Mindfulness Made Easy
Page 16
There are a number of mindfulness courses based on MBSR. The best known of these is mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), although there are many others (mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP), mindfulness-based relationship enhancement (MBRE), and so on). These take the MBSR course structure as their core, and make minor adaptations for particular circumstances. If in doubt, an MBSR course is a good starting point, as it’s suitable for most people in most circumstances.
It may also be helpful to attend introductory sessions or workshops, both to get a sense of what a course involves and a feel for how a teacher works. If you’re inspired by the Buddhist tradition, there are many courses run by Buddhist organizations which present mindfulness in this traditional context.
I lead mindfulness courses and workshops in the English county of Sussex and in London (see www.mindfulnesssussex.co.uk and www.mindfulnesslondon.co.uk for more details). At Mindfulness Sussex, we also offer practice sessions for people who’ve completed a course. I also run bespoke mindfulness courses for organizations – see www.workwithmindfulness.com if you’re interested in offering a course in your workplace.
Mindfulness retreats
It’s also possible to learn mindfulness in a residential retreat setting, allowing time and space to deepen your practice. These can range in length from one day to a month, or longer. I run introductory weekend retreats in the UK, as well as retreats for people who’ve already completed an eight-week mindfulness course – see www.mindfulnessretreats.co.uk for more details.
You might also like to look at the retreats run by the Centre For Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University (www.bangor.ac.uk/mindfulness/) in Wales, and Gaia House (www.gaiahouse.co.uk), which is a UK Buddhist retreat centre offering a wide range of mindfulness-related programmes.
Mindfulness online
Where possible, I’d recommend learning mindfulness face-to-face, in a group, with an experienced teacher. However, sometimes this isn’t possible, and there are resources available for people who can’t get to a group, or as an additional support. Here are a few pointers:
www.bemindfulonline.com
A four-week introductory mindfulness course hosted by the Mental Health Foundation. Includes audio downloads, video guidance and email reminders. It’s taught by my colleague Tessa Watt and I.
www.mindful.org
Online content from the team behind Mindful magazine. News, features, practice guidance and blogs, including my regular blog ‘The Examined Life’.
Twitter
It’s easy to connect to the mindfulness and meditation world through some key Twitter accounts. Good starting points are @mindfulonline, @greatergoodsc, @_wildmind, @mindfuleveryday and @shambhalasun. I tweet from @edhalliwell and post mindfulness news, quotes, poems and other links most days.
www.edhalliwell.com
If you’re interested in exploring more of my mindfulness work and writing, there’s lots of information and links here.
Acknowledgements
Over thousands of years, dedicated meditators have looked at their minds, learned from what they saw and taught others how to do the same. Their training, teaching and the wisdom that comes from it serves as a guide for planting our own seeds of practice. To all those who have cultivated, carried and transmitted the light of awareness, I am hugely grateful.
In recent decades, a number of pioneering practitioners have surveyed the western terrain and had the insight to present this meditative wisdom in forms and language that speak to and meet our culture’s needs. Without trailblazing teachers like Jon Kabat-Zinn, and the many scientists who have spent painstaking years observing and reporting the effects of meditation on the human mind, brain and body, mindfulness might still be seen as something esoteric and weird, rather than (as is becoming more common) widely relevant and normal. A heartfelt bow to all of you.
In my own training, I have been blessed with a number of wise and kind teachers. Great gratitude goes especially to Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and everyone in the Shambhala community, with whom I first learned to practise meditation.
More recently, I am also indebted to the community of mindfulness teachers, in particular my patient and precise supervisor Karunavira and the other team members at the Mindfulness Centre For Research and Practice at Bangor University. From afar, I have also learned a lot from Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Jack Kornfield, Pema Chödrön, Alan B. Wallace, Ken Wilber, Larry Rosenberg, Bodhipaksa and Rick Hanson.
