KIRK BENSON MINDFULNESS: AN INTRODUCTION
“ When there ’ s nothing else, there ’ s just that moment. And that ’ s what mindfulness is. We all experience it. It ’ s an innate quality that we all have. ” Mindfulness, which Kirk Benson also describes as “ loving awareness ”, gives him a way to live without distraction and feel every moment as a new experience. While mindfulness offers countless benefits, Kirk explains them simply: the mind is involved in everything we do. Training it to be intentional transforms how we experience daily life. Mindfulness can ease stress, improve social relations and emotional regulation, and even affect the relationship people have with food. With consistent practice, it may also create physical changes in the brain—strengthening areas associated with joy and peace while shrinking those linked to anger and fear. Kirk notes, “ Mindfulness teaches us to address our difficult emotions, and to thoroughly enjoy our wholesome emotions. ”
Kirk likes to summarize his life into three sections: getting an education, working, and giving back to the community. He studied at Brown University, is involved with The Mindfulness Teacher Certification Program, and the Mindfulness Center for Southern Kirk Benson
Utah, a nonprofit organization that partners with existing groups and, eventually, will serve individuals at its future center in St. George. He has four children, ten grandchildren, and one great grandchild. After 40 years of working 60-70 hour weeks, Kirk was in search of something new to fill his time and a way to give back. He was inspired to bring mindfulness to the community after attending a meeting in Dharamsala, India, with the Dalai Lama, where monks and scientists gathered to discuss emerging research on mindfulness in education.
Above & right: One of Kirk ’ s two Mindfulness classes.
Kirk has been sharing mindfulness with ICL for three years. He loves the members here and getting to share experiences with them. He espe- cially loves that he gets to teach something new to people who have so many lived experiences. He limits his classes to 15 people to keep the class personal and get more connected with members. Giving back to the community is an extremely valued element of Kirk ’ s life and ICL has given him further opportunity to do so.
6 LIFELONG LEARNING
Article written by ICL Social Media Intern Ava Knudsen.
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