Mindfulness is a way to live your life as if it really mattered.

-Jon Kabat-Zinn

Why Mindfulness?

Mindfulness as practiced in Western contexts is based on the work of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and colleagues at the UMass Medical Center, but draws on elements of Buddhist tradition filtered through a Western mental health lens.

Mindfulness-based therapy gives you more than just relaxation techniques, it’s a structured program to build self-awareness and learn a different way of being.

Mindfulness helps to calm and focus our minds, which in turn allows us to see ourselves and our ways of thinking more clearly. We learn to see where we slip into auto-pilot, and can instead choose to shift our focus. Or we begin to notice our self-critical, limited thinking (“I’m not good enough”) and respond in a way that allows access to more adaptive responses. We learn to stop resisting life as it is and to work with it to accomplish our goals more easily and effectively.

Mindfulness skills training allows you to:

  • be present – for yourself and others

  • strengthen focus, calm, and mental flexibility

  • shift self-defeating thoughts and habits

  • manage difficult emotions without getting overwhelmed

  • work with pain or illness, even the kind that won’t go away

  • build resilience for facing personal challenges

  • cultivate patience and self-compassion

  • develop empathy and effective communication with others

  • relax and enjoy life

Jon Kabat-Zinn, who was part of the movement to bring mindfulness from Eastern philosophy into Western mental health, describes what mindfulness is.

Mindfulness-based therapy is an opportunity to learn to create space from the clamor in your mind, notice and let go of old loops, and practice nonjudgmental acceptance of complex thoughts and feelings. We’ll use mindfulness to approach your experiences with tender curiosity and radical compassion, and build skills you can use every day to manage the ups and downs we all inevitably face. There is the option to build mindfulness skills in therapy or through coaching, depending on your needs. If you are interested in learning more about this approach or scheduling a time to meet, reach out here: