What is mindfulness-based therapy?
Mindfulness-based therapy incorporates meditation as a tool for resolving (or dissolving) difficult thoughts and emotional reactions. Mindfulness based therapy is a core element in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and, to a lesser extent, in combination with Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. The main idea is to cultivate present moment awareness and to observe and accept anxious thoughts without fusing with them. The same goes for depressing thoughts, and also for anxious/depressed feelings. In Dialectical Behaviour Therapy mindful awareness is also applied to states of frustration, anger and rage so that the client can observe them without acting out on them.
The problem with mindfulness
The main problem lies in the name. ‘Mindfulness’ is a profoundly misleading label.
The first difficulty is that the desired state is not actually ‘mindful’. Indeed, it might better be described as ‘mindless’. A state that lies beyond the mind in consciousness, in which individuals can observe the coming and going of thoughts, memories, fantasies, feelings and urges. A more accurate (if cumbersome) label would be ‘aware-full-ness’.
The second difficulty is that the root term ‘mind’ does not actually refer to anything concrete. It is a concept that refers to the constant stream of thoughts, images and stories that pass through consciousness. When we think of a university we are referring to the campuses, colleges, lecture rooms, dining halls, administrative offices and playing fields that make it up. The ‘university’ is not a separate entity apart from all these entities. In the same way, the word ‘mind’ is a collective term for the contents of consciousness; it does not exist otherwise.
This being so the mind cannot actually be ‘full’ of anything and therefore there is no such thing as ‘mindfulness’. All that is really there is consciousness. In this article we will use the two terms interchangeably.
This misconception about personal minds leads straight to the error of users trying to control their non-existent minds so that it is free of uncomfortable thoughts. In some approaches to mindfulness the aim goes still further: to try and make the mind empty of thoughts. But this stream of thoughts is exactly what we call ‘mind’. We can no more empty the mind than we can choose what our next thought is going to be.
Another source of confusion lies in popular Apps that equate mindfulness with stress reduction. Breathing techniques, guided imagery and relaxation routines are often used for this purpose on the app. While these can be beneficial for most the same results can be achieved with therapeutic hypnosis. These approaches have little to do with mindfulness in the deeper key of raising conscious awareness.
The origins of mindfulness
Mindfulness derives from meditations taught in Eastern spiritual traditions; specifically Vedanta and Buddhism. Based on the premise that consciousness can be developed to the point where the everyday self is dissolved and union with the divine achieved. Western mindfulness is a secularised version of these teachings, stripped of their religious associations.
In mindfulness processes (as applied in therapy) clients develop their access to deep consciousness. In this state of awareness the transpersonal self acts as a witness to the ego-self, observing but not joining with its habitual thoughts and emotional reactions. Typical experiences include stillness, peace, objectivity and freedom from the imprisoning mind.
A sample meditation is available here.
Mindfulness in practice
The aim of mindfulness is the same as any traditional form of meditation: to raise conscious awareness of internal and external experience so that we become observers rather than slaves to our thoughts and reactions. As we remain in consciousness we achieve freedom from the activities of the conditioned self, or ego. Thereby becoming resistant to harmful thought patterns.
The key to the process is widening awareness so that it includes the entire space around you as well as yourself. Typically this involves defocusing your vision so that you take in the entire field rather than specific objects. Meanwhile, dropping conceptual thoughts (including thoughts about time, space, and separation) so that you rest in a non-conceptual space in which the alive sense of being present is intensified. Very similar to the state that Eckhart Tolle describes as The Power of Now.
Mindful awareness can be practiced at any time and in any place. Seasoned practitioners can enter the state for a few seconds or for a few hours. Driving a car, when on the train, walking in nature, when talking to a friend, cooking, painting or listening to music. You don’t have to be a Zen Buddhist monk to become enlightened in this way.
Employing mindfulness in therapy
The first step is for the client to learn how to access the mindful state at will. This can take a few weeks to establish. Clients already familiar with the state of raised awareness can begin mindfulness-based therapy straight away. Others will require tuition. This may, or may not, be undertaken by the therapist.
Once the client can enter mindfulness with ease, any or all of the applications below are available in therapy.
Disengaging from ‘stuck’ states. These could be painful memories from the past; anxiety states in which the person feels trapped in thought; stressful situations in the present; depressed states; plus cravings and addictions.
In awareness the client learns to see these states appearing in consciousness without reference to a personal ‘I’. In that way it becomes easier to observe them neutrally. As this occurs the state will gradually dissolve back into consciousness, followed by a state of inner peace.
Thought defusion. As clients learn to observe passing thoughts as thoughts (and not as statements of fact) it becomes possible to defuse from them. Allowing them to come and go as if one were observing fish in an aquarium.
Connecting to emotional states. When the thinking mind is sidelined in the mindful state it ceases to interfere with the natural flow of emotion. Thereby allowing free access to feeling states, which can then be recognised, named, accepted and integrated.
Tara Brach’s RAIN process is a simple way to achieve this connection, while also practicing self-compassion.
Consulting the Inner Guide. Your inner guide lies in the space beyond personal mind in transpersonal awareness. In that state of consciousness you are connected to a state of deeper wisdom than is usually available to everyday thinking. It is sometimes referred to (mistakenly) as the Unconscious mind.
You may have accessed it many times before through intuition, feeling and the sense of being guided to make difficult decisions in a time of trouble. Mindfulness makes it easier to connect to this source, and utilise its wisdom in finding solutions to the problems of life.
You can also find audio guides to mindfulness on my podcast channel here.
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