About the conference

The aim of the conference is to raise awareness of the social aspect of mindfulness, related phenomena and interventions, as well as to encourage joint reflection on whether and how we can deepen its transformative potential and better cope with various crises in our lives.

In this context, the choice of venue for the conference is not accidental. We wanted it to be held at the European Solidarity Center, a place that symbolizes and illustrates the ethical values and conduct that are rooted in this extraordinary social movement in Poland and overcoming difficulties in a constructive way.

The Special Guest is Prof. Mark Williams - a world-renowned researcher and practitioner of mindfulness, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Oxford, co-creator of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), a method designed to effectively manage depression, anxiety, insomnia, and other conditions, and the latest program, “Deeper Mindfulness.” He is also the founder and long-time director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, and the author and co-author of many best-selling books popularizing mindfulness. The Polish editions include: „Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression”; „Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World” and” the latest „ Deeper Mindfulness: A New Approach to Mindfulness”.

Who is this conference for?
The conference is addressed to business people, managers, entrepreneurs – people working in a demanding environment, operating under pressure, as well as educators, healthcare professionals, and anyone interested in improving health, quality of life, and counteracting burnout and other phenomena of modern civilization.

We believe that the practice of mindfulness has the potential to bring about change for the good of all beings, and we hope that this conference will bear fruit for us all.

The conference is organized by the Mindfulness Development Foundation and the OpenMind Training Center. Our mission is to reduce suffering and improve the mental and physical well-being of individuals and social groups through education in mindfulness and mindfulness-based interventions. Through these activities, we want to contribute to the development of a harmonious society in which people lead more conscious lives based on kindness, compassion, and wisdom. We co-operate with the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation, a leading European Mindfulness Centre.


 

Time	Session	Speaker
9:00 – 10:00	Registration Open
10:00 – 10:30	Welcome Word and Short Meditation	Ewa Kaian Kochanowska Paweł Holas
10:30 – 11:30	Lecture: Finding Peace and Resilience in a Frantic World: Mindfulness in the Face of Current Challenges	Dr hab. Paweł Holas
11:30 – 11:50	Coffee/Tea Break
11:50 – 13:00	Keynote session: Mindfulness Training - From Clinical Therapy to Implementation in Life and Work	Prof. Mark Williams
13:00 – 14:00	Vegetarian Lunch
14:00 – 14:40	Panel Discussion: From Stress to Balance - the Qualities of Mindfulness that Strengthen Mental Resilience and Prevent Burnout	Moderator: Ewa Kaian Kochanowska
14:40 – 15:30	Lecture/discussion: The Neurobiology of Mindfulness - What Happens in the Brain When We Practice Meditation	Dr Asia Wojsiat Dr Wojciech Glac
15:30 – 16:30	Poster Session with a Coffee/Tea Break
16:30 – 17:10	Lecture: Wiser Together - Mindfulness and Relationships	Anna J. Ziółkowska
17:10 – 17:50	Panel Discussion: Mindfulness in the Digital World – How to Cope with Overstimulation in the Online Era	Moderator: Paweł Holas
17:50 – 18:00	Closing Remarks	Ewa Kaian Kochanowska Paweł Holas
18:15 – 19:00	Concert: Harmonic Flow - Space of Sound and Silence	Piotr Krępeć

“The Feeling Tone” Programme is an eight-week course designed as a follow-on for those who are familiar with mindfulness practice but also designed so that all may find it useful.

This workshop will give you the chance to learn about the course and both the ancient wisdom and recent psychological findings that inform it. These suggest that every waking moment, our understanding of the world is dominated by imagining how we can take action within it. These perceptions and plans are coloured by what is called ‘vedana’ or ‘feeling tone’: the moment-by-moment ‘read-out’ of how much any sensation, thought, impulse or emotion feels pleasant, unpleasant, or neither. Based on moment-by-moment feeling tone, the body allocates its resources as it gears up for real or imagined action. This can prepare you well for action, but it can also put you at risk of becoming exhausted without your realising it.

We will explore the rationale for different aspect of the program through lecture, practice, enquiry and Q & A, discussing ways to help become more aware of feeling tones and their impact, and how such awareness can make a difference in daily life.
Feeling tone is a very important part of MBSR and MBCT programmes, but is mostly implicit, and there are no formal meditations that specifically focus on it. It is therefore an aspect of mindfulness that can help sustain, extend and deepen our practice.
Cultivating awareness of the feeling tone of what is arising moment by moment allows us to see clearly the tipping points, those instants when we become caught up in pursuing or rejecting something and can become entangled in a web of emotional distress.
Meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein has said that mindfulness of feeling tone is one of the master keys that both reveals and unlocks the deepest patterns of our conditioning.