Diving into Mindfulness: Beginning a Mindfulness Course

At the beginning of each 8-week mindfulness-based course I teach, I’m always blown away by the trust and faith participants invest in both the programme and the teacher. It’s something I try to never take for granted.

Particularly for those who have had no or little experience of mindfulness before, it is a real act of bravery to step into a course where taught sessions take up to 2.5 hours of their time each week, let alone the recommended ‘home practice’ of up to an hour each day, if you include the ‘formal’ guided mindfulness meditation practices, and those where mindful awareness is brought into everyday activities.

That’s 8 + hours per week, or 64 + hours in total (69 + hours if you include a day of practice).

Meanwhile, I have the words of the team who first developed, taught and researched the Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for Depression(1) course ringing in my ears. They described how their respect for their participants, ‘rose enormously, perhaps even more for those who struggle and… yet still turn up each week for the class.’

Of course, it’s important to note that, for some, diving straight into an 8-week course is not an option for many reasons. These might include limitations on time, money, accessibility, health, life events, or it’s simply just not right for them, or not right for them just now.

Meeting People Where They Are: How to Start with Introducing Mindfulness (IM)

With all of this in mind, the Introducing Mindfulness (IM) course arose out of an intention to ‘meet people where they are’ rather than assume a ‘one-size-fits-all’ (AKA 8-week programme) approach.

The intention was always to take some of the key practices and essential learning from the MBCT programme, and deliver it in a way that is accessible to a large number of people.

Introducing Mindfulness (IM) offers a stand-alone experience of mindfulness, and/or an opportunity to ‘dip your toes’ in some mindfulness themes and practice before taking a ‘deeper dive’ into an 8-week course.

First trialled as a public course through the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation (OMF) in 2021, this introductory programme asks people to attend 3 weekly one-hour sessions and an invitation to spend a further 30 minutes per day engaging in ‘home practice’ (12 hours in total).

In a way, the course is a ‘child’ of the COVID pandemic: originally developed for teaching online to larger numbers of people (20-30 rather than the maximum of 16 we suggest for the 8-week Mindfulness for Life course).

Having said that, it has also been taught very successfully to groups ‘in real life’ (IRL).

The intention was always to take some of the key practices and essential learning from the MBCT programme, and deliver it in a way that is accessible to a large number of people.

Research Evidence for Introducing Mindfulness?

At this point, I would actively encourage you to engage in some healthy cynicism. Based on the strong research evidence for the benefits of mindfulness-based 8-week programmes such as Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), what on earth can be learned in those 3 one-hour sessions that might bring about any kind of benefit?

Good question!

As a relatively new programme, research into the benefits of Introducing Mindfulness (IM) is in its early days, with only a small number of reviews of taught courses emerging (please do get in touch if you are in the position to conduct something larger scale). What we do know is that it is generally very well-received by participants, some of whom go on to take a full 8-week course, and teachers enjoy teaching it.

At its heart, the programme contains key Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) themes and practices (Paying Attention, On Purpose, With Curiosity and Care; Perspective: Learning New Ways of Being; Responding Skilfully) that, when researched as part of the broader 8-week courses, have proven to be supportive of general wellbeing and mental
health.

They also offer a taste of mindfulness where people may not be able to access other, longer/more expensive/ practically inaccessible options.

Of course, shorter taught sessions and home mindfulness practice are unlikely to have the same impact as their more extensive 8-week cousins. The limited research on shorter courses more broadly name this too, but see positive signs of benefit, especially among particular groups and in certain formats:

“… some initial clues about populations that may particularly benefit include community adults, [and] formats for brief mindfulness training (e.g., multiple types of mindfulness exercises in a single program), …”(2)

From our experience, Introducing Mindfulness (IM) courses are particularly welcome in high-pressure/time-limited contexts such as some workplaces including the business sector, the healthcare system, and education.

They also offer a taste of mindfulness and mindfulness meditation where people may not be able to access other, longer/more expensive/ practically inaccessible options.

What we do know is that it is generally very well-received by participants, some of whom go on to take a full 8-week course, and teachers enjoy teaching it.

Returning to Intentions

At this point, it’s useful to return to our intentions as mindfulness practitioners and teachers. As Christina Feldman(3) suggests, “In mindfulness training, everything rests on the tip of intention—namely, to support people to suffer less and lead meaningful and rewarding lives”.

Through Introducing Mindfulness (IM), we are ‘planting some seeds’ of understanding and experience which may go on to:

• Equip them with a sense of how attention can shape our everyday experience, depending on where we place it and with what attitudes
• Explore different ways of knowing/being as grounds for wisdom and self-care
• Offer a sense of choice around how to respond to life’s ups and downs

These ‘seeds’ may grow into something bigger, or simply be there as an understanding that can’t be ‘unlearned’ once learned.

Would You Like to Explore Further?

If you are interested in attending an Introducing Mindfulness (IM) 3-session course, we offer  – dates are being added so if there aren’t any currently, please check back again soon.

If you are trained to teach a recognised Mindfulness-based programme such as MBCT or MBSR, and would like to train to teach the Introducing Mindfulness programme, we offer one-day training programmes as part of our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training route. This day explores the skills and understanding needed to teach the course, but also how to bring additional practices/ongoing learning to groups who want to do more beyond the 3 sessions.

References

(1) Segal, Zindel, Mark Williams, and John Teasdale. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression. Guilford publications, 2018.

(2) Schumer MC, Lindsay EK, Creswell JD. Brief mindfulness training for negative affectivity: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2018 Jul;86(7):569-583. doi: 10.1037/ccp0000324. PMID: 29939051; PMCID: PMC6441958.

(3) Christina Feldman and Willem Kuyken: Mindfulness: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Psychology: The Guilford Press, New York, NY, 2019