Mindfulness Based Approaches in the West are constantly evolving and developing.

The first programme in the West, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme was developed by Dr Jon Kabat Zinn and his colleagues in 1979 at the University of Massachusets Medical School to help people with a range of medical and mental health problems. It has been successfully implemented in a range of setting including hospital, educational settings and prisons around the world.Interest has continued to grow steadily and evidence based research shows the MBSR is effective in helping people with a range of health conditions such as chronic pain, fatigue, cancer, diabetes and also general life stress including anxiety and depression.  

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) was developed by UK research scientists Professor Mark Williams and Dr John Teasdale, together with their Canadian colleagues Zindel & Segal. MBCT is recommended by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) as a preventative treatment for the recurrence of depression.The cognitive-behavioural aspects of the MBCT programme help participants explore a different relationship to their thinking patterns, and develop self-care at times of potential relapse.

MBCT was evaluated in clinical trials and results are compelling. MBCT was found to roughly halve rates of relapse compared with control groups. The programme is now recommended by the MBCT has also been shown to be of benefit to people with other conditions, such as anxiety and stress, heart disease, high blood pressure, CFS and Diabetes.

Mindfulness for Life (sometimes referred to as MBCT-L) is a course developed by Oxford University and other leading research centres. It has two main intentions: to offer you some skills to meet life’s challenges and difficulties, both internal and external; as well as skills to develop more awareness and appreciation of the pleasant moments in life that we can often overlook. In other words, to respond more skilfully to all of life’s inevitable ups and downs an dis suitable for anyone looking to live their life with more kindness and ease.