The Power of Mindfulness: Exploring Foundational Principles by Richik Neogi
The term mindfulness has become something of a buzzword in modern psychiatry. Numerous modalities of psychotherapy have incorporated it, from dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) to mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), to acceptance commitment therapy (ACT), and beyond. My initial encounters with the notion of mindfulness originate from my experience in DBT, a form of therapy developed by Marsha Linehan (initially conceived to treat borderline personality disorder, but applicable to many other mental illnesses). My understanding of why Marsha Linehan included mindfulness as a core module in DBT is that the practice of mindfulness cultivates awareness of one’s physical and emotional state in the moment – something that many individuals with mental illness struggle with. At least, this awareness was the intention behind my motivation to practice mindfulness while I was in DBT. I should make it clear that the benefits of mindfulness are not confined to patients with mental illness. We will explore the benefits of mindfulness as a practice further in future articles, but suffice to say, everyone can benefit from practicing mindfulness. However, before delving further into mindfulness, it is important to understand what exactly mindfulness is. It is also helpful to know a little bit about the history of mindfulness to gain some context surrounding its practice.
A simple definition of mindfulness is that it is the practice of being fully immersed in the present moment without obfuscation by our judgments and preconceived notions. It is important to note that the practice of mindfulness does not entail a rejection of mind-wandering and judgments. It is not a practice of thought-suppression. Rather, it involves putting oneself in the position of an observer in one’s mind. Instead of trying to cultivate a state of “non-thinking”, we try to cultivate a mode of observing and actively participate in the present moment as it is. Whenever we notice our mind wandering, we attempt to bring attention back to this mode of observation, most commonly by focusing on the breath. A more formal definition of mindfulness was put forth by some researchers in the field (Bishop et al., 2004). They proposed a two-component model of mindfulness: (1) self-regulation of attention such that it is focused on the present moment and (2) practice of an attitude that entails curiosity, openness, and acceptance of one's experience in the present.
The first component usually involves something to direct one’s attention towards, an “anchor” so to speak. Again, the breath is the most common “anchor” in mindfulness practices, but other anchors such as sensations in the body are also described in many mindfulness practices (i.e. in open monitoring meditation practices in which attention is not focused on a single experience). In directing this attention, we experience the moment as it is, without elaborative processes like judgment. The second component consists of adopting an orientation towards one’s present experience, one that involves a state of “investigative awareness” (quoted directly from Bishop et al., 2004). Put more simply, this means intentionally adopting a stance of curiosity towards one’s mind and body – however, we stop short of forming judgments or actively trying to change patterns of thinking. In observing the transient nature of our stream of consciousness, we also cultivate a sense of acceptance. Equally important is the notion that we must be open to experiencing the moment as it is. Now that we have come up with a general definition of mindfulness, we can briefly discuss its history.
This article is not intended to be an in-depth discussion of the history of mindfulness, and I will not pretend to be an expert in the history of mindfulness. There are other authors who have expounded extensively on the subject. Suffice to say, mindfulness has its roots in Hindu and Buddhist practices. The modern notion of mindfulness is most closely associated to various Buddhist traditions.
Practices resembling the modern incarnation of mindfulness are mentioned in two early Buddhist texts written in the Pali language, the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta1 (SS; The Foundations of Mindfulness) and the Ānāpānasati Sutta2 (AS; Mindfulness of Breathing). These texts are directly attributed to the Buddha and were likely recorded by Buddha’s disciples. The SS begins by detailing how practitioners can turn their awareness towards the body. The next section describes awareness of sensations (“contemplation of feeling”), to the extent that these sensations are observed, but not judged (a direct quote from the translation that I am using is that “‘Feeling exists’ to the extent necessary just for knowledge and mindfulness”). The third section refers to awareness of states of mind (“contemplation of consciousness”), things such as desire and aversion. The fourth section refers to awareness of mental phenomena (“contemplation of mental objects”): the five hindrances, the five aggregates, the six sense bases, the seven factors of awakening, and the four noble truths. Throughout the text, there is emphasis on the transient nature of consciousness, a key concept in Buddhist practice. Whereas the SS provides a foundational definition of mindfulness, the AS provides a detailed description of how mindfulness should be practiced, with particular emphasis on the breath. The AS references the SS heavily: for example, the four awarenesses described in the SS feature as the four establishments of mindfulness in the AS and the AS further expands on these four establishments, giving four steps for the practice of each establishment. Thus, mindfulness (the Pali word for what most closely resembles mindfulness is sati) was a concept in Buddhist practice from the beginning.
