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Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

nature.com

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Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#11

Post by toshk »

Mindfulness took one small technique out of the Buddhist system that feels rational & scientific.

It kind of works. But the corpus of Buddhism is what makes it powerful. And this is hard to make palatable for the West.

The main goal of buddhism is giving you meaning & joy in life despite of stress or tragedy.

Very important aspects of Buddhism that make the whole much more powerful are:

- Living & acting out of compassion (boddhicitta): if your main focus is other not yourself, a huge relief of worries is gone, and meaning arises naturally.

- Accepting change. There are 2 ways to see change: "nothing matters" or "no need to worry, just relax". Buddhist meditation is geared to getting you to the positive kind.

- Understanding emptiness (or space) as the nature of all experiences, both rationally but in the end resting in this experience in meditation means dissolving into everything and experiencing deep bliss.

And of course the power devotion & social aspects of all religion can not be overlooked, good & bad.

My teachings are from Tibetan kind, which is more mystical & compassionate oriented then the southern countries which are more focus on self-actualization (they teach the Vispasanna retreats)

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#12

Post by iljabek »

TekMol wrote: post #4
miroljub wrote: post #2

Mindfulness meditation may reduce stress levels, but only temporary. Instead of focusing on the source of stress and trying to solve the underlying issues, it fights the symptoms. I don't say that it doesn't "work", but one should be aware of the limitation of mindfulness practices, and look at it just as one of the tools in a tool set to fight stress, not as a holy grail, like many of its proponents preach.

User counters 13000 word meta study by simply stating the opposite without giving any arguments, sources or studies. Is there a forum like Hacker News, but with no "talking out of your ass"? How could the mechanics of a forum be set up to achieve this? The thought "Is it a long term effect or just temporary?" is totally fine. But then just posting out of your ass does not help anyobody. A quick search for "months" in…

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Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#13

Post by [deleted] »

miroljub wrote: post #2

Mindfulness meditation may reduce stress levels, but only temporary. Instead of focusing on the source of stress and trying to solve the underlying issues, it fights the symptoms. I don't say that it doesn't "work", but one should be aware of the limitation of mindfulness practices, and look at it just as one of the tools in a tool set to fight stress, not as a holy grail, like many of its proponents preach.

[deleted]

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#14

Post by rjprins »

Stress is all about perception. With mindfulness you can practice changing the way you look at things. If you practice zooming out of things that induce fear and see a bigger picture this will generally reduce stress.

The mind has a natural tendency to zoom in on scary things. I guess that is our prey-animal heritage.

Certainly, for rightfully stressful situations immediate action is needed and mindfulness is not a solution, but in modern life almost all stress comes from the imagination. If you are not conscious of your own thinking fearful thoughts may suck you in indefinitely.

Mindfulness (and psychedelics) can greatly help with becoming (more) conscious of fearful thoughts and that enables you to deal with them constructively.

Clearly it depends on the type mindfulness. From the paper:

> mindfulness is typically defined as “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment”. Core MBP elements are mindfulness meditation training, doing things mindfully such as eating or brushing one’s teeth, and collective and individual inquiry with a qualified teacher, using participatory learning processes.

Probably heightening consciousness while brushing your teeth is not the most direct way to mitigating stress.

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#16

Post by fuzztester »

toshk wrote: post #11

Mindfulness took one small technique out of the Buddhist system that feels rational & scientific. It kind of works. But the corpus of Buddhism is what makes it powerful. And this is hard to make palatable for the West. The main goal of buddhism is giving you meaning & joy in life despite of stress or tragedy. Very important aspects of Buddhism that make the whole much more powerful are: - Living & acting out of compa…

>My teachings are from Tibetan kind, which is more mystical & compassionate oriented

Any links or book names to read more about this?

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#17

Post by Knee_Pain »

toshk wrote: post #11

Mindfulness took one small technique out of the Buddhist system that feels rational & scientific. It kind of works. But the corpus of Buddhism is what makes it powerful. And this is hard to make palatable for the West. The main goal of buddhism is giving you meaning & joy in life despite of stress or tragedy. Very important aspects of Buddhism that make the whole much more powerful are: - Living & acting out of compa…

Breathing practices objectively have an effect on our body and nobody can counter this.

Buddhist ideology on the other hand is up to debate and everyone is free to try it or believe it.

Maybe in your experience meditation is enhanced by believing all that stuff, but that is your prerogative. I can do mindfulness and go to a psychologist instead of doing meditation and going to a temple because maybe that oriental stuff feels too alien and doesn't seem right to me.

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#18

Post by Knee_Pain »

If you want a free mindfulness app you should consider searching for the one developed by the US Department of Veteran Affairs on your platform's app store. It usually ranks very low on the list because not many people know about it and because all the other apps market themselves heavily.

Unlike all the garbage apps which ask you for subscriptions and DLCs just to play 10 minutes of audio, every single thing is free and freely downloadable. It also has customization options, a journal, a very simple and rational interface and a small corpus of advice.

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#19

Post by varispeed »

toshk wrote: post #11

Mindfulness took one small technique out of the Buddhist system that feels rational & scientific. It kind of works. But the corpus of Buddhism is what makes it powerful. And this is hard to make palatable for the West. The main goal of buddhism is giving you meaning & joy in life despite of stress or tragedy. Very important aspects of Buddhism that make the whole much more powerful are: - Living & acting out of compa…

> Living & acting out of compassion (boddhicitta): if your main focus is other not yourself, a huge relief of worries is gone, and meaning arises naturally. Of course here articial part.

You'll easily become a victim of people who exploit "caretakers". You'll become an unpaid servant. People need to look after themselves first.

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#20

Post by jstx1 »

miroljub wrote: post #2

Mindfulness meditation may reduce stress levels, but only temporary. Instead of focusing on the source of stress and trying to solve the underlying issues, it fights the symptoms. I don't say that it doesn't "work", but one should be aware of the limitation of mindfulness practices, and look at it just as one of the tools in a tool set to fight stress, not as a holy grail, like many of its proponents preach.

> Instead of focusing on the source of stress and trying to solve the underlying issues, it fights the symptoms.

This only makes sense if you assume that being stressed is a correct and useful response to your environment.

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