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Practicing Mindfulness

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Outline

 Mindfulness vs. mindlessness  Mindfulness practices

 Try mindfulness meditation (focused breathing)

 Benefits of focused breathing & mindfulness meditation  MBSR program

 Benefits of consistent mindfulness practice  Growing popularity of mindfulness

 Mindfulness in everyday life

 Try loving-kindness meditation exercise  Great resources

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Mindlessness vs. Mindfulness

“Many of us go through life waiting for something to happen in order to make us happy or content. We miss experiencing life as it

happens. True well being is not going through life on autopilot, but being aware and present moment to moment to truly experience your life as it unfolds.”

“mindfulness is an active search for novelty, whereas mindlessness involves passively zoning out…on automatic pilot…attributable to repetitive behaviours.”

- Ellen Langer, PhD (Social Psychologist at Harvard)

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On Autopilot:

Automatic vs. Controlled Thinking

Automatic Thinking is unconscious, unintentional,

involuntary, effortless.

 Most of our thoughts and actions throughout the day

tend to be automatic/habitual.

Controlled Thinking is effortful, requiring motivation

and mental energy/capacity.

 We have a finite amount of mental/psychic energy (can

be taxed due to stress, lack of sleep, etc.).

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Mindfulness

Mindfulness is paying attention to one’s ongoing

experience in a way that allows openness and flexibility (Compton & Hoffman, 2005).

It requires us to:

- overcome desire to avoid uncertainty - override automatic behaviours/reactions

- avoid evaluating ourselves, others, situations

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Mindfulness

 Mindfulness cultivates a relaxed state of awareness

that observes both the inner world of thoughts, feelings and sensations, and the outer world of constantly changing phenomena without trying to control anything (Kabat-Zinn, 1990).

 “You must be present to love, or experience peace,

or joy, or contentment. When you are here you can have the experience of your life.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn (Kabat-Zinn, 2009).

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Mindfulness Practice

Mindfulness involves formal & informal practice.

Formal practice: Time dedicated daily to meditation

or mindful movement practices (e.g., yoga).

Informal practice: Meditation is done continuously

with one pointed focus on each task. Being

completely present IN the moments of our lives.

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Common Mindfulness Practices

Mindfulness Meditation*

Mindful Breathing*

Mindful Eating

Mindful Movement (Yoga)

Mindful Walking

The Body Scan Technique

Loving-kindness Meditation*

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2 Components of Mindfulness Practice

Self-regulation of attention:

– sustain attention to immediate experience – inhibit secondary elaborative processing – switch attention to desired focus

Openness to experience:

– Curiosity – Acceptance

– Avoid resistance

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Components of Mindfulness Meditation

Intention:

– Commit to a dedicated and regular practice

Attention:

– Observe contents of experience

Attitude:

– Manner of observing experience

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Elements of Mindful Attitude

Non-judging

– impartial witness, observe

without categorization

Non-Striving

– non goal-oriented, remain

unattached to outcome

Acceptance

– acknowledge things as they are

in this moment

Patience

– simply allow things to unfold

Trust

– trust in yourself & your experience

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Elements of Mindful Attitude

Beginner’s Mind/Openness

– see things fresh as if

for first time

Curiosity –

interest, exploration, investigation.

Letting Go

– not holding on to thoughts, feelings,

experience

Gentleness –

soft & considerate, but not passive or

undisciplined

Non-reactivity –

respond with consciousness and

clarity

Loving-kindness –

friendliness, benevolence, love

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Simplified: The COAL Approach

The COAL approach to mindfulness (Siegel,

2007) is to consistently watch here and now

experience with:

Curiosity

Openness

Acceptance

Love

Daniel Siegel, M.D. (Harvard Medical School & UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Centre)

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Mindfulness Meditation

 Increases grey matter in left prefrontal cortex area

responsible for higher thinking (Holzel et al., 2008)

 May be the most useful way to improve emotional &

physical well being (Compton & Hoffman, 2005)

 Benefits experienced in a short period of time &

increase with frequency & consistency (Carmody & Baer, 2009)

 3 days meditating 20 minutes/day can impact

perception of & sensitivity to pain (Zeidan, Gordon, Merchant, Goolkasian, 2009)

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Importance of the Breath

 Most common focal point of awareness in meditation

 15 minutes of focused breathing lowers negative mood

and decreases reactivity to stressful stimuli (Arche & Craske, 2006)

 Can generate feelings of joy (Hendricks, 1995)

 Can activate genes responsible for countering stress

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Focused Breathing Meditation

Breath-focused meditation exercise

3 points of breath awareness:

nostrils

chest

belly

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Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

(MBSR)

 Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn developed MBSR program at University

of Massachusetts Medical Center.

