence in our intentions, thoughts, physical body and actions, there is embodiment. We live with intentionality and presence.

As you are reading this, pausing for a moment, closing your eyes, and noticing how it feels when you are just acknowledging your breath and body. Just noticing.

This steadiness allows us to stay more focused and keep an open mind, which increases our capacity to lean in, to be calm, compassionate, grateful and resilient. On the other hand, notice what happens when the mind wanders aimlessly and gets lost in the chaos of thoughts and emotional reactivity. Is there a sense of emptiness, dissatisfaction, craving, worry and narrow-mindedness?

Why practice mindfulness? Who are invested in mindfulness?

Life is increasingly uncertain and complex—it easily throws us off-balance, leaving us vulnerable to symptoms like depression, now a leading illness, according to WHO (World Health Organization). And in the times that we live in, there may be anxiety from climate change, economic losses and political conflict.

Studies show the efficacy of mindfulness in dealing with a range of conditions such as depression, anxiety, and addiction, and in boosting skilled leadership and productivity in workplaces. This is because mindfulness activates different parts of the brain, boosts neuroplasticity, and reduces the size of the amygdala (“reaction”, emotional center of the brain). Healthy workplaces support the economy especially when there work-related mental health problems that lead to absenteeism and “quiet quitting”.

Emerging evidence also suggests that mindfulness could delay cognitive impairment such as dementia.

Universities like Harvard, Brown and Stanford, and companies such as Google, Microsoft, SAP and Aetna are invested in mindfulness programs.

Increasingly, there are calls for introducing mindfulness to cultivate collective awareness and responses to social challenges such as society bias, and climate challenges, and to teach skills of compassion in the criminal justice system.

What’s the history of MBCT?

MBCT was developed by three professors, Zindel Segal (Toronto), Mark Williams (now Oxford) and John Teasdale (Cambridge) in the 1990s to reduce depression relapses.

MBCT practices are adapted from Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. MBSR was introduced in the US healthcare system in the 1970s as a way to help patients respond to chronic pain.

The longevity of these programs is a testament of their integrity and standards of teaching.

MBCT adds cognitive therapy principles to appreciate how mental chatter, emotions and physical sensations compel us to act in a certain way. We also observe these inner experiences as just merely experiences and are transient. So we come to appreciate that we do not have to be a slave to our emotions, and can choose our response instead of rising to the bait of reactions.

Why choose MBCT?

MBCT is secular and therefore useful if you are seeking for a non-faith based approach to wellbeing. When you join this program, you are free to continue practicing your faith.

MBCT is backed by evidence, and approved by the National Health Service (NHS) in England as primary care treatment for depression, and potentially complements treatment of conditions like addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and bipolar disorder. The UK National Institute for Health & Care Excellence (NICE) also recommends MBCT as an alternative primary care treatment.

MBCT teachers go through rigorous and supervised training and are obliged to observe good practice guidelines.

Why is MBCT also suitable for a non-clinical population?

The underlying cause of mental health conditions is similar to what holds people back. It is our deep-seated attachments and aversions, needing things to be in a particular way that lead to spontaneous reactions such as impatience, grasping (striving), ruminating and avoiding. These impulses to act or to avoid may provide immediate relief but may be a crutch, maladaptive and hold us back from living fully. MBCT helps us see our automatic tendencies, and offers new ways to step back and flourish.