much of what is found in that book, and Western psychology, founded in the tradition of scientific method, which explicitly informs it. Traditional Buddhist psychology, at its best, is founded on a detailed and scholarly investigation of the elements of experience revealed by a collective endeavour of deep introspection over more than 1,000 years. Plunging in meditation into the depths of their own minds, the founding scholars of Buddhist psychology provide us with profoundly valuable insights into the mechanisms of consciousness and the functioning of perception and experience. Western psychology at its best, on the other hand, brings a highly sophisticated scientific method and a well-developed scientific community to its investigations.
In Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression I saw the first beginnings of what might be achieved as these two streams began to inform one another. I was deeply inspired by the way the authors illuminated some of the inner psychological processes at work in the client group they were concerned with. When we understand the processes that drive us and that make up our experience, we have a much greater chance of freeing ourselves from their unconscious grip. The intersection of mindfulness and Western science, I saw, opened up huge possibilities for human development and human freedom.
Besides relishing the psychological acuity I was discovering, I was also deeply inspired by the explicitly secular nature of the trainings offered by MBSR and MBCT. Ever since discovering mindfulness and related practices for myself I have held a passionate conviction that they offer something deeply lacking in contemporary society. Here, at last, was a vehicle for getting some of these practices and their benefits out into the wider world without any strings attached. I love the freedom and openness of that offering. You don’t need to be a Buddhist or subscribe to any religious framework to get these benefits now. What previously had been taught mainly in Buddhist centres and similar locales could now be made widely available for anyone to try.
While finishing my training in Bangor I had the great fortune to be introduced to John Teasdale, one of the founders of MBCT, who lives – as my wife and I do – in Cambridge. John and I took the mindfulness programme I’d been working with in Bangor, a hybrid of MBSR and MBCT, and tweaked it more particularly towards stress. We then spent some time teaching that programme, along with our colleague Ciaran Saunders, in public courses held in Cambridge. We made video recordings of each taught session and in between sessions the three of us would meet up, replay the recording of ourselves teaching, and comment on what we saw one another doing: what worked and what didn’t work so well. That was one of the richest learning experiences of my whole engagement in the process of mindfulness teaching.
Soon after graduating I was invited to join the team of mindfulness teachers at the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice that is located in the School of Psychology at Bangor. I’m now an honorary lecturer there and for many years taught a module on the master’s programme as well as co-leading mindfulness teacher-training retreats.
In 2006 I founded a mindfulness training company, Mindfulness Works Ltd, and with my associates I have since led many public courses in London and elsewhere based on what I learned at Bangor and developed with John.
But my interest in the world of work and business never went away and I’ve found myself increasingly drawn into that field. Part of this is because of what I keep finding on my public courses.
The sense I get from the public MBSR courses I lead is that, for a very large proportion of participants, the greatest source of stress and distress in their lives comes from what they encounter each day at work. I am convinced that, if we can train more mindful leaders, if we can help to create more mindful workplaces, we can have a huge impact on the overall levels of well-being in our society.
I wrote a book on this theme – The Mindful Workplace – and have come increasingly to teach in workplace and leadership contexts, as well as continuing with the public courses. More recently I have become an adjunct professor at IE Business School in Madrid, where I am honoured to be part of an extraordinary faculty teaching an executive master’s in positive leadership and strategy (EXMPLS), which has mindfulness training at its heart. We draw in a high-powered student body from around the world and I’m deeply moved each time I meet the students to see the changes that their deepening engagement with mindfulness practice brings about.
It is because mindfulness works that it’s being found in so many different contexts these days. The variety of approaches and applications is extraordinary. NICE, the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence that advises the UK National Health Service on appropriate clinical provision, recommends it as a front-line treatment in instances of relapsing depression. The United States Marine Corps, on the other hand, has found that it helps soldiers remain mentally flexible, cognitively clear and emotionally appropriate under pressure. Some people use mindfulness to help them manage chronic pain and there is good research evidence for its efficacy there. Others come to it because they want to be more focused and effective at work, or because they want to be more resilient, or more empathic.
In whatever way or for whatever reason you come to mindfulness training, there is now a large body of evidence that shows that with just eight weeks of training really substantial changes are possible.
There is a considerable and growing body of research evidence around the effectiveness of mindfulness training these days. Peer-reviewed research papers are currently emerging at a rate of around 40 per month. I won’t try to sum up all of that evidence here, but the UK’s Mental Health Foundation commissioned a report which examined the health benefits of mindfulness training. Their 2010 Mindfulness Report noted that evidence coming from mindfulness and well-being research shows that mindfulness confers significant benefits on health, well-being and quality of life in general:
According to the report, people who are more mindful are less likely to experience psychological distress, including depression and anxiety. They are less neurotic, more extroverted and report greater well-being and life satisfaction.
They have greater awareness, understanding and acceptance of their emotions, and recover from bad moods more quickly.
They have less frequent negative thoughts and are more able to let them go when they arise.
They have higher, more stable self-esteem that is less dependent on external factors.
They enjoy more satisfying relationships, are better at communicating and are less troubled by relationship conflict, as well as less likely to think negatively of their partners as a result of conflict.
Mindfulness is correlated with emotional intelligence, which itself has been associated with good social skills, ability to cooperate and ability to see another person’s perspective.
People who are mindful are also less likely to react defensively or aggressively when they feel threatened. Mindfulness seems to increase self-awareness, and is associated with greater vitality.
Being more mindful is linked with higher success in reaching academic and personal goals.
Practising meditation has repeatedly been shown to improve people’s attention, as well as improve job performance, productivity and satisfaction, and to enable better relationships with colleagues, resulting in a reduction of work-related stress.
People who are mindful feel more in control of their behaviour and are more able to override or change internal thoughts and feelings and resist acting on impulse.
Meditation practices more generally have been shown to increase blood flow, reduce blood pressure and protect people at risk of developing hypertension; they have
