This is the first of a series of articles by Mariana Vergara about her project 'Mindfulness into Action', which brings students from New York to the Amazon rainforest at Ruku Kausay, to give them the opportunity to learn from indigenous teachers about their mindful and sustainable culture.
Abstract of the paper:
This study explored the apparent experience of cognitive transformation of participants over a four-week period following the implementation of MIA®. Psychological tools were used to evaluate the evolution before, during, and after the MIA® process. Implementation was made with students who took the course “Mindfulness into Action (MIA®) Research with Grounded Theory” at Columbia University. Weekly sessions were held (once a week) during the semester. Each session lasted two hours. With the permission of the participants, the sessions were recorded and then the evaluations were done before and after the MIA® process. In addition, participants answered questions about their process before, during and after the MIA® intervention. This study was done with the research methodology called "Grounded Theory", in order to identify subconscious self-sabotage behaviors. These students were under greater stress due to demanding academic work at Columbia University. However, participants in this study became are clear-minded and grounded, capable of moving into action in complete mindfulness. This chapter includes the qualitative, quantitative analysis of this transformation, as well, comments from the MIA® conference about the student’s presentations of the process, and reflections from students at the field research study in the Amazon rainforest in 2016.
Keywords: Transformational learning, subconscious behavior, mindfulness, stress reduction, effectiveness, leadership development.
