Mindfulness is the practice of purposely bringing one's attention to the present-moment experience without evaluation,
a skill one develops through
meditation
Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally cal ...
or other training.
Mindfulness derives from
''sati'', a significant element of
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
and
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
traditions,
and is based on
Zen
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
, ''
Vipassanā
''Samatha'' (Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' (Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of the ...
'', 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
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
context include
Thích Nhất Hạnh
Thích Nhất Hạnh ( ; ; born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo; 11 October 1926 – 22 January 2022) was a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, prolific author, poet and teacher, who founded the Plum Village Tradition, historically recogni ...
,
Herbert Benson,
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Jon Kabat-Zinn (born Jon Kabat, June 5, 1944) is an American professor emeritus of medicine and the creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medi ...
,
Richard J. Davidson,
and
Sam Harris
Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics ...
.
Clinical psychology
Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and persona ...
and
psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry.
Initial psych ...
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,
stress
Stress may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition
* Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...
,
anxiety
Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...
,
[.] and in the treatment of
drug addiction
Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use of ...
.
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
Weight management includes the techniques and physiological processes that contribute to a person's ability to attain and maintain a certain weight. Most weight management techniques encompass long-term lifestyle strategies that promote healthy ...
, athletic performance,
helping children with
special needs
In clinical diagnostic and functional development, special needs (or additional needs) refers to individuals who require assistance for disabilities that may be medical, mental, or psychological. Guidelines for clinical diagnosis are given in ...
, and as an intervention during the
perinatal
Prenatal development () includes the development of the embryo and of the fetus during a viviparous animal's gestation. Prenatal development starts with fertilization, in the germinal stage of embryonic development, and continues in fetal devel ...
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.
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
Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior ...
.
Studies also indicate that
rumination and
worry
Worry refers to the thoughts, images, emotions, and actions of a negative nature in a repetitive, uncontrollable manner that results from a proactive cognitive risk analysis made to avoid or solve anticipated potential threats and their poten ...
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, according to one opinion article, too much mindfulness may produce negative effects.
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
In neuroscience, the default mode network (DMN), also known as the default network, default state network, or anatomically the medial frontoparietal network (M-FPN), is a large-scale brain network primarily composed of the dorsal medial prefro ...
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
Commercialization or commercialisation is the process of introducing a new product or production method into commerce—making it available on the market. The term often connotes especially entry into the mass market (as opposed to entry into ear ...
and the over-
marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
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.
While mindfulness-based interventions may be effective for youth, research still needs to determine the most appropriate methods in which mindfulness could be introduced and delivered in schools.
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 meditation
Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...
s "to get the hang of it". As forms of self-observation and
interoception
Interoception is contemporarily defined as the collection of senses perceiving the internal state of the body. This can be both conscious and unconscious. It encompasses the brain's process of integrating signals relayed from the body into specif ...
, 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
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...
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.
* Other approaches include practising
yoga asanas while attending to movements and body sensations, and walking meditation.
Timings
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.
An old
Zen
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
saying suggests, "You should sit in
meditation
Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally cal ...
for 20 minutes every day — unless you're too busy. Then you should sit for an hour."
In Buddhist context; moral precepts
In a Buddhist context the keeping of
moral precepts is an essential preparatory stage for mindfulness or meditation.
Vipassana
''Samatha'' (Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' (Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of the ...
also includes contemplation and reflection on phenomena as
dukkha,
anatta and
anicca
Impermanence, also known as the philosophical problem of change, is a philosophical concept addressed in a variety of religions and philosophies. In Eastern philosophy it is notable for its role in the Buddhist three marks of existence. It is ...
, 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
Sati or SATI may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Sati'' (film), a 1989 Bengali film by Aparna Sen and starring Shabana Azmi
* ''Sati'' (novel), a 1990 novel by Christopher Pike
*Sati (singer) (born 1976), Lithuanian singer
*Sati, a character in ''Th ...
'' 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
Buddhist texts are those religious texts which belong to the Buddhist tradition. The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts a ...
'' and the
raditional Buddhistcommentary, 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
dharma
Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...
s, whereby the true nature of phenomena can be seen. Sharf refers to the
Milindapañha
The ''Milinda Pañha'' () is a Buddhist text which dates from sometime between 100 BC and 200 AD. It purports to record a dialogue between the Indian Buddhist sage Nāgasena, and the 2nd century BC Indo-Greek king Menander I (Pali: ''Milinda' ...
, which explained that the arising of ''sati'' calls to mind the wholesome
dhamma
Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for ''d ...
s such as the four foundations of mindfulness, the five faculties, the
five powers
The Five Strengths (Sanskrit, Pali: ') in Buddhism are faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. They are one of the seven sets of Bodhipakkhiyadhamma ("qualities conducive to enlightenment"). They are paralleled in the five spir ...
, the seven awakening-factors, the noble eightfold path, and the attainment of insight. According to Rupert Gethin,
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
Georges B.J. Dreyfus (born 1950 in Switzerland) is an academic in the fields of Tibetology and Buddhology, with a particular interest in Indian Buddhist philosophy. In 1985 he was the first Westerner to receive the Geshe Lharampa degree, the highe ...
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
Jay Lazar Garfield (born 13 November 1955) is an American professor of philosophy who specializes in Tibetan Buddhism. He also specializes on the philosophy of mind, cognitive science, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of language, ethics, and ...
, quoting
Shantideva
Shantideva (Sanskrit: Śāntideva; ; ; mn, Шантидэва гэгээн; vi, Tịch Thiên) was an 8th-century CE Indian philosopher, Buddhist monk, poet, and scholar at the mahavihara of Nalanda. He was an adherent of the Mādhyamaka philo ...
