Jon Kabat-Zinn will talk about the benefits of mindfulness to relieve stress, in a conference in the Paranimph

Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Academic
(27/04/2016)

On Friday April 29, at 18h, Jon Kabat-Zinn, known worldwide for having introduced mindfulness in the fields of medicine, psychology, schools, entities, prisons and also in sport, will lecture the conference on “Mindfulness and stress” in the Paranimph of the Historical building.

Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Academic
27/04/2016

On Friday April 29, at 18h, Jon Kabat-Zinn, known worldwide for having introduced mindfulness in the fields of medicine, psychology, schools, entities, prisons and also in sport, will lecture the conference on “Mindfulness and stress” in the Paranimph of the Historical building.

 

The event is organized by the Institute of Education Sciences of the University of Barcelona and the teachers from the University of Barcelona, directors of the Master in Relaxation, Meditation and Mindfulness of the institute, Luís López González and Núria Pérez Escoda, to tell the influence of mindfulness on reducing stress “in both scientific and promoting authorities in this field”.

During the conference, Kabat-Zinn will show that focusing the attention on our own body (sensations or breath) and on what we actually do (at the moment) helps our own well-being. It also improves the bodyʼs physiology and psychophysiology. Luís López says that “stress is usually the cause of mental overactivity and overstimulation, and if we know how to focus on what we are doing at the moment, autocontrol mechanisms improve, energy abrasion and stressing substances production decrease. Grey matter in brain regions can increase by practising meditation every day.

Kabat-Zinn has focused his research on mindfulness meditation trainingʼs clinical applications on people with chronic pain and stress-related disorders. Like Luís López says, “thanks to his research work, he was the first to approve of a scientific program to reduce stress- named MBSR: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, which has also been applied to other medical areas (depression, anxiety, cardiopathy, etc.)”. It is an 8 week treatment with the aim of reducing pain and improving physical and emotional well-being. Likewise, he directs workshops on reducing stress and full attention for health professionals, leaders of the business world and other professionals worldwide.

Kabat is emeritus lecturer in Medicine in the University of Massachusetts and the founder of Stress Reduction Clinic and Centre for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health, Care and Society in the same university. In addition, he is Vice-Rector of the Mind and Life Institute. His bibliography is long and there are distinguished works such as Full catastrophe living, Mindfulness Meditation for Everyday Life; Arriving at Your Own Door; Letting Everything Become your Teacher; and Mindfulness for Beginners. 

Mindfulness applied to schools 

Mindfulness has become more and more popular over the last years. During the academic year of 2013-2014 ICE collaborated in the mindfulness coursesʼ organization -applied to education. Today lots of schools have meditation and relaxation activities. Like the director of the Master in Relaxation, Meditation and Mindfulness said, “There is enough evidence to show that it improves the schoolʼs environment, the academic efficiency and emotional skills. Actually, ICEʼs TREVA Program focuses precisely on this. There are also other programs like Yoga at school; Awake schools and Biodance. We recently celebrated the 5th Sessions on Relaxation and Meditation, organized by ICE, and more than 40 schools in Spain are using these techniques”.

Registration period is now closed but the event will be streamed via UBtv and will be available in this link.