Watch The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based path to Well-Being

Name: The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based path to Well-Being
Released: 2014-08-22
Cast: Ronald D. Siegel

2014
1 Season

The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based Path to Well-Being is a captivating and insightful course from The Great Courses Signature Collection, featuring Ronald D. Siegel as the main tutor. This course delves into the concept of mindfulness and how it can be utilized to enhance one's well-being.

The show is presented in a series of 24 lectures, each of which lasts for approximately half an hour. The lessons are structured in such a way that they can be enjoyed at the student's own pace. The programme is designed to help individuals learn how to practice mindfulness by adopting techniques that have been tested and proven through rigorous scientific research.

Ronald D. Siegel, a clinical psychologist and expert in mindfulness with over 30 years of experience, takes on the role of the instructor in this show. Siegel offers insights, tips, and practical strategies for cultivating a mindfulness practice that can bring about greater self-awareness, peace, and happiness.

The Science of Mindfulness is an approachable and accessible course that is suitable for beginners as well as more experienced mindfulness practitioners. The show covers a range of topics, including the origins of mindfulness, the potential benefits of mindfulness, the scientific research behind it, and strategies for integrating mindfulness into our daily routines.

The course opens with a comprehensive introduction to mindfulness, what it is, and its origins. Siegel provides an overview of how mindfulness can be developed as a form of mental training that can help individuals cultivate self-awareness, emotional regulation, and a sense of presence within the moment. This introductory lecture sets the tone for what is to come in the rest of the series and lays a foundation for the rest of the course content.

The Science of Mindfulness then delves into the benefits of mindfulness, covering the scientific research that has been carried out in this field. From stress reduction to improved cognitive functioning, this course examines the many different ways in which mindfulness can enhance our overall sense of well-being.

Siegel places emphasis on the fact that mindfulness is a practical skill that can be cultivated, and he shares many strategies for developing a regular mindfulness practice. The show provides detailed instructions on how to enhance focus and concentration, exploring various techniques such as mindful breathing, body scans, and visualization exercises.

Throughout the course, storytelling is used to bring historical, anecdotal, and personal contexts to diverse topics related to mindfulness. This helps learners to understand and apply the course content to their own lives more effectively.

The Science of Mindfulness is also notable for its ability to provide an in-depth understanding of how mindfulness can help us deal with challenging emotions, such as anxiety, depression, and loneliness. The course offers tools and techniques for cultivating compassion and self-care, which are critical skills for navigating emotional challenges in our lives.

In the final few lectures, Siegel concludes by exploring the challenges associated with integrating mindfulness into our everyday lives. These discussions include practical tips, strategies, and tools that learners can use to develop a regular mindfulness practice, even when they are faced with the distractions and busyness of daily life.

The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based Path to Well-Being is a powerful and informative course that expertly presents practical strategies and scientific research to learners who seek to enhance their well-being. Ronald D. Siegel's approach to this topic is practical, accessible, and relatable, making this show a fantastic choice for anyone interested in the concept of mindfulness.

The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based path to Well-Being is a series that ran for 1 seasons (29 episodes) between August 22, 2014 and on The Great Courses Signature Collection

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Seasons

29. Bonus Meditation: Stepping Into Fear

August 22, 2014

Bonus Meditation 5

28. Bonus Meditation: Breathing Together

August 22, 2014

Bonus Meditation 4

27. Bonus Meditation: Mountain Meditation

August 22, 2014

Bonus Meditation 3

26. Bonus Meditation: Loving-Kindness Practice

August 22, 2014

Bonus Meditation 2

25. Bonus Meditation: Breath Awareness Practice

August 22, 2014

Bonus Meditation 1

24. The New Science of Happiness

August 22, 2014

Finally, learn about the new field of positive psychology, and how mindfulness practices foster empirically-supported paths to happiness. Consider the many things that we mistakenly assume will produce happiness, and the alternative of a reliable avenue to well-being, grounded in attention to the present moment, engagement in life, gratitude, and connectedness to others.

