EXPERIENCEAL Stress Reduction programmes: Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn's Protocol on the Mindfulness of the Protocol

Mindfulness is a programme: an inner discipline to learn to welcome and undertake with awareness the implicit challenges in taking care of ourselves and in helping others.

Mindfulness means "awareness" that emerges from paying attention in a particular way: intentionally, in the present moment and in a non-judged way (Kabat-Zinn, 1990).

It is not a technique but an innate quality that we can awaken, a particular state of presence that allows us to establish a more intimate and profound relationship with our experiences, with particular attention to those painful and/or stressful that affect our lives.

Stress and distress are fuelled by internal conditions, habitual reactions, and negative thoughts and emotions that reinforce one another in vicious cycles, eventually creating chronic ill health.

In Mindfulness we develop a new way of being in experience, thanks to a deeper contact with our body, our heart and our mind.

Mindfulness can deepen awareness of the body, improve our ability to regulate emotions, and foster a more empathic and less judgemental relationship with ourselves and others. It can build self-confidence, reconnect us with the deeper resources of body, mind and heart, and loosen the grip of persistent thoughts.

The programme is for all of us. We all encounter the intensity and discomfort of human experience, whether through serious events or the increasingly common pressures of an extremely busy life. We all long to discover new ways of reconnecting with our most authentic self and enjoying more fully what life has to offer.

The constant pressure to be hyperactive and multitask can create stress, contributing to sleep, attention and eating disorders; difficulty slowing down and enjoying life; agitation, anxiety, restlessness, depression and recurring thoughts; and a wide range of related physical conditions.

The practice of awareness promotes a conscious approach to the origins of stress and helps to recognize the causes of their mental automatisms and reduce their usual automatic involvement.

The therapeutic and liberating power of this state of mindful awareness is increasingly at the centre of scientific interest and research in psychology, medicine and education.

The programme was developed by Prof. Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusets (USA), integrating contributions from avant-garde studies on mind-body relationship, awareness development models and traditional meditation practices (in particular Vipassana).

It has a trial of over 30 years and is the experience with greater scientific validations of the clinical, preventive and rehabilitation applications of Mindfulness.

Numerous studies have recognized Mindfulness's ability to improve the integrative functions of the prefrontal cortex (involved in processes of body regulation, interpersonal tuning, emotional stability and flexibility in responding to events) and to strengthen the entire psycho-physical balance with positive repercussions on the functioning of the immune system.

Specific benefits have been found in diseases such as chronic pain, cardiovascular disease and hypertension, chronic and degenerative diseases, sleep disorders, eating disorders, headaches, depression, anxiety disorders and panic attacks.

The programme consists of eight weekly group sessions, each lasting approximately two and a half hours, plus one full-day session.

During the sessions, silence is maintained, excluding moments of free sharing.

The activities of the course include:

• guided practices of meditation.
• Bodywareness exercises.
• Conscious communication exercises carried out in small groups or diadiums.
• Spaces sharing your experience.
• Exercises to promote awareness in everyday life.
• Daily practice with audio and paper aids to support.

DURING TRAINING WE WILL DEVELOP THE CAPACITY OF:

• Get in touch with your inner experiences.
• To observe and understand one's own automatisms.
• To welcome and address difficult situations causing stress.
• Manage the emotions and flow of recurring thoughts.
• Cultivate unjudgmental attention.
• Take care of yourself.

The course helps us cultivate new ways of being and relating to ourselves, to others and to life events. These can be practised and explored long after the programme has ended.