• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Mindfulness is not enough?

Geoff-Allen

Resident megalomaniac
Greetings fellow earthlings!

I hope you are enjoying your time here onj the forum today.

Here's an article about mindfulness and therapy.

For a little taste -

In her book Mixing Minds: The Power of Relationship in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism (2010), Pilar Jennings notes that “It is very possible to have a deep and rich spiritual life that reaps all manner of spiritual rewards while core psychological patterns and struggles remain untouched (p. 131). Without a doubt, mindfulness is a helpful tool, but nothing can replace the healing power of a relationship with a well-trained and dedicated listener.

In recent years there has been an explosion of interest in spiritually based mindfulness meditation practices, and Jennings succinctly describes a phenomenon, generally known as a spiritual bypass, that can happen when we try to use these techniques to solve psychological problems and end up avoiding them instead. Mindfulness meditation increases the ability to live in the present moment and may produce profound insights into the nature of reality, both invaluable tools for crafting a conscious, well-lived life. But these practices were not designed to heal an injured heart.

Read the rest here -

When Mindfulness Is Not Enough

Also try the Lion's Roar site -

Why Mindfulness Isn’t Enough

Loads more at that site!

Enjoy the rest of your browsing

:)
 

ajay0

Well-Known Member
Imho, mindfulness itself is enough, but it requires a lot of mental equanimity and strength to ensure quality mindfulness. If there are unresolved emotional issues, it is hard to maintain that sort of mental equanimity. It actually indicates a lot of unresolved karma or psychological impressions or Sankharas boiling within.

Because of the complexity of modern society ( in contrast to the simplicity of older times) such issues tend to be much larger and unresolved as well.

'Your mindfulness will only be as robust as the capacity of your mind to be calm and stable. Without calmness, the mirror of mindfulness will have an agitated and choppy surface and will not be able to reflect things with any accuracy.' - Jon Kabat-Zinn

Mindfulness works as long as there is mental equanimity to go with it, but as per the writer, she seemed to be suffering from anxiety and depression from a pretty early age and this would obviously prevent the necessary equanimity of mind.

Therapy and counselling worked for her, and I think that is a good step forward.

In the buddhist technique of Vipassana too , as practiced in successful drug rehabilitation centres in Australia and Switzerland, addicts undergoing the camps are taught Vipassana and at the same time undergo counselling as well. This combination seemed to have been more effective.

Drug addiction & Therapy: A Vipassana perspective | Vipassana Research Institute

Vipassana is not some magic or miracle. Progress requires a strong will to come out of addiction, as also, to work towards this goal, by observing oneself at the level of sensations. Therefore, prior preparation and motivation of the addict for passing through the Vipassana course, by counselling and by teaching 'anapana-sati' (awareness of the breath) is crucial. That enables one to work properly and get the desired results, as has been observed at 'Cyrenian House' in Perth, Australia and at 'Start Again' in Zurich, Switzerland, the addiction therapy centres for drug dependants, founded and run by Vipassana meditators since 1981 and 1992, respectively. The addict is supported and counselled after the Vipassana course as well, to ensure that he/she keeps working with the technique regularly. -- By Dr. R. M.Chokhani


Vipassana Meditation and Drug Addiction | Vipassana Research Institute


When an addict understands that observing oneself at the level of sensation is the key to coming out of addiction, and works on sensation with Vipassana meditation, he or she will begin to recover. But Vipassana meditation is not some kind of magic or miracle. Progress requires a strong will to come out of addiction, and also a strong will to work towards this goal by observing oneself at the level of sensations. This is the point at which professional counselling will play an important role, as has been observed in one of the most successful drug rehabilitation centres in Australia. Cyrenian House operates with counselling, crisis intervention, the integrated philosophy of Narcotics Anonymous, and the first part of a ten day Vipassana meditation course called Anapana meditation, which means observing incoming and outgoing breath.

The role of counselling is: to stabilise the addict, to give intellectual understanding, and to motivate the person to try to stay clean after the residential programme. They are then encouraged to join a Vipassana course in order to work hard on the technique. However, if there is no motivation to come out of addiction and to work properly according to the instructions, Vipassana will not give proper results. This motivation enables the addict to work to eradicate the mental defilements of addiction and to face the difficulties which are bound to crop up during a Vipassana course. -- Gerhard Scholz

I think those who have emotional issues and conflicts should not look at Buddhism or meditation as a magic wand that cures all. A combination of these techniques as well as counseling could be the way forward, and I think other meditation institutions and meditation coaches can also learn from such experiences to be more effective in their work.
 
Last edited:
Top