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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Very informative, thank you Kathleen
So thankful !!
I really liked learning the 3 minute breathing space. It made me smile to say, Hello! to myself in step three.
Listening from Asheville, NC
Hello Everyone, Glad to be here.
Thank you for this opportunity and resources. I’ve had a mindfulness meditation practice on and off forever and love the idea of community, a challenge, and accountability this month!
Hello from Tampa, Florida!! Just finished listening to Mark Williams and am feeling energized and excited. What a great way to start off. He was insightful and very down-to-earth. I am going forth in a very positive way today.
Much gratitude to all those who organized this wonderful and educational gathering.
Maria
Good evening from the UK, A truly inspiring start, thank you for sharing x
Joining you from Portugal. This was a wonderful way to start. Absolutely loved the interview and also the beautiful reading by Mark Williams, amazing video. Thank you for Day 1.
Can any one talk me through the downloading process? I bought the series so I could download the lectures and listen while I’m on the go, but I can’t seem to get them to actually get them to play from the download cue. I have a PC.
Hi Catherine, if you bought the books on amazon, there is a link in the book which you download Audible, that is if you have them on your kindle, I did this and now have them on my tablet and my mobile phone which I use if I am on the go, I found this great to use before I went into work, started my day off great, if I feel I have time I will also listen when I get home, great way to unwind, hope this helps, Emily from Ireland, have a good day!
Hi everyone! Alissa from Seattle here. So excited for this next month. I will be participating as much as possible between raising my twins and look forward to all the discussions and talks. I will also be participating on my instagram @alissarook and would love to connect with more similar minded people and further discuss. I plan to write my thoughts out on the talks and hopefully even more dialogue.
Hi, listening in the UK, thanks for a really interesting first video. Hoping that this starts me on a journey where mindfulness becomes part of my daily life.
Hello, tuning in from Canada. Thank you so much for organizing this summit! ! I am very excited about this coming month. What a wonderful first talk. Much gratitude.
Hello everyone! Listening from Finland 🙂
Hello mindfullers! Connected from Barcelona 🙂
From India. Lovely session
Greetings from Iowa City!
Hi in the interview a person working on mindfulness with CEOs in the US was mentioned but I can’t find the reference when I went back through the video, does anybody remember the name of the person?
Thanks
Hi and thanks from Sofia:) Perfect idea and realization. But for sure one’s got a lot to learn.
What is the difference between mindful awareness and the sense of tense concentration on something?
Like drinking tea for example?
Just adding one country more to the mindfulness family – Estonia. Greetings to neigbours i.e. everyone 🙂
And hope, that all this mindfulness somehow reach to the places in the world, where the peace is just a dream !
Tervitused ja rahu kõigile !
I am very excited to attend this online Mindfulness Summit. I just did Day One, listened to the interview. I was not up at 3am this morning. The Interview with Professor Mark Williams is brilliant. I encourage everyone to get his books. As a therapist who teaches mindfulness to my clients, I am always looking for ways and approaches to get my clients to want to practice. It has refreshed my own mindfulness practice I look forward to the comings days of mindfulness.
With a great joy I’m joining this 31 Days journey. Hope I can find enough time to explore all these interviews and exercises … Hugs from France
Hi….I’m from India…happy to be a part of it 🙂
Thanks Raghav,
it is really amazing to be talking across the world in this way.
Mark
Day 1 – Amazing! Excellent interview with Mark Williams, watching this from Wirral, UK 🙂
Thanks Caroline
Have a lovely evening and enjoy the next 30 days
Mark
Listening from Cape Town, South Africa. Practical and interesting.
Thank you so much for creating this event!!! I feel so blessed and so grateful for being with you all!!! Namaste from California!!!
Hi Maria
Enjoy the next 30 days.
It’s great what Melli has done.
Warm wishes
Mark
Very grateful for this free resource, many thanks x
Hi everyone Wow amazing, watching from the Isle of Man, UK!
From Auburn, California – Enjoyed day 1 and am very excited to take part in this 31 day summit!
Thank you so very much! It was calming and enlightening…see you tomorrow!
Thanks Brian
Warm wishes
Mark
What a magnificent journey were taking. Looking forward, grateful for the gift 🙂
Hi everyone from Yorkshire in the UK. An interesting start to the summit. I was pleased to hear that it’s OK, and in fact necessary, for the mind to wander during mindfulness practice as this is something I struggle with. Am looking to the next 30 days!
Thanks Joanne
Absolutely!
Enjoy your mind
Mark
Hello World, I’m following this from my home near Jacksonville, FL, USA. Listening to this lesson from Mark Williams and Melli has already changed me. I feel more whole, more complete. I feel a peace inside of being more in tune with myself. With this feeling running through me, I believe that I can make more of this day. I can choose the best activities which will help me to share my love with my home, my pets, my family, my friends and my world. It is wonderful to know there are so many of you also experiencing similar things today. Bless us all.
Hello everyone! I’m Kate from California; and I really enjoyed this first day. Looking forward to more interesting talks.
Thanks Carol
What lovely words for us all,
Warm wishes
Mark
Hello everyone from Qatar!
Terrific start. Great to be starting this journey with a family of 150,000 other compassionate and curious others. I am a mindfulness teacher but with “beginners eyes” I was enthralled by the simplicity, kindness and common humanity that came through this first day. Many thanks to the organisers of the Summit and the contributors. May we all bring kind and open minds to this endeavour over the next month. Heartfelt thanks once again.
From Taos, NM. Grateful for this chance to connect with so many visionaries!
Thanks Graham
Mark
Someone asked me about the working hours ideas.
I was very influenced by this blog by Sara Robinson. It’s great.
http://www.alternet.org/story/154518/why_we_have_to_go_back_to_a_40-hour_work_week_to_keep_our_sanity
Mark W
Hi, great event…thank you! Logging in from ATLANTA, Georgia, USA.
Thank you for this opportunity to involved this practise. It’s part of meaningfull life.
I am in Helsinki, Finland 🙂
I’m very happy I found this… Thank you to an old friend of my brothers
Wonderful way to begin the summit. As an educator and yoga instructor, the highlight for me in Mark’s talk is the idea of teaching people HOW to pay attention…to themselves mostly, and the idea of stillness not necessarily being a quiet, empty mind. There is so much misinformation/misunderstanding about mindfulness being this completely shut off state. Thanks for day 1!
Very interesting the interview! Looking forward to hear other experts in this topic.
Thank you. The first day lecture was phenomenal.
Thank you for the first day of the mindfulness summit!
Thank you, what a start for the autumn!
I’m so grateful for the opportunity to nurture and deepen my mindfulness practice. Mark’s interview was awesome! Thank you for making this available.
Thanks so much Julie
Have a good 31 days of summit
Mark
Thanks Julie. Are you doing the 31 days of mindfulness challenge? How’s it going so far?
Hello people we’re on our way how wonderful… have a wonderful summit. best wishes. Elaine
What a great way to spend my lunch hour! Thank you for kicking this Mindful Month off right!