Home & Lifestyle, Wellness
Attitudinal Foundations of Mindfulness
Lesson time 22:48 min
Learn the key foundations of living life mindfully.
Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars
Topics include: Non-Judging • Patience • Beginner’s Mind • Trust • Non-Striving • Acceptance
Teaches Mindfulness and Meditation
Mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn teaches you how to incorporate meditation into your everyday life to improve your health and happiness.
Claim OfferPreview
[MUSIC PLAYING] - When you set about bringing mindfulness in some kind of disciplined way into your life as a love affair with the unfolding of life itself, and an experiment in making sure you're not missing your moments, or driving through your moments to get the better moments, or constantly caught up in reactivity, it's helpful to keep certain elements in mind. So these factors that are sometimes called attitudinal factors, they really set the stage for taking your seat, or taking a stand in the present moment. So they, in some sense, really round out the practice and are essential to the practice. They are not things that you force on yourself, but rather that you just keep in mind, so to speak. Or maybe it would be even more appropriate to say, keep in heart. [MUSIC PLAYING] So the first of these is non-judging. And as I've said, non-judging does not mean that you won't be judging. It means that in some sense you'll become really mindful of how judging you, and I, and all of us are constantly. And we won't judge that judging. But the awareness of the judging and the intention to not be caught by it is in itself a kind of beautiful and very gentle practice of, in some sense, caring enough about yourself and whatever circumstances you find yourself in to not immediately collapse and contract around liking and disliking, wanting or not wanting, pushing away or driving towards. Because really we are prisoners of our own judgments when it comes down to it, because it reduces our possibilities for responding to challenging situations, instead of reacting mindlessly, more or less, habitually every time certain things come up, and we contract into a view that may not be the whole story, the whole view. So this is actually the heart of meditative practice. And this is a fundamental-- I don't even want to call it a skill, because then it just sounds too pedestrian or mundane. It's an adventure. It's part of the adventure of seeing that we don't have to be imprisoned by our own likes and dislikes. And, in fact, that we can liberate ourselves from our unconscious attachment to our likes and dislikes, and our wants and our fears. And this then just seamlessly integrates, as do all these other factors, and many more besides, into the practice itself. [MUSIC PLAYING] And the second of these attitudinal factors, as they're unfolded in full catastrophe living at least, is the quality of patience. And the beauty of keeping patience even as a possibility in mind, not some kind of ideal, but just the possibility in mind is that we immediately become aware of how impatient we are, and how at times we want to get to an end result, and will drive through whatever is between us and that end result. And so we're kind of forcing ourselves to get out of the present moment because we're anticipating some better present moment in the future. And this is, in some sense, unwise and creates damage sometimes, because other people have to liv...
About the Instructor
A pioneer of the Western mindfulness movement, Jon Kabat-Zinn has spent more than 40 years studying, teaching, and advocating the benefits of mindfulness. In his MasterClass, he teaches you how to cultivate a mindfulness practice, reduce your stress, and soothe your thoughts with meditation and movement. Jon shares expert tips and guidance that meets you where you are. Let this class help you make the most of being alive.
Featured MasterClass Instructor
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn teaches you how to incorporate meditation into your everyday life to improve your health and happiness.
Explore the Class