Exploring effectiveness of Mindfulness Training Programme: An Investigation of the Perceived Benefits from lenses of Pre-service Teachers

Mindfulness is the buzz word in the contemporary era due to its emerging positive impact on overall psychological well being across cultures and age groups. At the back drop of strong scientific and neurological evidences, mindfulness is finding its places almost in every sphere and discipline pertaining to human life. In this regard, Education as a process of holistic development also recognizes mindfulness as critical skill for 21 st century learners and educators. This paper makes an attempt to study the perceived benefits of mindfulness from the perspective of trainee teachers through a pre-test and post-test comparative analysis of a mindfulness training program. Qualitative and quantitative responses from participants yielded through self-constructed questionnaire throw light at the potential benefits of mindfulness as perceived by trainee teachers on all the dimensions under consideration. Findings of the paper make a strong case of integrating mindfulness as part of the teacher training programmes in a more organic and structured manner.