Mindfulness-based stress reduction: An introductory workshop

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Mindfulness-based stress reduction: An introductory workshop Fadwa Al Mughairbi1* 1 United Arab Emirates University, United Arab Emirates When was the last time you looked around you and wondered, curiously: “how”? When was the last time you looked inside yourself, and wondered curiously: “what”? How and what does the life taste like? Have you ever wondered how did we lose the sense of time? The child’s curiosity that brought plenty of joy and excitement into our lives? Well, maybe being Mindful can shed some light. What is Mindfulness? It is an ancient, straightforward practice that brings the ‘present moment’ into focus; being present with our emotions, physical sensations and our surroundings. It is about living in the moment, experiencing all its elements, ‘bad’ and ‘good’, accepting it as it comes, and developing a full awareness of our experiences, whatever they are. With mindfulness we are paying attention, deliberately to the present moment, and cultivating the non-judgmental essence of “here and now”. This helps us to live less ‘reactively’ and more ‘responsively’ with the reduction of physical and emotional stress that this enables. What is not It is not a ‘concentration’ meditation focused on deep breathing or rigorous exercise, nor it is a relaxation technique (although it will eventually lead to that). Mindfulness will not make you happy and positive all the time, nor will it solve all your problems. It is not about developing a forced control over our minds or detachment from emotions or your surroundings. Mindfulness is not about eliminating your weaknesses and achieving perfection. But, in the long run the awareness that Mindfulness practice builds supports greater peace and calm and creativity in all areas of our lives Beginning of the Story In 1979, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn developed an eight week “Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program,” aims to reduce stress, at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. This program eventually was called “Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)”. Inspired by this, John Teasdale, Mark Williams and Zindel Segal developed “Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)” combining cognitive behavior therapy techniques and mindfulness practice, aiming to reduce the risk of relapse in depressed patients. The workshop In this introductory workshop, we are going to explore mindfulness, what is it? How it works, our expectations, and how to reduce stress with simple mindfulness techniques. References Kabat-Zinn, J. 1994. Whenever You Go: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life. New York: Hyperion Kabat-Zinn, J. 1990. Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. New York: Delacourt. Teasdale, J., Williams, M., and Segal, Z. 2014. The Mindful Way Workbook: An 8-Week Program to Free Yourself from Depression and Emotional Distress. New York: Guilford Williams, M. and Penman, D. 2011. Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World. New York: Rodale Keywords: mindfulness, wellbeing, stress reduction, MBSR, Meditation Conference: 4th International Conference on Educational Neuroscience, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 10 Mar - 11 Mar, 2019. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation (invited speakers only) Topic: Educational Neuroscience Citation: Al Mughairbi F (2019). Mindfulness-based stress reduction: An introductory workshop. Conference Abstract: 4th International Conference on Educational Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2019.229.00019 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 09 Feb 2019; Published Online: 27 Sep 2019. * Correspondence: Dr. Fadwa Al Mughairbi, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates, f.almughairbi@uaeu.ac.ae Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Fadwa Al Mughairbi Google Fadwa Al Mughairbi Google Scholar Fadwa Al Mughairbi PubMed Fadwa Al Mughairbi Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.