1) The document discusses mindfulness and meditation. It provides definitions of mindfulness, outlines the origins and science behind mindfulness, and describes the benefits of mindfulness and meditation. 2) The document is authored by someone with 15 years of meditation experience and advanced degrees related to religious studies and western esotericism. 3) The key benefits discussed are reductions in stress, anxiety, depression and improvements to focus, relationships, creativity, and overall well-being and happiness. Meditation is presented as a way to train attention and awareness.

1. Who am I?
● 15 years of Meditation Practice
● BA in Religious Studies
● MA in Western Esotericism
● Diploma in Mindfulness, Meditation &
Relaxation
● www.myfreemind.im

4. What is Mindfulness?

5. Mindful (Definition)
● Attentive or heedful
● Keeping aware
● Bearing in mind
● “While thus unmindful of his steps he
stumbled”
- George Bernard Shaw.

6. Paying attention on purpose
- Jon Kabat-Zinn (1944-)

7. The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a
wandering attention over and over again, is
the very root of judgement, character and
will […] An education which should
improve this faculty would be the
education par excellance.
- William James (1842-1910)

8. Mindfulness is to be fully
human, fully present, fully
here and now.

9. ● We spend all our lives stuck in our ideas
about how we think things should be that
we are constantly missing how things
actually are.
● Why would we want to see how things
actually are? Because they are like it
whether we like it or not.
● We let go of fixed ideas and rest in the
present moment.

10. What's so interesting about Now?

11. Origins of Mindfulness

12. All the worlds cultures are now available to
us […] Knowledge is now global. This means
that, also for the first time, the sum total of
human knowledge is available to us – the
knowledge, experience, wisdom and
reflections of all human civilisations –
premodern, modern and postmodern – are
open to study by anyone.
- Ken Wilber (1949-)

13. ● Vipassana means to see things as they
really are (rather than how you think
they should be).
● It cultivates attention so we can observe
our thoughts and compassion so that
we can accept them.
● Modern Mindfulness is the fusion of
ancient practical wisdom & modern
science.

14. Mindfulness & Modern Audiences
● Available to anyone
● Practice based with simple techniques
● No beliefs or lifestyle changes required
● Places responsibility for your life in your
own hands
● Backed up by scientific research

15. Who Meditates?

16. ● Olympic Athletes
● Soldiers, CIA and the Military
● Google and other Multinational Corporations
● Schools and Education programmes
● Hospitals
● Prisons
● Scientists
● Politicians
● Anyone interested in more skilful ways to relate
to their thoughts, feelings and emotions

17. The Science of Happiness

18. Neuroscience & Meditation
● Neuroplasticity: The Dynamic Brain
● The brain changes based on how it is used
● If you are stressed on a daily basis you are
hardwiring your brain for stress
● What we pay attention to is what we feed the
brain
● How we use our brain on a daily basis effects how
we use our minds and how we use our minds (i.e.
what we think) effects our brain
● So how are we using our minds?

19. You can't stop you're brain from changing.
The only question is: are you getting the
changes you want?
- Rick Hanson

20. Mindfulness & Medicine
● 300-400 scientific papers on Mindfulness are
published each year
● The evidence shows it to be effective for a wide
range of issues
● Mindfulness is now recommended by Gp's and
the NHS
● Almost three quarters of Gp's think it would be
beneficial for all patients to learn Mindfulness
skills
almost three-quarters of GPs think it would be beneficial for all patients to learn mindfulness meditation skills.

21. The Benefits of Mindfulness

22. ● It produces long-term positive changes in the shape of your
brain
● reduces chronic pain, anxiety & depression, prevents relapse
& improves emotional disposition
● Boosts immune system
● Reduces effects of skin diseases like psoriasis
● Improves relationships
● Increases self-awareness
● Enhances focus, concentration and performance
● Enhances creativity
● Combats the ageing of the brain
● Improves memory
● Helps with sleep
● Mindfulness Meditators are happier than non-meditators
● Can help you become more compassionate and understanding

23. Why Meditate?
● Why meditate rather than go to the gym?
● Meditation is the only activity where we are
consciously choosing to do nothing.
● It is the only activity where we can observe the
mind without using the mind.
● As the volume of our thoughts becomes less,
our natural stillness of mind begins to take
over.

24. To Think or Not to Think
● Thinking is the default setting of the mind
● Without thinking, how would we live?
● Meditation is not about trying to stop thinking
altogether but to discover a new relationship to
our thoughts.
● Mindfulness of thoughts leads to Mindful
thinking

25. Exercise 1:
The 3 Zones of Awareness

26. Where do we spend 99% of our time?
In the present moment or in the
thoughts about the present moment?

27. Where is your attention?

28. Attention is you greatest
commodity. Where it goes, your
life goes.

29. Can you change the past?

30. Can you predict the future?

31. The whole of human suffering can
be boiled down to the fact that we
spend most of our lives treating
ideas about reality to be reality
itself.

32. We live in a constant state of fight or
flight, anticipating situations which
just don't exist outside of our thoughts
about them.

33. How to Meditate

34. How to Meditate
● Attitude: Relaxed & open, non-
judgemental, beginners mind
● Posture: Sit up straight & pay
attention
● Awareness of breath
● 10 Minute Meditation

35. How Sweet it Tasted!

36. There is surely nothing other than than the
singular purpose of the present moment. A
man's whole life is a succession of moment
after moment. If one fully understands the
present moment, the will be nothing else to
do, and nothing else to pursue.
- Yamamoto Tsunetomo

37. What's so important about the
body?

38. ● We spend most of our time living from the neck up.
● We relate to ourselves through a veil of ideas, beliefs
and concepts rather than our raw moment to moment
experience
● When we live disconnected from our sensations and
emotions we feel disconnected, isolated, unreal
● When we feel alive we naturally feel happy & content
& at peace with ourselves.
● Paying attention to our raw experience can transform
the way we relate to ourselves

39. Compassion & Loving Kindness

40. ● In the East, Mind and heart are
interchangeable. To practice mindfulness is
to practice 'heartfulness'
● Without cultivating compassion, self-
acceptance, understanding, tolerance and
patience we cannot have peace of mind
● When we truly understand ourselves we
truly understand others
● Compassion fatigue in the news

41. Care and compassion are what matter
most. We respond with humanity and
kindness to each person's pain.
- NHS Constitution
Healing empathy.
- Prince Charles

42. We cannot fake compassion,
empathy and understanding, but we
can grow it.
We remove emotional & mental
obstacles not by opposing them but
by loving them to death.

43. Guided Loving Kindness
Meditation

44. Conclusion
● We can train our attention to be here and now
● Where our attention goes, our life goes
● We can reprogramme the brain with happiness rather than
fear, insecurity & stress.
● We enjoy a more expansive & free life, deeply connected with
our raw physical sensations
● We discover the natural peace of awareness
● We increase our compassion for ourselves and all other beings
● We become more resilient to the ups and downs of being
human
● Mindfulness is a daily practice, not a miracle cure
● From practice comes deep insight which then informs our
practice further. This is an upward spiral of understanding.