The self is an individual person as the object of its own reflective consciousness. Since the self is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or self-hood—should, however, not be confused with subjectivity itself.
Ostensibly, this sense is directed outward from the subject to refer
inward, back to its "self" (or itself). Examples of psychiatric
conditions where such "sameness" may become broken include depersonalization, which sometimes occurs in schizophrenia: the self appears different from the subject.
The first-person perspective distinguishes self-hood from personal identity. Whereas "identity" is (literally) sameness and may involve categorization and labeling,
self-hood implies a first-person perspective and suggests potential
uniqueness. Conversely, we use "person" as a third-person reference.
Personal identity can be impaired in late-stage Alzheimer's disease and in other neurodegenerative diseases. Finally, the self is distinguishable from "others". Including the distinction between sameness and otherness, the self versus other is a research topic in contemporary philosophy and contemporary phenomenology, psychology, psychiatry, neurology, and neuroscience.
The psychology of self is the study of either the cognitive and affective representation of one's identity or the subject of experience. The earliest formulation of the self in modern psychology forms the distinction between the self as I, the subjective knower, and the self as Me, the subject that is known.
Current views of the self in psychology position the self as playing
an integral part in human motivation, cognition, affect, and social identity. Self following from John Locke has been seen as a product of episodic memory but research upon those with amnesia find they have a coherent sense of self based upon preserved conceptual autobiographical knowledge.
It is increasingly possible to correlate cognitive and affective
experience of self with neural processes. A goal of this ongoing
research is to provide grounding and insight into the elements of which
the complex multiply situated selves of human identity are composed. The
'Disorders of the Self' have also been extensively studied by
psychiatrists.
For example, facial and pattern recognition
take large amounts of brain processing capacity but pareidolia cannot
explain many constructs of self for cases of disorder, such as
schizophrenia or schizo-affective disorder.
One's sense of self can also be changed upon becoming part of a
stigmatized group. According to Cox, Abramson, Devine,
and Hollon (2012), if an individual has prejudice against a certain
group, like the elderly and then later becomes part of this group this
prejudice can be turned inward causing depression (i.e. deprejudice).
The philosophy of a disordered self, such as in schizophrenia,
is described in terms of what the psychiatrist understands are actual
events in terms of neuron excitation but are delusions nonetheless, and
the schizo-affective or schizophrenic person also believes are actual
events in terms of essential being. PET scans have shown that auditory
stimulation is processed in certain areas of the brain, and imagined
similar events are processed in adjacent areas, but hallucinations are
processed in the same areas as actual stimulation. In such cases,
external influences may be the source of consciousness and the person
may or may not be responsible for "sharing" in the mind's process, or
the events which occur, such as visions and auditory stimuli, may
persist and be repeated often over hours, days, months or years—and the
afflicted person may believe themselves to be in a state of rapture or
possession.
What the Freudian tradition has subjectively called, "sense of
self" is for Jungian analytic psychology, where one's identity is lodged
in the persona or ego and is subject to change in maturation. Carl Jung
distinguished, "The self is not only the center, but also the whole
circumference which embraces both conscious and unconscious; it is the
center of this totality...". The Self in Jungian psychology is "the archetype of wholeness and the regulating center of the psyche ... a transpersonal power that transcends the ego." As a Jungian archetype,
it cannot be seen directly, but by ongoing individuating maturation and
analytic observation, can be experienced objectively by its cohesive
wholeness making factor.
Meanwhile self psychology is a set of psychotherapeutic principles and techniques established by the Austrian-born American psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut
upon the foundation of the psychoanalytic method developed by Freud,
and is specifically focused on the subjectivity of experience, which it
alleges is mediated by a psychological structure called the self.
Sociology
The
self can be redefined as a dynamic, responsive process that structures
neural pathways according to past and present environments including
material, social, and spiritual aspects. Self-concept is a concept or belief that an individual has of him or herself as an emotional, spiritual, and social being.
Therefore, the self-concept is the idea of who I am, kind of like a
self-reflection of one's well-being. For example, the self-concept is
anything you say about yourself.
A society
is a group of people who share a common belief or aspect of self
interacting for the maintenance or betterment of the collective. Culture
consists of explicit and implicit patterns of historically derived and
selected ideas and their embodiment in institutions, cognitive and
social practices, and artifacts. Cultural systems may, on the one hand,
be considered as products of action, and on the other, as conditioning
elements of further action. Therefore, the following sections will explore how the self and self-concept can be changed due to different cultures.
Markus and Kitayama's early 1990s theory hypothesized that
representations of the self in human cultures would fall on a continuum
from independent to interdependent. The independent self
is supposed to be egoistic, unique, separated from the various contexts,
critical in judgement and prone to self-expression. The interdependent
self is supposed to be altruistic, similar with the others, flexible
according to contexts, conformist and unlikely to express opinions that
would disturb the harmony of his or her group of belonging.
This theory enjoyed huge popularity despite its many problems such as
being based on popular stereotypes and myths about different cultures
rather than on rigorous scientific research as well as postulating a
series of causal links between culture and self-construals without
presenting any evidence supporting them.
A large study from 2016 involving a total of 10,203 participants from
55 cultural groups found that there is no independent versus
interdependent dimension of self-construal because traits supposed by
Markus & Kitayama to form a coherent construct do not actually
correlate, or if they correlate, they have correlations opposite to
those postulated by Markus & Kitayama. There are seven separate
dimension of self-construal which can be found at both the cultural
level of analysis and the individual level of analysis. These dimensions
are difference versus similarity (if the individual considers himself or herself to be a unique person or to be the same as everybody else), self-containment versus connection to others (feeling oneself as being separated from others versus feeling oneself as being together with the others), self-direction versus receptiveness to influence (independent thinking versus conformity),
Westerners, Latin Americans and the Japanese are relatively
likely to represent their individual self as unique and different from
that of others while Arabs, South-East Asians and Africans are
relatively likely to represent their self as being similar with that of
others. Individuals from Uganda, Japan, Colombia, Namibia, Ghana and
Belgium were most likely to represent their selves as being emotionally
separated from the community while individuals from Oman, Malaysia,
Thailand and central Brazil were most likely to consider themselves as
emotionally connected to their communities. Japanese, Belgians, British
and Americans from Colorado were most likely to value independent
thinking and consider themselves as making their own decisions in life
independently from others. On the other hand, respondents from rural
Peru, Malaysia, Ghana, Oman and Hungary were most likely to place more
value on following others rather than thinking for themselves as well as
to describe themselves as being often influenced by others in their
decisions. Middle Easterners from Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and Oman were
most likely to value self-reliance and consider themselves as working on
their own and being economically independent from others. On the other
hand, respondents from Uganda, Japan and Namibia were most likely to
consider cooperation between different individuals in economical
activities as being important. Chileans, Ethiopians from the highlands,
Turks and people from Lebanon placed a relatively high degree of
importance on maintaining a stable pattern of behavior regardless of
situation or context. Individuals from Japan, Cameroon, the United
Kingdom and Sweden were most likely to describe themselves as being
adaptable to various contexts and to place value on this ability.
