Retiring from the directorship of the mindfulness centre (Saesneg)

Many of you know that I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s early in 2020. I wrote a blog last year of some of my experiences of this unexpected journey. I am continuing to do well in many ways. Exercise is the foreground recommendation for slowing progression, and so, rather ironically, I am feeling fitter than I have for years! However, living with an ongoing health condition, as many of you know, takes time. If I don’t give it the time it needs, I very quickly feel the negative consequences. My energy and stamina – particularly for online and desk working - is lower than it used to be. Overall, I’m discovering, that doing more on top of an already full life, is not a recipe for ease and spaciousness! I am a slow learner on this front. Balancing the yearnings to live an engaged life in the world, along with cultivating an engaged contemplative practice have long been creative pulls within me.  However, the personal truth that I’ve been living into over this last year is that time pressures frequently now put my system’s balance out of kilter. It has become clear that I need to create daily life conditions that give me more reliable spaciousness. I also sense that, in part, this transition is developmental. I’ve loved the active engagement of leadership over these last years, but in this next phase feel pulled towards other ways of contributing.

It has been a profound privilege to serve the work of the mindfulness centre over the last 20+ years, and before that be part of the shaping of the context that brought the centre into being. I feel full of appreciation and awe for the myriad of conditions, circumstances and people that have made this whole endeavour possible. I won’t detail the history of the centre here. We did this two years ago when we had a series of events marking the 20^th anniversary of the founding of the centre by Prof Mark Williams. You can listen to him in conversation with me and other events we held to mark the anniversary here, and I wrote a blog laying out why the mindfulness centre at Bangor came into being here. Suffice to say, it has been quite a ride! We could not have imagined back in 2001 that mindfulness would enter public discourse and practice in the ways that it has. There are multiple conditions that have shaped this. One element that has influenced the UK context for this work has been the collaborative and collective spirit across institutions. This enabled really influential organisations such as the British Association for Mindfulness Based Approaches (BAMBA) and The Mindfulness Initiative, and the work of the Mindfulness All Party Parliamentary Group to come into being. I cherish the friendships that I have developed with colleagues at centres across the UK and internationally as we collaborated on various developments. It feels like we were able to bring forth the best of ourselves when we collectively developed and enacted a big vision for our work.

As I look back, the journey makes sense, but along the way we were meeting and working with new frontiers and challenges that didn’t have clear answers. The one constant has been flux, change, and the need to be dynamically responsive. And this continues. I am seeing now how the Bangor team are continuing to step in and rise to the moment with creative new responsive developments. Two particularly exciting new developments are the revisioning and relaunching of our Training Pathway delivered within The Mindfulness Network in collaboration with Bangor University; and the planned International Conference on Mindfulness in Bangor in early August 2024 (I hope to connect with you then!). My most recent publication (and the one that is definitely a career highlight for me!), came out of conversation and collaboration with a racially diverse group of mindfulness trainers on both sides of the Atlantic. We explored together how mindfulness teaching can become more inclusive, how we can widen the vision to include both the personal and the community, social and environmental drivers of distress and flourishing, and how the pedagogy can be re-examined considering these themes. These themes have become ever more pressing in the current realities of our time. I want to continue to be part of these and other developments – but have a clear sense that it is time for others to lead the vision and drive the momentum. 

Professor Dave Richardson, Head of the School Human and Behavioural Sciences said: ‘We are grateful for the inspiring work that Rebecca and her team have undertaken with regards to the development of the mindfulness curricula within the School and beyond. As a School, we are fully aligned to the continued development of the Mindfulness Centre. I look forward to working with the team, with Becca’s continued advisory input, to extend our presence, impact, and the influence of mindfulness in the well-being of our society’.  In collaboration with the leadership team within the School of Human and Behavioural Sciences, we are currently putting plans in place that will not only sustain but will also build the capacity of the mindfulness team within the University going forward. I will continue to have an advisory role so will keep supporting these developments and the centre more generally post July.  We’ll share these developments with you soon.

I’d like to close by thanking both my immediate colleagues in the university and the Mindfulness Network, and all of you in the wider community for your engagement in our shared endeavour to cultivate greater depths of awareness and kindness in our societies. There is much to be troubled about in the current context of our time, and I continue to feel inspired and aligned with the energies we, and many others in diverse ways, are dedicating towards supporting current and future generations to flourish and to live with greater wisdom. The research and practice developments that have enabled mindfulness to take root in society are transforming lives now and are vital foundations for the future. May this work continue to evolve and develop in ways that truly serve the wellbeing of all living beings.

Prof Rebecca Crane