 MBSR common form of medicine for a variety of health

problems.

 MBSR classes taught by physicians, nurses, social workers,

and psychologists, as well as other health professionals.

 Patients/clients take on responsibility for doing inner work in

order to tap into their own resources for growing and healing.

 Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) focuses on

depression & training to recognize & manage the

relationship between depressive moods & negative thought patterns.

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Mindfulness enhances:

 Classroom learning (Ritchart & Perkins, 2002)  Working memory functions (Jha et al., 2010)

 Ability to focus/concentrate (Shapiro & Carlson, 2009)  Musician performance (Langer, Russell, & Eisenkraft,

2009)

 Marital satisfaction (Burpee & Langer, 2005)

 Self-awareness & positive emotions (Brown & Ryan,

2003)

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Mindfulness enhances:

 Affiliative trust & oneness motivation (Weinberger et

al., 1990)

 Self-regulation skills (Evan, Baer, & Segerstrom, 2009)  Hardiness (Kabat-Zinn & Skillings, 1989)

 Regulation of heart rate (Delizonna, Williams, &

Langer, 2009)

 Immune system functioning (Davidson et al., 2003)  Physical health outcomes (Shapiro & Carlson, 2009)  Pain management (Shapiro & Carlson, 2009)

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Mindfulness reduces:

Use of stereotyping (Djikic, Langer, &

Stapleton, 2008

Negative effects of social comparison (Langer,

Pirson, & Delizonna, 2010)

Experience of stress (Shapiro & Carlson, 2009)

Anxiety & worry (Miller, Fletcher, Kabat-Zinn,

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Mindfulness reduces:

Depression (Shapiro, Scwartz, & Bonner,

1998)

Symptoms of cancer, insomnia, multiple

sclerosis (Epstein, 2003; Grossman, 2010)

Negative affect (Jha et al., 2010)

Impulsivity and habitual behaviours such as

those in addictions, eating disorders, and

borderline personality disorder (cf. Boyce,

2011)

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Growing Popularity of Mindfulness

- Every year well over 100 new studies are published on the effects of mindfulness in a wide array of domains and

disciplines.

- Mindfulness training is offered at over 250 medical institutions

in the US including leading medical centers (e.g., Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine, Duke Center for Integrative Medicine).

- Hundreds of health care professionals are applying MBSR to

problems ranging from anxiety and drug addiction to

cardiovascular disease, chronic pain, cancer, insomnia, and many more…

(Chang et al., 2010; Chen et al., 2010; Matousek & Dobkin, 2010; cf. Compton & Hoffman, 2005)

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Really doing what you are doing:

Mindfulness in everyday life

Mindfulness influences the mind (thoughts &

emotions) and body (nervous system activity) in a positive direction for optimal health outcomes.

 Be fully present in your life experiences with moment to

moment awareness. – Mindful breathing – Mindful eating – Mindful walking – Mindful parenting – Mindful working

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Cultivating Loving-Kindness

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Great Resources

Compton, W. C., & Hpffman, E. (2005). Positive psychology: The

science of happiness and flourishing. Wadsworth Cengage

Learning: Belmont CA

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2009). Full Catastrophe Living: Using the

Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and

Illness. Fifteenth Anniversary Edition. The Program of the Stress

Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Delta Trade Paperbacks. Bantam Dell: A Division of RandomHouse Inc. New York.

Shapiro, S. L., & Carlson, L. E. (2009). The art and science of

mindfulness: Integrating mindfulness into psychology and the

helping professions. Washington, DC: American Psychological

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Great Resources

Snyder, C. R., Lopez, S. J., & Pedrotti, J. (2011).

Positive psychology: The scientific and practical explorations of human strengths (2nd Edtn.). SAGE:

Thousand Oaks, CA.

Boyce, B. (2011). The mindfulness revolution:

Leading psychologists, scientists, artists, and

meditation teachers on the power of mindfulness in daily life. Shambhala Sun Books: Boston MA

Siegel, D. J. (2007) The mindful brain: Reflection and

attunement in the cultivation of well-being. Mind your Brain Inc. W. W. Norton & Co: New York, NY

References

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