Meet: Jon Kabat-Zinn

I trained and studied mindfulness meditation under the direction of Jon Kabat-Zinn- who himself, started meditating in his college days at MIT in the 60′s. He then founded the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and has written several books on mindfulness meditation including his latest book titled, “Mindfulness for Beginners”. Last week, he was interviewed by Time Magazine and discussed bringing the technique to the medical world.

“Any way you feel like beginning it is good. The important thing to understand is that it’s not about a particular method or technique. The real way to start is to be open to experimenting or playing with the possibility of noticing what you’re experiencing in this moment and not to try to feel differently. Most people think that to meditate, I should feel a particular special something, and if I don’t, then I must be doing something wrong.

That is a common but incorrect view of meditation. Mindfulness is not about getting anywhere else — it’s about being where you are and knowing it. We are talking about awareness itself: a whole repertoire of ways of knowing that virtually all come through the senses.

My working definition of mindfulness is the awareness that arises through paying attention on purpose in the present moment — non-judgmentally. And the non-judgmental part is the kicker, because we’ve got ideas and opinions about virtually everything. Our consciousness is almost always colored by our likes and dislikes. All highly conditioned, habitual behaviors really comes down to this: do I like it or not, do I want more or do I want to escape? That’s all going on below the surface of awareness and it runs our lives.”

For the full Time interview and article, read more here.