Explore how to extend the power of fully engaged awareness in your life and work with the leading figure in the mindfulness movement. The topics covered will include:

• Debunking popular myths about mindfulness
• Distinguishing mindfulness as an experiential practice as opposed to a spiritual concept 
• Understanding the role of “mind wandering” and the “default mode network” in our ordinary consciousness
• How to reclaim our lives from our limiting identity stories as we embrace our embodied awareness in the present moment

Objectives

1. Distinguish between mindfulness and awareness
2. Recognize the role of breathing in mindfulness practice
3. Discuss how to show clients the limitations of self-definitions with mindfulness
4. Discover clients to have a wise relationship with their bodies
5. Identify three areas outside the therapy room where mindfulness could be practiced

Outline

• Kabat-Zinn answers the question: what is mindfulness?
  • Separating mindfulness from spiritual practice
  • Mindfulness as an exercise in cultivating “wakefulness”
  • Why mindfulness isn’t a concept, but a door into oneself: a way of being, and being in relationship
• The main tenets of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
  • Kabat-Zinn explains his “operational definition” of mindfulness-paying attention to awareness
  • Why listening to the body (and the breath) is such an important part of mindfulness
  • The importance of attending, not focusing on the objects (handholds) for attention
• The dynamics of relationality
  • What optimal mindfulness looks like in human communication/”embodied conversation”
  • How mindfulness helps people move beyond their initial perceptions of who they are
• Mindfulness in the service of humankind
  • Mindfulness is an inclusionary movement that can be applied to many different situations
  • Humans are “starving for authentic experience,” accounting for mindfulness’s widespread appeal
• Acknowledging the stories we tell ourselves about who we are Jon Kabat-Zinn reflects on his own professional and personal growth journey
  • Kabat-Zinn on how to avoid getting lost in the thought stream about our identities
  • Kabat-Zinn on how 8 weeks of MBSR treatment can change the brain’s mind-wandering network
  • The specifics of non-judgmental awareness: having judgments without them consuming you
  • There’s continuity between the young and older Kabat-Zinn in interest in mindfulness teachings
  • Says, “I feel like I’m just beginning” on the “growing edge” of a new chapter of life
• Concluding remarks from Kabat-Zinn
  • What’s in store for the future of the mindfulness movement? Kabat-Zinn predicts a fluctuation
  • Mindfulness has a direct, positive influence on us as human beings, apart from scientific findings
  • Focusing on stories about what’s wrong with us makes it difficult to heal-we get in our own way
  • Asking ourselves the question “what is our own way?” is an exercise in self-discovery and healing
  • Learning to look beyond the digital world is an opportunity for us to pursue what’s important