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 moralityat least in the context of Buddhism, from which modern interpretations of mindfulness are stemming.
Translation
The Pali-language scholar
Thomas William Rhys Davids
Thomas William Rhys Davids (12 May 1843 – 27 December 1922) was an English scholar of the Pāli language and founder of the Pāli Text Society. He took an active part in founding the British Academy and London School for Oriental Studies.
...
(1843–1922) first translated ''sati'' in 1881 as English ''
mindfulness
Mindfulness is the practice of purposely bringing one's attention to the present-moment experience without evaluation, a skill one develops through meditation or other training. Mindfulness derives from ''sati'', a significant element of Hind ...
'' in ''sammā-sati'' "Right Mindfulness; the active, watchful mind". Noting that Daniel John Gogerly (1845) initially rendered ''sammā-sati'' as "correct meditation", Davids explained:
Alternative translations
John D. Dunne
John D. Dunne (born 1961) is the Distinguished Chair in Contemplative Humanities through the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also holds a co-appointment in the Department of East Asian Languages an ...
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
Bhikkhu Bodhi (born December 10, 1944), born Jeffrey Block, is an American Theravada Buddhist monk, ordained in Sri Lanka and currently teaching in the New York and New Jersey area. He was appointed the second president of the Buddhist Publica ...
also points to the meaning of ''sati'' as "memory".
The terms ''sati''/''smṛti'' have been translated as:
* Attention (
Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield (born 1945) is an American writer and teacher in the Vipassana movement in American Theravada Buddhism. He trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, first as a student of the Thai forest master Ajahn Chah and Mahasi ...
)
* Awareness
* Concentrated attention (
Mahasi Sayadaw
Mahāsī Sayādaw U Sobhana ( my, မဟာစည်ဆရာတော် ဦးသောဘန, ; 29 July 1904 – 14 August 1982) was a Burmese Theravada Buddhist monk and meditation master who had a significant impact on the teaching of vipa ...
)
* Inspection (
Herbert V. Günther
Herbert Vighnāntaka Günther (17 March 1917 – 11 March 2006) was a German Buddhist philosopher and Professor and Head of the Department of Far Eastern Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. He held this position from t ...
)
* Mindful attention
* Mindfulness
* Recollecting mindfulness (
Alexander Berzin)
* Recollection (
Erik Pema Kunsang
Erik Pema Kunsang (born Erik Hein Schmidt) is a Danish translator and was, along with Marcia Binder Schmidt, director of Rangjung Yeshe Translations and Publications in Kathmandu. He has translated over fifty volumes of Tibetan texts and oral t ...
,
Buddhadasa
Phra Dharmakosācārya (Nguam Indapañño) ( th, พระธรรมโกศาจารย์ (เงื่อม อินฺทปญฺโญ); ), also known as Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ( th, พุทธทาสภิกขุ; , 27 May 1906 ...
)
* Reflective awareness (
Buddhadasa
Phra Dharmakosācārya (Nguam Indapañño) ( th, พระธรรมโกศาจารย์ (เงื่อม อินฺทปญฺโญ); ), also known as Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ( th, พุทธทาสภิกขุ; , 27 May 1906 ...
)
* Remindfulness (
James H. Austin
James H. Austin is an American neurologist and author. He is the author of the book ''Zen and the Brain''. It establishes links between the neurophysiology of the human brain and the practice of meditation, and won the Scientific and Medical Netw ...
)
* Retention
* Self-recollection (
Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield (born 1945) is an American writer and teacher in the Vipassana movement in American Theravada Buddhism. He trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, first as a student of the Thai forest master Ajahn Chah and Mahasi ...
)
Definitions
Psychology
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:
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
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT, typically pronounced as the word "act") is a form of psychotherapy, as well as a branch of clinical behavior analysis. It is an empirically based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfu ...
.
Definitions arising in modern teaching of meditation
Since the 1970s, most books on meditation use definitions of mindfulness similar to
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Jon Kabat-Zinn (born Jon Kabat, June 5, 1944) is an American professor emeritus of medicine and the creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medi ...
's definition as "present moment awareness". However, recently a number of teachers of meditation have proposed quite different definitions of mindfulness.
Shinzen Young
is an American meditation teacher. He leads residential and phone-based meditation retreats for students interested in learning the Vipassana (insight) tradition of Buddhism. Shinzen was originally ordained in Japan as a monk in the Shingon (Ja ...
says a person is mindful when they have mindful awareness, and defines that to be when "concentration power, sensory clarity, and equanimity
reworking 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
Bhante Vimalaramsi (born 1946) is an American Buddhist monk and currently the Abbot of the Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center in Annapolis, Missouri.
Biography
Born Marvel Logan, Bhante Vimalaramsi studied with Anagarika Munindra in 1977 and became ...
'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:
Other uses
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
John Palsgrave (c. 1485 – 1554) was a priest of Henry VIII of England's court. He is known as a tutor in the royal household, and as a textbook author.
Life
It is believed that John Palsgrave, who spelled his name in a variety of ways inclu ...
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
Wakefulness is a daily recurring Human brain, brain state and state of consciousness in which an individual is conscious and engages in coherent cognition, cognitive and behavioral responses to the external world.
Being awake is the opposite of ...
,
attention
Attention is the behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether considered subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information. William James (1890) wrote that "Atte ...
,
alertness,
prudence,
conscientiousness,
awareness,
consciousness,
and observation.
Models and frameworks for mindfulness practices
Two-component model
A two-component model of mindfulness based upon a consensus among
clinical psychologists
Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal ...
has been proposed as an operational and testable definition, :
In this two-component model, self-regulated attention (the first component) "involves bringing
awareness
Awareness is the state of being conscious of something. More specifically, it is the ability to directly know and perceive, to feel, or to be cognizant of events. Another definition describes it as a state wherein a subject is aware of some inform ...