Colombians, Chileans, US Hispanics, Belgians and Germans were most
likely to consider self expression as being more important than
maintaining harmony within a group. Respondents from Oman, Cameroon and
Malaysia were most likely to say that they prefer keeping harmony within
a group to engaging in self-expression. Sub-Saharan Africans from
Namibia, Ghana and Uganda considered that they would follow their own
interests even if this means harming the interests of those close to
them. Europeans from Belgium, Italy and Sweden had the opposite
preference, considering self-sacrifice for other members of the
community as being more important than accomplishing selfish goals.
Contrary to the theory of Markus & Kitayama, egoism
correlates negatively with individual uniqueness, independent thinking
and self-expression. Self-reliance correlates strongly and negatively
with emotional self-containment, which is also unexpected given Markus
& Kitayama's theory. The binary classification of cultural
self-construals into independent versus interdependent is deeply flawed
because in reality, the traits do not correlate according to Markus
& Kitayama's self construal theory, and this theory fails to take
into consideration the extremely diverse and complex variety of
self-construals present in various cultures across the world.
The way individuals construct themselves may be different due to their culture.
The self is dynamic and complex and it will change or conform to
whatever social influence it is exposed to. The main reason why the self
is constantly dynamic is because it always looks for reasons to not be
harmed. The self in any culture looks out for its well-being and will
avoid as much threat as possible. This can be explained through the evolutionary psychology concept called survival of the fittest.
Philosophy
The philosophy of self seeks to describe essential qualities that
constitute a person's uniqueness or essential being. There have been
various approaches to defining these qualities. The self can be
considered that being which is the source of consciousness, the agentresponsible for an individual's thoughts and actions, or the substantial nature of a person which endures and unifies consciousness over time.
In addition to Emmanuel Levinas writings on "otherness", the distinction between "you" and "me" has been further elaborated in Martin Buber's philosophical work: Ich und Du.
Religion
Religious views on the self vary widely. The self is a complex and core subject in many forms of spirituality. Two types of self are commonly considered—the self that is the ego,
also called the learned, superficial self of mind and body, an egoic
creation, and the self which is sometimes called the "True Self", the
"Observing Self", or the "Witness". In Hinduism, the Ātman (self), despite being experienced as individual, is actually a representation of the unified transcendent reality, Brahman. Our experience of reality doesn't match the nature of Brahman due to māyā.
One description of spirituality is the self's search for
"ultimate meaning" through an independent comprehension of the sacred.
Another definition of spiritual identity is: "A persistent sense of self
that addresses ultimate questions about the nature, purpose, and
meaning of life, resulting in behaviors that are consonant with the
individual’s core values. Spiritual identity appears when the symbolic
religious and spiritual value of a culture is found by individuals in
the setting of their own life. There can be different types of spiritual
self because it is determined by one's life and experiences."
Human beings have a self—that is, they are able to look back on
themselves as both subjects and objects in the universe. Ultimately,
this brings questions about who we are and the nature of our own
importance. Traditions such as Buddhism see the attachment to self is an illusion that serves as the main cause of suffering and unhappiness. Christianity makes a distinction between the true self and the false self, and sees the false self negatively, distorted through sin: 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?' (Jeremiah 17:9)
According to Marcia Cavell, identity comes from both political and religious views. He also identified exploration and commitment as interactive parts of identity formation, which includes religious identity. Erik Erikson compared faith with doubt and found that healthy adults take heed to their spiritual side.
Mindfulness is the practice of purposely bringing one's attention in the present moment without judgment, a skill one develops through meditation or other training. Mindfulness derives from sati, a significant element of Buddhist traditions, and based on Zen, Vipassanā, and Tibetan meditation techniques. Though definitions and techniques of mindfulness are wide-ranging,
Buddhist traditions explain what constitutes mindfulness such as how
past, present and future moments arise and cease as momentary sense
impressions and mental phenomena. Individuals who have contributed to the popularity of mindfulness in the modern Western context include Thích Nhất Hạnh, Herbert Benson, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Richard J. Davidson, and Sam Harris.
Clinical psychology and psychiatry
since the 1970s have developed a number of therapeutic applications
based on mindfulness for helping people experiencing a variety of
psychological conditions. Mindfulness practice has been employed to reduce depression, to reduce stress, anxiety, and in the treatment of drug addiction.
Programs based on mindfulness models have been adopted within schools,
prisons, hospitals, veterans' centers, and other environments, and
mindfulness programs have been applied for additional outcomes such as
for healthy aging, weight management, athletic performance, helping children with special needs, and as an intervention during the perinatal period.
Clinical studies have documented both physical- and mental-health
benefits of mindfulness in different patient categories as well as in
healthy adults and children.
Research studies have shown a positive relationship between trait
mindfulness (which can be cultivated through the practice of
mindfulness-based interventions) and psychological health. The practice of mindfulness appears to provide therapeutic benefits to people with psychiatric disorders, including moderate benefits to those with psychosis. Studies also indicate that rumination and worry contribute to a variety of mental disorders, and that mindfulness-based interventions can enhance trait mindfulness and reduce both rumination and worry. Further, the practice of mindfulness may be a preventive strategy to halt the development of mental-health problems. However, too much mindfulness can produce harmful effects, such as worsening anxiety in people with high levels of self-focus or awareness of their bodies or emotions.
There is also evidence that suggests engaging in mindfulness
meditation may influence physical health. For example, the psychological
habit of repeatedly dwelling on stressful thoughts
appears to intensify the physiological effects of the stressor (as a
result of the continual activation of the sympathetic nervous system and
the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis) with the potential to lead to
physical health related clinical manifestations.
Studies indicate that mindfulness meditation, which brings about
reductions in rumination, may alter these biological clinical pathways. Further, research indicates that mindfulness may favourably influence the immune system as well as inflammation,
which can consequently impact physical health, especially considering
that inflammation has been linked to the development of several chronic
health conditions. Other studies support these findings. Additionally, mindfulness appears to bring about lowered activity of the default mode network of the brain, and thereby contribute towards a lowered risk of developing conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
However, critics have questioned both the commercialization and the over-marketing
of mindfulness for health benefits—as well as emphasizing the need for
more randomized controlled studies, for more methodological details in
reported studies and for the use of larger sample-sizes.
Practice
Mindfulness
practice involves the process of developing the skill of bringing one's
attention to whatever is happening in the present moment.
Watching the breath, body-scan and other techniques
There are several exercises designed to develop mindfulness meditation, which may be aided by guided meditations "to get the hang of it". As forms of self-observation and interoception,
these methods increase awareness of the body, so they are usually
beneficial to people with low self-awareness or low awareness of their
bodies or emotional state, and can provoke anxiety, distress,
flashbacks, pain, and even trigger substance abuse in people who are very focused on themselves, their bodies, and their emotions.
One method is to sit in a straight-backed chair or sit
cross-legged on the floor or a cushion, close one's eyes and bring
attention to either the sensations of breathing in the proximity of
one's nostrils or to the movements of the abdomen when breathing in and
out.
