I did not realise when I started the Mindful design practice module that it would have such an impact on my project and my thinking. Each day started with a meditation session facilitated by Kumanga Andrahennadi which encouraged my thoughts in self awareness and understanding the importance for me to acknowledge the state of my body and mind in the present. I enjoyed learning the practice of meditation and I reflected during the week about the impact it had on the group. It was definitely enabling the class to acknowledge thoughts and feelings we hadn’t recognised previously and this was very interesting and enlightening. The week ended with Dr Louise Valentine leading a discussion on Mindful inquiry and she left a collection of books from her library for our interest. I picked up ‘The power of mindful learning’ by E Langer and read this over the weekend, the Author states ‘The capacity to achieve an outcome is different from the ability to explore the world and understand the experience’. Reflecting on this enabled me to see that this way of thinking and researching could have a significant impact on my Masters project. Exploring and understanding, especiallywhen navigating round a new context are essential and insights into perspectives will enrich research.
I was encouraged by the weeks learning to continue to read about mindfulness and I soon became very aware that common themes around self awareness and behaviour change could significantly impact my project.
I was relatively open to the practice of meditation and how self awareness through this method could influence individuals towards clearer understanding and behaviour change. I was however unsure about how transferrable the practice could be and it’s impact. I enjoyed a few more sessions of meditation in different environments over the course of the module and I believe it has had a positive impact on me. So with this in mind, I encouraged my kids to engage in the practice, I thought that they could benefit from being able to have some calm moments in their day. They were really open to this and followed my instructions precisely. I talked them through the process and smiles developed on their faces during the meditation and I could see they were enjoying the experience. Since the first time, they have often asked for meditation time with me. This then led me to think about the team at work. There are many challenges faced in the working environment and although we reflect individually and as a team, there are times, especially through the sadness, distress and loss which impact our daily lives. I invited Kumanga to introduce the team to mindfulness and meditation. This proved to be a positive experience for the team and we are now discussing how we could explore this practice further. It feels that we may have found the missing piece to enable us towards addressing some wellbeing issues and improved quality of life…
I would be interested to hear your thoughts…
Moy's Bit 