23. Mindful Ethics as a Path to Freedom

August 22, 2014

Recent research suggests a bilateral relationship between ethics and well-being. Consider five ethical precepts, and use them as tools of inquiry to observe which actions lead to suffering for ourselves and others. Learn how to develop an empirically derived ethical code--one not received as doctrine, but based in personal experience.

22. The Promise of Enlightenment

August 22, 2014

The ultimate goal of traditional mindfulness practice is a psychological transformation known as "enlightenment." Grasp the nature of this awakening in practical terms and learn about various pitfalls and challenges people encounter along the path, including spiritual materialism, foundations for awareness, and interpersonal contexts.

21. Toward a Science of Wisdom

August 22, 2014

Today, scientific psychologists are beginning to grapple with the question of what wisdom is and how it may be developed. Examine current experimental models for studying wisdom, and discover the key elements of wisdom they identify. Review eight ways that mindfulness practices can help us to develop wisdom.

20. Growing Up Isn't Easy--Facing Impermanence

August 22, 2014

Mindfulness traditions teach us that facing impermanence can be extraordinarily liberating. Assess your readiness, and consider how mindfulness practices offer a different way of relating to the realities of aging, sickness, and death itself, and how cultivating deep attention to the present moment allows us to freely enjoy all the stages of life.

19. The Neurobiology of Self-Preoccupation

August 22, 2014

Science is now able to measure brain activity related to self-referential thinking--self-focused thought patterns that tend to correlate with distress. Examine findings from recent studies showing that experienced meditators can quickly step out of the self-preoccupied thought stream, with significant benefits for their ability to deal with pain and to cultivate wellness.

18. Groundbreaking Mindfulness Programs

August 22, 2014

We are now seeing the wide-scale adoption of mindfulness practices into many healthcare settings. Study the approaches and benefits of pioneering programs such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and learn additional techniques that can deepen any mindfulness practice.

17. Overcoming Traumas Large and Small

August 22, 2014

Study how trauma affects the mind, and how the tendency to suppress traumatic experiences leads to painful symptoms and unhealthy behavior. Grasp the ways in which mindfulness techniques can be highly effective for processing and integrating avoided feelings, and learn four practical steps for working with traumatic material.

16. Interrupting Addiction and Troublesome Habits

August 22, 2014

Investigate the nature of compulsive behaviors and the psychological patterns that keep them in place. Observe how mindful awareness can dismantle these patterns, allowing us to be with changing waves of feelings and urges without having to act on them. Learn about effective mindfulness-based programs for a range of problematic behaviors.

15. Placebos, Illness, and the Power of Belief

August 22, 2014

This lecture explores the extraordinary power of the mind to affect our subjective experience of the body. Review astonishing data on the effectiveness of placebos in medical treatment, and learn how mindfulness practice can aid in treating conditions such as insomnia, sexual dysfunction, gastrointestinal problems, and illness anxiety.

14. Transforming Chronic Pain

August 22, 2014

Review substantial evidence that the vast majority of chronic back pain is actually stress-related, and learn about the effects of negative emotions on the body. Discover how mindfulness practice offers an effective approach to dealing with physical pain, through changing our relationship to both the symptom and to pain-related thinking.

13. Befriending Fear, Worry, and Anxiety

August 22, 2014

Investigate the nature of anxiety and fear, seeing their roots in fantasies about the future. Consider how we typically cope with worry and anxiety by distracting ourselves, and how mindfulness training can free us from anxiety through directly facing our fears while grounded in the present moment.

12. Seeing Sadness and Depression in a New Light

August 22, 2014

Grasp how depression involves shutting down and turning away from pain, and how mindfulness practice turns our attention to the experience at hand, thus challenging the depressive stance. Observe how mindfulness changes our relationship to thoughts, moods, and feelings, allowing us to see them as transient events.

