• are able to live life more fully
• can handle their thoughts, moods and emotions with greater ease
• are better able to relax
• experience greater self-confidence, are less self-critical
• have learned to manage stressful situations more effectively
• feel more connection with themselves, more self-aware
• experience enhanced relationships with others
• can respond creatively to unhelpful patterns: habits of thought and behaviour
• have more focus, improved concentration, greater sense of purpose
• are better able to manage chronic illness and pain
• are more in touch with their creativity
• have more energy and enthusiasm
• experience greater cognitive effectiveness, enhanced working memory
• are kinder, less judgemental, towards themselves and of others
• are more in touch with their values, what is most important to them in life
• have enhanced decision-making capacity

Through engaging in systematic training and simple, regular meditation practices and exercises that support the development of deeper awareness, you can bring the effects into daily living. Once learned and assimilated, the skills are with you for the rest of your life.

However, mindfulness is not a 'quick fix' any more than therapy or counselling. It requires commitment and time.

Other questions you might have:

• what are the benefits of mindfulness?
• who is mindfulness for?
• how is mindfulness learned?
• what are the origins of mindfulness?
• what are MBCT and MBSR?

There are also answers to frequently asked questions for you to read ...

Pretty much anyone willing to apply themselves consistently can benefit from simple practices that deepen their effectiveness through sustained daily application. Whether you have previous meditation experience isn’t important. It is, however, essential that those with a history of trauma only engage in mindfulness practices when supported by a trained and experienced teacher or trainer.

Mindfulness training is increasingly applied to specific situations, such as the management of anxiety, depression, chronic pain and illness, stress and addictive behaviours. The benefits of mindfulness are, however, more far-reaching and profound: enabling us to be more in touch with ourselves, with our potential to live rich and fulfilling lives – more open to new possibilities.

Mindfulness has been taught over the past forty years with great effect in schools, corporate contexts, the judicial system and governmental organisations including the UK Houses of Parliament.

I hope you now have a sense of whether you might benefit from mindfulness. If you are ready to explore mindfulness first-hand and see how it might become part of your life, do look at mindfulness courses and mindfulness days in London.

Other questions you might have:

• what are the benefits of mindfulness?
• how does mindfulness work?
• how is mindfulness learned?
• what are the origins of mindfulness-based approaches?
• what are MBCT and MBSR?

And if you have further questions, do take a look at answers to frequently asked questions ...

You might say mindfulness is caught – through practice – rather than taught.

It’s usually offered as short courses for small groups (typically 8 or 9 weeks) of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), or Mindfulness-Based Stress reduction (MBSR) which are very similar. I am trained and experienced in both.

You’ll be introduced to simple meditation practices and mindfulness exercises to do in your own time.

Home practice between classes is a significant part of the training: following guided meditations and integrating mindfulness practice into everyday activities.

You can set the foundations of your personal mindfulness practice by undertaking a course (usually of 8 or 9 weeks' duration). it's important that you can commit both to the weekly classes, a practice day part way through the course, and - perhaps most important - to developing your own daily practice in between classes.

The approach can also be incorporated into individual counselling and psychotherapy: implicitly and explicitly.

I hope this gives you a sense of how mindfulness skills are developed, and given you an interest in bringing mindfulness into your life. Other questions you might have:

• what are the benefits of mindfulness?
• how does mindfulness work?
• who is mindfulness for?
• what are the origins of mindfulness based approaches?
• what are MBCT and MBSR?

Or read answers to frequently asked questions ...

roots, modern applications, current evidence-based research

There’s a continuous tradition of mindfulness going back thousands of years. Mindfulness itself has no cultural or religious connotations. Entirely secular in content and style – yet coming straight from basic Buddhist principles – the effectiveness of mindfulness is explained by contemporary neuroscientific research, and validated by NICE: the National Institute for Clinical Excellence.

In the 1970s Jon Kabat-Zinn, professor of molecular biology and experienced meditation and yoga practitioner, developed the 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre.

Inspired by this ground-breaking work, research scientists Professor Mark Williams, Dr John Teasdale and Professor Zindel Segal developed Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for the prevention of relapse of depression. This is now a treatment of choice for many people, and recognised as such by many in the medical profession.

Other approaches, closely based on these two models, have evolved through research and practice. Collectively known as mindfulness-based approaches, these are increasingly available as aspects of integrative medicine in public, voluntary and independent settings. Courses aimed specifically at managing chronic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME), as well as preventing addiction relapse and managing some forms of serious mental illness, have been developed through extensive trials and research.

Developmental work and research continues in clinical settings and universities in the UK and internationally – including notably the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice (CMRP), University of Bangor, and at Oxford and Exeter universities.

The approach I generally offer closely follows the MBCT model. I am also trained and experienced in MBSR and the Breathworks programme for chronic pain and illness.

In my experience of teaching hundreds of people over many years, people benefit from this approach irrespective of whether they have experienced episodes of depression in the past: the skills offered are applicable to all aspects of daily life and our responses to it.

I hope this has given you a brief introduction to the origins of mindfulness-based approaches. If you're curious to know more, there are additional sources of information on my resources page.

Other questions you might have:

• what are the benefits of mindfulness?
• how does mindfulness work?
• who is mindfulness for?
• how is mindfulness learned?
• what are MBCT and MBSR?