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.
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
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Thank you. Glad to be able to participate and experience this in the comfort of my own home.
Listening to the audio (as the video keeps freezing) in Adelaide South Australia, great initiative – Thank you!
Thanks so much – looking forward to more…
Great to listen to Mark very, insightful, just ordered his book 🙂
Dear Aideen
Thanks for your kind words, and I hope the book is helpful too
Warm wishes
Mark
From Johannesburg, South Africa – HELLO to all. Ready for day 1 of 31! Is Jo present? Yes, Present ma’am!
Hi from QLD Australia, excited to be engaging in this 31 days.
Hi there! Thanks for this great summit. I´m looking forward to meeting all the mindfulness experts. Sunny greetings from Frankfurt/Germany!
Hi Christian. I am from the US but currently living in Weimar.
Have been reading Mark Williams’ book for some time now and listening to his meditations. Good to see him on video. Looking forward to this summit. Blessings from UK
Thanks Heather
Greetings!
Mark
Hi All, I am listening from Melbourne Australia! Good evening
I’m Rebecca and I’m from Ireland! So nice to see so many people taking the 30 day Mindfulness Summit programme from all over the world. Peace and love <3
Greetings! Joining in from Peoria AZ, this is a wonderful gift, blessings to all, thanks!
Good morning from Toronto! Really looking forward to this summit and so grateful for making it available.
Hi from Holland, The Hague. Thanks for this opportunity.
I very much enjoyed Mark Williams podcast on this first day of the Mindfulness Summit. As an educational technologist, I’m really excited to see some of the results of the research into Mindfulness propagate into our schools as a support for deeper levels of student learning and comprehension. I look forward to exploring this fascinating topic over the next few weeks.
Good morning, everyone! What a wonderful way to start the day! I am so excited about this series. My question is: I am taking yoga classes twice a week. How would you say that mindfulness is any different from my yoga practice?
Hi Theresa,
Great question. it sounds like you are already doing what you need to do. Yoga is a wonderfully mindful practice, especially if the teacher is mindful too. For some, yoga is used as a way of distracting the mind, and this can indeed be helpful sometimes; other people find that meditation that involves sitting still can be a lovely extension of yoga as there is time and space to allow thoughts and feelings to come and go like clouds in the sky.
With warm wishes,
Mark
A hello from Perth Western Australia.
I’m having a little bit of trouble watching the. Interview as I’m on the iPad so I think I’ll get onto the laptop see if that helps!
I am really looking forward to the coming days.
Hello from Rhode Island!
Hello from Minnesota! Thank you so much for doing this!
Thoroughly enjoyed! Thank you
Joining now from Italy – Thanks
Listening and enjoying Day 1 from Scottsdale, Arizona.
Well done. Thank you both, so very much. Blessing. Be Well.
Thanks for your warmhearted words. They mean a lot ????
Hi from Cape Town, South Africa – so looking forward to this mindfulness journey 🙂
I’ve been practicing for about 4 months now- i am eager to always participate in more Mindfulness 🙂
Greetings from NJ.. Happy October.!
Good morning from Chicago!
Wow, what a fabulous intro to mindfulness. Clear and insightful. Lots of tools and much to consider.
Good morning everyone, listening from Upstate NY
Thanks for organizing this. Listening from Maine. Looking forward to the next month…a day and a moment at a time.
Thank you so much, just beautiful, and well worth the time
I’m so glad you took the time to join us
Listening from Indiana!
Here too
Hello everyone! I am so excited to be here for the summit. As a new practitioner of yoga I believe adding mindfulness will push me over the edge of awareness and add a deeper inner calm to share with those around me. Thank you so much!
Hello from Central Vermont. Be well.
Greetings from Mexico! Glad to be part of this Mindfulness Summit 🙂
Ms Mindfulness – thank you for organising this interview with Prof. Mark – he is very interesting, knowledgeable and easy to learn from. The range of topics covered in this session is very useful and brings more precision to my practice.
I was not comfortable that you responded to all of his contributions with “I love that”. I felt like the focus of the interview was lost and was habitual rambling.
Thanks for your comments Leanne- probably
Those were my nervous responses from talking to someone I respect and admire so much. Also one of my first interviews. I agree. I am glad you felt you gained from the session. Mark is so darned articulate and warm. Happy summiting
Hello all! Greetings from Cape Town, South Africa. What a wonderful initiative!
Just joined from Cape Town as well. Enjoy!
Blessings all – Joining from Boston
What a fantastic introduction! Thanks Prof. Williams! Loved the poem too ( https://youtu.be/zkTvAi9UdLw )
Thanks Rick
Roger Keyes (the author of Hokusai says) now lives in England and it has been wonderful to get to know him and his work on Hokusai.
Warm wishes
Mark
Thank you for a wonderful interview. I’ve read the book of Mark Williams, Finding Peace in a Frantic World, and loved it. I use the practices on a daily basis and also recommend it to the clients that I coach.
Thanks so much Gretha for your kind words
Many blessing for your work and to all whom you teach
Mark
Got it thanks…..what happens next?
Thank you for this interview With Mark Williams, I really enjoyed his book and still practice with it and this video is full of very good reminder.
I really enjoyed the interview and especially the importance of bringing this practice to those who are struggling both economically, socially and emotionally. I believe and have witnessed the transformation both within myself and even in children with various disabilities that impact their lives, how mindfulness gives them the tools to cope when things get overwhelming. Just taking a breath and creating that space in order to act in accordance with one’s values.
I especially appreciated Mark’s statements about the “froth” disappearing as a way to call all of us to be committed to this practice as a way of navigating through our lives as human beings. I look forward to tomorrow.
Thanks Scott
Warm wishes
Mark
Hi! I’m from Chile. I really liked what Professor Mark told about the “habit releasers”, I think it’s an easy way of bringing awareness to my actions.
Thanks to the Mindfulness Summit team!!
Just finished listening to all videos… <3
Atlanta, GA USA
What a great start to the summit! Xxx
Great day! I loved the poem Hokusai says. Greetings from Brazil.
Excellent start to the mindfulness summit. I could listen to Mark Williams all day. Helen listening in Dublin ????
Thanks Helen
Have a good evening
Mark
Hi, Listening from Sweden! Looking forward to this! Thank you so far!
What a great first interview, well done! Mark is always excellent to listen to and his book among my favourites. A really good start, I look forward to the rest of the summit!