Movement and stillness : mindfulness and the art of inquiry
Mindfulness researchers have predominantly used quantitative methods. Post positivist researchers have developed operational definitions and measures of mindfulness to understand and capture what mindfulness is. However, the act of operationalizing and measuring mindfulness ignores the works of some teachers/students of mindfulness that describe mindfulness as the immeasurable or indefinable. This is not to say that we cannot use descriptions to spark learning into mindfulness, only to understand that the description is not the described when discussing mindfulness, as Krishnamurti has highlighted. The common tools utilized by mindfulness teachers to help spark students’ learning into mindfulness are such things as yoga, questions, stories, and breath awareness. Post positivist researchers, and mindfulness teachers and their students, are exploring the question: “What is mindfulness?” with different methods. To be able to utilize story to spark learning into mindfulness/represent the results of this study, I have completed a qualitative study exploring the question: How do the participants in this study’s mindfulness program inquire? Eight middle-aged women Hatha yoga students consented to participate in this study’s six-and-half week mindfulness program. The program had experiential, discussion/story, and movement based learning. As the mindfulness teacher, I continuously posed questions to and discussed questions with the students, to help spark learning into mindfulness. The women, myself, and the works of mindfulness authors highlighted that mindful inquiry was about the oneness of learning, listening, and compassion; as well as, the importance of stories, friendship, and trust. These themes were communicated through the fictional story.
DegreeMaster of Science (M.Sc.)
DepartmentCollege of Kinesiology
ProgramCollege of Kinesiology
Copyright DateFebruary 2007