WGS 2018: Mindfulness Is an Awareness of the Here and Now, Emphasizes Stress Management Expert

Dr Saki Santorelli hosts experiential session to demonstrate relevance of gathering oneself purposefully

Dubai-UAE: 13 February, 2018 –   “To do our jobs well, to take care of our children, to meet our colleagues, to develop teams at work, and get the job done - all of this requires us to be present. To solve the problems that we have, of course we need to think of the past and the future. But when we are solving a certain problem – it is right now,” said Dr Saki Santorelli, Director of Stress Reduction Clinic, University of Massachusetts, during the opening session on day two of the World Government Summit 2018 (WGS 2018) in Dubai.

During his session titled ‘Mind-full or Mindful’, Dr Santorelli pointed out that more than three decades of study have shown how mindfulness can positively and profoundly affect the ability to reduce medical symptoms and psychological distress. Offering tips on how to live a more mindful life, he discussed the benefits of a more mindful individual and society.

Santorelli related an individual’s willingness to cultivate awareness, to their ability to remember. He associated mindfulness to our capacity to be awake. Illustrating through a breathing exercise that people tend to either contemplate the past, or worry about the future, he said to be effective in addressing the challenges we face, we must remember to live in the present.

Reiterating this point, the author of the Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine, said: “One of the characteristics of the digital age is the sense of virtual instantaneous connectivity that we have. There is a lot of data that suggests that being ‘out there’ is so appealing, that you are losing some capacity to really touch base with what is ‘here’.”

Santorelli, who started his journey in mindfulness back in 1981 as an intern at Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Stress Reduction Clinic, has spent an entire career oriented around the integration of mindfulness into clinical care and public health. 

Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the World Government Summit 2018 runs from February 11 to 13 at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. The landmark event convenes more than 4,000 participants from 140 countries, including heads of state and governments, as well as top-tier representatives of 16 international organizations.

Hosting more than 130 speakers across 120 interactive sessions, WGS 2018 features six distinct forums that examine the challenges of vital sectors for the future with a view to finding the best resolutions for the greater global good. Furthermore, over 20 specialized global reports spanning key sectors and topics of the summit are being launched during the event.