Jon Kabat-Zinn – The Deeper Dimensions of Mindfulness
Jon Kabat-Zinn – The Deeper Dimensions of Mindfulness
Jon Kabat-Zinn is a Professor of Medicine Emeritus, mindfulness teacher, bestselling author and founder of the groundbreaking Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. He is the founding Executive Director of the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Jon has received numerous awards for his work on MBSR such as the Interface Foundation Career Achievement Award and the New York Open Center’s 10th Year Anniversary Achievement in Medicine and Health Award in 1994; the Art, Science and Soul of Healing Award from the Institute of Health and Healing, California Pacific Medical Center in 1998; the 2nd Trailblazer Award for pioneering work in the field of integrative medicine by the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in 2001; the Distinguished Friend Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies in 2005; and, an Inaugural Pioneer in Integrative Medicine Award from the Bravewell Philanthropic Collaborative for Integrative Medicine in 2007. Jon has been a pioneer in making mindfulness mainstream.
In this interview Jon touches in on the deeper dimensions of mindfulness practice and the ‘self realisation’ that unfolds as a result of the practice. He clears up some common misconceptions about mindfulness and invites us to know for ourselves the sacredness that is inherent in this present moment (If we’ll only wake up to it).
He also answers the question “Is there a right way to practice” or a “right tradition” and gives wise advice on dealing with one of the biggest challenges in awakening.
Listen to Jon Kabat-Zinn here
Show Notes
Join The Mindfulness Summit Journey here
Come and join the community discussions at any time on our Facebook page
Here is a link to all of Jon’s books
You can find out more about the Center For Mindfulness here
A link to Eckhart Tolle’s Book ‘The Power of Now’
Check out Melli’s blog, events and retreats at MrsMindfulness.com
Audio
Video
Transcript
Buy full access pass
Purchase a full access pass to unlock downloads for the full interview transcripts, audio, video and separate audio meditation tracks.
Buy full access pass
Purchase a full access pass to unlock downloads for the full interview transcripts, audio, video and separate audio meditation tracks.
Buy full access pass
Purchase a full access pass to unlock downloads for the full interview transcripts, audio, video and separate audio meditation tracks.
Leave a Comment
About Post Author
489 Responses
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Thank you so much Mellie for this wonderful event. I have learned so much! Many thanks to you and your team.
I have to be at a funeral today so will miss the live stream today – will it be recorded and available later?
Please do record the live meditation session scheduled for 5PM Eastern tonight. I have trick-or-treat duty with my grandchildren tonight and cannot attend. I have not missed one day of the Mindfulness Summit and thank all of you for the fine work you have done!
Thank you for this entire event. I bow to you. Career change in store for me now. Thank you thsnk you thank you. Namaste and much love. Jenna
Mahalo nui loa for your kokua Mellie for this amazing Mindfulness program, i truly had a wonderful time in learning from all the wonderful speakers thru this journey that you were able provides us with, Thank you !!! Thank you!! and look for ward to the live stream event.
Nothing but respect and love for you Melli!
You are a very kind and sweet person, espacially when you don’t finish your question and switch in the middle of the sentence 😉
Greetings from Amsterdam
Want to add one small note of joy that we’ve shared this 31 days of special experience. Amazing that we have shared across the miles and different traditions and individual experiences to have a special connection. Will it make a huge difference to the world? It doesn’t have to. A seed has been planted. Let it flourish and come to beauty as it will. Thanks to all for the sharing.
THANK YOU.
I’m adding my love to all that you have wrote.
Thank you Mellie and all the team!!!
Much LOVE and APPRECIATION
Words are not enough to describe the amazing work that you have done.
Please continue!
Sending you much LOVE and HUGS from a distance country
But a very close FRIENDSHIP!
I’m with the Mindful revolution!
WE LOVE YOU MELLI !! 🙂 Thank you for this beautiful gift of sharing–powerful speakers, powerful meditations. I have gained so much and will take this with me into the next part of my journey. Can’t wait to “see” everyone later. <3
p.s. a website just launched last week, https://app.amplifield.com/ ,connects in real time across the globe, intentions and meditations that can be shared and amplified. just passing it on…
Thank you, Melli and Jon, for a deeply resonant conversation. Thank you Melli for your hard work bringing this Summit into being. My life is the same and yet changed, from this gentle (and sometimes not, eh Sam Harris?) push and pull into the the breathing and practice and living of mindfulness. My heart is full.
