Different types of 8 week courses

[calm_one]

Hello,

Did anyone watch the horizons program on BBC2 the other day? It was about a reporter who just wasn't a happy person and was a worrier but couldn't be classed as depressed.

He set out to make himself happy! Cut a long story short he did! Using mindfulness, however he was doing a course by an ex monk who runs Headspace. All he had to do was do mindful meditation for 10 min per day. And that was it! I'm assuming the simplified it but he just said 10 min per day focusing on his breath and he did get happier, even brain scans backed it up.

The 8 week course I'm going seems far more intense, I'm only on week 1 but from what I've read there are many meditation I'll learn, not just the 10 min mindfulness of breath, which is all the reporter seemed to do. Its the finding peace on that is also on this forum that I'm doing.

Could it be the program just missing a lot out, but just wanted your opinions on it?

Thanks

[piedwagtail91]

our mindfulness course has much longer meditations, 40 minute sitting and body scans, most of the rest are around 20 minutes.
these are all guided in the two hour sessions and then given out on cd as homework.
we always have an inquiry after to talk through any thoughts or difficulties people might have.
it is intense. i've worked on 4 courses in the last 12 months, some don't get it , some can't fit the practice in but most do and the change is noticeable.

[JonW]

I've no doubt that less intensive courses can be beneficial to one degree or another.
However, the 8-week course as devised by Jon Kabat-Zinn and further calibrated by Mark Williams & Danny Penman is set up to provide one not only with a solid grounding in mindfulness but also to sustain one in the long term.
There are no absolutes here. I certainly wouldn't dissuade anyone from doing a Headspace course like the one you describe. But, if they were asking my advice on the best course to take, based on my own experience, I'd have no hesitation in recommending the Kabat-Zinn/Williams model which, for me, takes you right into the heart of mindfulness in a way that is potentially life-changing. It's intensive for good reason. Because it works. And has been working for people for 35 years.
But that's just my opinion.

[piedwagtail91]

what jon says, it's what ours is based on.

[calm_one]

That's great, so even if it takes me a while to get used to the various practice's the fact I'm sitting for 20 a day will help anyway!

Had a really lovely meditation at lunch, I felt a deep connection during the initial body scan at the start of the 8 min body and breath!

[JonW]

If twenty minutes a day is working for you, that's great.
It's worth repeating Kabat-Zinn's line that, "The ninth week of the course is the rest of your life."
After completing the course, it's left to you to decide how you want to continue practicing. If you choose only to continue with the sitting meditations, that's fine. Ditto the body scan and the yoga. Or mix and match. Whatever works for you.
I would guess though that most mindfulness practitioners would say that daily practice is key. Without regular practice, one is inclined to become less mindful and, naturally, old habits (compulsive worrying etc.) will resurface.
Sounds like you're really warming to it, Calm_One, that's so good to hear.

[piedwagtail91]

"Or mix and match. Whatever works for you.
I would guess though that most mindfulness practitioners would say that daily practice is key. Without regular practice, one is inclined to become less mindful and, naturally, old habits (compulsive worrying etc.) will resurface."

yes, daily practice is what matters. it's got to be what works for you.

[Gareth]

Whatever works for you is very sound advice I reckon.

I personally never attended a mindfulness course. I was extremely stressed, and read that meditation was good for stress relief. I just kept meditating, and after a while the benefits started to become clear to me. Meditating is quite tricky at first, especially if you have never done anything like it before. I started at 5 minutes per day and added a minute whenever I felt ready. This kind of low-pressure steady approach worked very well for me, and I'm a little bit reticent at telling people to meditate for x amount of minutes per day. What's important to me is that you practise for however long you need to or feel able to.

That said, mindfulness is a a really tricky concept to get your head around, so a course with the support that that provides is undoubtedly extremely beneficial for many people.

If you are on a course, then you can't go far wrong. Go along, keep practising and let us know how you get on.

[calm_one]

Thanks for the replies! I'm starting week 2 on Monday. After a couple of days its really easy to fit the practices in

Quite looking forward to the befriending meditation later on.

[barbs55]

Just for information, the Headspace 10 minute mindfulness of breath is only the start of the Headspace course (mentioned in Horizon) which is 365 days long ( I know as I've just completed it!) with a different guided meditation every day, all about 20 minutes or so. Eventually you are doing more and more of it unguided as the course goes on, and it includes specific meditation techniques, which are taught as the course progresses, such as self-compassion, or visualisation. I cannot recommend it too highly; it has changed my life. I don't think I would have got on so well with learning to meditate if I had not had Andy Puddicombe's voice guiding me through each technique and supporting the process by answering questions, offering guidance with common problems, and so on, at the beginning and end of each meditation.