Workshop 2022
“MINDFULNESS (-BASED COGNITIVE THERAPY) FOR LIFE. ANCIENT WISDOM MEETS MODERN PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD.”
PROFESSOR WILLEM KUYKEN, University of Oxford
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** FRIDAY 21st OCTOBER 2022 **
Full Day In Person Workshop : 9am - 5pm
VENUE : Novotel, Cathedral Square, Christchurch
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** Workshop Summary **
ANZACBT were lucky enough to host a one-day workshop entitled “Mindfulness For Life “presented
by Professor Willem Kuyken on Friday 21 st Oct 2022.
Willem presented an engaging workshop teaching mindfulness as a transformative lifelong practice
linking ancient traditions and modern psychology enabling an understanding of a set of foundational
skills for life. Its application was explored enthusiastically by attendees and many wished this had
been for two days not one!
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PROFESSOR WILLEM KUYKEN
University Of Oxford
FULL DAY WORKSHOP: “MINDFULNESS (-BASED COGNITIVE THERAPY) FOR LIFE. ANCIENT WISDOM MEETS MODERN PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD.”
Professor Willem Kuyken is a research clinical psychologist who earned his PhD from the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, and his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the Salomon’s Clinical Psychology Training Programme. He learned cognitive-behavioural therapy over two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Cognitive Therapy, University of Pennsylvania / Beck Institute, working with Aaron T. Beck. Since the mid-1990s, his training in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy has included: participation in MBCT/MBSR workshops and retreats; supervision with John Teasdale, Trish Bartley and others; and support of his mindfulness practice in the insight/vipassana tradition from Christina Feldman and Catherine McGee.
Since 2014 he has directed the Oxford Mindfulness Centre. Prof Kuyken was awarded the May Davidson award for clinical psychologists who “have made an outstanding contribution to the development of clinical psychology within the first ten years of their work as a qualified clinical psychologist.” He was “grand-fathered” as a Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy.
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"What are you going to with this one wild and precious life?"
A line from the poem Summer Day, by Mary Oliver
The COVID-19 pandemic has made us all reflect on this question. As we emerge from the pandemic, the question of living well in the contemporary world has become a more pressing question. It is the same question that has been a driving force for the development of mindfulness-based programs.
Hundreds of millions of people have been introduced to mindfulness through apps (e.g., Insight Timer, Headspace and Calm), books (e.g., Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World) and tens of thousands through face-to-face mindfulness-based interventions (such as Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy). This workshop will step back to take an overview of the demands of our contemporary world. It will explore the growing field of mindfulness and its applications. What have we learned from research, from developing and teaching mindfulness programs, and from our own mindfulness practice? How can we unlock all that we have learned to create a world without the devastating effects of depression, where people enjoy mental health and well-being and are resourced to meet the challenges of the next 50 years.
We will start by “unpacking” mindfulness, distilling its myriad meanings and offering a practical working definition. The workshop then sets out an approach to teaching mindfulness as a transformative, lifelong practice. It will provide a map and route plan for anyone learning or teaching mindfulness. It draws on the mutuality and dialogue between ancient contemplative traditions and modern psychology to provide a road map, compass and a set of foundational skills for life. More than this, it considers how these skills can help us to flourish in the midst of the challenges of the contemporary world. This synthesis of ancient and modern can clarify intentionality, offer an ethical framework and provide a novel perspective on what it means to be “the change we’d like to see in the world.”
The workshop is based on Willem Kuyken’s research program at the University of Oxford, the 2019 book, co-authored with Christina Feldman Mindfulness. Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Psychology and two forthcoming books on Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for life. Jon Kabat-Zinn has described these ideas as: “A tour de force that elaborates in exquisite detail–yet with utter accessibility and clarity–what mindfulness is and where it comes from, as well as its profound ethical foundation, clinical applications, growing evidence base, and potential for healing.” A large body of research is attests to mindfulness-based cognitive=therapy’s effectiveness in preventing depression, promoting mental health and in the latest randomized controlled trial, enabling flourishing.
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Key Learning Objective
1. What is mindfulness?
2. How can ancient wisdom and modern psychology together help us understand how distress and suffering are created and recreated? How can they help us understand how joy and well-being are created and sustained?
3. How does mindfulness support the path from suffering to flourishing? Is mindfulness a technique or a way of being in the world – or both? How does it enable transformation?
4. What would it take to reconceptualize secular mindfulness training as a transformative lifetime practice that helps people to live in the contemporary world – and more than this to shape the contemporary world in positive ways?
5. What are the important questions around ethics and integrity for mindfulness practitioners, teachers and the wider field? What supports this inquiry?
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Duration & Format / Training Modalities
This workshop is 7 hours and includes morning and afternoon teas, and lunch.
The workshop will include teaching, opportunities for discussion, small group work and mindfulness practice. Extensive resources will be provided.
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Workshop Registration
Pricing
| ANZACBT Full Member | 230 NZD |
| ANZACBT Student Member | 125 NZD |
| Non-Member | 280 NZD ** |
| ** this price includes membership for one year |