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Mindfulness
Mindfulness
Mindfulness
Mindfulness involves paying attention to what is happening in the present moment, noticing the quality of that attention and accepting all that is noticed with kindness, being aware of our judgments.
Mindfulness is not just about living in the present moment and noticing the present moment, and it has two dimensions that need to be understood. The first dimension is noticing what is happening in the present moment, and the second dimension is the way we receive what we notice. So we can say that mindfulness is a mixture of perceiving and accepting what is perceived, because just perceiving is just attention; mindfulness is perceiving the present moment with a conscious mind open and a heart full of love and compassion.
It would not be wrong to say that mindfulness is experiential, not conceptual. More or less all of us know what we should do in life, but when it comes to practice, we fail. In this sense, Mindfulness not only teaches us conceptually what to do, but also provides us with a set of skills that will enable us to put them into practice.
Science and Mindfulness
Although Mindfulness is rooted in Buddhist philosophy, it is not currently linked to any religious or philosophical movement. The most powerful aspect of Mindfulness and the practices based on it is that they are scientifically supported. Mindfulness and Mindfulness-based approaches are widely used both in the clinical field and in daily life around the world. The first studies on the subject were conducted by Prof. Dr. Jon Kabat Zinn at the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) University Mindfulness Center. Prof. Dr. Jon Kabat Zinn is the creator of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program (MBSR).
MBSR is applied to patients with different characteristics who have a number of physical or mental complaints. It is used to manage stress and difficulties in daily life, as well as to be able to stay with anxiety, anger or many other challenging situations and emotions, to regulate emotions, to accept vital difficulties and to ensure well-being.
A large part of the research on mindfulness is the effectiveness of mindfulness-based programs. Research in this field usually focuses on groups. For example; cancer patients, those with chronic pain, those with burnout syndrome, stable patients with previous depression, addicts, children with learning disabilities, autistic children...
In short, the findings from Mindfulness-based stress reduction programs in hospitals, schools, preschools, kindergartens, adolescence, geriatrics, parents, relationships and many other areas and the data from Mindfulness-based programs tailored to the needs of the groups show great promise. Individual therapies can also be intervened with this orientation.
Above all, it provides a vital direction to help ourselves without the need for any support. We can do this ourselves through readings and practices.
Mindfulness in the World
At the University of Oxford, the Mindfulness Center has been conducting postgraduate, research and training activities under the Department of Psychiatry since 2008. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) was developed by researchers at Oxford University.
The University of Exeter has also been providing postgraduate, education and research services at the Mindfulness Center as a unit of the university since 2004.
Bangor University's Mindfulness Centre, founded in 2001 by Prof. Mark Williams, continues to operate as a training of trainers program and scientific research center under the Department of Psychology.
There are also Mindfulness practice and research centers at Stanford, UCLA, Nottingham, Utah, New Castle and IOWA universities.
Mindfulness in Türkiye
In Turkey, a YÖK approved Mindfulness Application and Research Center was opened at MEF University, headed by Prof. Dr. Zümra Atalay. In this center, Mindfulness-based stress reduction program and Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy applications, research and projects are carried out and trainings are provided to companies.
Prof. Dr. Zümra Atalay has organized more than seventy MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) and MBCT (Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy) programs within the Mindfulness Institute, which she founded. She has given more than 200 talks on Mindfulness. Since 2016, he has been organizing Mindfulness conferences. Atalay's doctoral thesis is on mindfulness and compassion. He has 5 books in the field of Mindfulness and Compassion, articles in national refereed journals indexed in international indexes, presentations in national and international congresses, book chapters, master's and doctoral level courses, master's and doctoral theses that he supervised.
APPLICATIONS
Formal mindfulness practices are guided or self-guided meditations, focusing exercises, and so on. Formal practices are important for bringing Mindfulness into everyday life.
In body scanning, participants focus their attention on different parts of their body in turn, noticing sensations in each area without judgment.
In sitting meditation, participants use the awareness of sensations that arise as they breathe in and out as a basal focus, consciously bringing sounds, thoughts and levels of emotion in the environment to the foreground or background of attention while noticing other sensations in the body.
The basis of all the practices is to “stay in the moment”, we are actually developing the ability to stay in the moment while practicing. The other aspect is that in these guided meditations, whatever we feel, there is no right or wrong. It is to address what we feel or cannot feel, whatever it may be, with compassion, non-judgment and open awareness.
All guidance is about developing these attitudes, about being able to perceive whatever is happening at that moment as it is. These practices are the formal ones; informal practices are the adaptation of all these learnings to daily life.