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What is Mindfulness?
Founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program Jon Kabat-Zinn (2013) defines mindfulness as paying attention on purpose to moment-to-moment awareness in a non-judgmental way.
At Asia Mindfulness, we see mindfulness as a way of living - a personal and regular practice of being in the awareness of the present moment to enhance our well-being. It is a gentle and self-empowering practice that invites curiosity and self-compassion towards attending to our own body, feelings and observing the nature of the mind, which is usually aggravate much of our emotional pain and suffering.
Mindfulness also trains the mind to work with distractions and focus better, and allows us to gain clarity of the cause of our life events. It helps us develop greater acceptance towards challenges, change our relationship to stress, and increase the capacity to deal with life situations optimally.
More and more research are being done on mindfulness, with some suggesting that mindfulness, when practiced regularly, changes the brain over time by increasing the density of gray matter in brain areas associated with memory and learning, emotional regulation and empathy.
Asia Mindfulness has the aim to empower individuals in exploring mindfulness as the way of life; we believe that everyone should benefit from mindfulness and we hope to make the practice of mindfulness easily accessible to more and more people through the programme and coaching we offer.
Do contact us to find out how we can help support you.
What Mindfulness is NOT?
1. Mindfulness is not a religion or faith
It is practiced in a secular way, open to people from all backgrounds and walks of life. At Asia Mindfulness, mindfulness is taught as a set of techniques and skills for cultivating a different relationship to stress, and the practice itself does NOT involve prayers, rituals, ceremonies or idolizing any individuals.
2. Mindfulness is not a quick fix...
Mindfulness practice is NOT a psychological tranquilizer that helps you take away all the stressors or challenges in life.
It is a simple practice yet requires regular and consistent effort to practice, patience and commitment from the practitioner. As the practice of mindfulness encourages an attitude of lifelong training of the mind, a self-disciplined and proactive attitude is needed.
3. Mindfulness is not medicine or psychological replacement therapy...
It does NOT replace your need to see a physician, doctor, psychiatrist or therapist. In fact, mindfulness has been incorporated into more and more cognitive and behavioural therapies as well as other Western modern psychologies.
4. Mindfulness is not "mambo jambo" or "wishy washy"....
It is a field that has in the recent decades been studied by more and more medical professionals and is increasingly backed by scientific research spanning the areas of neuroscience, cognitive behavioural therapy, healthcare, education, parenting, leadership training etc.
5. Mindfulness is not a cure-all...
Mindfulness has received a lot of media attention in the recent years, and because of this it has also unfortunately invited much speculation and assumptions about the practice being the answer to all sorts of problems. While mindfulness has many long-term benefits for the practitioner, it should NOT be seen as a cure-all, but a practice of present moment awareness that has helped many people better cope with stress and anxiety to enhance their lives.
6. Mindfulness requires hours of sitting in a lotus position......
Mindfulness meditation practice is only a small but important part of the training to allow us to stay focus, and be aware of the present moment (including our emotions, thoughts and body sensation) so that we can transfer this mental training into our daily activities. You don't need to be sitting for hours in order to be mindful. We have various type of mindfulness training that enable you to practice mindfulness in daily living too.
7. Mindfulness is making people passive and disengage......
On the contrary, mindfulness helps the practitioners to build emotional and mental capacity to deal and engage with intense situations better so that the practitioners are able to access fully their inner resources and wisdom in their respond.
LEARN ABOUT OUR MINDFULNESS BASED INTERVENTIONS PROGRAMME.
References:
KABAT-ZINN, J., (2013). Full Catastrophe Living. Second Edition. London: Piatkus
Connect with us, because we would love to practice mindfulness with you.