mindfulness

Mindfulness is a way of paying attention, of being deeply attuned to yourself, your environment and those around you. It is a natural state of mind, focused and aware. Rooted in the ancient Buddhist art of meditation, mindfulness can be learned and practised by anyone, no matter what their religious or cultural background.

Over the past thirty years, mindfulness skills have been taught with great effect in behavioural medicine and mental health settings, in corporations, schools, law courts, legal practices, prisons, and government agencies.

further reading

articles on mindfulness meditation from popular journals

BBC Website: March 2008
an excellent introduction to some of the current meditation research

TIME Magazine: January 10, 2006
meditation reduces stress and changes brain size

New York Times: February 4, 2003

on the scientific study of meditation and its relation to overall happiness

Harvard Gazette: Feb 02, 2006
an article, written in lay-terms, on meditation and changes to brain function

The Independent: March 15, 2005
an article on mindfulness as a mainstream treatment for stress and depression

articles from scientific journals

A Conceptual and Empirical Review of Mindfulness as a Clinical intervention
Baer's 2003 review of the literature, which concludes that mindfulness interventions may help to improve psychological functioning and alleviate certain clinical conditions

A meta analysis of the health benefits of MBSR
a 2004 study by Grossman et al that suggests that MBSR as an intervention would be useful for a broad range of chronic disorders and problems

Three-year follow-up
a study of the effectiveness of MBSR in treating anxiety three years after the course

Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Brain Function
a experiment at the Laboratory of Affective Neuroscience at the Universtiy of Wisconsin, Madison where employees at a biotech company had their brain function monitored before and after an eight week MBSR course

Findings from the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre
findings from the centre in the USA where MBSR was first developed

UMass Selective Bibliography of Scientific Papers
a range of peer-reviewed scientific papers on various aspects of MBSR