Upcoming events

Covid 19 - Public Health Emergency update. Courses and group meetings have now resumed at The River Rooms - Bideford with limited numbers. Please see courses page for more information.

Testimonial

" I would recommend this course to anyone who would like to be more in touch with the present moment" "I am so pleased I have done this course, I am now looking forward to the future!"

Testimonial

"I have a calmness about me now that wasn't there before"

Testimonial

" The MBSR course with James has changed my life. I am more at peace in my body and mind"

Testimonial

"The course more than met my expectations. James really helped me see the benefit of daily meditation"

The evidence

Graph showing the number of scientific Mindfulness article published from 1980 -2018

 

 

 

 

 

Does Mindfulness meditation work?                The increasing evidence

Does Mindfulness meditation work? - Well one of the really exciting things about Mindfulness meditation is the increasing evidence pointing to the very real benefits that can be gained with sustained or even relatively short term practice.  A good illustration of the interest in  Mindfulness practices shown by the scientific community is shown in the graph of Mindfulness Journal Publications from 1980 - 2018

Mindfulness has established a strong credibility in the health field. Since 2009 it has been written into the NICE guidelines for treatment of depression.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent public body that provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care in England.

Many large organisations, such as,  Google, Time Warner, Apple, AstraZeneca, BT, Deutsche Bank, IBM, McKinsey, Procter and Gamble, Reebok,  and many others have run or are running mindfulness programmes. In the UK, MBSR is being piloted in schools, and in government, the prison system and for unemployed people.

The Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group (MAPPG) was set up in 2014 with the stated purpose:

To review research evidence, current best practice, extent and success of implementation, and potential developments in the application of mindfulness within a range of policy areas, and to develop policy recommendations for government based on these findings.

Please click on the above text for more information and access to publications by the Mindfulness Initiative.

WHAT IS NEUROPLASTICITY?

 

Amazingly, our brains are constantly being shaped by our experiences. Most of us have very different behaviours and thoughts today than we did 20 years ago.  Imagine the differences in how you feel and behave now compareed to when you were younger or even a child. This shift is neuroplasticity in action; changes in brain structure and organisation as we experience, learn, and adapt.
With every repetition of a thought or emotion, we reinforce a neural pathway - and with each new thought, we begin to create a new way of being. These small changes, frequently enough repeated, lead to changes in how our brains work.

Neurones that fire together, wire together

Neuroplasticity is the 'muscle building' part of the brain; the things we do often we become stronger at, and what we don’t use fades away. That is the physical basis of why making a thought or action over and over again increases its power.
Below are two short videos that explain in very accessible terms how this process works.

If you are asking does Mindfulness meditation really work and are keen to find out more information through research based papers, then I highly recommend you follow this link, Scholarly articles for MBSR' as a springboard to a catalogue of journal articles ranging in topic from, Mindfulness in the workplace, to the clinical applications of Mindfulness relating to Stress, Autism, ADHD and research into the clinical applications of many other specific conditions.

Finally a very interesting article 'Minfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density' (Psychiatry Res. 2011 Jan 30; 191(1): 36–43.) contains , as part of its conclusion, the statement:

Demonstrating morphological increases in regions associated with mental health, the data presented here suggest a plausible underlying neural mechanism, namely, that such increases represent enduring changes in brain structure that could support improved mental functioning.

Happy hunting!