Mindfulness in science
I have found many answers in a source of one article of my bibliography, the one on mindful breathing ( http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0005796710001324#bib49 ). This source is Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Context: Past, Present, and Future by Jon Kabat-Zinn. It tells us about what does science think about meditation and mindfulness.
What is mindfulness?
First, a definition: Mindfulness is the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment.
Mindfulness-based stress-reduction calms and clarifies the mind, allows caring and goodwill, and refine attention and action. Kabat-Zinn, the author of the article, suggests that it is clinically efficacious with 3 supporting experiments. One of which was healing in the standard way 2 groups of people that have a skin condition caused by stress, with the exception that one group will listen to an audio recording of an indication to practice mindfulness. The group with the audio recording shows a healing 4 times faster than the control group. This experiment suggests that there is a link between the state of mind and the health of the body.
I would like to input that placebos have a similar effect. If we believe that it is good for us then it can effectively be good for us. The power of the will on the body is something truly remarkable that I look forward to use, master and convey in my project.
Kabat-Zinn talks about how hard it is to the western scientific paradigm to seriously consider and integrate mindfulness given the associated traditions and disciplines that can come with meditation. However, he believes that knowledge from spiritual traditions could be integrated into the theoretical system of scientific psychology if one manages to find a way to gather what may be different but complementary ways of thinking.
How to practice mindfulness?
The article also focuses on the unique meaning of practising mindfulness. It is not practising as in training for a future success. Practising mindfulness is just willing to be and being engaged in the discipline. There are a lot of different exercises that can help to cultivate mindfulness.
One of my favourites would be the body-scan: In a static position, eyes closed, start by breathing slowly. Empty and fill your lungs completely. When you got that covered, focus on one part of your body. Feel the sheets, the floor, the piece of clothing, the air around it. Feel the temperature, the moist, the blood circulating inside. When you feel like you are fully aware of that part of your body, move to the next one. I usually go from the feet to the fingers. When you are finished, you are fully aware of your whole body. You are relaxed, you feel heavier. You are in a mindfulness state. From now, every move you will make will feel like moving mountains. When you look around, everything is brighter with more details. You feel at peace.
However, those exercises are only launching platforms, they are the menu, not the meal; the map, rather than the territory.
“Just let go” As a society, we devaluate the present moment in favour of perpetual distraction, self-absorption, and addiction to a feeling of “progress”. The main challenge of mindfulness is to let go of the expectations, goals, aspirations, even the will to feel better or be relaxed, and to suspend all judgments and distractions. It is the trickiest part to explain because it involves emptying the mind and paying attention at the same time. It is paradoxical, in a way, that one has to let go of the desired outcome in order to acquire it. One has to try sustaining that state as long as possible. The concept of trying to “catch the unfolding now”, moment by moment, can help. It is not easy to sustain very long (or at all) the first time because it is difficult for each individual to know how addicted and how deeply identified they are to repetitive thoughts, to goals and distractions... But with a commitment to try, every session unfolds keys and mechanisms in understanding mindfulness better. Moreover, it is not supposed to stop when sessions end, it is like a general way of being, of seeing, a “philosophy”, that is present in everyday life and situations. In everyday life, mindfulness involves focusing on whatever process or activity you are doing, by doing so it increases the pleasure of joy during the process and thus increases the possibility of achieving the outcome.
The separation with tradition
The article addresses how mindfulness could be used in hospitals as a tool for the relief of suffering. An important point that I share is that mindfulness should be free of the cultural, religious, and ideological factors associated with its Buddhist origins. Kabat-Zinn approaches the value of such separation in saying that his goal is not to train Buddhists, but to offer new methods for facing, exploring, and relieving suffering for both the mind and the body, and to understand the potential power of the mind/body connection in doing so.
My take on this is just based on my own beliefs. I am a convinced atheist, I think we should not consider metaphors or new-age explanations as to why the world works like it does. However, I believe that not every knowledge from spirituality and religion should be discarded. I think that it is a general bias in western society. We managed to grow out of religion as a civilization, but there are some insights that should not be lost in the process. Moreover, I think that if such insights can help us bring the best out of us and be the best person we can be, then they deserve to be studied and mastered by science and thus, shared with all people.
In order to ideally understand the ways of mindfulness, Kabat-Zinn suggests that one should retreat at Buddhist centers or be trained by people who have retreated to such centers. I have trouble understanding why would that be so important, especially if the goal is to finally separate mindfulness from the traditions. Furthermore, I hope that such approach is not really essential and that we can manage to emulate what resides in those centers anywhere in the world. This thought can lead further research.
The challenges of teaching mindfulness
Mindfulness cannot be taught to others without the instructor’s practising in his life. It is paradoxically the work of a lifetime and the work of no time at all. This paradox can only be fully understood through sustained personal practice.
The practice involves working with whatever arises in awareness, which at the beginning would be repetitive thoughts and afflictive emotions, so that it is recognized as such without judgment. It is essentially happening in the mind of the student where he is the only observer. Learning mindfulness is a decision that only the student can make and maintain. The teaching would consist of asking the student to look deeply into his own mind and body, and the nature of who he is. As a corollary, mindfulness can’t be taught to someone who is unwilling, too busy, or not interested enough. Furthermore, it would be difficult to promise to people with stress, pain, that they can achieve their goal of healing only in letting go this very goal. It can only be taught if the instructor has a deep confidence in the practice and an equally deep humility in offering it to others, developed through his own intimate engagement and struggles with it.
I believe that the best way to teach mindfulness is to passively lead by example. Letting people around the one practising be inspired by his kindness, happiness and success.
In a sense, this limits the effective range of my project, as I would be actively trying to teach people mindfulness, without personally dialoguing with each member the audience. It means that my project would only be about introducing the concept of mindfulness to the whole audience, without making sure that everyone does follow through. Nevertheless, this is not an issue: I was expecting such limitations and it doesn’t destroy the core goal of my project. In addition, I am already practising mindfulness in my daily life thus, I will be able to build the show from my personal insights. They may not be the most effective insights depending on the audience, that being said, they would still have the essential value of coming from my own experience.
The risk of bad teaching is to become caricatures of mindfulness, missing the radical, transformational essence and becoming caught in similarities between mindfulness practices and relaxation strategies, cognitive-behavioural exercises, and self-monitoring tasks.
This would be the core difficulty of my project. I can only overcome it by deeply practising mindfulness myself. It would also require further research as to how different from mindfulness, relaxation strategies, cognitive-behavioural exercises, and self-monitoring tasks are.
Limits of the article
The article does not develop the inner mechanisms of mindfulness (maybe because we are not sure about it yet), nor the nature of mindfulness-based interventions. Essential core meditative practices rely on silence, stillness, self-inquiry, embodiment, emotional sensitivity, and acceptance of the full gamut of emotional expression held in awareness.
I have to further research on what was said on the audio recording from the experiment. What is taught to introduce mindfulness and how?
-http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jclp.20776/full -http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1093/clipsy.bpg015/full
Source - Roemer, L. (2003). Mindfulness: A promising intervention strategy in need of further study. Clinical psychology: Science and Practice, 10, 144-156. http://rdcu.be/BjkA/