“Mindfulness is about being fully awake in our lives. It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment.”
Jon Kabat-Zinn
For most of us, when this moment happens, it’s an unexpected experience, maybe while we were walking on a mountain trail on a crisp autumn day, or being so focused in work or play that we were not thinking about the past or future, or we were connecting with someone in a way that made it seem like time was standing still. This awareness state of being alive and whole in the present moment is always available, but it typically eludes us, especially in times of difficult challenges, life stressors, and the pressure of expectations.
“Mindfulness” has been used in many contexts recently, has gained more attention, and has possibly been commoditized and westernized. However, there are many different understandings of the term, and many ways to practice formally and informally. Diana Winston of UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center gives my favorite definition: “Paying attention to present moment experience with open curiosity and a willingness to be with what is.“
The Strengthening Your Conscious Self Mindfulness Master Class, which integrates elements of several mindfulness based interventions and approaches, is a blend of meditation, body awareness, mindful movement, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, social and emotional intelligence, environmental stewardship, civic engagement, and mindful advocacy and activism. You will be learning through practice and study how your body handles (and can resolve) stress neurologically.
Please do not look to the videos and content creators for medical advice, even if they are licensed and credentialed professionals in their respective areas of practice. While some viewers might find advice provided in the videos to be helpful as either professional, medical, alternative, or complementary approaches, the information and research presented in some of the videos are emerging fields of research. I will never encourage or support the use of online information to substitute face to face professional, medical, or science-based information, research, treatment, or care.
The content on the pages that follow are intended for educational use only. The content is a masterclass in mindfulness and meditation. The entire course is laid out on these content pages, listing all the content for each section. Clicking on the links in the brackets, in the table of contents below, or on the menu to the right, will take you to the corresponding part of the course. The course is best experienced if you complete each activity starting from the top of the page moving down and in numerical order.
When you are convinced of the real change that is possible, and you are ready to commit to taking better care of yourself with more accountability, and you are ready to begin this life changing program, complete the getting started worksheet, and move on to the next module.
For your information, and to satisfy the ethical requirements of providing references and sources for the information in this course, please find the link to the full website bibliography on the menu to the left.
Below are just some of the many good books about mindfulness and psychotherapy.How a clinician integrates mindfulness into their work is a very personal thing. No one does this precisely the same way.