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
In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver (physician), Daniel Ol ...
.
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. This model is based upon the traditional buddhist description of the
Skandhas
(Sanskrit) or ( Pāḷi) means "heaps, aggregates, collections, groupings". In Buddhism, it refers to the five aggregates of clinging (), the five material and mental factors that take part in the rise of craving and clinging. They are als ...
.
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
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
and
modern Vipassanā, 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
In Buddhism, the Seven Factors of Awakening (Pali: ''satta bojjhagā'' or ''satta sambojjhagā''; Skt.: ''sapta bodhyanga'') are:
* Mindfulness ('' sati'', Sanskrit ''smrti''). To maintain awareness of reality, in particular the teachings ('' ...
. "Correct" or "right" mindfulness (Pali: ''sammā-sati'', Sanskrit ''samyak-smṛti'') is the seventh element of the
Noble Eightfold Path
The Noble Eightfold Path (Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) is an early summary of the path of Buddhist practices leading to liberation from samsara, the painful cycle of rebirth, in the form of nirvana.
The Eightfold Path consists of eight practices: ri ...
. Mindfulness is an antidote to delusion and is considered as a 'power' (Pali: ''
bala'') which contributes to the attainment of ''
Nibbana
Nirvana (Sanskrit: निर्वाण, '; Pali: ') is "blowing out" or "quenching" of the activities of the worldly mind and its related suffering. Nirvana is the goal of the Hinayana and Theravada Buddhist paths, and marks the soteriologica ...
''. 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
A delusion is a false fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, hallucination, or some o ...
(Pali: ''moha'') have been overcome and abandoned, and are absent from the mind.
According to
Paul Williams, referring to
Erich Frauwallner
Erich Frauwallner (December 28, 1898 – July 5, 1974) was an Austrian professor, a pioneer in the field of Buddhist studies.Walter Slaje: Rezensionen, Stuchlik, Jakob: Der arische Ansatz. Erich Frauwallner und der Nationalsozialismus, Asiatisc ...
, mindfulness provided the way in
Early Buddhism The term Early Buddhism can refer to at least two distinct periods in the History of Buddhism, mostly in the History of Buddhism in India:
* Pre-sectarian Buddhism, which refers to the teachings and monastic organization and structure, founded by Ga ...
to liberation, "constantly watching sensory experience in order to prevent the arising of cravings which would power future experience into rebirths." According to Vetter, ''
Jhanas'' may have been the
original core practice of the Buddha, which aided the maintenance of mindfulness.
According to
Thomas William Rhys Davids
Thomas William Rhys Davids (12 May 1843 – 27 December 1922) was an English scholar of the Pāli language and founder of the Pāli Text Society. He took an active part in founding the British Academy and London School for Oriental Studies.
...
, the doctrine of mindfulness is "perhaps the most important" after the
Four Noble Truths
In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: ; pi, cattāri ariyasaccāni; "The four Arya satyas") are "the truths of the Noble Ones", the truths or realities for the "spiritually worthy ones".[aFour Noble Truths: BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY Encycl ...
and the
Noble Eightfold Path
The Noble Eightfold Path (Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) is an early summary of the path of Buddhist practices leading to liberation from samsara, the painful cycle of rebirth, in the form of nirvana.
The Eightfold Path consists of eight practices: ri ...
. T.W. Rhys Davids viewed the teachings of Gotama Buddha 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 [
itting, that is, suspending all judgmental thinking and letting words, ideas, images and thoughts pass by without getting involved in them.
Contemporary ''Vipassana''-meditation
In modern ''vipassana''-meditation, as propagated by the
Vipassana movement
The Vipassanā movement, also called (in the United States) the Insight Meditation Movement and American vipassana movement, refers to a branch of modern Burmese Theravāda Buddhism that promotes "bare insight" (''sukha-vipassana'') to attain s ...
, ''sati'' aids ''vipassana'',
insight
Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings:
*a piece of information
*the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intu ...
into the true nature of reality, namely the
three marks of existence
In Buddhism, the three marks of existence are three characteristics (Pali: tilakkhaṇa; Sanskrit: त्रिलक्षण trilakṣaṇa) of all existence and beings, namely ''Impermanence#Buddhism, aniccā'' (impermanence), ''Duḥkha, dukkh ...
, the
impermanence
Impermanence, also known as the philosophical problem of change, is a philosophical concept addressed in a variety of religions and philosophies. In Eastern philosophy it is notable for its role in the Buddhist three marks of existence. It is ...
of and the
suffering
Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, may be an experience of unpleasantness or aversion, possibly associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual. Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence of a ...
of every conditioned thing that exists, and
non-self.
With this insight, the practitioner becomes a so-called ''
Sotāpanna
In Buddhism, a sotāpanna (Pali), śrotāpanna (Sanskrit; , , Burmese: သောတာပန်, Tibetan: རྒྱུན་ཞུགས་, Wylie: ''rgyun zhugs''), "stream-enterer", "stream-winner", or "stream-entrant" is a person who has see ...
'', a "stream-enterer", the first stage on the
path to liberation.
Vipassana is practiced in tandem with
Samatha
''Samatha'' (Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' (Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of the ...
, 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
Liberation or liberate may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War
* "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode
* "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode
Gaming
* '' Liberati ...
.
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 Sutta.
=Anapanasati, satipaṭṭhāna, and vipassana
=
Anapanasati
Ānāpānasati (Pali; Sanskrit ''ānāpānasmṛti''), meaning "mindfulness of breathing" ("sati" means mindfulness; "ānāpāna" refers to inhalation and exhalation), paying attention to the breath. It is the quintessential form of Buddhist me ...
is mindfulness of breathing. "Sati" means
mindfulness
Mindfulness is the practice of purposely bringing one's attention to the present-moment experience without evaluation, a skill one develops through meditation or other training. Mindfulness derives from ''sati'', a significant element of Hind ...