In this meditation practice, one does not try to control one's
breathing, but attempts to simply be aware of one's natural breathing
process/rhythm.
When engaged in this practice, the mind will often run off to other
thoughts and associations, and if this happens, one passively notices
that the mind has wandered, and in an accepting, non-judgmental way,
returns to focusing on breathing.
In body-scan meditation the attention is directed at various areas
of the body and noting body sensations that happen in the present
moment.
One could also focus on sounds, sensations, thoughts, feelings and actions that happen in the present. In this regard, a famous exercise, introduced by Kabat-Zinn in his MBSR program, is the mindful tasting of a raisin, in which a raisin is being tasted and eaten mindfully.
By enabling reconnection with internal hunger and satiety cues, mindful
eating has been suggested to be a means of maintaining healthy and
conscious eating patterns.
Meditators
are recommended to start with short periods of 10 minutes or so of
meditation practice per day. As one practices regularly, it becomes
easier to keep the attention focused on breathing.
In Buddhist context; moral precepts
In a Buddhist context the keeping of moral precepts is an essential preparatory stage for mindfulness or meditation. Vipassana also includes contemplation and reflection on phenomena as dukkha, anatta and anicca, and reflections on causation and other Buddhist teachings.
Translations
Mindfulness meditation is part of Buddhist psychological traditions and the developing scholarship within empirical psychology.
Sati and smṛti
The Buddhist term translated into English as "mindfulness" originates in the Pali term sati and in its Sanskrit counterpart smṛti.
It is often translated as "bare attention", but in the Buddhist
tradition it has a broader meaning and application, and the meaning of
these terms has been the topic of extensive debate and discussion.
According to Bryan Levman, "the word sati incorporates the meaning of 'memory' and 'remembrance' in much of its usage in both the suttas
and the [traditional Buddhist] commentary, and ... without the memory
component, the notion of mindfulness cannot be properly understood or
applied, as mindfulness requires memory for its effectiveness".
According to Robert Sharf, smṛti originally meant "to
remember", "to recollect", "to bear in mind", as in the Vedic tradition
of remembering the sacred texts. The term sati also means "to remember". In the Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta the term sati means to remember the dharmas, whereby the true nature of phenomena can be seen. Sharf refers to the Milindapañha, which explained that the arising of sati calls to mind the wholesome dhammas such as the four foundations of mindfulness, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven awakening-factors, the noble eightfold path, and the attainment of insight. According to Rupert Gethin,
[sati] should be understood as what allows awareness of the full range and extent of dhammas; sati is an awareness of things in relation to things, and hence an awareness of their relative value. Applied to the satipaṭṭhānas, presumably what this means is that sati
is what causes the practitioner of yoga to "remember" that any feeling
he may experience exists in relation to a whole variety or world of
feelings that may be skillful or unskillful, with faults or faultless,
relatively inferior or refined, dark or pure."
Sharf further notes that this has little to do with "bare attention", the popular contemporary interpretation of sati, "since it entails, among other things, the proper discrimination of the moral valence of phenomena as they arise."
Georges Dreyfus
has also expressed unease with the definition of mindfulness as "bare
attention" or "nonelaborative, nonjudgmental, present-centered
awareness", stressing that mindfulness in a Buddhist context also means
"remembering", which indicates that the function of mindfulness also
includes the retention of information. Robert H. Sharf notes that Buddhist practice is aimed at the attainment of "correct view", not just "bare attention". Jay L. Garfield, quoting Shantideva and other sources, stresses that mindfulness is constituted by the union of two functions, calling to mind and vigilantly retaining in mind.
He demonstrates that there is a direct connection between the practice
of mindfulness and the cultivation of morality—at least in the context
of Buddhism, from which modern interpretations of mindfulness are
stemming.
Translation
The Pali-language scholar Thomas William Rhys Davids (1843–1922) first translated sati in 1881 as English mindfulness in sammā-sati "Right Mindfulness; the active, watchful mind". Noting that Daniel John Gogerly (1845) initially rendered sammā-sati as "correct meditation", Davids explained:
sati is literally 'memory' but is used with reference to the constantly repeated phrase 'mindful and thoughtful' (sato sampajâno);
and means that activity of mind and constant presence of mind which is
one of the duties most frequently inculcated on the good Buddhist."
Alternative translations
John D. Dunne asserts that the translation of sati and smṛti
as mindfulness is confusing. A number of Buddhist scholars have started
trying to establish "retention" as the preferred alternative.
Bhikkhu Bodhi also points to the meaning of sati as "memory". The terms sati/smṛti have been translated as:
A.M.
Hayes and G. Feldman have highlighted that mindfulness can be seen as a
strategy that stands in contrast to a strategy of avoidance of emotion
on the one hand and to the strategy of emotional over-engagement on the
other hand. Mindfulness can also be viewed as a means to develop self-knowledge and wisdom.
Trait, state and practice
According
to Brown, Ryan, and Creswell, definitions of mindfulness are typically
selectively interpreted based on who is studying it and how it is
applied. Some have viewed mindfulness as a mental state, while others
have viewed it as a set of skills and techniques. A distinction can also be made between the state of mindfulness and the trait of mindfulness.
According to David S. Black, whereas "mindfulness" originally was
associated with esoteric beliefs and religion, and "a capacity
attainable only by certain people", scientific researchers have translated the term into measurable terms, providing a valid operational definition of mindfulness. Black mentions three possible domains:
A trait, a dispositional characteristic (a relatively long lasting trait), a person's tendency to more frequently enter into and more easily abide in mindful states;
A state, an outcome (a state of awareness resulting from mindfulness training), being in a state of present-moment awareness;
A practice (mindfulness meditation practice itself).
Trait-like constructs
According to Brown, mindfulness is:
A quality of consciousness manifest in, but not isomorphic with, the activities through which it is enhanced."
Several mindfulness measures have been developed which are based on self-reporting of trait-like constructs:
Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS)
Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI)
Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS)
Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale (CAMS)
Mindfulness Questionnaire (MQ)
Revised Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale (CAMS-R)
Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale (PHLMS)
State-like phenomenon
According
to Bishop, et alia, mindfulness is, "A kind of nonelaborative,
nonjudgmental, present-centered awareness in which each thought,
feeling, or sensation that arises in the attentional field is
acknowledged and accepted as it is."
The Toronto Mindfulness Scale (TMS) measures mindfulness as a
state-like phenomenon, that is evoked and maintained by regular
practice.
The State Mindfulness Scale (SMS) is a 21-item survey with an
overall state mindfulness scale, and 2 sub-scales (state mindfulness of
mind, and state mindfulness of body).
Mindfulness-practice
Mindfulness as a practice is described as:
"Mindfulness is a way of paying attention that originated in Eastern meditation practices"
"Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally"
"Bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis"
According to Steven F. Hick, mindfulness practice involves both
formal and informal meditation practices, and nonmeditation-based
exercises.
