Mindfulness and Action: The Therapeutic Use of Meditation

Course overview

The study and practice of mindfulness has exploded in popularity during the past twenty years. As an adjunct to counseling and psychotherapy, as a form of meditation, and as an academic discipline, mindfulness has transformed modern thinking about the nature of psychological and physical well-being. A number of different therapeutic approaches have emphasized the importance of "listening" to the messages of the body. This is especially true of therapies incorporating mindfulness and non-judgmental awareness of feelings, thoughts and emotions. This course is designed as a general introduction to the principles of therapeutic meditation. It can also serve as a foundation for more advanced training for those health professionals who are also psychotherapists. The course includes: a discussion of the theoretical foundations of mindfulness and meditation, a demonstration of a meditative sequence, a discussion of the principles underlying this meditative sequence, a case study of a man with a history of multiple addictions and bipolar disorder who underwent and benefitted from training in therapeutic meditation, and an analysis of the case study itself.¿