Although mindfulness and meditation were features of Buddhism from the beginning, the intended audience for the two early texts discussed (the AS and the SS) was monks and not laypeople. Moreover, as Geoffrey Samuel states (Samuel, 2015), it was not until the advent of Buddhist modernism that mindfulness was considered a central practice in Buddhism. Samuel further posits that mindfulness as we know it today is a rather recent phenomenon – there is some divergence between the ancient notion of sati and the modernist interpretation of mindfulness. Bob Sharf mentions that practitioners of early Zen Buddhist tradition (originating in 8th century China) as well as Tibetan Dzogchen tradition began to shift away from traditional Buddhist meditative practices towards something that more closely resembles the modern, secular notion of mindfulness (Sharf, 2015). In this practice, attention was directed away from objects and towards the mind itself. These practitioners of what resembles modern mindfulness faced much criticism from other Buddhists, largely because they placed less emphasis on the religious teachings of Buddhism and more emphasis on the practice of meditation. Nevertheless, it was not until the rise of Buddhist modernism in the 20th century that mindfulness as a practice was introduced to laypeople.
The origins of Buddhist modernism can be traced back to Southeast Asia. In the late 19th century, there was a revival of Vipassana tradition, credited to the Burmese monks U Nyanadaza (Ledi Sayādaw) and U Nārada (Mingun Sayādaw). Mingun’s disciple, Mahāsī Sayādaw developed the method most familiar to us today as mindfulness (Sharf, 2015). He developed this method such that it could be digested by laypersons without any training in interpreting Buddhist texts. It was Mahāsī who highlighted the importance of moment to moment, non-judgmental awareness in the practice of mindfulness. One of Mahāsī’s students, Nyanaponika Thera utilized the term “bare attention” to describe this awareness in a publication from 1954. During this period (the 20th century), another originator of mindfulness practice emerged, Sayagi U Ba Khin. Importantly, U Ba Khin was not a monk (he was an accountant by profession). His student, S. N. Goenka is credited with exporting this lay meditation practice globally (Samuel, 2015). Although the methods of U Ba Khin and Mahāsī differ, the basic principles are very similar. I will not belabor this point, as the details are unimportant for our purposes.
In discussing the history of mindfulness, it would be remiss of me to not mention one more well-known founder of modern mindfulness principles: Thich Nhat Hanh. Some have called Thich Nhat Hanh the “father of mindfulness” (Bryant, 2022) although he is probably more accurately the father of modern, secular, and practical mindfulness, particularly as it pertains to medicine. Hanh was a Vietnamese monk who introduced mindfulness to the masses, first in Vietnam and then later globally. Thich Nhat Hanh published authored many books, but the first book that best describes his early thoughts on the practice of mindfulness is most likely The Miracle of Mindfulness (Hanh, 1999). Originally published in 1975, this book was originally written in 1974 as a long letter to Brother Quang of the School of Youth for Social Service. It is full of many practical analogies describing mindfulness as a practice and I highly recommend reading it to anyone interested in beginning to understand the basis of mindfulness as a practice. Many advocates for mindfulness (particularly in a therapeutic context) cite Hanh as a major influence. One of Hanh’s students, Jon Kabat-Zinn, founded mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) – the principles entailed by MBSR will be the topic of the remainder of this article.
In 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn founded a course that would change medicine fundamentally. This course, offered for a period of eight to ten weeks at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, was the basis for the methods that underly MBSR (in fact, the name of the course was Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction). Kabat-Zinn’s book Full Catastrophe Living (abbreviated as FCL from hereon out) provides a practical guide for MBSR (Kabat-Zinn & Hanh, 2013). Kabat-Zinn describes the practice of mindfulness in the context of MBSR in the first chapter. He elaborates on how much of the time our minds are in an automatic pilot mode, in that we are often not fully aware of what exactly we are doing. To shift our minds away from this automatic pilot mode, we must bring out awareness fully to the moment. Kabat-Zinn describes this shift, mindfulness, as the product of consistent practice. It is not something that is very easy for us to do without practice – and mindfulness is indeed something that requires significant practice. We can listen to all the guided meditations in the world and read all the books on the subject, but these efforts will be meaningless without intentional practice (in this context, the practice does not entail repetition in preparation for some later performance, but rather the act of “being in the present on purpose”). Mindfulness is cultivated. It is not simply learned.