I’m also deeply grateful to the participants on mindfulness courses, retreats and workshops I’ve led. Their willingness to engage with and share their experience is what makes teaching such a joy – reminding me when I forget that every moment is interesting, refreshing, different and alive. Thank you as well to all the places and organizations that offer space in which our courses can happen, especially the Old School in Cuckfield, West Sussex; The School of Life in London and Claridge House in Surrey. Thanks especially to the Old School and its youth club, which generously offered me a room in which to write this book.
Thanks too to Steph Ebdon, my agent, and Carolyn Thorne, my commissioning editor, who have cajoled and nurtured me through the process of becoming an author, as well as to the team at Hay House UK, who have helped make this book happen. Special thanks to my copy editor Debra Wolter, who made skilful cuts without causing unnecessary pain.
There are many, many other people who have contributed to the contents of this book than I have space to thank – my apologies for not being able to mention you all.
However, I must acknowledge that this book wouldn’t be possible without the support of my family. In more ways than I have words to describe, my wife Vicki has worked tirelessly and selflessly to make it possible for me to write and run courses – everything from coming up with ideas and making them happen, to holding the big picture when I get bogged down in detail, to supporting delivery and giving me vital feedback and advice. In terms of this book, Vicki sacrificed a huge amount of time, sleep and energy to look after our two young children so I could spend more time writing. My deepest love and appreciation goes to her, as well as to our wonderful boys Arthur and Barnaby, who brought me back to earth and attention when I began to get caught up in book-related concepts. You three are my mindfulness bells, and your chiming enriches my life more than I used to think possible…
References
Chapter 1
1. www.actionforhappiness.org/why-happiness
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8230549.stm
3. Halliwell E. (2010), Mindfulness Report, Mental Health Foundation: London
4. http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/archive/newsrel/general/12-09Information.asp
5. www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1205669/Is-multi-tasking-bad-brain-Experts-reveal-hidden-perils-juggling-jobs.html
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_partial_attention
7. www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201208/how-prevent-stress-shrinking-your-brain
8. www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/powermindfulness.pdf
9. Halliwell E. (2010), Mindfulness Report, Mental Health Foundation: London
Mindfulness: the science
1. De Vibe et al. (2012) Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for Improving Health, Quality of Life, and Social Functioning in Adults – Campbell Collaboration Systematic Review 2012
2. Khoury B. et al. (2013) Mindfulness-based Therapy: A Comprehensive Meta-analysis, Clinical Psychology Review, 33(6):763-71
3. Matousek et al. (2010) Cortisol as a Marker for Improvement in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, Feb 2010, pp13–19
4. Williams, Kuyken (2012) Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy: A Promising New Approach To Preventing Depressive Relapse, British Journal of Psychiatry 200: pp359–360
5. Zeidan et al. (2010) The Effects of Brief Mindfulness Meditation Training On Experimentally Induced Pain, The Journal Of Pain, March 2010, pp199–209
6. Rainer
K. et al. (2013) Do Mindfulness-based Interventions Reduce Pain Intensity? A Critical Review of the Literature, Pain Medicine, 2013 Feb 14(2) pp230–42
7. Barrett et al. (2012) Meditation or Exercise for Preventing Acute Respiratory Infection: A Randomized Controlled Trial, The Annals of Family Medicine, July/August 2012 vol. 10 no. 4 pp337–346
8. Carlson (2012) Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Physical Conditions: A Narrative Review Evaluating Levels of Evidence, ISRN Psychiatry, vol. 2012
9. Chiesa et al. (2011) Does Mindfulness Training Improve Cognitive Abilities? A Systematic Review Of Neuropsychological Findings, Clinical Psychology Review, 31 pp449–464
10. Ostafin et al. (2012) Stepping Out of History: Mindfulness Improves Insight Problem Solving, Consciousness and Cognition vol 21, Issue 2, June 2012 pp1031–1036; Greenberg et al. (2012) Mind The Trap: Mindfulness Practice Reduces Cognitive Rigidity, PLOS One 7 (5)
11. Kirk et al. (2011) Interoception Drives Increased Rational Decision-Making In Meditators Playing The Ultimatum Game, Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2011 5: p49
12. Keng et al. (2011) Effects of Mindfulness on Psychological Health: A Review of Empirical Studies, Clinical Psychology Review, 31(6): pp1041–1056
13. Gross C.R. et al. (2011) Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction vs. Pharmacotherapy for Primary Chronic Insomnia: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial, Explore, 7(2): 76–87, 2011.