Dearest Melli, Matt and all the speakers at this summit, Pranam to you all , heartfelt and deep thanks and of course huge Congratulations on this huge achievement of organising, running and finalising this amazing mindfulness summit!!! Thank you deeply and kindly to all the other participants (summiteers!) for without your following this summit, there would not have been a summit, well at least not as huge and successful as this one – engaging 1/4 million people!
I have been meditating for a few decades in my life, am versed in Ayurveda and Yoga and found myself truly immersed in this summit and eagerly followed it daily over the last 31 days. I was humbled by the sheer dedication and the amount of love and hard labour that went into this summit by all the participants but especially Melli and her partner Matt. THANK YOU!!!
From all the teachings collected at this summit and from my personal experience with meditation to date , I will take away with me the following: From now on my daily life routine: will start with: ” I am alive and my life is not just the list of ‘to do today’ things.” Instead, my life on a daily basis would consist of:
– waking up being grateful and in wonder for the new day in my life and being curious whatever it will bring for me whether good or bad as everything is a learning experience anyway
– not being immediately on ‘autopilot’ I.e. where I mindlessly go to the bathroom and brush my teeth have breakfast and go to work
– recognising my bodily needs and caring for my body as I only have this one body and this body that I have is the temple of my Soul so I really try to look after it the best I can – bringing in the ‘loving kindness’ whenever necessary
– recognising and acknowledging the love in my partner’s eyes, my children’s eyes, my friend’s eyes etc.
– being mindful as much as possible throughout the day of all my actions and checking if I am being ‘reactive’ rather than ‘responsive’ in my actions
– being mindful of the words ‘my’ and ‘I’ and how I use them, thus ‘my success’, ‘my depression’, ‘my past’, ‘my future’, ‘my relationships’, ‘my whatever’, ‘I feel trapped’, ‘I feel sad’, ‘I feel this and that’ is minuscule AS who I really am is much bigger than this
– being mindful of pausing/stopping every so often just for a moment in my daily chores and instead of DOING, just become BEING
– being aware that unsatisfactoriness in my life becomes very painful/unsustainable and allowing space of acceptance for this unsatisfactoriness whilst at the same time also bringing in the loving kindness to myself to help me transcend/heal the unsatisfactoriness.
– being aware that ‘my sadness’ is just the emotion SAD
– being aware that ‘my headache’ is just the experience of suffering
– being aware that life itself is a school or curriculum for me to learn from
– recognising that ‘I’ is really an observer and that the true self is doing and being
– recognising that mindfulness is not just a sideline to get my life together but that it is actually part of my daily life
– recognising that for most of my life I have been living on autopilot, so was ‘dead’ to my life and thus to my freedom/liberation
– recognising my relationship with my body, thoughts, emotions, pain, suffering but also clarity, greater wisdom, compassion, humility, grace, sanity, interconnectedness with all others
– being aware to be mindful to live my life from MOMENT to MOMENT and not from my meditation practice to my meditation practice
– being aware that mindfulness provides me with immense potential from wisdom and transformation
– being aware that mindfulness will allow me to act out of wisdom and clarity rather than out of grasping which leads to suffering
– being aware that mindfulness is sacred and innate in all of us
– being mindful that conversation/communication is just TALK/WORDS unless there is RESONANCE there that resonates with the core of the other person/s in that conversation/communication
In all honesty, as per my own belief at least, before we reincarnated on Earth we all made a pledge to God/our Creator that we shall remember where we came from but life is such that we forget and consequently suffer. Dharma, or true life teachings, teach us how to reconnect to this source through meditation/mindfulness and lead a full life of happiness and bliss (our birthright) and even if there is a horrific situation in our life, it teaches us how to respond to it wit resilience as an observer rather than just react to it as a doer.
