Mindfulness

Mindfulness comes from the Pali word sati, which means having awareness, attention, and remembering.

History of Mindfulness

Mindfulness practices are rooted in ancient Buddhist tradition.

There are two primary schools of Buddhism –Mahayana, which includes the Vajrayana/Tibetan and Zen traditions, and the Theravada school. Most of the mindfulness practices taught as secular practices in the West have their foundation in the Vipassana practices of the Theravada branch (Cullen, 2011). 

Mindfulness began its journey into mainstream Western use beginning in the late 1970s with Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn for chronic pain management. The popularity and study of mindfulness has grown exponentially in the last decade among practitioners and researchers. A search of scientific journal articles using Scopus revealed about 2000 to 4000 articles on mindfulness in the year 2000, and over 32,000 articles in 2015 (Van Dam et al., 2018).

Definition of Mindfulness

Simple as mindfulness may first appear, there is currently no consensus about how to accurately define it, because it can be described as a set of practices, a process of personal transformation, a momentary state, or a way of being (Davis & Hayes, 2011; Kreplin et al, 2018). 

As a process, mindfulness is seen as a form of brain-training conducted through a range of practices, rooted in Buddhist tradition. These practices involve “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally”, which bring our internal experiences, like emotional reactivity, under greater, conscious control over time (Bishop et al., 2004; Davis & Hayes, 2011; Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p 4).

As a state, mindfulness is characterized by five key different facets, including (Baer et.al., 2006):

Non-reactivity

Noticing but not reacting to one’s inner experience, including feelings, emotions, thoughts, images, and experiences, even when distressing.

Observing

Noticing/attending to feelings, thoughts, perceptions, and sensations.

Acting with awareness

Reduction in automatic pilot, distractedness, and preoccupation for greater presence, awareness, and concentration.

 

Describing

Describing/labeling with words one’s feelings, thoughts, perceptions, sensations, and experiences.

Non-judgment

Reduction in judgment of oneself and one’s feelings, thoughts, perceptions, and experiences.

 

Mindfulness Practices

Mindfulness practices can generally be grouped in four primary categories:

  1. Focused attention practices, involving concentrating with sustained attention on something specific like our breathing, an action or an object,

  2. Open monitoring practices, which involve bringing a more general awareness, moment-to-moment, to everything happening inside and around us with non-reactivity and non-judgment

  3. Insight meditation practices, which use open monitoring to recognize patterns in our emotions and thoughts and invite insights about reality

  4. Intentional contemplative practices used to cultivate certain qualities like compassion or self-compassion

Mechanisms of Mindfulness

Mindfulness involves two primary sets of cognitive processes:

(1) regulating your present-moment attention (away from mind-wandering to a focus of choice like your breathing), and meta-awareness (observing your own thought patterns, feelings, and sensations and differentiating that you are separate from and not fused with those experiences – sometimes referred to as non-duality) and

(2) emotion acceptance, neural integration, and insight (Bishop et al., 2004; Dahl et al., 2015; Lutz et al., 2008).  

Attention regulation results in functional and structural changes in the brain that lead to improvements in working memory, attention and emotion regulation, easier acceptance of reality, and greater wellbeing (Baer, 2011; Bishop et al., 2004; Dahl et al., 2015; Davis & Hayes, 2011; Isbel & Summers, 2019; Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010). Emotion acceptance involves two functions: cognitive reappraisal and perspective-taking, leading to greater insights and recognition that these experiences are always changing, which allows us to experience discomfort with less distress (Bishop et al, 2004; Dahl et al., 2015; Davis & Hayes, 2011; Hölzel et al., 2011b; Isbel & Summers, 2019; Jones, et al., 2019). Cognitive reappraisal involves changing the content of thoughts and emotions by reframing them as beneficial, meaningful or unharmful. Mindfulness also supports perspective-taking, where we consider how another might feel, which promotes compassion, self-compassion, interconnection, and kindness (Davis & Hayes, 2011; Hölzel et al., 2011b; Levit-Binnum et al., 2019; Neff & Pommier, 2012). 

