Last week, Brampton launched a six week mindfulness course for both students and staff as part of the college’s wellbeing programme. The course is run by Gidon Fineman, who trained to teach mindfulness at the Oxford University Mindfulness Centre (OMC). He has taught mindfulness courses for Oxford University students, as well as co-teaching on the OMC’s 8-week MBCT course for the general public. You can read more about Gidon here:
https://www.gidonfineman.co.uk/
The course is based on the ‘Finding Peace in a Frantic World’ programme which was developed by the Oxford University Mindfulness Centre, and is an introduction to Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). The course text is: “Mindfulness: a Practical Guide to finding Peace in a Frantic World”, by Prof Mark Williams & Danny Penman.
MBCT brings together, on the one hand, the wisdom of ancient approaches to meditation, alongside a strong evidence-base drawn from contemporary cognitive science. Through mindfulness meditation practices, participants learn approaches to managing and reducing stress, coping with difficulty, and connecting more to moments of joy and appreciation.
The course will explore the essential principles of mindfulness through a combination of guided meditation practices, group discussion and reflection, and cognitive exercises. Between the classes we recommend a home practice of approximately 10-20 minutes per day, which will help participants to integrate mindfulness approaches effectively into everyday life.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is ‘present moment awareness’: the awareness that develops through learning to pay attention on purpose, in the present moment, with curiosity and kindness. The aim of a mindfulness course is to encourage a gradual waking up from living on ‘automatic pilot’ into a more sustained, embodied awareness, and compassionate acceptance of present-moment experience.
Mindfulness training has been proven time and again to improve health and wellbeing. It also helps people to learn more effectively, think more clearly, perform better and to feel calmer, less anxious and less depressed.
To find out more about the latest mindfulness research, see:
http://franticworld.com/what-can-mindfulness-do-for-you/
For further details on research regarding mindfulness and education, see:
https://mindfulnessinschools.org/
