Mindfulness Flashcards
Psychologist
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Aim of mindfulness
Develop a sense of here and now; so the focus of a persons attention is on what’s happening in their mind and environment in the present moment, and tune out of any thoughts of past and future.
What does it improve?
Cognitive functioning and inducing a sense of well-being.
Two main components of mindfulness
Self-regulation of attention and orientation to the present moment. It involves focus on here and now over long periods of time.
Examples of mindfulness
Body scan- scan down body and acknowledge any discomfort but not try to change or control the sensation.
Raisin experience - use all senses to experience a raisin, examine it which helps develop a sense of her and now.
Walking meditation - excessive that is focused on experience of each step taken. It is done over about 10 steps and is designed to build awareness and appreciation of something we do every day.
Advantages of mindfulness
Lots more positive emotions and produce higher levels of antibodies. 30 minutes meditation every day can improves density of grey matter in the brain.
Disadvantages of mindfulness
Participants need to already possess a degree of calm and patience to be able to meditate and being able to stick with an eight week programme. Some therapists lack experience only completing an 8 week course and 1 years experience, which could lead to mindfulness not being completed successfully. Religious people may not want to participate as mindfulness comes from Buddhist roots and they need to be aware of this.
Davidson et al study
25 healthy employees go on a 8 week stress reduction programme. They measure Brian activity before and after. 16 did not take part in the programme. Levels of positive emotions and antibodies were higher in the brains of those who participated in the programme than those who did not.
