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29
Sep
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Professor Mark Williams – An Introduction to Mindfulness

Professor Mark Williams – An Introduction To Mindfulness

Professor Mark Williams is Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology at Oxford and was also the Director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre until his retirement in 2013.

Professor Williams, along with colleagues John Teasdale (Cambridge) and Zindel Segal (Toronto), developed Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for prevention of relapse and recurrence in major depression. He is also co-author of the best selling book ‘Mindfulness: Finding Peace In A Frantic World.’

In this interview Mark elegantly answers the question ‘what is mindfulness?’ He also leads 2 simple introductory practices for beginners and talks about why mindfulness is so effective for the treatment of depression relapse.

In this interview you’ll also discover…

  • The difference between mindlessness and mindfulness.
  • Why mindlessness often gets us into so much trouble.
  • The cutting edge research on mindfulness for depression (Mark is one of the world premiere researchers in this field).
  • The ‘breathing space’ mindfulness practice, which is great to use in times of stress and difficult emotions
  • How to use ‘habit releasers’ to bring more mindfulness into daily life.
  • An experience of the ‘body scan’ mindfulness practice.


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Listen to the audio version here

 

Show Notes

Join the The Mindfulness Summit Journey here

Come and join the community discussions at any time on our Facebook page

Check out Melli’s blog, events and retreats at MrsMindfulness.com

More about MBCT (Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy)

Check out Marks books ‘Mindfulness: Finding peace in a frantic world’

More about the Oxford Mindfulness Centre

 

Audio

Video

Transcript

Download Mark Williams audio interview

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Download Mark Williams audio meditation

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Download Mark Williams breathing space meditation

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Download Mark Williams video interview

Download MP4 – High Def, 1280×480 (Right click to save)

Download MP4 – Standard Def, 640×240 (Right click to save)

Download Mark Williams interview transcript

Download PDF (488kb)

 

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1165 Responses

  2. Michael Cowley

    A terrific interview, very practical with the two opportunities to do a practise. I liked the solution orientated work for disadvantage communities and the point on learning how to attend. I loved the way we were reminded to be gentle speakers and soft toned when we notice ourselves wandering and we realise it needs to refocus. It was vey practical.

  3. Andrea Loescher

    Thanks Melli and Mark! I think you found an excellent way of starting this summit, by giving both introductory info and practices for the new ones, and very interesting updated data and details for others like me who’ve been into mindfulness for some time now. Thanks so much!! Greetings from Argentina

  5. Andrea Loescher

    Will we have access to these comments and the links you suggest after each video, throughout the month? Or do we have access to it only for 24 hours as with the videos? Thank you!

  7. keith foster

    Great discussion. Everyday is a good day even if we think it is a bad day, reflecting back on it, important lessons were learned , so after all it was a good day we just could not see it at the time. Without challenges how can we test ourselves. Thanks again. Peace

  8. Vineeta Ganju

    Greetings from Bangalore, India. Thank you for a very meaningful talk (interview with Mark). How do I access more in depth assistance? I have ordered the CD & will also get the book.
    Vineeta

  10. Gordon

    I am a teacher in Canada and have been personally practising mindfulness for a few years in helping me to deal with a difficult challenge. The effects of mindfulness were so dramatic with myself that I brought mindfulness to my students and I have introduced it to my school and it is now being used in all classrooms and is a school wide initiative. The results were so beneficial, I have now been involved with mindfulness at the school Board level introducing it to all schools. I am hoping that mindfulness will be practised in the education systems everywhere! This will guide our future world to be more compassionate and peaceful.

    2. Rafael Herrera

      What a wonderful project you have! It’s so great to hear it is spreading at education centers. Do you have this documented? I mean the story or process through what you had to go so it became a reality. Not easy to convince at a high level administration. You should share this in a book or at least on the social media so more teachers all around the world can follow your guidelines.

  11. Gini Wermerskirchen

    Unable to open video or download audio on my iPad.
    Had lots of glitches and delays trying to log in, would not take my original password, created a new one.
    This is not starting out well for me

  12. Plato Manos

    You will almost certainly dislike this comment, but I think it would be helpful to have the ability to play back the video at a faster than original rate, perhaps choosing 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75x, or 2x as the playback speed. I need to get to sleep so I can be more mindful tomorrow, and the time spent watching this nice video does cut into that. Sorry! …but also true. Thank you for putting the video up for us to hear.

    1. Plato Manos

      p.s. I had to deal with serious complaints from my wife for coming to bed so late, and again in the morning because she didn’t get a good night’s sleep because of me. Seriously, putting up a 2x replay speed link would have improved mindfulness in my home last night.

  13. sam

    Thank you for your teachings.let life live through you really resonated for this mind. Keep experiencing for on self awareness and presence.. Each and every moment is all we have.

