Tags
depression, Goenka-ji, happiness, meditation, mindfulness, mindfulness side-effects, PTSD, Thich Nhat Hanh, Vipassana, work-related stress
I’ve just read one of the most misguided and misleading articles I’ve come across in a while. ‘Is mindfulness making us ill’ recently published in the Guardian describes mindfulness techniques as dangerous as they can often lead to serious mental conditions, from panic attacks to psychotic depression. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jan/23/is-mindfulness-making-us-ill
As one reader commented splendidly: ‘To avoid practicing mindfulness in response to the possibility that it might make you aware of unpleasant underlying conditions would be a bit like avoiding a physical medical examination on the grounds that it might show that you have cancer.’ The truth is, mindfulness doesn’t ‘make you’ feel any particular way- it just reveals whatever your conscious mind suppresses on the day-to-day basis. One might experience this kind of unpleasant thoughts and feelings coming out of nowhere even during your Yoga practice, particularly if it’s a slower style of Yoga.
Due to the highly introspective nature of the practice, 10-day intense Vipassana meditation course (Goenka-ji tradition) is not suitable for people with history of depression and mental illness. I personally know people who were honest about their mental health and were repeatedly rejected for the course. I also know a girl who had the worst time of her life doing Vipassana course just after breaking up with a long-term boyfriend. She later repeated the course in different circumstances and had totally opposite experience. If you’re left alone with your mind, without any disturbances, many nasty feelings and thoughts can surface and certainly every mindfulness teacher should make it clear to all participants before the course starts. If he doesn’t, it’s the fault of the teacher, not the method itself.
The ‘sweetener’ of traditional mindful meditation is the practice of metta bhavana, or cultivating the loving kindness. Awareness itself isn’t enough to make a positive change: people with eating disorders are acutely aware of their bodies and yet this awareness is incredibly destructive. That’s why it’s important to couple the awareness with acceptance of whatever we might encounter within us. The final metta bhavana at the end of 10-day Vipassana course is like a balm for the body, mind and soul which have gone through a very intense and often painful experience. Without self-love, self-compassion and acceptance mindfulness practice is incomplete and can prove too much to cope with.
It is not a coincidence that everyone joining Vipassana course need to take a vow of abstaining from intoxicants. Whether you meditate or do Yoga, you should lead a healthy lifestyle and be clean of stimulants and there is an energetic reason for that. In Sivananda Yoga tradition, some of more intense pranayama (breath and subtle energy control techniques) can be introduced only to long-term yogis who observe celibacy, vegetarianism and are intoxicants free. Doing those techniques unprepared can supposedly lead to ‘insanity’ caused by the sheer power of unleashed subtle energy which cannot be channeled properly due to blockages in the subtle body. Many of the Eastern practices are very powerful and cannot be reduced to ‘quick fix’ methods. Simplification of those ancient techniques and taking them out of their original context can easily lead to distortion. The bottom line is to follow the guidelines of knowledgeable and experienced teacher, whether it’s Yoga, meditation or mindfulness.
It would be a simplification to say that mindfulness is entirely not suitable for people with mental issues. I’ve read dozens of personal stories of people who managed to overcome depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder thanks to Yoga or mindfulness meditation. This is just one example: http://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/01/how-meditation-cured-my-depression/
I personally know someone who got re-traumatized through her NHS- sponsored, traditional psychotherapy and started to deal with her PTSD only after switching to Somatic Psychology (which recognizes psychological trauma can be trapped in the body) combined with mindfulness meditation. Those are not exceptional cases. Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), which combines traditional Cognitive Based Therapy with mindfulness, is a method specially designed to treat depression. Oxford Mindfulness Centre at University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry, which deals both with research and training professionals in this field, proved effectiveness of MBCT. The research showed that ‘in patients with three or more previous episodes of depression, MBCT reduces the recurrence rate over 12 months by 44% compared with usual care, and is as effective as maintenance antidepressants in preventing new episodes of depression.‘ (see more at: http://www.oxfordmindfulness.org)
There is one important point made by the author of the article that I agree with, though: using mindfulness as a means of increasing productivity of the employees is making a mockery of this ancient practice. The Guardian journalist wrote that companies tend to send their employees at the short mindfulness courses because they’re cheap and they’ll make people cope with job-induced stress better. Surely, as the author points out, it’d be more logical to decrease stressful atmosphere at work rather than alleviate its effects. On the other hand, what is ‘stressful’, ‘scary’, ‘annoying’, etc. is just our perception, varying greatly from person to person. Furthermore, this perception can be changed (unlike the situation itself which is often beyond our control).
I remember one of my students mentioning she gets stressed with every tiny task at work. Her colleagues assured her she’d ‘get over it’ when she has a child as that would give her point of reference showing how insignificant in the larger context her worries are. I’d say one doesn’t need to have a child to realize that- mindfulness and meditation could also transform the way of perceiving ‘problems’. The author of the article obviously doesn’t understand this mechanism as she has never been introduced to the theory behind it and she hasn’t given a fair chance to the practice itself.
It is possible to introduce the practice of mindfulness to corporate environment and it can be very beneficial, as renown Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh explains: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/thich-nhat-hanh-mindfulness-google-tech According to the Vietnamese Buddhist master, whoever is introduced to genuine mindfulness techniques will soon most likely shift from instant gratification pursuit to the search of real happiness within. This change could prove beneficial both to the employees themselves and to the services or products that are the fruit of their work.
The comments under the Guardians article on harmfulness of mindfulness show clearly that -just like the author- most people have no clue what mindfulness is or what’s its purpose. Neither mindfulness nor meditation (which are not the same thing!) are supposed to be relaxing. In fact, they usually are damn hard and unpleasant to begin with. For some people, they remain extremely challenging for years. As Goenka-ji used to say, if the person keeps on complaining after 4th or 5th Vipassana course that he still feels nothing but pain during meditation , he hasn’t understood the technique and the time spent at the retreats was wasted.
Meditation doesn’t become ‘successful’ when the blissful state is induced. It starts working when all the sensations and thoughts -however pleasant or unpleasant might be- are perceived in the same, equanimous way. The happiness resulting from practicing Yoga, mindfulness or meditation is not based on pleasant sensations or feeling of relaxation. It comes through learning that the true happiness does not rely on anything external or transient. Our minds constantly create problems to worry about. They linger in the past or in the future, always wishing for something else. If we can stay in the present moment WITHOUT JUDGEMENT, we got the key to everlasting happiness and perfect calmness.
Many people posting their comments about the article stated they don’t need meditation as running/knitting/gardening is their ‘meditation’. If they can do those activities being truly present, engrossed entirely in that action and remain non-judgmental, then indeed they do practice mindfulness (but not meditation!). If you can reach those states through your hobbies, good for you. But the new research (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/contemplation-therapy/?_r=0 ) shows that simple relaxation does not have the same profound, long-lasting, stress-reducing effect on the brain as proper mindfulness does.