Quantum Change Consultants


Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Cognitive Therapy and
Relationship Enhancement

 

About Mindfulness

You might say mindfulness is just “sitting, doing nothing”. That’s kind of an inside joke, but it’s one we want to let you in on. Mindfulness has been described as "the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to things as they are." 1

What we now call "mindfulness" is a mental discipline that is thousands of years old.  While mindfulness practices of various sorts appear in most religious traditions, mindfulness itself is not a sectarian religious practice. Millions of people worldwide practice these kinds of disciplines as a foundation of a satisfying, meaningful, healthy lifestyle.

For around fifty years, western medicine has seriously studied the health benefits of mindfulness. Research and field experience clearly demonstrate the value of mindfulness practice as a therapeutic tool for numerous severe illnesses, and a means to prevent relapse of depression, anxiety and other psychiatric issues. When Jon Kabat-Zinn founded the Stress Reduction Clinic and the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979, mindfulness began to move into the medical mainstream in the United States. Now, over 200 medical centers offer programs utilizing Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction model.

I've personally used these kinds of practices since about 1986. In my work as a counselor and psychotherapist I frequently recommend and teach mindfulness to my clients. Unfortunately, the constraints of clinical practice make it difficult to equip people with an adequate skillset to realize the potential benefits. The mission of this website and the Kluge Center is to make mindfulness practice more easily available locally and to the general public.

 

Larry Malone, MA, LPC

1. Williams, Mark; Teasdale, John; Segal, Zindel; and Kabat-Zinn, Jon. The Mindful Way through Depression, The Guilford Press, 2007