In the second chapter of FCL, Jon Kabat-Zinn details seven attitudes that are crucial to the practice of mindfulness (Kabat-Zinn & Hanh, 2013). In a later interview by Kabat-Zinn posted by the channel “Recovered Mindfully” and initially recorded by the Swedish group Mindfulnessgruppen (Recovered Mindfully, 2015), two additional attitudes are mentioned. I will mention these two additional attitudes in the text that follows. Each of these attitudes feeds in to the other – cultivating one attitude will often cultivate the other attitudes. The seven original attitudes are as follows: non-judging, patience, a beginner’s mind, trust, non-striving, acceptance, and letting go. The two additional attitudes in the interview are generosity and gratitude. Meditation is absolutely necessary to cultivate mindfulness in day-to-day life, and it is highly recommended for those who wish to be generally more mindful while conducting the tasks necessary for life. However, one need not necessarily be meditating to be mindful. It is possible to be mindful during just about anything we do.
The first attitude I will discuss is non-judging. I hope I have emphasized the non-judgmental attitude we must take when practicing mindfulness. Our brains have developed over the history of the species to ascribe valence (positive, negative, or neutral) to practically everything we experience. In normal waking consciousness, it is very difficult for us to experience events without labeling them as good, bad, or neutral. This often occurs automatically, without us even noticing that we are judging. The goal of mindfulness is not to eliminate judgment from our mind while practicing mindfulness (at least not initially). Rather, we must become aware of our tendency to attach judgment to mental phenomena. It is not possible for us to be fully in the moment while we are judging, as in judging we view the present moment through the veil of our thoughts, emotions, and past experiences.
The second attitude is beginner’s mind. When we adopt a beginner’s mind, we view the present moment outside of the context of what we already know. We must view the phenomena of the present moment as though we are experiencing it for the very first time. In other words, we must let go of preconceived notions regarding the present moment and experience the moment from the perspective of a beginner. This naturally leads up to the third attitude I will describe, letting go.
Letting go is critical to the practice of mindfulness. In FCL, Kabat-Zinn gives the example of a particular type of monkey trap used in India. This trap consists of a coconut with a hole just large enough for a monkey to fit its hand through. Underneath the coconut, a banana is placed. When the monkey attempts to reach into the trap, it can fit its hand through and grasp the banana. However, the hole is not big enough for the monkey to retrieve the banana in its fist. The monkey thus becomes trapped because it cannot let go of the banana. In a similar fashion, we often cling to certain thoughts, experiences, emotions, and judgments about our experiences. When the moment is judged as pleasant, we may cling to the moment to prolong it. When the moment is unpleasant, we may cling to an attitude of avoidance. This clinging is counterproductive when practicing mindfulness. The next of the seven original attitudes that I will discuss is patience.
Patience is an orientation we must adopt towards our own minds while cultivating mindfulness because when we are anticipating future events, we are not fully in the present. In practicing mindfulness (particularly in formal meditation), there is no past and there is no future. There is only the moment. Kabat-Zinn emphasizes the richness of the present moment when describing patience. He describes patience as the tendency to be completely open to each moment, allowing it to unfold.
The next attitude Kabat-Zinn describes is trust. By trust, Kabat-Zinn is not referring to trust in others per se, but rather trust in ourselves. We are all endowed with a basic intuitive sense of what is going on in our bodies and minds. For most of us who are healthy, we trust that our bodies are functioning as they should: we do not give second thought to whether we are breathing or digesting food. Indeed, we can direct awareness towards the breath or even towards our interoceptive sense of fullness, but we generally trust that our bodies function in an automatic manner. Imagine how exhausting it would be if we had to consciously instruct our lungs to inhale and exhale! When discussing trust, Kabat-Zinn states that we should trust our intuition over the words of an instructor or any external entity. While it is helpful to listen to instructions of others with more experience than us, we should listen to our bodies first. One example of a situation where trust is important is while practicing yoga – injuries can result when we do not listen to our bodies before repeating what is instructed of us! Similarly, we must place trust in ourselves while meditating. After all, the only person that we can truly be is ourselves. We cannot become someone else. We must accept that we can only be ourselves – mindfulness entails a state of being truly yourself.