; "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
''Satipatthana'' ( pi, Satipaṭṭhāna, italic=yes; sa, smṛtyupasthāna, italic=yes) is a central practice in the Buddha's teachings, meaning "the establishment of mindfulness" or "presence of mindfulness", or alternatively "foundations of ...
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
dhammas
The Abhidharma are ancient (third century BCE and later) Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist ''sutras''. It also refers to the scholastic method itself as well as the f ...
. 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
Bhikkhu Bodhi (born December 10, 1944), born Jeffrey Block, is an American Theravada Buddhist monk, ordained in Sri Lanka and currently teaching in the New York and New Jersey area. He was appointed the second president of the Buddhist Publica ...
and
B. Alan Wallace
Bruce Alan Wallace (born 1950) is an American author and expert on Tibetan Buddhism. His books discuss Eastern and Western scientific, philosophical, and contemplative modes of inquiry, often focusing on the relationships between science and Buddh ...
, Bodhi has described Ven.
Nyanaponika Thera
Nyanaponika Thera or Nyanaponika Mahathera (July 21, 1901 – 19 October 1994) was a German-born Theravada Buddhist monk and scholar who, after ordaining in Sri Lanka, later became the co-founder of the Buddhist Publication Society and author ...
's views on "right mindfulness" and
sampajañña
''Sampajañña'' (Pāli; Skt.: '' saṃprajanya,'' Tib: ''shes bzhin'') is a term of central importance for meditative practice in all Buddhist traditions. It refers to "The mental process by which one continuously monitors one's own body and ...
as follows:
Monitoring mental processes
According to
Buddhadasa
Phra Dharmakosācārya (Nguam Indapañño) ( th, พระธรรมโกศาจารย์ (เงื่อม อินฺทปญฺโญ); ), also known as Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ( th, พุทธทาสภิกขุ; , 27 May 1906 ...
, 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
vedanā
Vedanā (Pāli and Sanskrit: वेदना) is an ancient term traditionally translated as either "feeling" or "sensation." In general, ''vedanā'' refers to the pleasant, unpleasant and neutral sensations that occur when our internal sense org ...
s, which arise with the contact between the senses and their objects (''vedanānupassanā'');
* the altered states of mind to which this practice leads (cittānupassanā);
* the development from the
five hindrances
In the Buddhist tradition, the five hindrances ( Sinhala: ''පඤ්ච නීවරණ pañca nīvaraṇa''; Pali: ') are identified as mental factors that hinder progress in meditation and in our daily lives. In the Theravada tradition, thes ...
to the
seven factors of enlightenment
In Buddhism, the Seven Factors of Awakening (Pali: ''satta bojjhagā'' or ''satta sambojjhagā''; Skt.: ''sapta bodhyanga'') are:
* Mindfulness ('' sati'', Sanskrit ''smrti''). To maintain awareness of reality, in particular the teachings ('' ...
(''dhammānupassanā'').
Stoicism
The Greek philosophical school of
Stoicism
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century Common Era, BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asser ...
founded by
Zeno of Citium
Zeno of Citium (; grc-x-koine, Ζήνων ὁ Κιτιεύς, ; c. 334 – c. 262 BC) was a Hellenistic philosopher from Citium (, ), Cyprus. Zeno was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, which he taught in Athens from about 300 BC ...
included practices resembling those of mindfulness, such as visualization exercises. In his ''
Discourses'', Stoic philosopher
Epictetus
Epictetus (; grc-gre, Ἐπίκτητος, ''Epíktētos''; 50 135 AD) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was born into slavery at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present-day Pamukkale, in western Turkey) and lived in Rome until his banishment, when ...
addresses in particular the concept of attention (''prosoche''), an idea also found in
Seneca
Seneca may refer to:
People and language
* Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname
* Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America
** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people
Places Extrat ...
and
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...
. By cultivating it over time, this skill would prevent the practitioner of becoming unattentive and moved by instinct rather than according to reason.
Christianity
Mindfulness traditions are also found in some Christian spiritual traditions. In his Rules for Eating,
St. Ignatius of Loyola
Ignatius of Loyola, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian, ...
teaches, "let him guard against all his soul being intent on what he is eating, and in eating let him not go hurriedly, through appetite, but be master of himself, as well in the manner of eating as in the quantity which he eats." He might have been inspired by Epictetus' ''
Enchiridion
Enchiridion is a small manual or handbook.
It can refer more specifically to:
* ''Enchiridion of Epictetus'', a short manual of Stoic ethical advice
* The ''Enchiridion de metris'' of Hephaestion, an ancient treatise on poetic meters
* ''Enchiridi ...
''.
Transcendentalism
Mindfulness practitioner Jon Kabat-Zinn refers to Thoreau as a predecessor of the interest in mindfulness, together with other eminent
Transcendentalists
Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in New England. "Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Wald ...
such as Emerson and Whitman:
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
Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...
. Transcendentalism was closely connected to the Unitarian Church,
which in India collaborated with
Ram Mohan Roy
Raja Ram Mohan Roy ( bn, রামমোহন রায়; 22 May 1772 – 27 September 1833) was an Indian reformer who was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a social-religious reform m ...
(1772–1833) and his
Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj ( bn, ব্রহ্ম সমাজ, Brahmô Sômaj, ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement of the Hindu religion that appeared during the Bengal Renaissance.
It was one of th ...