Once again, profound and deep thanks and deeply grateful and heartfelt appreciation to Melli, Matt and all the speakers in this amazing summit. Your own compassion and labour of love is clearly shining through on all levels of human consciousness…
With love, light and grace to all,
Dr (Mrs) Dana Bezanov-Urban (London, UK)
Sent from my iPad
thank you so much ….this summit has changed me …. and the way i will be in this world, in a good way of course. I have already signed up for an 8 week mindfulness course which i will start in the new year. this was such a blessing that you and all your speakers have given the world ….I know it was not your intention but I know you and your speakers will truly be blessed.
“Inner-Peace Activist.” Brilliant, and true. There are angels on this earth (human ones). Thank you for reminding me of that. Be Well. Blessings. Darren
Thank you x I missed most of it -and so felt I wasn’t part of the mindfulness summit journey but now after watching that I feel part of it/ connected x I believe you have made mindfulness accessible to many more people and that is a very precious gift x thank you x
Thank you!
Melli. I have watched all the videos, done the challenges, enjoyed the meditations and feel sad to be at the end. Every morning I woke up, had a cup of coffee and watched the lecture before work, making a happy day. My solace is the many books I will read from the speakers, and the encouragement to go on and find a “live” community to practice with in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. See you later for the live stream!
An amazing summit, I was able to follow along the entire month only missing a few speakers. I feel my presence so much stronger again, many beautiful moments throughout and at times causing a flow of great full tears. What a wonderful thing to bring about and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this opportunity ,may awareness grow and bring beautiful change to our world one person at a time.
Vanna \o/ <— Happy Dance
Deep bow to you Melli for planting the seed in my heart that has been transforming my life. I am truly grateful.
Thank you, Melli, for putting this summit together. The speakers were wonderful and have opened a new world to me, a world of awareness. My mindfulness journey began on October 1. I’m so thankful to have this tool to teach me how to live in each moment. I would love it if Mark Williams and Jon Kabat-Zinn’s videos could be available on a permanent basis, both for my review and for people I know who were not able to participate in this summit but who would benefit tremendously from learning and living a life a mindfulness. Thank you again!!
Thank you and congratulations from the bottom of my heart to Melli, the speakers and the audience as well. The comments and questions were so authentic, profound, as an integrated part of the process.
This journey has been such a precious gift to most of us, a pathway, a bridge…
This is only the beginning Melli!
“Wave” To All.
Thank you for this wonderful summit! i am freshly inspired not only to meditate on a regular basis but especially to embody mindfulness into my daily life. much gratitude to you and your team for a project well done.
Meli, I am deeply moved by all that you have done to put together this summit. Having Jon was such a great experience to hear his unique wisdom. The summit has made me hungry for more even though I feel completely full because of it. I would like to partake in this movement anyway that I can. As you know I live in Napa California, Northern California. If there is anyway I can assist you in expanding this process please contact me and I will do what ever I can. Agismith@comcast.net
My deepest gratitude to all who have participated. Sending love to everyone who is attending or has been involved or is interested and curious in mindfulness. Agi
A heartfelt thank you, to you Melli and your team.
Thank you so much, I have loved the summit. It’s been an amazing journey!
Greetings from Helsinki!
Mia – great to see a fellow countrywoman here! And even the same city!
Dear Mellie thank you very much for your generosity, your brilliant initiative and the inmense work you and Matt have done for our benefit. I have learned much and I appreciate very much your work. My more sincere greatfulness for your kindness, love and work. Greetings from Spain!!! See you all this night meditation (for Madrid time)
Greetings from Oregon, USA! Thank you Melli for sharing such wonderful speakers. I am in week 6 of the MBSR course and found these speakers to add insight and information into my journey! Looking forward to the meditiation today! 🙂
Melli,
I give you my sacred bow for your courage in helping to change me, others, and the world, from the inside out.
Tears of emotion came to me at the closing of Vidyamala’s session yesterday. Tears of, sadness, joy, departure, fulfillment. But most of all, tears of gratitude for the opportunity to partake in this wonderful gift that I was presented with by you, your team, and each presenter.
You have tended to this flower…..I will forever bloom.
