Dr Marc Roffey
Cultivating Awe and Mental Wellbeing through Mindful Stargazing
Regular and immersive stargazing has the potential to enhance mental wellbeing in numerous ways. These include experiencing mindfulness, experiencing wonder and awe, fostering social connectivity and connectedness to nature, exercising cognition, and gaining enriched personal perspectives. The talk proposes that stargazing provides a gateway into the direct experience of mindfulness, although this may not be recognised or labelled as such by stargazers. Simultaneously, for those versed in mindfulness, bringing mindful awareness to the wonders of the night sky can deepen and enrich stargazing activities. Stargazing provides immediate and powerful access to the emotion of awe, and the specific relationship between awe and mindfulness will be explored. Structured mindfulness and stargazing programs, during which the night sky and its contents serve as an object or anchor, have potential as interventions which can enhance wellbeing.
Marc Roffey is a psychiatrist and is affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town. In 2023 he completed the Certificate in Mindfulness-Based
Interventions training through IMISA (Institute for Mindfulness South Africa) and the University of Stellenbosch. He has been fascinated by astronomy since early childhood, and regularly stargazes under the magnificent South African skies. He is a member of the Cape Centre of ASSA (Astronomical Society of Southern Africa). Attendees of the talk are encouraged to read the article ‘Stargazing and the Mind’, which provides a foundation for the material which will be presented.