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Health, Fitness & Beauty New Year, Fresh Start


Helping people achieve greater wellbeing through mindfulness and meditation


Oxford Mindfulness outlines why mindfulness can be helpful in everyday life


Mindfulness for gardeners. Mindful- ness for golfers. Mindfulness for busy people, anxious people, successful people and people who would rather not be doing mindfulness at all. At some point, it’s reasonable to


ask what’s actually being promised. Is this about stress reduction, peak per- formance, personal transformation or simply feeling a little better about a world that feels increasingly difficult to manage? When something is ap- plied to everything, it can start to feel commercialised and confusing. Tat scepticism is widely under-


stood and encountered daily by those working in the field. Dr Sharon Hadley, chief executive of the Oxford Mindful- ness Foundation, came to mindful- ness from a background shaped by or- ganisations, leadership and evidence. With a PhD in health economics and a background in organisational lead- ership, her approach has been shaped by evidence rather than vague claims or good intentions alone. If anything, the popularity of mindfulness has made her more cautious about how it was being talked about and used. Yet


she now leads a mindfulness


charity, having been convinced not by enthusiasm, but by research and lived experience.


SO WHAT MIGHT MINDFULNESS ACTUALLY MEAN IN EVERYDAY LIFE? First, mindfulness isn’t a course. Courses exist to help cultivate a very ordinary human capacity, one that many people can lose touch with as they move into adulthood. Te abil- ity to notice what’s happening as it’s happening, with a certain amount of clarity and steadiness, and without immediately judging or fixing it. Much of the time, people move


through their days on autopilot, thinking about what’s just hap- pened or what’s about


to happen,


barely registering where they are. A child, or someone practising mind- fulness, might notice the low flying bird or the landscape they’re walk- ing through. Tese moments are not trivial. Tey could affect the nervous system, mood and how able to cope a person feels. Mindfulness isn’t about suppressing thoughts or emotions, or aiming for relaxation or constant calm. It’s about learning to choose where attention is placed, recognis- ing when the mind has wandered, and gently deciding whether that’s helpful. It’s about stepping out of au-


Mindfulness isn’t about suppressing thoughts or emotions, it’s about learning to choose where attention is placed


topilot in ordinary moments. Not to float above reality, quite the oppo- site. Mindfulness is about meeting experience more honestly, includ- ing difficulty, distraction and stress. On one hand this is simple. On the other, as adults many people benefit from structured ways of practising skills they already have but


rarely


make time for. Over time, this could change how people relate to pressure, allowing them to respond in a delib- erate way rather than just reacting, impacting how they show up in their working lives and relationships. In everyday life, these skills often


appear first in small, personal ways. People may notice they’re less reac- tive in disagreements, better able to listen without preparing a response or quicker to recognise when stress is spilling over into impatience or with- drawal. Tese capacities are beneficial in both workplace and family settings, supporting greater clarity under pres- sure, more thoughtful responses in difficult conversations and improved attention during discussions. Many people describe feeling better able to navigate complexity without becom- ing overwhelmed. Tese are not ab- stract benefits, but small shifts that accumulate across daily life. Despite the proliferation and occa-


sional overreach of mindfulness in re- cent years, there are approaches that are careful and well grounded. Tis work has been shaped by those with experience, clinicians, researchers, educators and people working inside complex systems such as healthcare, government and international organ- isations. It’s not casual or improvised. Importantly, mindfulness isn’t a be-


lief system. It’s a practice. And like any practice, the only meaningful question is whether it makes a difference when someone tries it for themselves. If mindfulness feels overused or


overpromised, the invitation to peo- ple is not to take it on trust, but to be curious and to decide, through per- sonal experience, what mindfulness means in their own lives. Tis doesn’t have to be done alone.


For those who are curious, the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation charity of- fers courses for individuals and col- laborates with workplaces seeking to support wellbeing in grounded and evidence-informed ways. It also of- fers free daily mindfulness sessions, taught by experienced teachers from around the world. Tese sessions are simple, practical and open to anyone, offering an opportunity to pause, notice and explore.


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DR SHARON HADLEY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE OXFORD MINDFULNESS FOUNDATION


Find out more via oxfordmindfulness.org


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