. He found that
Unitarianism
Unitarianism (from Latin ''unitas'' "unity, oneness", from ''unus'' "one") is a nontrinitarian branch of Christian theology. Most other branches of Christianity and the major Churches accept the doctrine of the Trinity which states that there i ...
came closest to true Christianity, and had a strong sympathy for the Unitarians. This influence worked through on
Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introd ...
, 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
The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...
. Zen Buddhism first gained popularity in the west through the writings of
D.T. Suzuki
, self-rendered in 1894 as "Daisetz", was a Japanese-American Buddhist monk, essayist, philosopher, religious scholar, translator, and writer. He was a scholar and author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in sp ...
, who attempted to present a modern interpretation of Zen, adjusted to western tastes.
Jon Kabat-Zinn and MBSR
In 1979,
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Jon Kabat-Zinn (born Jon Kabat, June 5, 1944) is an American professor emeritus of medicine and the creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medi ...
founded the
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is an eight-week evidence-based program that offers secular, intensive mindfulness training to assist people with stress, anxiety, depression and pain. Developed at the University of Massachusetts Medica ...
(MBSR) program at the
University of Massachusetts
The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medica ...
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
The Eastern world, also known as the East or historically the Orient, is an umbrella term for various cultures or social structures, nations and philosophical systems, which vary depending on the context. It most often includes at least pa ...
, particularly from Buddhist traditions. Kabat-Zinn was first introduced to meditation by
Philip Kapleau
Philip Kapleau (August 20, 1912 – May 6, 2004) was an American teacher of Zen Buddhism in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition, a blending of Japanese Sōtō and Rinzai schools. He also advocated strongly for Buddhist vegetarianism.
Early life
Kapleau ...
, a
Zen
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
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
Thích Nhất Hạnh ( ; ; born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo; 11 October 1926 – 22 January 2022) was a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, prolific author, poet and teacher, who founded the Plum Village Tradition, historically recogni ...
and
Seungsahn
Seungsahn Haengwon (, August 1, 1927November 30, 2004), born Duk-In Lee, was a Korean Seon master of the Jogye Order and founder of the international Kwan Um School of Zen. He was the seventy-eighth Patriarch in his lineage. As one of the early ...
. He also studied at the
Insight Meditation Society
The Insight Meditation Society (IMS) is a non-profit organization for study of Buddhism located in Barre, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1975, by Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, and Joseph Goldstein and is rooted in the Theravada tradition. Its ...
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
Sayagyi U Ba Khin ( my, ဘခင်, ; 6 March 1899 – 19 January 1971) was the first Accountant General of the Union of Burma. He was the founder of the International Meditation Centre in Yangon, Myanmar and is principally known as a leading ...
tradition, as taught by
S. N. Goenka
Satya Narayana Goenka (ISO 15919: ''Satyanārāyaṇ Goyankā''; ; 29 January 1924 – 29 September 2013) was an Indian teacher of Vipassanā meditation. Born in Burma to an Indian business family, he moved to India in 1969 and started tea ...
in his
Vipassana
''Samatha'' (Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' (Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of the ...
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
''The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature'' is a book by Harvard University psychologist and philosopher William James. It comprises his edited Gifford Lectures on natural theology, which were delivered at the University of ...
'' by William James which suggests that religions point toward the same experience, and which
1960s counterculture
The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that developed throughout much of the Western world in the 1960s and has been ongoing to the present day. The aggregate movement gained momentum as the civil rights mo ...
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.
The latest changes when people moved from real-life meditation sessions to the applications on their smart devices has been even more accelerated by the global pandemic. Applications lik
MeditopiaYours Appand Relax: Master Your Destiny are adapting to the needs of their users by using AI technology, involving professional psychologists and offering many different mindfulness approaches to serve a wider audience.
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
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...
to help people become more mindful.
While MBSR has its roots in spiritual teachings, the program itself is
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a
psychological therapy
Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...
designed to aid in preventing the relapse of depression, specifically in individuals with
Major depressive disorder
Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Introdu ...
(MDD). It uses traditional
cognitive behavioral therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a psycho-social intervention that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression and anxiety disorders. CBT focuses on challenging and changing cognitive distortions (suc ...
(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
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 (MBS ...
(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
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is an eight-week evidence-based program that offers secular, intensive mindfulness training to assist people with stress, anxiety, depression and pain. Developed at the University of Massachusetts Medica ...
(MBSR) and
mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an approach to psychotherapy that uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) methods in collaboration with mindfulness meditative practices and similar psychological strategies. The origins to its concept ...
(MBCT), MBPM includes a distinctive emphasis on the practice of '
loving-kindness Loving-kindness may refer to:
* an English translation of Chesed
( he, חֶסֶד, also Romanized: ) is a Hebrew word that means 'kindness or love between people', specifically of the devotional piety of people towards God as well as of love o ...
', and has been seen as sensitive to concerns about removing mindfulness teaching from its original ethical framework.
It was developed by
Vidyamala Burch
Prudence Margaret Burch (born 1959), known professionally as Vidyamala Burch, is a mindfulness teacher, writer, and co-founder of Breathworks, an international mindfulness organization known particularly for developing mindfulness-based pain ma ...
and is delivered through the programs of
Breathworks
Breathworks CIC is an international mindfulness organization founded in the United Kingdom, which offers mindfulness-based approaches to living well with pain, stress, and illness. It is known particularly for developing the approach of Mindfulne ...
.
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 Clinical Behavior Analysis is one of several ABA subspecialty fact sheets produced by the BACB in partnership with subject matter experts (SMEs).
Clinical behavior analysis (CBA; also called clinical behaviour analysis or third-generation behavior ...