Warm hugs to everyone, ~tj in texas
It is truly an honor to hear Jon Kabat-Zin speak and inspire us on this last day of October. Thank you very much!
Thank you SO much for this fantastic summit!
It has been brilliant to see and to get to meet new faces and mindfulness professionals and to hear them tell about their own personal journey into a more compassionate life and self-understanding.
What I have enjoyed most, perhaps, has been the fun and humorous aspect of the practise – it doesnt have to be so serious all the time. And – there are many ways to practise. Thank you to all of you who spoke about this. In my home country, when I have taken part in talks and meditation sessions, everyone seems to be so very serious about it – no laughter, no emotion. I have felt lost, to be honest. Now I feel, I have found my own mindfulness community which allows me to be me within my practise. I do hope this community will continue to keep in touch somehow after this summit.
The most healing aspect for me with mindfulness is the very deep sense of coming home – coming home to myself. I still get tears in my eyes when I think about this. Even now as I write these words. This has happened with the help of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s books I have read and lectures I have followed on the internet. I was moved to tears to see and hear him speak as I just now watched the interview. Thank you! Such insight, clarity and wisdom!
There is personally no more appropriate and gratifying way to end this summit than to sit with with all of you in a meditation led by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Feeling humbled to be able to join!
Love from Helsinki, Finland from Outi
Thank you Melli and your team of helpers and practitioners for a most remarkable Mindfulness event. Together you have created a vibrant community of learners and advocates and have in the process advanced a mindfulness revolution that is sustainable and significant and much more than a passing fad. Your vision of a mindful world is more possible because of your passion and your generosity. Thank you, Melli, most of all for your enthusiasm, passion, and goodness. You are a wise teacher.
Thank you so much Melli and your team for creating this Summit. Thank you to all the guest speakers for their love and generosity to participate to this feast event of heartfulness throughout the planet.
I am deeply grateful to have access to all this shared wisdom and compassion. For me too, it has been significant to feel that I am connecting with a whole community wishing to live more mindfully to create a kinder and more compassionate and connected world. I feel very inspired to continue to take part to this mindfulness revolution journey.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart. With warmest gratitude, I wish you all the best.
Carole, from Quebec, Canada
Thank you very much for this summit!
Thank you for Melli for this wonderful gift, from Somerset, U.K. ????
???? = Om emoji
Thank you to everyone who made this event possible. I enjoyed hearing from some of my favorite teachers. I appreciate you for doing what you do. Tim Raine
Thank you and my deepest respect for all you have done Melli and everyone . It was a big gift for my self to be part of this . Amazing journey . Hope to “meet you ” more . Thank you so much. Elena
Thank you to Melli and your team for this Mindfulness Summit that has stretched across the world. I am so grateful for this opportunity and hope you are able to provide a continuation or something similar in the near future, but I am also looking forward to reviewing the whole Summit again.
Namaste and love from Ontario, Canada
My life will never be the same. Thank you Melli & Matt and all those who contributed their thoughts throughout the summit. I look forward to continuing my journey with a mindful life. I bow to all.
This was my first time ever doing something like this. Thank you for making it possible. I learned quite a bit about myself and my surroundings. It’s been a real pleasure.
Thank you everyone! I have so enjoyed reading the comments every day and feel a lot of caring for everyone who posted!! Also I have marveled how the comments have changed from a lot of complaining about this and that in the beginning –with the broadcasts or the speakers–to acceptance of what is! So what if there is this distraction or that background noise? That’s the point of practice. Being ok with whatever is!! I just bought an access pass to help me practice generosity for something that has had deep value for me and given me hope and inspiration that maybe we humans can turn around the greed and hatred that we have cultivated and imposed on other human beings, animals and the Earth’s resources, without regard for anyone but our own self and our particular “tribe” of others like us. The interview with Judson Brewer on the brain and all of our self-referential addictions rally made that clear to me. Myself included! I also want to say that I am not young anymore. I did my first meditation training (TM) in the 1970s. But I have SO much hope now because of the young people like Melli who are so courageous and committed to helping the planet heal. It gives me hope and inspiration that maybe the future will be ok after all, because I have really had a lot of doubt, grief and fear about our collective future. I am in AWE of you younger people of your generation and send you my deepest hopes and blessings for the work you will be carrying forward on the planet. I support you and an inspired to find ways to support your efforts, which is one reason I bought an access pass today! A deep bow of gratitude and respect. And by the way, that’s all a bow is–showing humility and respect for the other person who is in front of you. We Westerners (we Americans especially), need to cultivate more of that. Mindfulness helps.
