{"id":70619,"date":"2017-10-13T12:57:21","date_gmt":"2017-10-13T19:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=70619"},"modified":"2017-10-13T12:58:49","modified_gmt":"2017-10-13T19:58:49","slug":"way-ahead-of-the-curve-uk-hosts-first-summit-on-mindful-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/10\/13\/way-ahead-of-the-curve-uk-hosts-first-summit-on-mindful-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Way ahead of the curve&#8217;: UK hosts first summit on mindful politics"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"hide-on-mobile\">\n<header class=\"content__head tonal__head tonal__head--tone-news \">\n<div class=\"tonal__standfirst u-cf\">\n<div class=\"gs-container\">\n<div class=\"content__main-column\">\n<div class=\"content__standfirst\" data-link-name=\"standfirst\" data-component=\"standfirst\">\n<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Courtesy The Guardian (UK)<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Ministers to meditate with politicians from Israel, Sri Lanka and Sweden as part of event exploring benefits of mindfulness<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content__main tonal__main tonal__main--tone-news\">\n<div class=\"gs-container\">\n<div class=\"content__main-column content__main-column--article js-content-main-column \">\n<div class=\"content__article-body from-content-api js-article__body\" data-test-id=\"article-review-body\">\n<p>British and Sri Lankan government ministers and an MP for Israel\u2019s Likud party are among politicians from 15 countries due to meditate together at the House of Commons next week in an event to explore whether mindfulness can help reset the conduct of national and international politics.<\/p>\n<p>The group will meet at parliament on Tuesday to be led in a series of secular meditations intended to focus their awareness and increase compassion.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-1 | 1\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-news--item \">\n<div class=\"rich-link__container\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__image-container u-responsive-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/1d0d82c2a33480550c9e4215a06a6aba07bedfd3\/0_224_2140_1284\/master\/2140.jpg?w=460&amp;q=55&amp;auto=format&amp;usm=12&amp;fit=max&amp;s=8578c4139f2ca814508897b41ed4c0d9\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__header\">\n<h3 class=\"rich-link__title\"><a class=\"rich-link__link\">Close your eyes and breathe: schools sign up to mindfulness<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>They will be joined remotely by a US presidential hopeful, Tim Ryan, who has been tipped as a possible Democratic nominee for 2020. The Ohio congressman has said meditation guides his response to Donald Trump, whose reactive tweeting may seem to many as being the opposite of mindful.<\/p>\n<p>The event, claimed to be a world first, has been organised by senior Conservative and Labour MPs, who said they would discuss the potential of meditation to help political leaders stay resilient, clear-minded and creative in the face of constant change\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2013, 145 UK parliamentarians have undertaken an eight-week course in the practice. The most senior British politician taking part in Tuesday\u2019s event will be the sports minister Tracey Crouch.<\/p>\n<picture><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"maxed responsive-img\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/c71a43dc1361861e7ebfb0bd8bf0a325a82455e5\/0_79_6395_3837\/master\/6395.jpg?w=300&amp;q=55&amp;auto=format&amp;usm=12&amp;fit=max&amp;s=ed1dca1a16dd9a1fc2b578af0a1b1546\" alt=\"People meditating\" \/><\/picture> <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><picture>The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends mindfulness-based cognitive therapy to treat recurrent depression. Photograph: Hero Images\/Getty Images<\/picture><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The conference will be addressed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, a US scientist who in the 1970s pioneered the use of meditation for people with chronic illnesses, partly by playing down its Buddhist roots.<\/p>\n<p>He is seen as the driving force behind the rising popularity of the practice in western countries, where it is being tested in schools and prisons as well as being used to treat mental health problems.<\/p>\n<p>Sweden, which also has a mindfulness training programme for MPs, is sending three parliamentarians, and among others they will meditate with Sri Lanka\u2019s education minister, Mohan Lal Grero, and J\u00falia \u00c1brah\u00e1m, a director of the Hungarian opposition LMP party. MPs from France, the Netherlands, Ireland and Italy will also attend.<\/p>\n<div id=\"dfp-ad--inline1\" class=\"js-ad-slot ad-slot ad-slot--inline ad-slot--inline1 ad-slot--rendered\" data-link-name=\"ad slot inline1\" data-name=\"inline1\" data-mobile=\"1,1|2,2|300,250|fluid\" data-desktop=\"1,1|2,2|300,250|620,1|620,350|fluid\" data-google-query-id=\"CKeTsIyv7tYCFScw0wodWGcOcQ\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/59666047\/theguardian.com\/lifeandstyle\/article\/ng_5__container__\" class=\"ad-slot__content\">During the sessions, the politicians will sit on chairs, close their eyes and be invited to focus their attention on their breath, their bodies and their thoughts to develop mindfulness.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Ryan said: Mindful meditation allows me to take a timeout, step back and see issues as interconnected. That kind of big-picture problem-solving is desperately lacking in both US political parties today, and has in many cases been replaced with an almost hyper-partisan kind of hate.