Formal mindfulness, or meditation, is the practice of sustaining
attention on body, breath or sensations, or whatever arises in each
moment. Informal mindfulness is the application of mindful attention in everyday life. Nonmeditation-based exercises are specifically used in dialectical behavior therapy and in acceptance and commitment therapy.
Definitions arising in modern teaching of meditation
Since the 1970s, most books on meditation use definitions of mindfulness similar to Jon Kabat-Zinn's
definition as "present moment awareness". However, recently a number of
teachers of meditation have proposed quite different definitions of
mindfulness. Shinzen Young
says a person is mindful when they have mindful awareness, and defines
that to be when "concentration power, sensory clarity, and equanimity
[are] working together."
John Yates (Culadasa) defines mindfulness to be "the optimal
interaction between attention and peripheral awareness", where he
distinguishes attention and peripheral awareness as two distinct modes
in which one may be conscious of things.
Buddhism
According to American Buddhist monk Ven Bhante Vimalaramsi's book A Guide to Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation,
the term mindfulness is often interpreted differently than what was
originally formulated by the Buddha. In the context of Buddhism, he
offers the following definition:
Mindfulness means to remember to
observe how mind’s attention moves from one thing to another. The first
part of Mindfulness is to remember to watch the mind and remember
to return to your object of meditation when you have wandered off. The
second part of Mindfulness is to observe how mind’s attention moves from one thing to another.
Other usages
The English term mindfulness already existed before it came to be used in a (western) Buddhist context. It was first recorded as myndfulness in 1530 (John Palsgrave translates French pensée), as mindfulnesse in 1561, and mindfulness in 1817. Morphologically earlier terms include mindful (first recorded in 1340), mindfully (1382), and the obsolete mindiness (c. 1200).
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, mindfulness may also refer to "a state of being aware". Synonyms for this "state of being aware" are wakefulness, attention, alertness, prudence, conscientiousness, awareness, consciousness, and observation.
Models and frameworks for mindfulness practices
Two-component model
In a paper that described a consensus among clinical psychologists on an operational and testable definition, Bishop, Lau, et al. (2004) proposed a two-component model of mindfulness:
The first component involves the
self-regulation of attention so that it is maintained on immediate
experience, thereby allowing for increased recognition of mental events
in the present moment. The second component involves adopting a
particular orientation toward one’s experiences in the present moment,
an orientation that is characterized by curiosity, openness, and
acceptance.
In this two-component model, self-regulated attention (the first component) "involves bringing awareness
to current experience—observing and attending to the changing fields of
"objects" (thoughts, feelings, sensations), from moment to moment – by
regulating the focus of attention". Orientation to experience (the
second component) involves maintaining an attitude of curiosity about
objects experienced at each moment, and about where and how the mind
wanders when it drifts from the selected focus of attention. Clients are
asked to avoid trying to produce a particular state (e.g. relaxation),
but rather to just notice each object that arises in the stream of consciousness.
The five-aggregate model
An ancient model of the mind, generally known as the five-aggregate model
enables one to understand the moment-to-moment manifestation of
subjective conscious experience, and therefore can be a potentially
useful theoretical resource to guide mindfulness interventions.
The five aggregates are described as follows:
Material form: includes both the physical body and
external matter where material elements are continuously moving to and
from the material body.
Feelings: can be pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.
Perceptions: represent being aware of attributes of an object (e.g. color, shape, etc.)
Volition: represents bodily, verbal, or psychological behavior.
Sensory consciousness: refers to input from the five senses
(seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting or touch sensations) or a thought
that happens to arise in the mind.
This model describes how sensory consciousness results in the
generation of feelings, perception or volition, and how individuals’
previously conditioned attitudes and past associations influence this
generation. The five aggregates are described as constantly arising and
ceasing in the present moment.
Cultivating self-knowledge and wisdom
The practice of mindfulness can be utilized to gradually develop self-knowledge and wisdom.
In this regard, Buddhist teachings provide detailed instructions on how
one can carry out an inquiry into the nature of the mind, and this
guidance can help one to make sense of one's subjective experience. This
could include understanding what the “present moment” is, how various
thoughts, etc., arise following input from the senses, the conditioned
nature of thoughts, and other realizations. In Buddhist teachings, ultimate wisdom refers to gaining deep insight into all phenomena or “seeing things as they are.”
Historical development
Buddhism
Mindfulness as a modern, Western practice is founded on Zen and modern vipassana,
and involves the training of sati, which means "moment to moment
awareness of present events", but also "remembering to be aware of
something".
Early Buddhism
Sati is one of the seven factors of enlightenment. "Correct" or "right" mindfulness (Pali: sammā-sati, Sanskrit samyak-smṛti) is the seventh element of the noble eightfold path. Mindfulness is an antidote to delusion and is considered as a 'power' (Pali: bala) which contributes to the attainment of nirvana. This faculty becomes a power in particular when it is coupled with clear comprehension of whatever is taking place. Nirvana is a state of being in which greed, hatred and delusion (Pali: moha) have been overcome and abandoned, and are absent from the mind.
According to Paul Williams, referring to Erich Frauwallner,
mindfulness provided the way in early Buddhism to liberation,
"constantly watching sensory experience in order to prevent the arising
of cravings which would power future experience into rebirths." According to Vetter, dhyana may have been the original core practice of the Buddha, which aided the maintenance of mindfulness.
According to Thomas William Rhys Davids, the doctrine of mindfulness is "perhaps the most important" after the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.
T.W. Rhys Davids viewed the teachings of Gotama as a rational technique
for self-actualization and rejected a few parts of it, mainly the
doctrine of rebirth, as residual superstitions.
Zazen
The aim of zazen is just sitting,
that is, suspending all judgmental thinking and letting words, ideas,
images and thoughts pass by without getting involved in them.
Vipassana is practiced in tandem with samatha, and also plays a central role in other Buddhist traditions.
According to the contemporary Theravada orthodoxy, samatha is used as a
preparation for vipassanā, pacifying the mind and strengthening the
concentration in order to allow the work of insight, which leads to liberation.
Vipassanā-meditation has gained popularity in the west through
the modern Buddhist vipassana movement, modeled after Theravāda Buddhism
meditation practices, which employs vipassanā and ānāpāna meditation as its primary techniques and places emphasis on the teachings of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta.
Anapanasati, satipaṭṭhāna, and vipassana
Anapanasati is mindfulness of breathing. "Sati" means mindfulness;
"ānāpāna" refers to inhalation and exhalation. Anapanasati means to
feel the sensations caused by the movements of the breath in the body.
The Anapanasati Sutta gives an exposition on this practice.
Satipaṭṭhāna
is the establishment of mindfulness in one's day-to-day life,
maintaining as much as possible a calm awareness of one's body,
feelings, mind, and dharmas. The practice of mindfulness supports analysis resulting in the arising of wisdom (Pali: paññā, Sanskrit: prajñā).
Samprajaña, apramāda and atappa
In contemporary Theravada practice, "mindfulness" also includes samprajaña, meaning "clear comprehension" and apramāda meaning "vigilance". All three terms are sometimes (confusingly) translated as "mindfulness", but they all have specific shades of meaning.