Outcomes

 Most of the research focuses on the mechanisms and outcomes of mindfulness used for various physiological or psychological symptoms (Davis & Hayes, 2011). It is believed that meditation stimulates a relaxation response countering stress, which lowers fear, reactivity and negative emotion, improves positive emotion, and increases wellbeing (Bishop et al., 2004; Dahl et al., 2015; Davis & Hayes, 2011; Hölzel et al., 2011b; Isbel & Summers, 2019; Luberto et al., 2019).  Mindfulness has been shown to slow the markers for aging (Epel et al., 2009); reduce anxiety (Khoury et al., 2013); reduce depression (Way et al., 2010); reduce stress and anxiety (Davis & Hayes, 2011); decrease rumination (Corcoran et al., 2009); improve emotional regulation (Erisman & Roemer, 2010); and strengthen the immune system (Davidson et al., 2003). Mindfulness supports social and emotional intelligence as well, including self-awareness, self-management, and social awareness (Ludvik & Eberhart, 2018). This results in a reduction in conflict and bias, increased empathy and social connectedness, improved interpersonal relationships and happiness, and greater engagement in prosocial behavior (Dahl et al., 2015; Davis & Hayes, 2011; Jones, et al., 2019; Kang et al., 2013; Luberto et al., 2018). Despite the research noted above, the scientific community considers these outcomes preliminary. Meta-analyses show mindfulness outcomes largely inconsistent in impact stemming from the wide variations in definition, practice, method, and measure.

Measuring Mindfulness

Because mindfulness involves several facets and predicts a broad range of behavioral, neurological, and felt-sense outcomes, there are a wide-variety of tools that can be used to measure it and its related capacities. This can include neural imaging, behavioral studies, and self-report questionnaires. The most widely used tool for measuring mindfulness is the 39-Item Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ, Baer et al., 2006). This measures the five facets of mindfulness described above.

Challenges with Measuring Mindfulness

There has been little standardization in the research around the study design, type of mindfulness-based interventions, and measures used, which results in several challenges: 

Definition

Studies are usually limited in scope, testing one particular practice, facet or outcome without reference to the range of other facets or their interrelationship, which makes building a balanced consensus for a complete definition difficult (Van Dam et al., 2018). Further, the terms “mindfulness”, “meditation” and “self-awareness” are often used interchangeably.

Practices and Study Design

Across studies there is a lack of consistency in the mindfulness technique used (e.g., intensity and duration), whether the participants were experienced meditators or novices, how mindfulness is defined within the study, and what was subsequently measured and how (Berry et al, 2018; Cullen, 2011; Hölzel et al., 2011b; Ludvik & Eberhart, 2018; Lutz et al., 2008; Van Dam et al., 2018).

Measures

Self-report, behavioral, and neural imaging measure different aspects of mindfulness mechanisms, states, and outcomes, without enough clarity on the relationship between them (Van Dam et al., 2018). Many researchers assume mindfulness is a trait that is consistent over time and circumstances, when in reality it changes (Baer, 2011). Self-report scales may also be distorted by bias among experienced meditators.

Contraindications

There are potential adverse effects from practicing mindfulness that are not always well-documented or known (Van Dam et al., 2018). In particular, there are concerns that when mindfulness practices are separated from their ethical foundation and positive intentions, the practices can not only become a technique exclusively for self-centered benefit, but could even create harm (e.g., a sniper using mindfulness to enhance his performance) (Sun, 2014).

Future Recommendations for Research

 We have several recommendations for future research:

  • Researchers should be specific and seek consistency in definitions, practice, and measures and only use meditation teachers independent from the research to avoid any bias that may come through their presentation of instructions (Cullen, 2011; Kreplin et al, 2018; Van Dam et al., 2018).

  • There is a need for more randomized controlled trials with double-blind procedures, larger and more diverse sample sizes, and that are longer in scope (Kreplin et al, 2018; Luberto et al., 2018). 

  • Studies should utilize a range of behavioral, neurobiological, and self-report measures to validate results (Baer, 2011; Van Dam et al., 2018).

  • There is a need to determine the impact of temperament, personality, cultural context, belief systems, ethics, and interpersonal dynamics on mindfulness experiences (Dahl et al., 2015).

