Originally published in elpais/smoda
Despite its success, or precisely because of it, there is still confusion surrounding the scope and meaning of mindfulness. We answer five frequently asked questions.
Mindfulness or full attention sells tons of books, mobile apps, courses, and articles. Time magazine dedicated a cover to it. A few months ago, a report, Mindful Nation, was presented in the British Parliament, recommending implementing this practice in various areas of public policy. But its emergence on so many fronts, not only in healthcare and education but also in business, with Wall Street at the forefront, is a concern for those who see its roots and the Buddhist context on which it is based disappearing.
“When I started this, it was kind of a basement activity, done by some crazy people. It’s very nice to think it can reach large segments of society,” says Andrés Martín Asuero, a pioneer of MBSR courses in Spain (or mindfulness-based stress reduction, the course that the University of Massachusetts in the United States began exporting 30 years ago). «We teach courses to 1,200 people a year and, through our network of instructors, to more than 6,000. I think we’re starting to make an impact,» says Martín, who recently published his third book on the topic, titled Plenamente.
Will Spain catch up with Great Britain? Will we see the Prime Minister meditating? “The politicians we’ve had up until now are one thing, and those who are just beginning to emerge, a reflection of a society that is changing, are quite another. In Spain, we’ll start to see famous, influential people ‘coming out’. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were on the political agenda in 5 or 10 years,” says Martín.
Martín speaks of mindfulness as “Buddhism for non-Buddhists,” but Francisco Dokushô Villalba, founder of the Soto Zen Buddhist community in Spain, refers to a watered-down mindfulness or what is now known as McMindfulness, in reference to the fast-food chain. “You can offer a stress-reduction course to help your staff produce more, but there’s no reflection on the product this company is making. The mindfulness movement lacks a global reflection, nor the social and lifestyle critique that is at the core of the Buddhist tradition,” he points out. Martín believes that when a person is in the 76 percent percentile for psychological distress (the average percentage of participants in his eight-week MBSR courses), they don’t want to talk about enlightenment. “Entering that spiritual dimension is not possible with that level of discomfort.”
Despite its success, or precisely because of it, there is still confusion surrounding the scope and meaning of mindfulness. We answer five frequently asked questions:
Do you need to bring mindfulness into your life?
To frame mindfulness, an eminently practical skill that is difficult to theorize about, Martín often uses questions like these:
- When your attention wanders, how quickly do you notice and can you redirect it back to what you’re doing? Do you notice distractions immediately or do they happen after a while?
- On a typical day, how well are you able to organize yourself to work or perform daily tasks according to your priorities? At the end of the day, do you feel satisfied with what you’ve accomplished?
- In your work or daily activities, to what extent do you maintain your full attention in a conversation?
Nonsense answers are normal: we only spend about eleven minutes on average focused on an activity before something interrupts us, this expert points out. So mindfulness, the ability to voluntarily bring wandering attention back, has fertile ground in the West.
Is it self-help?
According to Javier García Campayo, professor of psychiatry and director of the Master’s in Mindfulness at the University of Zaragoza, the first of its kind in Spain, the concept of self-help is highly discredited, «like a kind of ineffective Pac-Man.» Mindfulness, however, «is a psychotherapy recognized as effective in increasing the psychological well-being of the general population. It can be used as self-help, in the sense that one can practice it alone and find benefits, but group practice is also recommended.»
“I prefer self-awareness,” Martín notes. “To the extent that a person is more aware of what they do, how they do it, and the impact their actions have on others, they will evolve toward things that have more meaning, beauty, and well-being.” Villalba, the Zen master, goes further: “Mindfulness is not a technique for well-being but for awakening; it is a much deeper and broader technique than simply feeling good.”
Is mindfulness the same as meditation?
“People are beginning to identify meditation with mindfulness, and that’s where we wanted to intervene,” says Villalba. His center is part of an international network of Buddhist lineages that is implementing mindfulness systems based on Buddhist tradition. “Mindfulness works alongside other contributing factors such as correct intention, correct speech, and correct lifestyle,” notes Villalba. “Because mindfulness is not the same as meditation; mindfulness is a quality of meditation, but the meditative state is more complex than simply developing mindfulness. From the Buddhist tradition, mindfulness works within a system that has been lost in MBSR and the mindfulness movement in general, and that’s what we want to contribute.”
How to distinguish a good teacher?
“When an activity becomes fashionable, as is the case with mindfulness, people appear who, riding on the wave of success, want to profit. It’s important to verify the training of the person teaching it,” notes García Campayo, who advocates for university education as a guarantee of quality. Martín, director of Esmindfulness, believes that a university setting is not the optimal context, as it’s important to create a bond between student and instructor, something that isn’t easy to achieve with teachers who come and go. Furthermore, far from transmitting knowledge, he points out, the instructor must lead by example; they must be able to apply it in their own lives. “It’s about creating a learning context in which the person is encouraged to inquire and contemplate what’s happening without reacting to it. This requires skills that are more of a coach’s type than a university professor’s.”
Villalba believes there are social climbers trying to make a career out of mindfulness. “Anyone who does a job should be compensated. But seeking quick enrichment and setting exorbitant prices for courses shows us that they are the ones who always want to ride the wave and benefit from it now that it’s becoming a kind of snobbery or growing in prestige,” the Zen master points out. Mindfulness training based on Buddhist tradition (which uses the acronym MBTB) is based on voluntary contributions and an exchange system. “We mustn’t forget that this is a real benefit for human beings, and that’s why we propose a volunteer movement. One learns, one trains for oneself and to share with others within a policy of generosity and shared solidarity.”partida”.
Is meditation for everyone?
“Neither meditation, nor mindfulness, nor any psychological technique or treatment is for everyone. Some people reject mindfulness because they find it boring or it causes greater anxiety. For others, it isn’t necessary because they already possess high levels of mindfulness naturally. But for the majority of the population, it is effective both in curing illnesses and in achieving greater psychological well-being,” summarizes Professor García Campayo, who is also the author of several books on the subject.
Martín points out that depressed people will be better served by exercising, increasing their social life, or, in short, using more conventional remedies, because they generally have little willpower and when they are silent, the tendency to ruminate is heightened. In MBSR courses, they are very careful with people with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, while people with addictions must have undergone a period of “cleanliness.” To take an eight-week MBSR course, those interested must attend a free, open orientation session. «We make it clear that this isn’t therapy. The outcome depends on each individual,» Martín clarifies.
“Meditation, whatever its type, is not a universal panacea for everyone, nor can it be prescribed for all types of people,” says Villalba. “I understand the reluctance some may feel, because the impulse that leads to meditation must come from within, not from a social obligation because it’s fashionable.”