Letting in the light: using mindfulness practice to reconnect to positive emotion experience and wellbeing.

There are two fundamental emotional systems of mind: a negative valence system (NVS) that drives negative affective experience and regulates withdrawal from threatening or punishing stimuli and a positive valence system (PVS) that drives positive affective experience and regulates approach to rewarding or nourishing stimuli. To be able to make the most of opportunities in life and deal well with the challenges life throws at us, it is helpful for us all to learn how to regulate both of these systems. Many individuals struggling with mental health difficulties, like depression, experience difficulties in both of these tasks.

Historically, the explicit emphasis in the family of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy interventions has been helping individuals to change how they relate and react to negative thoughts and feelings that emerge from the NVS. However, there is increasing recognition that mindfulness can also helpfully change how individuals relate and react to positive thoughts and feelings that emerge from the PVS. This is reflected in the wellbeing and flourishing emphasis of novel curricula like Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Life (MBCT-L).

This workshop aims to help mindfulness teachers develop their capacity to build positive emotion experience through up-regulation of the PVS during courses. The rationale for focusing on the PVS will be presented, what we know about how mindfulness currently acts on the PVS and how this relates to outcomes will be discussed, and a range of techniques from emerging PVS therapies that can be integrated into mindfulness courses will be introduced.

The workshop will run over two sessions on Mondays 17th and 24th June from 09.00 – 13.00 UK time (9.00am – 1.00pm)

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