In a publicly available correspondence between Bhikkhu Bodhi and B. Alan Wallace, Bodhi has described Ven. Nyanaponika Thera's views on "right mindfulness" and sampajañña as follows:
He held that in the proper practice
of right mindfulness, sati has to be integrated with sampajañña, clear
comprehension, and it is only when these two work together that right
mindfulness can fulfill its intended purpose.
Monitoring mental processes
According
to Buddhadasa, the aim of mindfulness is to stop the arising of
disturbing thoughts and emotions, which arise from sense-contact.
According to Grzegorz Polak, the four upassanā
(foundations of mindfulness) have been misunderstood by the developing
Buddhist tradition, including Theravada, to refer to four different
foundations. According to Polak, the four upassanā do not refer to four different foundations, but to the awareness of four different aspects of raising mindfulness:
the six sense-bases which one needs to be aware of (kāyānupassanā);
contemplation on vedanās, which arise with the contact between the senses and their objects (vedanānupassanā);
the altered states of mind to which this practice leads (cittānupassanā);
Mindfulness
practitioner Jon Kabat-Zinn refers to Thoreau as a predecessor of the
interest in mindfulness, together with other eminent Transcendentalists such as Emerson and Whitman:
The collective experience
of sages, yogis, and Zen masters offers a view of the world which is
complementary to the predominantly reductionist and materialistic one
currently dominating Western thought and institutions. But this view is
neither particularly "Eastern" nor mystical. Thoreau saw the same
problem with our ordinary mind state in New England in 1846 and wrote
with great passion about its unfortunate consequences.
The forms of Asian religion and spirituality which were introduced in
the west were themselves influenced by Transcendentalism and other
19th-century manifestations of Western esotericism. Transcendentalism was closely connected to the Unitarian Church, which in India collaborated with Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833) and his Brahmo Samaj. He found that Unitarianism came closest to true Christianity, and had a strong sympathy for the Unitarians. This influence worked through on Vivekananda, whose modern but idiosyncratic interpretation of Hinduism became widely popular in the west. Vipassana meditation, presented as a centuries-old meditation system, was a 19th-century reinvention,
which gained popularity in south-east due to the accessibility of the
Buddhist sutras through English translations from the Pali Text Society. It was brought to western attention in the 19th century by the Theosophical Society. Zen Buddhism first gained popularity in the west through the writings of D.T. Suzuki, who attempted to present a modern interpretation of Zen, adjusted to western tastes.
Jon Kabat-Zinn and MBSR
In 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at the University of Massachusetts to treat the chronically ill. This program sparked the application of mindfulness ideas and practices in Medicine
for the treatment of a variety of conditions in both healthy and
unhealthy people. MBSR and similar programs are now widely applied in
schools, prisons, hospitals, veterans centers, and other environments.
Mindfulness practices were inspired mainly by teachings from the Eastern World, particularly from Buddhist traditions. Kabat-Zinn was first introduced to meditation by Philip Kapleau, a Zen
missionary who came to speak at MIT where Kabat-Zinn was a student.
Kabat-Zinn went on to study meditation with other Zen-Buddhist teachers
such as Thích Nhất Hạnh and Seungsahn. He also studied at the Insight Meditation Society and eventually taught there. One of MBSR's techniques—the "body scan"—was derived from a meditation practice ("sweeping") of the Burmese U Ba Khin tradition, as taught by S. N. Goenka in his Vipassana
retreats, which he began in 1976. The body scan method has since been
widely adapted to secular settings, independent of religious or cultural
contexts.
Kabat-Zinn was also influenced by the book The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James which suggests that religions point toward the same experience, and which 1960s counterculture
figures interpreted as meaning that the same universal, experiential
truth could be reached in different ways, including via non-religious
activities.
Popularization, "mindfulness movement"
Mindfulness
is gaining a growing popularity as a practice in daily life, apart from
Buddhist insight meditation and its application in clinical psychology.
In this context mindfulness is defined as moment-by-moment awareness of
thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment,
characterized mainly by "acceptance"—attention to thoughts and feelings
without judging whether they are right or wrong. Mindfulness focuses the
human brain on what is being sensed at each moment, instead of on its
normal rumination on the past or the future. Mindfulness may be seen as a mode of being, and can be practiced outside a formal setting.
The terminology used by scholars of religion, scientists, journalists,
and popular media writers to describe this movement of mindfulness
"popularization," and the many new contexts of mindfulness practice
which have cropped up, has regularly evolved over the past 20 years,
with some criticisms arising.
Applications
According
to Jon Kabat-Zinn the practice of mindfulness may be beneficial to many
people in Western society who might be unwilling to adopt Buddhist
traditions or vocabulary.
Western researchers and clinicians who have introduced mindfulness
practice into mental health treatment programs usually teach these
skills independently of the religious and cultural traditions of their
origins.
Programs based on MBSR and similar models have been widely adopted in
schools, prisons, hospitals, veterans centers, and other environments.
Therapy programs
Mindfulness-based stress reduction
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a mindfulness-based program
developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical
Center, which uses a combination of mindfulness meditation, body
awareness, and yoga to help people become more mindful. While MBSR has its roots in spiritual teachings, the program itself is secular.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a psychological therapy designed to aid in preventing the relapse of depression, specifically in individuals with Major depressive disorder (MDD). It uses traditional cognitive behavioral therapy
(CBT) methods and adds in newer psychological strategies such as
mindfulness and mindfulness meditation. Cognitive methods can include
educating the participant about depression.
Mindfulness and mindfulness meditation focus on becoming aware of all
incoming thoughts and feelings and accepting them, but not attaching or
reacting to them.
Like CBT, MBCT functions on the theory that when individuals who
have historically had depression become distressed, they return to
automatic cognitive processes that can trigger a depressive episode.
The goal of MBCT is to interrupt these automatic processes and teach
the participants to focus less on reacting to incoming stimuli, and
instead accepting and observing them without judgment.
This mindfulness practice allows the participant to notice when
automatic processes are occurring and to alter their reaction to be more
of a reflection.
Research supports the effects of MBCT in people who have been depressed
three or more times and demonstrates reduced relapse rates by 50%.
Mindfulness-based pain management
Mindfulness-based pain management
(MBPM) is a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) providing specific
applications for people living with chronic pain and illness. Adapting the core concepts and practices of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), MBPM includes a distinctive emphasis on the practice of 'loving-kindness', and has been seen as sensitive to concerns about removing mindfulness teaching from its original ethical framework. It was developed by Vidyamala Burch and is delivered through the programs of Breathworks. It has been subject to a range of clinical studies demonstrating its effectiveness.
Acceptance and commitment therapy
Acceptance and commitment therapy or (ACT) (typically pronounced as the word "act") is a form of clinical behavior analysis (CBA) used in psychotherapy. It is a psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies mixed in different ways with commitment and behavior-change strategies, to increase psychological flexibility. The approach was originally called comprehensive distancing. It was developed in the late 1980s by Steven C. Hayes, Kelly G. Wilson, and Kirk Strosahl.