Applications of Mindfulness for Social Impact

While there are many examples of mindfulness employed in the field of social justice, the scientific research field has been slow to study, validate, and explain the mechanisms behind the relationship of mindfulness to social change. Among those studies that are relevant, most fall into two categories: perception of others (compassion and bias) or behavior towards others (prosocial or helping behavior and ethical decision-making): 

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Perception of Others: Mindfulness improves compassion, which in turn, can result in a permanent change in one’s motivation and feelings towards others, including an increase in connectedness and relationship satisfaction, and a reduction in implicit bias (Berry et al, 2018; Cameron & Frederickson, 2015; Davis & Hayes, 2011; Kang et al., 2013; Kreplin et al., 2018; Leiberg et al., 2011). 

Behavior towards Others: As compassion increases and anxiety and reactivity decreases, mindfulness drives improved interpersonal communications, reduced conflict, and increased prosocial behavior - including awareness of another’s suffering, active listening, helping behavior and charitable giving – even during distressing experiences (Berry et al., 2018; Cameron & Frederickson, 2015; Davis & Hayes, 2011; Jones, et al., 2019; Leiberg et al., 2011; Luberto et al., 2018; Lutz et al., 2008). Present-focused attention and non-judging acceptance result in people experiencing more positive feelings during helping and a decrease in negative feelings like disgust or guilt (Cameron & Frederickson, 2015). Mindfulness has also been shown to increase ethical decision-making, likely due to increased awareness and acceptance of ethical issues, conflict of interest and bias versus reacting with self-protective (and potentially unethical) behavior (Ruedy & Schweitzer, 2010).

Examples:  Hick and Furlotte (2009) suggest that without awareness, we participate in maintaining a status quo of inequity. The more we foster self-awareness, the more we develop compassion and an understanding of our interdependence. From this state of connectedness and greater awareness, we have the chance to examine how we are affected by and contributing to social inequity through our unconscious behavior, including bias and reactivity (Hick and Furlotte, 2009). Following are some examples of how mindfulness has been applied and studied in specific social change arenas:  

  • In politics, mindfulness was shown to result in heightened attention despite a barrage of information, greater kindness, decreased reactivity towards political opponents, and the capacity to consider one’s own bias, reduce defenses, and de-identify with one’s emotions (Bristow, 2019).

  • Among law enforcement officers, mindfulness increased resilience and reduced hostile attribution, aggressive reactions, anger, fatigue, stress, sleep disturbances, burnout, and rumination (Bergman et al., 2016; Christopher et al., 2015).

  • In the realm of sustainability and climate change science, mindfulness has been shown to influence intrinsic core values, wellbeing, consumption behavior, a connection to nature and indigenous wisdom, social activism, and equity, as well as adaptive responses (Wamsler et al., 2017).

  • In the realm of youth education, mindfulness and other contemplative practices like Transcendental Meditation has been shown to improve student wellbeing and increase prosocial behavior and social competence (Waters, et al., 2015). There is not enough evidence yet to demonstrate reliable impact on academic performance, but studies do show that mindfulness practice improves cognitive performance and emotion regulation, both of which may contribute towards student success (Waters, et al., 2015).

Though no scientific studies have been found explicitly validating the contributions of mindfulness to social impact in the following fields, it is increasingly found as a complementary practice, if not a core and integral strategy towards positive outcomes:

  • Law and criminal justice reform:  assisting better performance during arguments, more positive client relationships, more ethical community engagement, decreased implicit age and racial bias, and stress management (Magee, 2016)

  • Therapeutic and social work:  for their client’s self-knowledge, their own self-care, better listening, improved attention and awareness, empathy towards clients, and enhanced accountability (Davis & Hayes, 2011; McGarrigle & Walsh, 2011)

  • Education: for treatment of youth symptoms of psychopathology (Zoogman et al., 2014) and for supporting teachers as mindful, aware, and emotionally-stable role models (Jennings, 2015)

  • Health care professionals: for combating compassion fatigue, promoting resilience, and building support systems, trust, and rapport between providers and patients (Duerr, 2008).

  • Economics: to mitigate the impact of systemic over-consumption and the destruction of natural resources driven by unsustainable growth, systemic inequality, and systemic instability of markets driven by speculation with more mindful approaches to social justice, equity, ecological sustainability and stability (Magnuson, J., 2007).