11. Connecting with Children and Adolescents

August 22, 2014

Mindfulness practice offers distinct benefits for caregivers of young people. Observe how mindfulness training helps us enter a child's world through developing spontaneity and sensitivity, as well as fostering effective responses to misbehavior. Also learn mindfulness techniques that children and young people can use themselves.

10. Solitude--An Antidote to Loneliness

August 22, 2014

Explore how mindfulness and compassion practices deepen connection and communication with others, and also cultivate an awareness of "interbeing"--our connection to the larger world. Review data showing how mindfulness skills enhance relationships, and see how mindfulness fosters the ability to be alone, a capacity essential for intimacy.

9. Modifying Our Brain Function and Structure

August 22, 2014

This lecture takes a thorough look at mindfulness and brain function. Review studies that show how mindfulness practice activates areas of the brain that regulate emotions, integrate thoughts and feelings, increase empathy, and facilitate learning and memory, while also retaining more brain matter and staving off aspects of cognitive decline typically associated with aging.

8. Tailoring Practices to Fit Changing Needs

August 22, 2014

In choosing mindfulness practices for your own life, consider seven different criteria or questions to ask, such as which mindfulness skills to emphasize; whether to favor secular or religious approaches; and when to do practices that cultivate a sense of safety as opposed to those that work with difficult psychological material.

7. The Science of Compassion and Self-Compassion

August 22, 2014

"Compassion" is empathy for suffering that includes a desire to alleviate it. Learn how compassion for oneself is associated with virtually every desirable psychological outcome. Learn steps and exercises to cultivate compassion both for yourself and others, and review studies on the benefits of developing compassion.

6. Attention and Empathy in Relationships

August 22, 2014

See how mindfulness practices train us to embrace our moment-to-moment experience. Learn how this capacity allows us to be with discomfort and to freely tolerate all emotional states, and how this can positively affect our relationships through cultivating empathy, open-mindedness, and mental flexibility.

5. Mindfulness or Psychotherapy

August 22, 2014

Delve into the implications of mindfulness practice for psychological well-being. Learn how mindfulness practice works toward many of the same goals as psychotherapy. Explore how the ultimate aim of traditional mindfulness practice diverges from earlier Western psychology in proposing a more radical path to psychological, emotional, and spiritual freedom.

4. Who Am I - The Perils of Self

August 22, 2014

Now grapple with one of the most fundamental and challenging insights that come from mindfulness practice. With reference to both cognitive science and traditional Buddhist thought, observe how the human mind creates the illusory sense of a "separate" self, and how this conception of separateness is itself the cause of suffering.

3. Informal, Formal, and Intensive Practices

August 22, 2014

Grasp how mindfulness, like physical fitness, must be developed through regular and sustained practice. Investigate ways of cultivating mindfulness during daily activities such as bathing or driving, and understand the significant benefits of formal meditative practice and intensive retreats. Learn also about walking and eating meditation.

2. Our Troublesome Brains

August 22, 2014

Here, discover how our brains are actually predisposed, evolutionarily, to psychological distress. Learn about the human "negativity bias," and how our tendency to both anticipate and try to avoid pain leads to problems. Consider what mindfulness teaches us about the mind, and what challenges might arise in practicing mindfulness--beginning with awareness of breath.

1. Why Mindfulness Matters

August 22, 2014

Begin by exploring the nature of mindfulness practice as a means of developing awareness with acceptance of our present experience. Review its remarkable range of psychological and physical benefits, dispel common misconceptions, and uncover the three core skills it employs as part of an empirically-supported path to well-being.

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Where to Watch The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based path to Well-Being

The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based path to Well-Being is available for streaming on the The Great Courses Signature Collection website, both individual episodes and full seasons. You can also watch The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based path to Well-Being on demand at Apple TV Channels and Amazon Prime and Amazon.