Mindfulness - our approach
One quick web-search for ‘mindfulness’ will tell you there are many approaches to being mindful. This search will also point to the rapidly growing evidence of the mental and health benefits of mindfulness practices.
My approach to mindfulness is derived from same core teachings that led to the development of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), a program that originated 1979 at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The developer of the MBSR program studied at the Insight Meditation Society which was co-founded by my teacher Jack Kornfield.
My understanding is that there are two complementary aspects of mindfulness that help make it beneficial.
The first aspect is awareness.
By practicing meditation, you are training the mind for better focus, concentration, and understanding about the way your minds processes information. This includes information coming in from the outside and information generate by the mind. As a result, you come to understand yourself at an increasingly deep level.
The second aspect is acceptance.
As a vital part of practice, you learn to generate care and compassion towards your relationship with yourself and others. You learn how to work with life’s most difficult challenges with an understanding heart.
However, unlike other types of knowledge, mindfulness is a skill and habit that must be learned and practiced. Although just knowing about it is not enough, recent research has shown that as little as 10 minutes a day can change the way the brain is wired.
"The goal at Windborne Ways is to bring mindfulness practices into your life through teaching and supporting your practice and growth."