Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy by Susan L. Woods

Author:Susan L. Woods
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Published: 2019-05-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7: Expressing and Fostering Embodied Mindful Presence

In the previous chapter, we discussed certain attitudinal foundations of mindfulness and aspects of Buddhist teaching that inform its embodiment and impact our teaching of the MBCT program. We can now turn our attention to building upon these foundations to see how they can be expressed by a teacher and encouraged in the participants. Our focus will be about how to best help participants cultivate the embodied mindful presence that the teacher, in the last chapter, has learned how to model. She does this by learning to embody and teach bare attention, open-monitoring (receptivity and tracking), and discernment (the insight that guides skillful responding) through a consistent present-moment orientation. We see these as central to the guiding of mindfulness practices and how this is reflected in the contemplative dialogue that we call inquiry.

Present-Moment Orientation

Entertaining the possibility that the teacher can always maintain and represent a present-moment focus is unrealistic. And yet, this is what we are asking of ourselves because it is what we invite our participants to practice and is what we attempt to embody from the beginning of each class. From the moment we enter the room where the class is being held, we are intentionally slowing down. By doing this, we are encouraging and supporting our intention as teachers to have a focus on regularly checking in (bare attention) and to attend to the experience of the moment, allowing us to discern what to do next, if anything. Slowing down also marks our movement into a period of teaching where we are inviting ourselves and our participants to enter a way of being that is different from our usual ways of interacting and relating.

For many of us who teach MBCT, it is not our only professional responsibility, and frequently we teach at the end of the day. This can affect the energy we bring to our MBCT sessions. Ideally, it is important to allow time before the class begins to give oneself time to review the agenda, set an intention to find ways to settle into acknowledging the currency of the moment (such as tiredness, excitement, or anxiety), and to let go of expectations of how the class will go. Useful ways for the teacher to stabilize a focus on the present moment and reinforce this intention include allowing time for her own short practice, such as a ten-minute breath-awareness practice, or a Three-Minute Breathing Space if time is short. If there is recognition of a lot of busyness of mind or fatigue, then a moving practice can be beneficial; if there is a sense of needing to take some time to be quiet, then a sitting meditation will be helpful; if there is hunger, then bringing a snack and practicing eating meditation will be nourishing.

Being present when a session begins is a complex endeavor for the teacher, and over the duration of each session, there will be times when the teacher’s present-moment orientation is inevitably pulled away. This is

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