Mindfulness is a practice that is increasing in prevalence in western society from its beginnings in eastern cultures and from the practices of yoga and meditation. (Kabat Zinn, 2008) It is a practice becoming widely accepted and implemented in numerous disciplines and life areas including medicine, psychology, wellbeing, home, work and education. Of particular interest is the reasoning behind the explosive implementation of mindfulness within educational settings.
Mindfulness can be described as an awareness achieved through purposefully attending to the moment to moment experience (Kabat Zinn, 2008) and paying attention in an open, non-judgmental and caring way (Wallace & Bodhi, 2006). It is the natural human capacity of observing, participation and accepting all of life’s moments in a loving way and from a state of equilibrium. (Albrecht, Albrecht & Cohen, 2012)
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Mindfulness practice can involve formal undertakings such as systemic meditation resembling body scan or walking meditation and yoga or informal activities that occur in the routine of everyday. These informal events require an individual to intentionally accept and discern attention to what they are doing, such as eating, reading a book, or driving (Germer et al, 2005)
Mounting research into mindfulness is providing growing evidence supporting the range of positive outcomes for individuals engaged in mindfulness particularly within emotional, cognitive and attention domains (Napoli, Krech & Holley, 2005) along with positive influence