(CBA)
used in psychotherapy. It is a
psychological intervention
In applied psychology, interventions are actions performed to bring about change in people. A wide range of intervention strategies exist and they are directed towards various types of issues. Most generally, it means any activities used to modif ...
that uses
acceptance
Acceptance in human psychology is a person's assent to the reality of a situation, recognizing a process or condition (often a negative or uncomfortable situation) without attempting to change it or protest it. The concept is close in meaning to ...
and mindfulness strategies mixed in different ways
with commitment and behavior-change strategies, to increase
psychological flexibility
Flexibility is a personality trait that describes the extent to which a person can cope with changes in circumstances and think about problems and tasks in novel, creative ways. This trait is used when stressors or unexpected events occur, requirin ...
. The approach was originally called ''comprehensive distancing''.
It was developed in the late 1980s by
Steven C. Hayes
Steven C. Hayes (born August 12, 1948) is an American clinical psychologist and Nevada Foundation Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno Department of Psychology, where he is a faculty member in their Ph.D. program in behavior analysis. He is ...
, 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
Marsha M. Linehan (born May 5, 1943) is an American psychologist and author. She is the creator of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a type of psychotherapy that combines cognitive restructuring with acceptance, mindfulness, and shaping.
Line ...
developed for treating people with
borderline personality disorder
Borderline personality disorder (BPD), also known as emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD), is a personality disorder characterized by a long-term pattern of unstable interpersonal relationships, distorted sense of self, and strong ...
. DBT is
dialectic
Dialectic ( grc-gre, διαλεκτική, ''dialektikḗ''; related to dialogue; german: Dialektik), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing ...
, 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:
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
Joan Swart (born September 28, 1965) is a South African psychologist, author, consultant and researcher. Dr. Swart has completed a Masters in Forensic Psychology at the HLC-accredited Walden University and a doctorate at the BPPE-approved Ei ...
.
Other programs
research supports promising mindfulness-based therapies for a number of medical and psychiatric conditions, notably
chronic pain
Chronic pain is classified as pain that lasts longer than three to six months. In medicine, the distinction between Acute (medicine), acute and Chronic condition, chronic pain is sometimes determined by the amount of time since onset. Two commonly ...
,
stress
Stress may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition
* Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...
, anxiety and depression,
substance abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...
, and recurrent
suicidal behavior
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and subs ...
. Bell (2009) gives a brief overview of mindful approaches to therapy, particularly
family therapy
Family therapy (also referred to as family counseling, family systems therapy, marriage and family therapy, couple and family therapy) is a branch of psychology and clinical social work that works with families and couples in intimate relationsh ...
, starting with a discussion of
mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
and emphasizing the value of a mindful therapist.
;Morita therapy
The Japanese psychiatrist
Shoma Morita
, also read as Shōma Morita, was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud and the founder of Morita therapy, a branch of clinical psychology strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism. In his capacity as the head of psychiatry for a large Tokyo hospital, Morita ...
, who trained in Zen meditation, developed
Morita therapy
Morita therapy is a therapy developed by Shoma Morita.
The goal of Morita therapy is to have the patient accept life as it is and places an emphasis on letting nature take its course. Morita therapy views feeling emotions as part of the laws of ...
upon principles of mindfulness and non-attachment.
;Adaptation Practice
The British doctor
Clive Sherlock
Clive Sherlock is a British doctor who trained in cognitive behavioural therapy and Jungian psychoanalysis during postgraduate studies at Oxford. He saw limitations in the theories and uses of psychotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and ps ...
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
Somatic psychology is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on somatic experience, including therapeutic and holistic approaches to the body. Body psychotherapy is a general branch of this subject, while somatherapy, eco-somatics and dance therapy, ...
based upon Asian philosophical precepts of mindfulness and
nonviolence
Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
.
;IFS
Internal Family Systems Model
The Internal Family Systems Model (IFS) is an integrative approach to individual psychotherapy developed by Richard C. Schwartz in the 1980s. It combines systems thinking with the view that the mind is made up of relatively discrete subperson ...
(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.
;Mindfulness relaxation
Mindfulness relaxation uses
breathing
Breathing (or ventilation) is the process of moving air into and from the lungs to facilitate gas exchange with the internal environment, mostly to flush out carbon dioxide and bring in oxygen.
All aerobic creatures need oxygen for cellular ...
methods,
guided imagery
Guided imagery (also known as guided affective imagery, or katathym-imaginative psychotherapy (KIP)) is a mind-body intervention by which a trained practitioner or teacher helps a participant or patient to evoke and generate mental images that si ...
, and other practices to
relax
Relax may refer to:
Aviation
* Roland Z-120 Relax, a German ultralight aircraft design for the 120 kg class
Music Albums
* ''Relax'' (Blank & Jones album), 2003
* ''Relax'' (Das Racist album), 2011
Songs
* "Relax" (song), a 1983 song by Fran ...
the body and mind and help reduce
stress
Stress may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition
* Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...
.
Schools
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)
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
, non-profit corporation established in 2011 dedicated to making age-appropriate mindfulness training available to school children in
Miami-Dade County
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...
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
Goldie Jeanne Hawn (born November 21, 1945) is an American actress, dancer, producer, and singer. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (1968–1970), before going on to receive the Academy Award and Go ...
'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
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was municipal corporation, incorporated on August 7, 1905, and has a Richmond, California City Council, city council. , 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
Gayle McLaughlin (born 1952) is an American politician from Richmond, California. She was first elected to the Richmond City Council in 2004 when she was a member of the Green Party of California. She won two consecutive four-year terms as the ...
, 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
Elementary may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''Elementary'' (Cindy Morgan album), 2001
* ''Elementary'' (The End album), 2007
* ''Elementary'', a Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin album, 1977
Other uses in arts, entertainment, an ...
and
Secondary
Secondary may refer to: Science and nature
* Secondary emission, of particles
** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products
* The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...