  15. Evelin

    I look forward to learn as much as I can and teach my 7yr son who has been diagnosed with ADHD. I appreciated how conscious listening and following the meditation calmed my thoughts a bit. It was a very wonderful first day. Thank you for taking out time and sharing this with the world.
    NYC

  19. Emily

    Tuning in from Williamsburg, VA. Honestly, I had to force myself to sit down to watch this after an 11 hour work day when all I wanted to do was go to sleep. But I’m so glad I did! It just goes to show, when you make time in your day to use/expand your mind in a way other than the day to day routine, it does pay off! But now I really am ready to go to sleep!

  24. Kenny

    I paid to download content, was charged double (for two full access passes – why would one person need two?) and I still can’t download anything. I’ve been battling with it all day. Tech support has offered no solution. Very frustrated and disappointed and $158 out of pocket.

  25. Carmen

    Have to admit was a little skeptical at first when I signed up to do this summit but told myself I was going to commit and be receptive to all the knowledge, information and learning tools provided to me. I have to say this first session definitely hit home with a lot of key aspects that I’ve struggled with in my every day life. It amazed me and took me aback for a moment because I wasn’t expecting it to feel like they were talking directly about me to me. I am definitely looking forward to what the remainder of the summit will help me incorporate into my everyday life to live mindfully and healthier. Thank you for an awesome first start.

    1. Tara @ Mindfulness Summit Team

      We are very humbled to hear that you enjoyed the first talk so much!!
      Keep us updated on your Journey discovering mindfulness!
      Enjoy the rest of the summit.
      Warmly,
      Tara

  27. Danielle

    Greetings from Toronto, Canada. I am so very happy to be a part of a large community of like minded individuals who are coming together to deepen their understanding of themselves and to heal what needs healing. I have listened to the Day 1 talk and practiced the various techniques. I am happy to report that I have already experienced a small shift in my awareness of how I do simple tasks and look forward to the daily talks along with the mindfulness based practices.

    1. Tara @ Mindfulness Summit Team

      Welcome Danielle form Toronto!! Thank you for joining us on this beautiful Journey.
      We are so happy to hear that you enjoyed the first interview so much! Thank you for sharing your experiences!
      Have a great day! xxx

  28. Tamara Lilly

    Greetings from South Carolina! My 13 year old granddaughter and I are watching these together. This was a great introduction to mindfulness. We enjoyed it very much.

  29. Kenny

    Having a bad experience with the mindfulness summit. I started by downloading the audio so I could listen offline and the file was corrupt and unusable. So I paid to download content, was charged double (for two full access passes – why would one person need two?) and I still can’t download anything. I’ve been battling with it all day. Tech support has offered no solution. Very frustrated and disappointed and $158 out of pocket. I started a study group for this program and I still have not been able to view the day one presentation. My study group started without me.

  30. Jonnie S.Brown

    I am most grateful to Meli and the organizers of the summit. It is a masterful introduction for those of us who are just coming to the world of Mindfulness and meditation in our daily lives. I enjoyed hearing Dr. Williams and his wealth of knowledge on Mindfulness and depression. I am extremely eager to hear tomorrow’s speaker.

    I realize that Meli is not a professional interviewer, but she does asks insightful questions based on her own knowledge of Mindfulness . However, it would be less distracting if she would not feel the need to insert “yeah” multiple times while the speaker speaks. The questions she asks are excellent but the “yeahs” are very distracting, especially in a split screen.

    2. Tara @ Mindfulness Summit Team

      Hi Jonnie,
      Thanks so much for joining us on this adventure and for your feedback. Sorry you found the “yeah’s” a bit distracting, we’re taking this onboard and Melli say’s she is sorry. We’ll see if we can look into editing out some of the noises for some of the future videos.
      I hope you enjoy the rest of the summit and your journey in discovering mindfulness.
      Warmly,
      Tara xx

  44. Jennifer Willford

    Hello from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. I really enjoyed the talk and really appreciate that the information was grounded in science, but explained in a way that is relatable to our lives. The evidence that this works is so important. There was a second book mentioned in the discussion. Did anyone catch the name of it?

  45. Kerry Brennan

    Fabulous dialogue, conversation between Melli and Mark. What a wonderful Day 1 program. I so enjoyed listening and taking it in. I’m so grateful for this opportunity and feeling so fortunate to be able to participate in this adventure – this movement. Thank you.

  46. Cheryl

    Thanks you for this generous gift Melli. I very much enjoyed the first in the series. Mark William was both engaging and informative, his explanation of ‘the practice’ actually instilled confidence and made meditation less intimidating. On a side note I must also compliment you both on your sincerity and kindness, it was enjoyable and calming and the time flew by. Looking forward to tomorrow! Thank you so much!

  47. Malcolm Gowie

    I’m totally looking forward to this. Mindfulness is emerging for me as first a choice then a practice borne out of awareness. At some point, I suspect we have all had those events, some cathartic perhaps, but some a growing awareness that “life has to be more than this”; places where we are forced to become aware of ourselves. Then what?

  48. Oscar Flores

    So wonderful!!! Love his book. A suggestion for the future: there is no need for the narrator to be in the video when the guest is speaking. It’s a bit distracting.

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