In recent years, both mindfulness and meditation have become very popular, and they are an introductory method for many people to find inner peace or manage their emotions. You may feel that you know a little about both, so now let Xiao Sai, a counselor who uses mindfulness skills in psychological counseling, help you understand mindfulness again!
What is meditation?
When you think of meditation, what comes to mind? Many people think of meditation or falling asleep.
Among the many questions, I believe many people have the following questions: Jingguan = meditation?
Meditation is one of the yoga practice methods spread from ancient India. It can be a method of practicing mindfulness (i.e., contemplation), but it does not represent mindfulness. So, what actually is mindfulness?
The word mindfulness comes from Buddhism and refers to focusing on the present moment and consciously being aware of one’s mental state. Buddhism believes that practicing mindfulness is one of the Eightfold Path that can help people escape suffering and achieve happiness. According to the above teaching, meditation seems to be a religious activity?
No, in fact, modern meditation applications have evolved to have little to do with religion.
How did mindfulness become the new favorite of psychology?
At the end of the last century, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn introduced mindfulness into the field of psychology. The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course he founded improves mood and pain through eight weeks of mindfulness practice. He summarized seven practice principles: non-judgmental, acceptance, Trust yourself, pursue without force, be patient, have your original intention, and let nature take its course.
As his book says, life is full of pain (Catastrophe), so we need to train our physical and mental wisdom to face the pressure, pain and illness, and meditation is one of the effective methods. Later, mindfulness was further integrated into Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and became Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), one of the third generation of CBT, specifically targeting the treatment of emotional illnesses.
Meditation is the key to returning to the inner island
In daily life, urban people need to face pressure from different aspects, and it is easy to lose touch with the present, and even lose touch with their own breathing. Therefore, the most basic practice of mindfulness is to focus on your breathing, bring yourself back from worries about the past and future to the present, and learn to listen to the changes in your heart.
Thich Nhat Hanh once described that everyone has an island in their heart where you can have a good rest, and mindfulness is the key to returning to this island.
When we are emotional, it is easy for us to be led away by our thoughts and emotions, like feet stuck in mud. To practice mindfulness is to be aware of thoughts and emotions and then consciously bring yourself back to the present moment. Over time, when we encounter different things, although we will still have emotions, because we understand our own inner situation better, we will naturally be able to face it more calmly.
Application of mindfulness in psychological counseling
To maximize the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation, it is of course ideal to rely on daily practice. However, in the counseling room on weekdays, meditation also has its own special function. Especially for clients who are more accustomed to being dominated by their minds, it is generally more difficult to get in touch with their emotions. Through simple body scanning exercises, clients can detect changes in their bodies when mentioning events, and thus find clues to connect with their emotions at that moment.
On the other hand, when clients have the opportunity to be exposed to traumatic events, they often evoke unprocessed feelings at the time. Guided breathing exercises can also quickly stabilize emotions.
It may not be our habit to leave a little breathing room for ourselves and the outside world, but mindfulness is about breaking our autopilot mode and allowing us to truly get in touch with ourselves❤️
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