Why Mindfulness?

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a secular approach to mindfulness originally developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn after his “15 seconds of insight” during a meditation retreat in the late 1970s. His insight was that maybe he could take the concept of mindfulness and turn it into an approach that might help people for whom conventional medicine no longer had anything to offer. Kabat-Zinn persuaded the University Hospital in Massachusetts to let him start a stress reduction clinic, which became the foundation of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Centre that runs to this day. They have helped a vast number of patients who were “stuck” and trained thousands of mindfulness teachers around the world. MBSR is an eight-week course of around 2.5 hours per week combined with home practice and practical exercises.

Some years later Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) was introduced by three researchers, Williams, Teasdale and Segal, who were searching for a programme that might help people stop relapsing into bouts of clinical depression. Their research showed that teaching people MBCT stopped almost 50% of people from relapsing back into depression and more recent research shows that this approach is also helpful for people who are currently depressed or have what is known as “treatment-resistant depression”. The robust research was commented on by Professor Mark Williams some years ago as, “like discovering a whole new class of drugs that don’t have any side effects”. MBCT is also an eight-week program that is taught to individuals and groups.

Major impact on pain
Specific mindfulness techniques have been repeatedly shown to have a major impact on pain, with multiple research programmes confirming its beneficial impact on both acute and chronic pain as well as having a positive impact on our mental health. Brief mindfulness practices have been shown to decrease acute pain better than a single dose of morphine (and without any side effects or risks of addiction). Once pain becomes chronic (present for more than 12 weeks) it becomes part of you and your ‘story’. It is embodied within us, but with patient, stepped care pain management, even this can be reversed.

In cases of interpersonal violence, mindfulness has been shown to reduce long-term negative impacts, as well as in

MBCT underpinned the development of a program designed for adolescents and teenagers in the United Kingdom called dot b (.b), which was developed by three experienced classroom teachers who were also experienced mindfulness meditators. The Mindfulness In Schools Project (MiSP) now trains teachers, who have a background in mindfulness themselves, to teach the program which is designed to appeal to teenagers with animated slides, videos and short mindfulness practices. The course is well established in the UK and is currently the subject of a six-million pound study to follow seven thousand 11-14 year-olds, half of who will be taught the program. The course is ten lessons of around 45 minutes each.

Dot b was then taken up by some junior schoolteachers in conjunction with the Mindfulness research centre at Bangor University and developed into a program paws.b aimed at 7-10-year-olds. Given the target age range, the classes can be delivered twice a week for 30 minutes each for a total of 12 lessons, or 6 lessons of around 45 minutes to 1 hour.

The awareness and research of the potential for mindfulness continue to grow rapidly. A UK Parliamentary Committee published a report in 2015 called Mindful Nation which looked at the potential use of mindfulness in schools, healthcare, business and the criminal justice system. It found strong evidence to recommend that the UK government look further into the practice.

Business applications of Mindfulness
In business, mindfulness is used to promote attention, focus, creativity and clarity of thought together with compassion. Many business leaders use the practice to create “space to think and lead”. Mindfulness has featured in the last two World Economic Forums and is used by many corporates including Google, Intel, Aetna, General Mills, Apple, KPMG and many financial firms. A study of mindfulness at London Transport also demonstrated a reduction of 17% in sick leave after the program was introduced for staff, and Aetna insurance has estimated a dollar return value of 11:1.

Mindfulness-based attentional training has also been taught to groups who need high levels of “situational awareness” including the US Marines. No one can maintain their attention without it wandering – no one. The trick is having the awareness to notice that attention has wandered, and be able to bring it back, repeatably. This skill is understood by many professional sportsmen, business leaders and people working in high-stress environments.

“Presenteeism” – not being mentally “present” is also a huge burden on business, and as research shows that people’s attention wanders at least 50% of the time, anything that can help focus wandering attention is potentially valuable.

Mindfulness has also been shown to have a major impact on chronic pain, with multiple research programmes around the world confirming its beneficial impact on both chronic physical pain and mental health. Even in cases of interpersonal violence, mindfulness has been shown to greatly reduce long-term negative impacts.

One of the latest research papers on mindfulness meditation’s benefits:
Meditation Equal to First-Line Medication for Anxiety (medscape.com)