Dialectical behavior therapy
Mindfulness is a "core" exercise used in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a psychosocial treatment Marsha M. Linehan developed for treating people with borderline personality disorder. DBT is dialectic, explains Linehan,
in the sense of "the reconciliation of opposites in a continual process
of synthesis." As a practitioner of Buddhist meditation techniques,
Linehan says:
This emphasis in DBT on a balance
of acceptance and change owes much to my experiences in studying
meditation and Eastern spirituality. The DBT tenets of observing,
mindfulness, and avoidance of judgment are all derived from the study
and practice of Zen meditations.
Mode deactivation therapy
Mode deactivation therapy (MDT) is a treatment methodology that is
derived from the principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy and
incorporates elements of Acceptance and commitment therapy, Dialectical
behavior therapy, and mindfulness techniques.
Mindfulness techniques such as simple breathing exercises are applied
to assist the client in awareness and non-judgmental acceptance of
unpleasant and distressing thoughts and feelings as they occur in the
present moment. Mode Deactivation Therapy was developed and is
established as an effective treatment for adolescents with problem
behaviors and complex trauma-related psychological problems, according
to recent publications by Jack A. Apsche and Joan Swart.
Other programs
Since 2006, research supports promising mindfulness-based therapies for a number of medical and psychiatric conditions, notably chronic pain (McCracken et al. 2007), stress (Grossman et al. 2004), anxiety and depression (Hofmann et al. 2010), substance abuse (Melemis 2008:141-157), and recurrent suicidal behavior (Williams et al. 2006). Bell (2009) gives a brief overview of mindful approaches to therapy, particularly family therapy, starting with a discussion of mysticism and emphasizing the value of a mindful therapist.
Morita therapy
The Japanese psychiatrist Shoma Morita, who trained in Zen meditation, developed Morita therapy upon principles of mindfulness and non-attachment.
Adaptation Practice
The British doctor Clive Sherlock developed Adaptation Practice in 1977. Adaptation Practice is a structured program of self-discipline.
Hakomi therapy
Hakomi therapy, under development by Ron Kurtz and others, is a somatic psychology based upon Asian philosophical precepts of mindfulness and nonviolence.
IFS
Internal Family Systems Model
(IFS), developed by Richard C. Schwartz, emphasizes the importance of
both therapist and client engaging in therapy from the Self, which is
the IFS term for one's "spiritual center". The Self is curious about
whatever arises in one's present experience and open and accepting
toward all manifestations.
In 2012 Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio published A Mindful Nation, and received a $1 million federal grant to teach mindfulness in schools in his home district.
Mindful Kids Miami is a tax-exempt, 501 (c)(3),
non-profit corporation established in 2011 dedicated to making
age-appropriate mindfulness training available to school children in Miami-Dade County
public and private schools. This is primarily accomplished by training
educators and other childcare providers to incorporate mindfulness
practices in the children's daily activities.
In 2000, The Inner Kids Program,
a mindfulness-based program developed for children, was introduced into
public and private school curricula in the greater Los Angeles area.
MindUP, a classroom-based program spearheaded by Goldie Hawn's
Hawn Foundation, teaches students to self-regulate behavior and
mindfully engage in focused concentration required for academic success.
For the last decade, MindUP has trained teachers in over 1,000 schools
in cities from Arizona to Washington.
The Holistic Life Foundation, a non-profit organization that
created an in-school mindfulness program called Mindful Moment, is
currently serving almost 350 students daily at Robert W. Coleman
Elementary School and approximately 1300 students at Patterson Park High School
in Baltimore, Maryland. At Patterson High School, the Mindful Moment
program engages the school's faculty along with the students during a
15-minute mindfulness practice at the beginning and end of each school
day.
Mindful Life Project, a non-profit 501(c)3 based out of Richmond, California, teaches mindfulness to elementary school students in underserved schools in the South Richmond school district.
Utilizing curriculum, “Rise-Up” is a regular school day intervention
program serving 430 students weekly, while “Mindful Community” is
currently implemented at six South Richmond partner schools. These
in-school mindfulness programs have been endorsed by Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, who has recommended additional funding to expand the program in order to serve all Richmond youth.
Education
Mindfulness practices are becoming more common within educational institutions including Elementary and Secondary
schools. This has been referred to as part of a 'contemplative turn' in
education that has emerged since the turn of the millennium.
The applications of mindfulness in schools are aimed at calming and
relaxation of students as well as for students and educators to build
compassion and empathy for others. An additional benefit to Mindfulness in education is for the practice to reduce anxiety and stress in students.
Based on a broad meta-analytical review, scholars argued that the
application of mindfulness practice enhances the goals of education in
the 21st century, which include adapting to a rapidly changing world and
being a caring and committed citizen. Within educational systems, the
application of mindfulness practices shows an improvement of students'
attention and focus, emotional regulation, creativity, and problem
solving skills.
As discussed by Ergas and Todd, the development of this field since the
turn of the millennium has brought diverse possibilities as well as
complexities, given the origins of mindfulness within Buddhism and the processes of its secularization and measurement based on science.
Renshaw and Cook state, “As scientific interest in the utility of
Mindfulness-Based Intervention (MBI) in schools grew steadily, popular
interest in mindfulness in schools seemed to grow exponentially”.
Despite research on mindfulness being comparatively unexamined,
especially with young students, the practice has seen a spike in use
within the educational arena. “A relatively recent addition to discourse
around preventing school expulsion and failure, mindfulness is gaining
popularity for its potential to improve students’ social, emotional,
behavioral, and learning-related cognitive control, thereby improving
academic outcomes”.
Researchers and educators are interested in how mindfulness can provide
optimal conditions for a students’ personal development and academic
success. Current research on mindfulness in education is limited but can
provide insight into the potential benefits for students, and areas of
improvement for future studies.
Mindfulness in the classroom is being touted as a promising new
intervention tool for young students. According to Choudhury and Moses,
“Although still marginal and in some cases controversial, secular
programs of mindfulness have been implemented with ambitious goals of
improving attentional focus of pupils, social-emotional learning in
“at-risk” children and youth, not least, to intervene in problems of
poverty and incarceration”.
Emerging research is concerned with studying teachers and programs
using mindfulness practices with students and is discovering tension
arising from the moral reframing of eastern practices in western school
settings. As cited by Renshaw and Cook, “Unlike most other approaches to
contemporary school-based intervention, which are squarely grounded in
behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, and ecological systems theories, MBIs
have their origins in Eastern religious traditions”.
Some school administrators are concerned about implementing such
practices, and parents have been reported to take their children out of
mindfulness programs because of their personal religious beliefs. Yet,
MBIs continue to be accepted by the mainstream in both primary and
secondary schools because, “Mindfulness practices, particularly in
relation to children who might otherwise be considered broken or
unredeemable, fill a critical niche – one that allows its advocates to
imagine a world where people can change, become more compassionate,
resilient, reflective, and aware; a world with a viable future”.
