What is mindfulness?

The Oxford Mindfulness programmes are built around an approach called Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), a structured, evidence-based programme originally designed to help people at risk of repeated periods of depression. It was developed by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale, and inspired by Jon Kabat-Zinn’s pioneering work on Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

This evolved into a series of programmes for use in non-clinical settings. MBCT was adapted for non-clinical settings by Mark Williams with Christina Surawy and Marie Johansson. Mark Williams’ and Danny Penman’s Finding Peace in a Frantic World was developed into a course by Chris Cullen. Willem Kuyken went on to develop a programme with Paul Bernard and Chris Cullen known as Mindfulness for Life (sometimes referred to as MBCT-L) which is now at the core of the Oxford Mindfulness programmes.

Studies have shown this approach to be an effective and accessible way of reducing stress and anxiety and enhancing mental health and well-being. There is also a three-session course called Introducing Mindfulness and a 12-session programme called Taking it Further, designed to deepen mindfulness practice.

In addition, Oxford Mindfulness collaborates with field leaders to offer a number of other courses which are all based on MBCT, such as Finding Peace in a Frantic World and Deeper Mindfulness (from Mark Williams) and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Cancer – MBCT-Ca (from Trish Bartley).

These courses have all been designed around the same principles, rooted in world-leading research.

Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) has been shown to be effective in numerous randomised, controlled trials, and is now recommended as a treatment for depression by the UK’s National Institute for Care and Excellence (NICE).

It has been found in research to be as effective as anti-depressants at preventing relapse after recovery from clinical depression. Our Mindfulness for Life programme (MBCT-L) is built on the same principles and has been shown to increase self-compassion and well-being.

Research has also shown that mindfulness helps us understand how we can react and respond to the events in our lives with a greater sense of perspective. It indicates that those who bring mindfulness into their daily lives generally experience better quality of life, feel more aware, appreciative, and content.

Mindfulness teaching and learning have developed and diversified over the years and can now be found in a range of formats with different courses and programmes. In the secular field (where Oxford Mindfulness works) there are a number of other popular and well-established programmes, including:

• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.This is widely cited as the first secular mindfulness programme. Created in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
• Mindfulness-based Childbirth and Parenting. Developed in 1998 by Nancy Bardacke, this programme is for expectant parents and integrates mindfulness skills and practice with childbirth and parenting education.
• Breathworks was developed by Vidyamala Burch in 2001 as a mindfulness approach to help participants better manage pain, fatigue and illness.
• Mindfulness-based Compassionate Living. This programme was developed by Erik van den Brink and Frits Koster in 2007. It aims to help deepen the effects of mindfulness with compassion practices.
• Mindfulness-based Relapse Prevention. This programme was developed in 2010 by Sarah Bowen, Neha Chawla and Alan Marlatt. Offered as a treatment approach, it was originally developed for individuals in recovery from addictive behaviours.
• Mindful Self-Compassion. This programme was developed by Christopher Germer and Kristin Neff in 2012. It was designed to combine mindfulness and self-compassion to provide a means of improving emotional resilience.

Just as we might study any subject to gain greater understanding of it, so mindfulness informs us about ourselves. We often go through life on automatic pilot, missing out on small day-to-day things in our lives. Mindfulness can help us become fully present instead – more in touch with ourselves and the world around us. It helps us wake up to our experiences and our lives, and this new awareness can help us break destructive habits of thinking and behaving. This doesn’t just improve our own well-being, but can have a knock-on effect for our relationships with other people.

Although it has roots within the Buddhist tradition, Oxford Mindfulness offers a secular approach to self-knowledge without a formal belief system, underpinned by psychological science. Even though it’s not a religion, it shares some universal values and can be practised by people of any faith or of none.

There are commonly held to be twelve “attitudes” that underpin mindfulness practice and help it to flourish. These are non-judging, patience, trust, non-striving, acceptance, letting go, befriending, compassion, appreciation, gratitude, generosity and “beginner’s mind” (which means approaching life with curiosity and without prejudices).

Mindfulness, like physical exercise, can sometimes be uncomfortable because it’s about acknowledging all of our experiences, whether pleasant, unpleasant or neutral, so that we can begin to be more deliberate in choosing how we respond and act.

It’s not a panacea, or the only way to reduce stress or increase well-being, nor is it right for everyone.

People on our courses are invited to try out the practices in an open-minded way and to be guided by the evidence of their own experience, continuing with what seems helpful and dropping what doesn’t.

When you register for a course with us, you will be asked a series of questions on the application form that will help us determine whether or not the course is likely to be safe and beneficial for you at this time. In some circumstances, we may suggest that you consider either waiting a while to take the course, or that you explore other options, including more specialist Mindfulness-Based Programmes designed for people experiencing specific difficulties, or support from a doctor or mental health professional.

Practising mindfulness is like a form of exercise for the mind – it’s self-care of the mind, in the same way that eating healthily and staying fit is caring for your physical self.

Although Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) has its roots in a treatment for depression, it has evolved and been adapted into the Mindfulness for Life courses, which aim to improve well-being for everyone.

Mindfulness is for anyone who wants to lead a more aware life, to be more conscious of their decisions and actions and how these impact others and the world they live in.

As with any new skill, there are great advantages to learning and practising with others. An experienced, trained teacher can ensure the course is right for you, answer your questions, make sure you have understood, give you more confidence and generally make learning an easier and more personal experience.

Mindfulness is not a quick fix, something that you pick up and drop when you’ve finished it: it is a way of being, rather than an activity.

Learning on a course is largely through experience and it includes both formal practices (teacher-led meditations) and guidance on how to integrate mindfulness into your everyday life after the course is over.

For formal practices like meditation, it can be helpful to find a regular time that works with your daily routine. But you can be mindful and practise mindfulness anytime, anywhere – when you are standing in line, brushing your teeth or taking a walk, for instance.

Meditation is something you do, whereas mindfulness is a capacity we all have that can be trained and cultivated through meditation (and other practices). Mindfulness meditation, and even the act of remembering to do it, is a part of mindfulness.

No, you can’t. Mindfulness is not a skill you need to strive for or do well at. All you have to do is remember to practise it and bring an attitude of openness and curiosity.

People often think that mindfulness is about relaxing, but it is about being fully aware in the present moment without judgement. Sometimes it is described as “being completely awake”, which is almost the opposite of relaxing.

It is of course possible that feeling more relaxed can be an effect of practising mindfulness, and that your life can start to feel less frantic when you learn to choose how to respond rather than simply reacting. If you’re very tired you might fall asleep during certain formal practices (i.e., teacher-led meditations), but on a course you will learn not to judge yourself for that..!

People sometimes think mindfulness is about emptying the mind or not thinking, but rather it is about paying full attention to our experience in the present moment. The effect of this is to become more aware of our thoughts and feelings without being completely swept up in them, which can free us to think more clearly and make more conscious choices. 

In the modern world, life has many new pressures that can be difficult to cope with: a lot of these are brought by technology, which means we can be working, watching something, being entertained or being marketed to at any hour of the day or night.

We can find ourselves continually distracted, always doing and planning, without the downtime we need, the pauses and space in our daily lives to allow our minds and bodies to recharge. Mindfulness is, in many ways, an antidote to the frantic world we live in, and that’s a factor in its popularity in the 21st century.

If you’d like to find out more, we offer courses, events and mindfulness resources to support your learning.