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
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
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
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
,
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
,
Procter & Gamble
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...
,
General Mills
General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...
,
Mayo Clinic
The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff, ...
, and the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
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
The Program on Negotiation (PON) is a university consortium dedicated to developing the theory and practice of negotiation and dispute resolution. As a community of scholars and practitioners, PON serves a unique role in the world negotiation comm ...
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.
Government
Many government organizations offer mindfulness training.
Coping Strategies
Coping refers to conscious strategies used to reduce unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviours and can be individual or social.
Theories of coping
Hundreds of coping strategies have been proposed in an attempt to ...
is an example of a program utilized by
United States Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
personnel. The
British Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...
organized a mindfulness-session for its members in 2014, led by
Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax (; born 19 April 1953) is an American-British actress, comedian, writer, television personality, and mental health campaigner. A classically-trained actress, Wax was with the Royal Shakespeare Company for five years and co-starred on t ...
.
Scientific research
Effects and efficacy of mindfulness practice
Mindfulness has gained increasing empirical attention since 1970
and has been studied often as an intervention for
stress reduction
Stress management is a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person's level of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of and for the motive of improving everyday functioning. Stress produces num ...
.
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, multiple sclerosis,
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. Additionally, while mindfulness is well known to have positive psychological effect among individuals diagnosed with various types of cancers,
the evidence is unclear regarding its effectiveness in men with prostate cancer.
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
Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area o ...
) 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 trial
A randomized controlled trial (or randomized control trial; RCT) is a form of scientific experiment used to control factors not under direct experimental control. Examples of RCTs are clinical trials that compare the effects of drugs, surgical te ...
s 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
In the human brain, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is the frontal part of the cingulate cortex that resembles a "collar" surrounding the frontal part of the corpus callosum. It consists of Brodmann areas 24, 32, and 33.
It is involved ...
,
insula,
temporo-parietal junction
The temporoparietal junction (TPJ) is an area of the brain where the temporal and parietal lobes meet, at the posterior end of the lateral sulcus (Sylvian fissure). The TPJ incorporates information from the thalamus and the limbic system as wel ...
,
fronto-limbic network and
default mode network
In neuroscience, the default mode network (DMN), also known as the default network, default state network, or anatomically the medial frontoparietal network (M-FPN), is a large-scale brain network primarily composed of the dorsal medial prefro ...
structures."
Further, mindfulness meditation may prevent or delay the onset of
mild cognitive impairment
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a neurocognitive disorder which involves cognitive impairments beyond those expected based on an individual's age and education but which are not significant enough to interfere with instrumental activities of ...
and
Alzheimer's
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...
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
In neuroscience, the default mode network (DMN), also known as the default network, default state network, or anatomically the medial frontoparietal network (M-FPN), is a large-scale brain network primarily composed of the dorsal medial prefro ...
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
In mammalian brain anatomy, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) covers the front part of the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex. The PFC contains the Brodmann areas BA8, BA9, BA10, BA11, BA12, BA13, BA14, BA24, BA25, BA32, BA44, BA45, BA46, ...
(executive functioning) and
hippocampus
The hippocampus (via Latin from Greek , 'seahorse') is a major component of the brain of humans and other vertebrates. Humans and other mammals have two hippocampi, one in each side of the brain. The hippocampus is part of the limbic system, a ...
(learning and memorisation ability), the shrinking of the
amygdala
The amygdala (; plural: amygdalae or amygdalas; also '; Latin from Greek, , ', 'almond', 'tonsil') is one of two almond-shaped clusters of nuclei located deep and medially within the temporal lobes of the brain's cerebrum in complex verteb ...
(emotion and stress response) and the strengthening of the connections between brain cells.
[
*] Long-term meditators have larger amounts of
gyrification
Gyrification is the process of forming the characteristic folds of the cerebral cortex.
The peak of such a fold is called a ''gyrus'' (pl. ''gyri''), and its trough is called a '' sulcus'' (pl. ''sulci''). The neurons of the cerebral cortex re ...
("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 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 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 briefly for the research to be conclusive. In some domains, such as sport, a lack of internal validity across studies prevents any strong claims being made about the effects 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 John 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
Thomas Joiner is an American academic psychologist and leading expert on suicide. He is the Robert O. Lawton Professor of Psychology at Florida State University, where he operates his Laboratory for the Study of the Psychology and Neurobiology ...
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, " sent a sharp social critique, Buddhist practices could easily be used to justify and stabilize the status quo, becoming a reinforcement of consumer capitalism
A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or Service (economics), services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or bu ...
." 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.
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 with 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 distinct separation from Buddhism - which is seen as a religion based in monastic temples - and 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
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...
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.
See also
* Alexander Technique
* Affect labeling
Affect labeling is an implicit emotional regulation strategy that can be simply described as "putting feelings into words". Specifically, it refers to the idea that explicitly labeling one's, typically negative, emotional state results in a reduct ...
* Buddhism and psychology
Buddhism includes an analysis of human psychology, emotion, cognition, behavior and motivation along with therapeutic practices. Buddhist psychology is embedded within the greater Buddhist ethical and philosophical system, and its psychologi ...
* Buddhist meditation
Buddhist meditation is the practice of meditation in Buddhism. The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are '' bhāvanā'' ("mental development") and '' jhāna/dhyāna'' (mental training resulting in a calm and ...
* Choiceless awareness
is posited in philosophy, psychology, and spirituality to be the state of unpremeditated, complete awareness of the present without preference, effort, or compulsion. The term was popularized in mid-20th century by Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishn ...
* Coping (psychology)
Coping refers to conscious strategies used to reduce unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviours and can be individual or social.
