Mindfulness over matters
Professor Jon Kabat-Zinn, a renowned proponent of applying the practice of mindfulness in schools, addressed the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) Wednesday evening in Longfellow Hall about the effectiveness of such training in countering the pressures and effects of anxiety, stress, chronic pain, and illness on the body, mind, and brain. The practice of mindfulness, a systematic way of paying attention and cultivating well-being, is becoming an increasingly important tool in education, from top-level leaders to elementary schoolchildren. Mindfulness has been used to promote social and emotional learning in children, to teach college students how to savor the joys and challenges of academic life with calmness and clarity, and to help educational leaders ease work stress and build vital attention skills to stay present and receptive in the moment. Kabat-Zinn is a professor of medicine emeritus and the founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine,...