As mindfulness in education continues to develop, ethical consequences
will remain a controversial issue because the generic description for
the “benefits” and “results” of MBIs are largely concerned with
individual and inward-focused achievement, rather than the original
Buddhist ideal of global human connection.
Available research reveals a relationship between mindfulness and
attention. Semple, Lee, Rosa, & Miller argue, “Anxiety can impair
attention and promote emotionally reactive behaviors that interfere with
the development of good study skills, so it seems reasonable that
increased mindfulness would be associated with less anxiety”.
They conducted a randomized trial of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive
Therapy for Children (MBCT-C) that found promise in managing anxiety for
elementary school-aged children, and suggests that those who completed
the program displayed fewer attention problems. In addition, Flook shows
how an eight-week mindfulness awareness program was evaluated in a
random and controlled school setting and measured the effects of
awareness practices on executive functions in elementary school
children. Their findings concluded, “Participation in the mindfulness
awareness program was associated with improvements in behavioral
regulation, metacognition, and overall executive functions”.
In the study by Flook, parents and teachers completed questionnaires
which propose that participation in mindfulness programs is associated
with improvements in child behavioral regulation. These perspectives are
a valuable source of data given that caregivers and educators interact
with the children daily and across a variety of settings. According to
Eklund, Omalley, and Meyer, “School-based practitioners should find
promise in the evidence supporting mindfulness-based practices with
children, parents, and educators”.
Lastly, a third study by Zenner, Herrnleben-Kurz, and Walach concluded,
“Analysis suggest that mindfulness-based interventions for children and
youths are able to increase cognitive capacity of attending and
learning by nearly one standard deviation and yield”. Application of Mindfulness-Based Interventions continue to increase in popularity and practice.
Mindfulness-Based Interventions are rising across western
culture, but its effectiveness in school programs is still being
determined. Research contends, “Mindfulness-based approaches for adults
are effective at enhancing mental health, but few controlled trials have
evaluated their effectiveness among young people”.
Although much of the available studies find a high number of
mindfulness acceptability among students and teachers, more research
needs to be conducted on its effects on well-being and mental health for
students. In a firmly controlled experiment, Johnson, Burke, Brinkman,
and Wade evaluated “the impact of an existing and widely available
school-based mindfulness program". According to their research, "no
improvements were demonstrated on any outcome measured either
immediately post-intervention or at three-month follow-up”.
Many questions remain on which practices best implement effective and
reliable mindfulness programs at schools, and further research is needed
to identify the optimal methods and measurement tools for mindfulness
in education.
Business
Mindfulness
training appears to be getting popular in the business world, and many
large corporations have been incorporating mindfulness practices into
their culture. For example, companies such as Google, Apple, Procter & Gamble, General Mills, Mayo Clinic, and the U.S. Army offer mindfulness coaching, meditation breaks and other resources to their employees to improve workplace functioning.
The introduction of mindfulness in corporate settings still
remains in early stages and its potential long-term impact requires
further assessment. Mindfulness has been found to result in better
employee well-being, lower levels of frustration, lower absenteeism and burnout as well as an improved overall work environment.
Law
Legal and law enforcement organizations are also showing interest in mindfulness:
Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation hosted a workshop on "Mindfulness in the Law & Alternative Dispute Resolution."
Many law firms offer mindfulness classes.
Prison-programs
Mindfulness has been taught in prisons, reducing hostility and mood disturbance among inmates, and improving their self-esteem.
Additional studies indicate that mindfulness interventions can result
in significant reductions in anger, reductions in substance use,
increased relaxation capacity, self-regulation and optimism.
Mindfulness has gained increasing empirical attention since 1970 and has been studied often as an intervention for stress reduction. Meta analyses indicate its beneficial effects for healthy adults, for adolescents and children, as well as for different health-related outcomes including weight management, psychiatric conditions, heart disease, sleep disorders, cancer care, adult autism treatment, and other health-related conditions. An often-cited meta-analysis on meditation research published in JAMA in 2014,
found insufficient evidence of any effect of meditation programs on
positive mood, attention, substance use, eating habits, sleep, and
weight, but found that there is moderate evidence that meditation
reduces anxiety, depression, and pain. However, this study included a
highly heterogeneous group of meditation styles (i.e., it did not focus
exclusively on mindfulness meditation), which is a significant
limitation of this study.
Thousands of studies on meditation have been conducted, though
the methodological quality of some of the studies is poor. Recent
reviews have pointed out many of these issues.
Nonetheless, mindfulness meditation is a popular subject for research,
and many present potential benefits for a wide array of conditions and
outcomes. For example, the practice of mindfulness has also been used to
improve athletic performance, as a beneficial intervention for children with special needs and their caregivers, as a viable treatment option for people with insomnia an effective intervention for healthy aging, as a strategy for managing dermatological conditions and as a useful intervention during pregnancy and the perinatal period.
Recent studies have also demonstrated that mindfulness meditation
significantly attenuates physical pain through multiple, unique
mechanisms.
Meditation also may allow one to modulate pain. When exposed to pain
from heating, the brain scans of the mindfulness meditation participants
(by use of functional magnetic resonance imaging)
showed their brains notice the pain equally, however it does not get
converted to a perceived pain signal. As such they experienced up to
40–50% less pain.
Further, mindfulness meditation also appears to lead to increased telomere length,
which is an important finding considering that short telomeres can be a
risk factor for the development of several chronic health conditions. Research has also investigated mindful movements and mindful exercises for different patient populations.
Mindfulness-based approaches are a major subject of increasing research
interest, 52 papers were published in 2003, rising to 477 by 2012. Nearly 100 randomized controlled trials had been published by early 2014.
Neurological studies
Research
studies have also focused on the effects of mindfulness on the brain
using neuroimaging techniques, physiological measures and behavioral
tests.
Research on the neural perspective of how mindfulness meditation works
suggests that it exerts its effects in components of attention
regulation, body awareness and emotional regulation.
When considering aspects such as sense of responsibility, authenticity,
compassion, self-acceptance and character, studies have shown that
mindfulness meditation contributes to a more coherent and healthy sense
of self and identity. Neuroimaging techniques suggest that mindfulness practices such as mindfulness meditation are associated with “changes in the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, temporo-parietal junction, fronto-limbic network and default mode network structures." Further, mindfulness meditation may prevent or delay the onset of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.
Additionally, mindfulness-induced emotional and behavioral changes have
been found to be related to functional and structural changes in the
brain. It has also been suggested that the default mode network of the brain can be used as a potential biomarker for monitoring the therapeutic benefits of meditation.
Recent research also suggest that the practice of mindfulness could
influence genetic expression leading to a reduced risk of
inflammation-related diseases and favourable changes in biomarkers.
