ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the place mindfulness training that has acquired in the health care setting, and explains how the Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living (MBCL) training has been developed as a deepening course in the mental health services. The green light for mindfulness courses in mental health care was given in 2002 when Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale introduced Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) as an evidence-based method to prevent relapse in patients with recurring depression. In the MBCL programme, loving-kindness and self-compassion explicitly addressed as a practice. Participants do exercises in cultivating compassion and loving-kindness for themselves and others, and these exercises can also further hone their mindfulness skills. The exercises use the imagination to further cultivate the kind and compassionate attitude. In MBCL, a caring compassionate attitude is cultivated that can be beneficial in many forms of suffering.
