There is an article in today's Times about the first school in England to teach mindfulness to pupils as a regular part of the curriculum. The Course has been designed in conjunction with Mark Williams, director of the Mindfulness Centre at Oxford, who collaborated with Jon Kabat Zinn on the book The Mindful way through Depression. The article summarizes the Course objectives as follows:
The course develops exercises to help to improve attention — rather than allowing the mind to be “hijacked” by emotional issues, regrets, worries about the past and future and other distractions. This can be done in a number of ways, such as by focusing on breathing, parts of the body or movement.
Mindfulness originated in Eastern meditation traditions such as Buddhism but is now an established secular discipline. A growing body of research supports wider use of the approach to address transient stress and deeper mental health problems, including recommendations from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence that it be offered on the NHS to patients suffering from depression.
The article is interesting. It can be found here : www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6984113.ece
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