14. Brown et al. (2007) Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects, Psychological Inquiry, 2007, vol. 18, no. 4, 211–237
15. ibid 16. Barnes et al. (2007) The Role of Mindfulness in Romantic Relationship Satisfaction and Responses to Relationship Stress, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, vol. 33, issue 4, pp482–500, October 2007
17. Keng et al. (2011) Effects of Mindfulness on Psychological Health: A Review of Empirical Studies, Clinical Psychology Review, 31(6): pp1041–1056
Mindfulness and neuroplasticity
1. Maguire et al. (2006) London Taxi Drivers and Bus Drivers: A Structural MRI and Neuropsychological Analysis, Hippocampus 16:pp1091–1101 (2006)
2. Gaser and Schlaug (2003) Brain Structures Differ between Musicians and Non-Musicians, Journal of Neuroscience, 23: pp9240–9245
3. http://lawsagna.typepad.com/lawsagna/2010/03/brain-awareness-week-15-amazing-examples-of-neuroplasticity-in-action-.html
4. ibid
5. Lazar (2005) Meditation Experience Is Associated With Increased Cortical Thickness, Neuroreport, vol. 18, no. 17, pp1893–1897; Davidson et al. (2003), Davidson, Kabat-Zinn (2003) Alterations In Brain And Immune System Function Produced By Mindfulness Meditation, Psychosomatic Medicine, 65: 564–70
6. Lutz et al. (2004) Long-term Meditators Self-induce High-amplitude Gamma Synchrony During Mental Practice, PNAS vol. 101 no. 46 pp16369–16373
7. Hölzel et al. (2011) Mindfulness Practice Leads To Increases In Regional Brain Gray Matter Density, Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, vol. 191, issue 1 pp36–43
Chapter 2
1. www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html
Chapter 3
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight-or-flight_response
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicit_memory
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negativity_bias
4. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb-gT6vDrmU
The science of mindful attention
1. Killingsworth M. and Gilbert D. (2010) A Wandering Mind Is An Unhappy Mind, Science vol. 330 p932
2. Keng et al. (2011) Effects of Mindfulness on Psychological Health: A Review of Empirical Studies, Clinical Psychology Review, 31(6): pp1041–1056
3. Maclean K. et al. (2010) Intensive Meditation Training Improves Perceptual Discrimination and Sustained Attention, Psychological Science, 21, pp829–839
4. Chiesa et al. (2010) Does Mindfulness Training Improve Cognitive Abilities? A Systematic Review of Neuropsychological Findings, Clinical Psychology Review 31, pp449–464
5. Mzarek et al. (2010) Mindfulness and Mind-Wandering: Finding Convergence Through Opposing Constructs, Emotion, vol. 2012, pp 442–448
6. Hölzel et al. (2012) How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms Of Action From a Conceptual And Neural Perspective, Perspectives On Psychological Science, 6: 537, and Lazar et al. (2005) Meditation Experience Is Associated With Increased Cortical Thickness, Neuroreport, vol. 16, no. 17, pp1893–1897
7. Greenberg et al. (2012) ‘Mind The Trap’: Mindfulness Practice Reduces Cognitive Rigidity, PLOS One, (7) 5 e36206
Chapter 4
1. Thanks to Tara Brach for this exercise, see http://blog.tarabrach.com/2013/03/the-backward-step.html
2. Thanks to Shunryu Susuzi for this analogy, which is alluded to in Suzuki S. (1970) Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, this edition (2011) Shambhala Publications, p18
3. Recounted in Merton T. (1965) The Way Of Chuang Tzu, New Directions, this edition (2010, p114)
Taking a breathing space
1. The three-step breathing space practice was developed as a part of the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) course, as described in Segal Z, Williams M, Teasdale J, (2002) Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy For Depression (Guilford Press, 2012)
How awareness helps with low mood and anxiety
1. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130418154413.htm
2. www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24444431