Thank you for bringing understanding and life to my heart and soul. Each of the presenters added a gift that will remain and flourish. Melli and Matt I am so grateful!THANK YOU!
Melli, well done. I love you.
Freddy from spain.
Thanks Melli, has been a fantastic experience very nourisching. II couldn’t understand evry word because my English is not too good, but I got the essence. Love from Fiorenza from Italy.
What a wonderful initiative, i am forever grateful all who have participated, this summit has been a life changing experience, peace to you Melli and Matt, and peace to all. Thank-you.
Boy, talk about when the student is ready!! This summit came along at the perfect time in my growing meditation practice. It was such a great idea, and I appreciate all the hard work you did to bring it together. So many inspiring speakers! Thank you!
yes thank you so much! One note about Jon’s talk re Eckhart Tolle – my understanding is that he had his awakening and then spent two years on the park bench, in bliss and presence. He was not on the bench in agony.
every morning in october i have awoken like a small child on christmas morning anticipating what the day may bring. each day has been an extra-ordinary gift and i thank you kindly Melli, your team and the amazing line up of teachers. my heart is overflowing with gratitude as this month comes to an end, i feel blessed to be part of this journey with so many around this beautiful planet of ours. keep shining brightly my friends.
Kudos, Mellie. Loving all of it,,,thank you
Heartfelt thanks for the Mindfulness Summit, Melli & Matt. It had a real effect and made my days. To know that there are so many people near and far were part of it… It is the most generous gift. Thank you to all organizers and speakers. This is how the world will change.
Hello and thank you from Michigan. Congratulations, Melli, it’s been a wonderful journey. You’ve given me a gift, and it’s much appreciated.
Thank you for all the efforts you put to this unique 31 Day Mindfulness Summit Melli! Thanks to all great speakers. Mindful living is great strategy for every person to adapt to their lives which can change the world for better. Keep up the great work, our support and prayers are with you!
Hi Melli
Just wanted to say a great big thank you for the mindfulness summit throughout October. I have soooo enjoyed tuning in and listening to all of the interviews and talks. I wish you and everyone who has taken part well and success in all you do and I hope that the “mindfulness of mindfulness” will continue to grow and flourish.
With warmest wishes.
Jade
I am relatively new to mindfulness , but I feel I am now awake to myself and our world.
Scotland xx
Thank you very much, Melly and your team, for all your generosity!
Wow… what an amazing interview with this awesome teacher, Jon Kabat Zinn. His embodied presence, his clarity of mind, have allowed me to stay present all the hour long and I,m so thankful and blissful for that, heart and mind fully open and clear. Thank you Melli and Matt for the incredible work you,ve been doing to put together all these amazing teachers. I,ve learned and enjoyed so much along this month. I bow to you all in deep gratitude. Thank you
And really looking forward to connect with all of us in the livestream and feel the interconnectedness and the oneness. Blessings to all beings and places, to this whole universe.
Wherever You Go, There You Are I read it back in 2004 or 2005 and it literally saved my life:)
In Bulgarian language, by the way. It was given to me just at the right moment.
I have it on my desk now, and I read it from time to time. I more than love it.
I love Jon Kabat-Zinn as well. And this is one of the reasons I signed up for this summit really.
I am grateful that I could listen to /one of/ my favorite authors and thinkers in the world.
I discovered many other wonderful people and things here as well. I am grateful to the organizers too.
My deepest respect and love:) Jon, Melli
And also I have a request. Could you keep all the interviews available for one more day after the summit? I know in some summits they do, so people can catch up with some of the teachers or interviews they,ve missed for 24 more hours. That,d be a wonderful opportunity for all of us who may have missed some great teachings. Thank you