Mindfulness and Educational Psychology: A review of two conferences

Abstract

This article reviews two conferences on ‘mindfulness’, a quality of awareness that arises when the attention is purposefully and non-judgementally focused upon present moment events (Kabat-Zinn, 2003). This unique quality of consciousness is developed by cultivating an attitude of curiosity, acceptance and openness and then focusing this on events in the immediate present (Bishop et al., 2004; Brown, Ryan & Creswell, 2007). The synthesis of compassion and awareness has a broad range of therapeutic implications including to reduce levels of stress or ruminative thoughts that may lead to depression and to increase levels of attention and general well-being (Siegel et al., 2009). Firstly, there was the University of East London (UEL) conference, entitled ‘Mindfulness and Well-Being: From Neuroscience to Spirituality’ held in Stratford at UEL on 21–22 November 2009. Secondly, the Tonbridge, ‘Mindfulness in Schools’, conference was held in Tonbridge, at Tonbridge School, on 11 March 2010. Both were the first of their kind in the country to focus on mindfulness. The UEL conference took a more theoretical approach and considered applications for adults, in a range of settings, while the Tonbridge conference focused on the practical application of mindfulness in a school-based setting with adolescent boys. The article discusses these events and offers a range of possible implications for educational psychologists.