3. Mental Health Foundation (2007), The Fundamental Facts: The Latest Facts and Figures on Mental Health (London: Mental Health Foundation)
4. Keng et al. (2011) Effects of Mindfulness on Psychological Health: A Review of Empirical Studies, Clinical Psychology Review 31(6): pp1041–1056
5. Van Hugt (2012) The Effects of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy on Affective Memory Recall Dynamics in Depression: A Mechanistic Model of Rumination, Frontiers in Human Neurosciences, 19;6:257
6. Greenberg et al. (2012) ‘Mind The Trap’: Mindfulness Practice Reduces Cognitive Rigidity, PLOS One 7(5): e36206. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036206
7. http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/that-giant-tarantula-is-terrifying-238055.aspx
Chapter 5
1. Thanks to Marsha Lucas for this story, which is also included in her book Rewire Your Brain for Love: Creating Vibrant Relationships Using The Science of Mindfulness (Hay House, 2012)
2. Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers Robert M. Sapolsky (St Martin’s Press, 2004)
3. http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_relieve_stress
4. www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn36/sn36.006.than.html
Stress and the science of mindfulness
1. Creswell et al. (2007) Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling, Psychosomatic Medicine, July/August 2007 vol. 69 no. 6 pp560–565
2. Brewer et al. (2011) Meditation Experience is Associated with Differences in Default Mode Network Activity and Connectivity, PNAS December 13, 2011 vol. 108 no. 50 pp20254–20259
3. www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2103095/Once-dismissed-pretentious-brain-scans-prove-Eastern-philosophies-effective-treating-mental-illness.html
4. Brewer et al. (2011) Meditation Experience is Associated with Differences in Default Mode Network Activity and Connectivity, PNAS December 13, 2011 vol. 108 no. 50 pp20254–20259
5. Matousek et al. (2010) Cortisol as a Marker for Improvement in Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction, Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, vol. 16, issue 1, February 2010, pp13–19
6. Rosenkranz et al. (2013) A Comparison of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction and an Active Control in Modulation of Neurogenic Inflammation, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, vol. 27, January 2013, pp174–184
7. Davidson et al. (2003) Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation, Psychosomatic Medicine, July/August 2003 vol. 65 no. 4 564–570
8. Jacobs et al. (2011) Intensive Meditation Training, Immune Cell Telomerase Activity, and Psychologic
al Mediators, Psycho-neuroendocrinology, vol. 36, issue 5, June 2011, pp664–681
9. Melville et al. (2012) Fifteen Minutes of Chair-Based Yoga Postures or Guided Meditation Performed in the Office Can Elicit a Relaxation Response, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 2012, article ID 501986, 9 pages, 2012. doi:10.1155/2012/501986
10. Keng et al. (2011) Effects of Mindfulness on Psychological Health: A Review of Empirical Studies, Clinical Psychology Review, vol. 31, issue 6, August 2011, pp 1041–1056
11. ibid
Chapter 6
1. Davidson et al. (2003) Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation, Psychosomatic Medicine, July/August 2003 vol. 65 no. 4 564–570
2. Chodron P. (2010) Taking The Leap: Freeing Ourselves From Old Habits And Fears, Shambhala Publications, pp90–94
The science of turning towards
1. Zeidan F. et al. (2011) Brain Mechanisms Supporting the Modulation of Pain by Mindfulness Meditation, The Journal of Neuroscience, 6 April 2011, 31(14): pp 5540–5548
2. Creswell J.D. et al. (2007) Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling, Psychosomatic Medicine, Jul—Aug; 69(6): pp 560–5
The importance of body posture
1. Williams, Penman (2011) Mindfulness: Finding Peace In A Frantic World, (Piatkus) pp 92–3
2. www.theguardian.com/science/2012/jun/30/self-help-positive-thinking
3. ibid