<\/p>\n<p>I try not to be a part of that. If you hate, you\u2019re just adding hate. Whether you\u2019re hating from the left or from the right, it\u2019s still hate, and it is undermining our ability to come together as a nation to solve big problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element-rich-link--tag element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link-tag\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-tag\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-news--item \"><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Kabat-Zinn said the use of mindfulness in the political process could improve policymaking and that by training the mind to be more attentive, politicians may listen better to the needs of the country and the world.<\/p>\n<p>The UK is way ahead of the curve,\u201d Kabat-Zinn said. I don\u2019t know of any other country that is doing this, and now you have inspired politicians in many different countries. That is what this event is about. They can look each other in the face and strategise and support each other.<\/p>\n<p>This is not a weirdo lunatic fringe trying to take over the world, but an oxygen line straight into the heart of what is deepest and most beautiful in us as human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since 2004, courses of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy have been recommended by the UK\u2019s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for the treatment of recurrent depression. The therapy is available in some areas on the NHS, and hundreds more private courses have sprung up amid rising demand, although there are concerns about the standard of teaching in some cases.<\/p>\n<p>Mindfulness has helped me make better decisions,\u201d said the Labour MP Chris Ruane, who has practised meditation for a decade and is co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on mindfulness. If you make decisions from a position of balance and equilibrium, it is far better, not just for personal but political decisions that affect a whole nation.<\/p>\n<p>In times when you have political leaders who may not be making political decisions from a position of balance, it doesn\u2019t do them, their country or the world much good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The other co-chair, Tim Loughton, a Conservative former minister, said: There is an affinity amongst those who have been through this [mindfulness] course and a rather more considered approach to exchanges of differing views.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Part of the course offered to UK MPs examines the difference between reaction and response, or, as Ruane puts it, knowing when to hold your finger [on social media] or to hold your tongue\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>If you are aware of what is happening in your mind and body you can see it is an immediate reaction and think: I have to slow down, contain it and give a more considered response.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ruane said he wanted the next step to be politicians taking mindfulness to their constituents, in policy \u2013 health, educations, prisons, the workplace \u2013 because there is a massive need for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"gu-graphic-header\">\n<h3>How to start to meditate<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"gu-Meditation2-box\" class=\"ai2html\">\n<div id=\"gu-Meditation2-inArticle_620\" class=\"gu-artboard gu-artboard-v3\" data-min-width=\"620\">\n<div id=\"gu-ai1-1\" class=\"gu-graphic gu-aiAbs\">\n<p class=\"gu-pstyle0\">Mindfulness of breath<\/p>\n<p>Sit with back straight, shoulders relaxed, both feet on the floor. With eyes closed, focus attention on your breath going in and out. When your mind wanders, acknowledge that and bring it back to the breath<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"gu-ai1-2\" class=\"gu-graphic gu-aiAbs\">\n<p class=\"gu-pstyle0\">Lying down<\/p>\n<p>Lie on a firm surface, eyes closed, and focus attention on the weight of your body. Move attention to your toes and observe the feeling, slowly scan up through the foot, calf and on through each part of the body to your head. Feel the sensations on the skin. If there is little to feel, notice that too<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"gu-ai1-3\" class=\"gu-graphic gu-aiAbs\">\n<p class=\"gu-pstyle0\">On the go<\/p>\n<p>Peace and quiet is not essential. A guided meditation on a train for a few minutes can work. Use either of the above options, repeatedly bringing attention back to the breath or body from the thoughts and noises that arise<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"gu-graphic-footer\"><\/div>\n<figure class=\"element element-interactive interactive\" data-interactive=\"https:\/\/interactive.guim.co.uk\/embed\/iframe-wrapper\/0.1\/boot.js\" data-canonical-url=\"https:\/\/interactive.guim.co.uk\/uploader\/embed\/2017\/10\/meditation-zip\/giv-3902VTLPr2fIUAVn\/\" data-alt=\"Meditation graphic\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy The Guardian (UK) Ministers to meditate with politicians from Israel, Sri Lanka and Sweden as part of event exploring benefits of mindfulness British and Sri Lankan government ministers and an MP for Israel\u2019s Likud party are among politicians from 15 countries due to meditate together at the House of Commons next week in an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}