Grey matter concentrations in brain regions that regulate
emotion, self-referential processing, learning and memory processes have
shown changes in density following MBSR. Additionally, MBSR practice has been associated with improvement of the immune system which could explain the correlation between stress reduction and increased quality of life. Part of these changes are a result of the thickening of the prefrontal cortex (executive functioning) and hippocampus (learning and memorisation ability), the shrinking of the amygdala (emotion and stress response) and the strengthening of the connections between brain cells. Long-term meditators have larger amounts of gyrification
(“folding” of the cortex, which may allow the brain to process
information faster) than people who do not meditate. Further, a direct
correlation was found between the amount of gyrification and the number
of meditation years, possibly providing further proof of the brain's
neuroplasticity, or ability to adapt to environmental changes.
Associations of mindfulness with other variables
Mindfulness (as a trait, distinguished from mindfulness practice) has been linked to many outcomes. In an overview,
Keng, Smoski, and Robins summarize: “Trait mindfulness has been
associated with higher levels of life satisfaction, agreeableness,
conscientiousness, vitality, self esteem, empathy, sense of autonomy,
competence, optimism, and pleasant affect. A 2020 study found found
links between dispositional mindfulness and prosocial behavior.
Studies have also demonstrated significant negative correlations
between mindfulness and depression, neuroticism, absentmindedness,
dissociation, rumination, cognitive reactivity, social anxiety,
difficulties in emotion regulation, experiential avoidance, alexithymia,
intensity of delusional experience in the context of psychosis, and
general psychological symptoms.” (References to underlying studies
omitted from quotation.)
Effects on mindfulness
The
mechanisms that make people less or more mindful have been researched
less than the effects of mindfulness programmes, so we do not know much
about what are the relevant components of mindfulness practice. For
example, meta-analyses have shown that mindfulness practice does
increase mindfulness when compared to active control groups.
This may be because we do not know how to measure mindfulness. It could
also be that mindfulness is dose-dependent and increases with more
experience. To counter that, Bergomi et al.
found that “results provide evidence for the associations between
self-reported mindfulness and meditation practice and suggest that
mindfulness is particularly associated with continued practice in the
present, rather than with accumulated practice over years.”
Some research into other mechanisms has been done. One study
conceptualized such mechanisms in terms of competition for attention.
In a test of that framework, mindfulness was found to be associated (as
predicted) with having an activated intention to be mindful, with
feeling good, and with not being hurried or very busy. Regarding the
relationship between feeling good and being mindful, a different study found that causality probably works both ways: feeling good increases mindfulness, and mindfulness increases feeling good.
One theory suggests an additional mechanism termed as reperceiving.
Reperceiving is the beneficial effect that comes after the process of
being mindful after all the intention, attention, and attitude has been
experienced. Through reperceiving there is a shift in perspective.
Reperceiving permits disassociation from thoughts, emotions, and
physical sensations, and allows one to exist with them instead of being
defined by them.
Concerns and criticism
Scholarly research
Many
of the above cited review studies however also indicate the necessity
for more high-quality research in this field such as conducting
intervention studies using larger sample sizes, the use of more
randomized controlled studies and the need for providing more
methodological details in reported studies.
The majority of studies also either measure mindfulness as a trait, and
in research that use mindfulness interventions in clinical practice,
the lack of true randomisation poses a problem for understanding the
true effectiveness of mindfulness. Experimental methods using randomised
samples, though, suggest that mindfulness as a state or temporary
practice can influence felt emotions such as disgust and promote
abstract decision-making.
There are also a few review studies that have found little difference
between mindfulness interventions and control groups, though they did
also indicate that their intervention group was treated too shortly for
the research to be conclusive.
In some domains, like sport, lack of "internal validity across
studies," prevent any strong claims being made about the effect of
mindfulness.
These studies also list the need for more robust research
investigations. Several issues pertaining to the assessment of
mindfulness have also been identified including the current use of
self-report questionnaires.
Potential for bias also exists to the extent that researchers in the
field are also practitioners and possibly subject to pressures to
publish positive or significant results.
Various scholars have criticized how mindfulness has been defined or represented in recent Western psychology publications.
These modern understandings depart significantly from the accounts of
mindfulness in early Buddhist texts and authoritative commentaries in
the Theravada and Indian Mahayana traditions.
Adam Valerio has introduced the idea that conflict between academic
disciplines over how mindfulness is defined, understood, and popularly
presented may be indicative of a personal, institutional, or
paradigmatic battle for ownership over mindfulness, one where academics,
researchers, and other writers are invested as individuals in much the
same way as religious communities.
Shortcomings
The popularization of mindfulness as a "commodity" has been criticized, being termed "McMindfulness" by some critics. According to Safran, the popularity of mindfulness is the result of a marketing strategy:
"McMindfulness is the marketing of a constructed dream; an idealized lifestyle; an identity makeover." The psychologist Thomas Joiner
argues that modern mindfulness meditation has been "corrupted" for
commercial gain by self-help celebrities, and suggests that it
encourages unhealthy narcissistic and self-obsessed mindsets.
According to Purser and Loy, mindfulness is not being used as a
means to awaken to insight in the "unwholesome roots of greed, ill will
and delusion," but reshaped into a "banal, therapeutic, self-help technique" that has the opposite effect of reinforcing those passions.
While mindfulness is marketed as a means to reduce stress, in a
Buddhist context it is part of an all-embracing ethical program to
foster "wise action, social harmony, and compassion."
The privatization of mindfulness neglects the societal and
organizational causes of stress and discomfort, instead propagating
adaptation to these circumstances.
According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, "[A]bsent a sharp social critique, Buddhist
practices could easily be used to justify and stabilize the status quo,
becoming a reinforcement of consumer capitalism."
The popularity of this new brand of mindfulness has resulted in the
commercialization of meditation through self-help books, guided
meditation classes, and mindfulness retreats.
Mindfulness is said to be a $4bn
industry. More than 60,000 books for sale on Amazon have a variant of
“mindfulness” in their title, touting the benefits of Mindful Parenting,
Mindful Eating, Mindful Teaching, Mindful Therapy, Mindful Leadership,
Mindful Finance, a Mindful Nation, and Mindful Dog Owners, to name just a
few.
Buddhist commentators have criticized the movement as being presented
as equivalent to Buddhist practice, while in reality it is very
possibly denatured with undesirable consequences, such as being
ungrounded in the traditional reflective morality and therefore, astray
from traditional Buddhist ethics. Criticisms suggest it to be either
de-moralized or re-moralized into clinically based ethics. The conflict
is often presented in concern to the teacher's credentials and
qualifications, rather than the student's actual practice. Reformed
Buddhist-influenced practices are being standardized and manualized in a
clearly distinct separation from Buddhism seen as a religion based in
monastic temples, as expressed as mindfulness in a new psychology ethic
practiced in modern meditation centers.
Risks
In media
reports, people have attributed unexpected effects of increasing fear
and anxiety, panic or "meltdowns" after practicing, which they suggest
could expose bipolar vulnerability or repressed PTSD symptoms.
However, according to published peer-reviewed academic articles, these
negative effects of meditation are rare for mindfulness meditation, and appear to happen due to a poor understanding of what actually constitutes mindfulness/meditation practices.
