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Dhamma and the practices. I have learned a lot from Neff etc are all regular and experienced meditators
people whom I have connected with and crossed path well versed in Buddhist philosophy and teachings,
through these activities and seeing them embracing when they adapted the classical meditation into
and embodying Dhamma in their lives is so warm and secular mindfulness – availability of short meditation,
heartfelt. informal practices (e.g. mindfulness in daily life,
3-minutes breathing space) and many more practical
As a trained psychologist what lessons from tools, are much more “doable” by beginners. I am a
Buddhism did you find most applicable in your trained mindful self-compassion teacher under Center
work when dealing with your clients? for Mindful Self-Compassion, USA and an apprentice

teacher of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy
Definitely the core Dhamma - the four noble truth and under Oxford Mindfulness Centre, UK, thus I have been
the noble eightfold paths. Counseling/therapy clients teaching modern audience, both non-Buddhist (my
naturally came to see psychologist with their intense professional work) and Buddhist (my Dhammaduta
suffering/challenges/stresses etc. It’s very crucial outreach) individuals and I can see how receptive they
that my own mindfulness of the nature of suffering are to secular mindfulness practices especially the
must be strong to guide me to skillfully assess the shorter meditative practices which are appealing for
client’s situation and I always use the noble eightfold beginners learning Dhamma/Buddhist teachings.
path as my guide. For example, is the client’s view and
understanding of their challenges distorted? Is she/he It’s been said that mindfulness is a key contributor
challenged in their work-life/“right livelihood”? What to one’s overall well-being. What is meant by this
is the level of readiness/”right effort” in facing and statement?
managing their challenges?
I will rephrase this statement to “Right Mindfulness”
You also conduct mindfulness classes – do you need together with the rest of the other seven noble paths
to adapt what is taught in classical mindfulness as are key contributors to one’s overall well-being; not just
found in early Buddhism for a modern audience? limited to mindfulness practice. Sometimes we Buddhist

forget that our Dhamma practices are a combination
Yes, definitely. Modern audience are really challenged of all eight noble paths together and not as individual
by busy life, lack of time and the need to see “instant” separate individual components.
results, thus classical mindfulness (Buddhist meditation
classes/retreats) may “scare” the modern audience off When you’re working with someone who is
with “too long sitting, too much silence” etc. Secular mentally ill, their ability to be aware of their own
mindfulness “gurus” especially the senior teachers mind is really limited. Can they also learn and
like Dr John Kabat-Zinn, Dr Mark Williams, Dr Zindel practice mindfulness?
Segal, Dr John Teasdale, Dr Chris Germer, Dr Kristin