Another one of the seven original attitudes described by Kabat-Zinn is acceptance. What is acceptance? It is the attitude of seeing things as they are in the present. Acceptance means that we do not spend energy trying to deny or resist what is. Instead of trying desperately to change situations such that they fit what we want them to be, we need to come to terms with what is. Instead of spending time dwelling on what should be in our minds, we must experience things as they are. Acceptance is distinct from resignation. In practicing acceptance, we do not give up on trying to change our behaviors. We do not resign from trying to change the world. Rather, we must understand that the first step towards changing the future is accepting the present. We cannot expect to change our future if we cannot accept the present.
I have left the final of the seven original attitudes for last: non-striving. This is a difficult attitude for most people in Western society to understand. After all, we spend much of our lives engaging in goal-directed behavior. In the process of doing so, we form expectations for ourselves. For example, when practicing mindfulness meditation, we may form a goal to become more present and aware of our emotions. In doing so, we form an expectation that we will be more present and aware. We form an idea in our heads that we are not okay in the moment. The intended purpose of non-striving is not to abandon goals altogether. It is to reduce our anticipation of things as we believe they should be. We cannot be fully in the present if we are anticipating things (in such a state our minds would be in the future rather than in the present). When we are being mindful, we must temporarily suspend our desire to strive for a particular goal and allow things to unfold. This may seem like a challenge when we are attempting to be mindful during day-to-day tasks like doing the laundry or eating (i.e. things that do not demand our full attention), however, think about just how little necessity there is in being constantly aware of your goals in doing these tasks. Indeed, we need to form an idea of what needs to be done to initiate the task, but just how much time does one spend thinking about this intended goal while doing the task? Chances are, very little of the time is spent solely thinking about the intended goal.
Thus, I have provided a working definition of mindfulness as well as a brief history of the practice of mindfulness in this article. We discussed how mindfulness is the intentional practice of directing awareness towards the stream of consciousness in the present moment and how it entails the cultivation of an attitude of openness, curiosity, and acceptance. Then we briefly delved into the history of mindfulness from the days of the Buddha to its more modern incarnations. Finally, we discussed the original seven attitudes of mindfulness in the context of MBSR as put forth by Jon Kabat-Zinn. I hope that this article provides you with a framework and starting point to begin exploring mindfulness on your own.
References
Bishop, S. R., Lau, M., Shapiro, S., Carlson, L., Anderson, N. D., Carmody, J., Segal, Z. V., Abbey, S., Speca, M., Velting, D., & Devins, G. (2004). Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11(3), 230–241. https://doi.org/10.1093/clipsy.bph077
Bryant, M. (2022, January 22). From MLK to Silicon Valley, how the world fell for ‘father of mindfulness.’ The Observer. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/22/from-mlk-to-silicon-valley-how-the-world-fell-for-father-of-mindfulness
Hanh, T. N. (1999). The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation (M. Ho, Trans.; First Edition). Beacon Press.
Recovered Mindfully (Director: Mindfulnessgruppen; https://mindfulnessgruppen.se/). (2015, April 24). 9 Attitudes Jon Kabat Zinn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n7FOBFMvXg
Samuel, G. (2015). The contemporary mindfulness movement and the question of nonself1. Transcultural Psychiatry, 52(4), 485–500. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461514562061
Sharf, R. H. (2015). Is mindfulness Buddhist? (And why it matters). Transcultural Psychiatry, 52(4), 470–484. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461514557561
The Foundations of Mindfulness Practice: Attitudes and Commitment. (2013). In J. Kabat-Zinn & T. N. Hanh, Full Catastrophe Living (Revised Edition): Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness (Revised edition). Bantam.
You Have Only Moments to Live. (2013). In J. Kabat-Zinn & T. N. Hanh, Full Catastrophe Living (Revised Edition): Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness (Revised edition). Bantam.
Given that the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta has no original author, I have included this reference as a footnote. I used the translation from Pali by Nyanasatta Thera. It can be found here: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.010.nysa.html
Given that the Ānāpānasati Sutta has no original author, I have included this reference as a footnote. I used the translation from Pali by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. It can be found here: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/MN/MN118.html
