The History of Mindfulness
In the East Mindfulness has been practised for over 2500 years. Its techniques were used to ease suffering and improve positive qualities such as wisdom, insight and compassion.
After he was banned from Vietnam, the monk Thich Nhat Hanh fled to France and from there introduced the West to the techniques of Mindfulness. During the 1980’s Neuro-biologist dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn applied Mindfulness in a medical setting for patients with chronic pain and psychosomatic complaints. He named his course Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR); a course of 8 weekly 2,5 hour gatherings. The MBSR course has grown more and more in popularity over the years and has been scientifically researched many times- with very encouraging results.
The Mindfulness course at Heartful living uses the MBSR course as a baseline, but does not rigidly follow it. During the Mindfulness course at Heartful living there is room for adjustment to fit the needs and interests of the participants as a group.