Theories of coping
Hundreds of coping strategies have been proposed in an attempt to ...
* Coping Planning
Coping planning is an approach to supporting people who are distressed.Stallman, H. M. & Wilson, C. J. (2018). Can the mental health of Australians be improved by dual strategy for promotion and prevention? ''Australian and New Zealand Journal of ...
* Eternal Now (New Age)
*''Full Catastrophe Living
''Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness'' is a book by Jon Kabat-Zinn, first published in 1990, revised in 2013, which describes the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program de ...
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* John Garrie
John Garrie, later known as John Garrie Roshi (May 18, 1923 – September 22, 1998), was a British actor who later became a respected teacher of Zen Buddhism.
Acting career
As an actor, John Garrie played minor roles in a number of British ...
* Richard Geller
* S.N. Goenka
Satya Narayana Goenka (ISO 15919: ''Satyanārāyaṇ Goyankā''; ; 29 January 1924 – 29 September 2013) was an Indian teacher of Vipassanā meditation. Born in Burma to an Indian business family, he moved to India in 1969 and started tea ...
* Henepola Gunaratana
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is a Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist monk. He is affectionately known as Bhante G. Bhante Gunaratana is currently the abbot of the Bhavana Society, a monastery and meditation retreat center that he founded in High Vi ...
* Dennis Lewis
Dennis Lewis (born 1940) is a non-fiction writer and teacher in the areas of breathing, qigong, meditation, and self-enquiry.
In the book ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Taoism'' Lewis is recommended as a source of instruction in Taoism for peop ...
* Mahasati Meditation
The venerable pi, label=none, Cittasubho (; lay name: ''Pann Intapew''; 5 September 1911–13 September 1988), popularly known as Luang Por Teean, was a Thai reformist Buddhist monk. Cittasubho was the progenitor of ''mahāsati'' practice of medi ...
* Metacognition
Metacognition is an awareness of one's thought processes and an understanding of the patterns behind them. The term comes from the root word '' meta'', meaning "beyond", or "on top of".Metcalfe, J., & Shimamura, A. P. (1994). ''Metacognition: knowi ...
* ''Mindfulness'' (journal)
* Mindfulness and technology
Mindfulness and technology is a movement in research and design, that encourages the user to become aware of the present moment, rather than losing oneself in a technological device. This field encompasses multidisciplinary participation between ...
* Mindfulness Day
* Mindful yoga
* Nonviolent communication
* Nepsis
Nepsis (or ''nipsis''; el, νῆψις) is a concept in Orthodox Christian theology. It means ''wakefulness'' or ''watchfulness'' and constitutes a condition of sobriety acquired following a period of catharsis. St. Hesychios the Priest defines ...
* Ovsiankina effect
The Ovsiankina effect is the tendency to pick up an interrupted action again when it has still not been achieved. It is named after its researcher, Maria Ovsiankina.
The effect states that an interrupted task, even without incentive, values as a ...
* Phronesis
''Phronesis'' ( grc, φρόνησῐς, phrónēsis), translated into English by terms such as prudence, practical virtue and practical wisdom, or, colloquially, sense (as in "good sense", "horse sense") is an ancient Greek word for a type of w ...
* Sacca
''Sacca'' ( sa, Satya सत्य) is a Pali word meaning "real" or "true". In early Buddhist literature, ''sacca'' is often found in the context of the "Four Noble Truths",_a_crystallization_of_Buddhist_wisdom.__In_addition,_''sacca''_is_one_ ...
* Satya
''Satya'' (Sanskrit: सत्य; IAST: ''satya)'' is a Sanskrit word loosely translated as truth, essence. A. A. Macdonell, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Asian Educational Services, , pp. 330–331 It also refers to a virtue in Indian relig ...
* Satyagraha
Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone w ...
* Sampajanna
* Samu (Zen)
is participation in the physical work needed to maintain the Zen monastery. According to tradition, it was emphasized by Baizhang Huaihai, who is credited with establishing an early set of rules for Chan (Chinese Zen) monastic discipline, the ...
* Satipatthana
''Satipatthana'' ( pi, Satipaṭṭhāna, italic=yes; sa, smṛtyupasthāna, italic=yes) is a central practice in the Buddha's teachings, meaning "the establishment of mindfulness" or "presence of mindfulness", or alternatively "foundations of ...
* Self-compassion Self-compassion is extending compassion to one's self in instances of perceived inadequacy, failure, or general suffering. Kristin Neff has defined self-compassion as being composed of three main elements – self-kindness, common humanity, and min ...
* Taqwa
''Taqwa'' ( ar, تقوى '' / '')
is an Islamic term for being conscious and cognizant of God, of truth, "piety, fear of God."Nanji, Azim. "Islamic Ethics," in ''A Companion to Ethics'', Peter Singer. Oxford: Blackwells,n(1991), pp. 106– ...
and dhikr
''Dhikr'' ( ar, ذِكْر}, , also spelled ''Zikr'', ''Thikr'', ''Zekr'', or ''Zikar'', literally meaning "remembrance, reminder" or "mention") is a form of Islamic meditation in which phrases or prayers are repeatedly chanted in order to reme ...
, related Islamic concepts
* Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the technique in India in the mid-1950s. Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes a ...
* Watchfulness (Christian)
Nepsis (or ''nipsis''; el, νῆψις) is a concept in Orthodox Christian theology. It means ''wakefulness'' or ''watchfulness'' and constitutes a condition of sobriety acquired following a period of catharsis. St. Hesychios the Priest defines ...
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* Siegel, Ronald D. (2010)
''The Mindfulness Solution: Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems''
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Buddhist meditation
Meditation
Mind–body interventions
Plum Village Tradition
sv:Medveten närvaro (buddhism)