In this video, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn explains why the cultivation of moment to moment non-judgmental awareness can be a powerful antidote to worry, fear or depression. This is his definition of mindfulness. It is cultivated by paying attention as if you life depended upon it.
He says that “We have to remember that we are only alive in THIS moment.”
But our minds are planning or worrying or in the past. Thus we fall into depressive rumination.
Dr. Kabat-Zinn outlined the program of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) which he founded in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. The program includes meditation and yoga and is about the following:
- Learning to stop, still the body, and observer what is going on in both body and mind
- Cultivating intimacy with the present moment as it is
- Stopping is a radical act
- Ultimately, an act of self-compassion and wisdom
- The discover of awareness and wakefulness
He spoke at the 2006 Forum for Buddhism and Medicine in Montpellier, France.
This post is in honor of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s 69th birthday. Happy Birthday Jon!
Click Like if you would like to wish Jon Kabat-Zinn a Happy Continuation Day!
