Mindfulness,Psychotherapy,for, DIY Mindfulness Psychotherapy for Overcoming Anxiety & Depre

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Mindfulness is a form of consciousawareness in which we are fully aware of experience as it is unfolding. Thismay not seem different to our usual understanding of awareness, so in order tobetter understand mindful-awareness we need to first examine common awareness.When we encounter an experience, which could be external, such as a sight,sound, or touch, or internal, such a thoughts, memory or emotion, the mindtends to react to the experience according to past conditioning. When we lookat a tree, we don’t just see the tree as it is, but see a composite of theobjective reality of the tree combined with our subjective reality, our internalrepresentation of the tree. We see the products of our subjective reactions tothe tree, and often this dominates our perception and awareness so much that wesee very little of the truth of what is in front of us.We can describe consciousness as a continuumbetween the totally objective truth at one end and the completely subjectivereactivity at the other. Many of us reside more on the subjective side than theobjective side and our experience is dominated by subjective habitualreactivity that has the effect of blinding us to reality.            Mindfulnessis the conscious attempt to correct this imbalance and minimize subjectivehabitual reactivity and shift consciousness towards objective perception. Hencemindfulness is often described as the direct awareness or bare attention to presentexperience. It is non-reactive awareness that allows us to completelyexperience any object of consciousness. One of the favorite terms that I use todescribe mindfulness to clients is presence.Mindfulness teaches us to be fully present for our experience as it is, ratherthan thinking about what we are experiencing, analyzing our experience, orreacting with attraction or aversion to what we are experiencing.            Mindfulnessis a hallmark of the Buddha’s teachings and he considered mindfulness as thenecessary foundation for inner transformation, as well as the purification ofthe actions of body, speech and mind as outlined in the Noble Eightfold Path. Aperson cannot perfect morality, compassion or right action, without firstdeveloping mindfulness, because mindfulness is the vehicle for seeing thereality and truth of things as they are, rather than distorted by ourprejudices and beliefs. In relation to the mind, the Buddha made it very clearthat if you want to transform inner emotional suffering, you must open yourmind’s eye and look inside to see what’s there. Reactivity and thinking takeyou away from this primary and direct perception, because when you react, youexperience the reaction, not the original object. When you think about youranxiety or trauma, you are experiencing thinking about the object, which is not the same as the original emotion.Reactivity takes you away from being present and this is actually a subtle formof suppression, and when the mind remains ignorant through suppression of anykind, it is prevented from changing.            Thefirst requirement for transforming anxiety is to allow yourself to observe itfully, to be completely present and aware of the emotion. Without this effortto overcome unawareness, nothing can change. In fact, the unawareness is anessential factor that creates the anxiety in the first place. This isparticularly the case for depression, where there is a complex superstructureof negative reactive thinking around the core emotion or trauma. Therefore, thefirst characteristic or dimension of the mental factor called mindfulness isthe active watchful component, called RECOGNITION or VILGILANCE. We trainourselves to recognize each and every movement of reactivity in the mind sothat we can stop its proliferation and return to being mindfully aware of thecore emotions.            However,mindfulness is multi-dimensional. It is not simply learning to be more aware,but of continuing from basic awareness to a relationship of complete presence,in which you look and listen with a clear, still mind. The second dimension ofmindfulness is about how you relate to the core emotion, or any otherexperience that you are observing. Mindfulness is like a spotlight andilluminates the emotion and directs your attention to the emotion and stops itbeing distracted away from the emotion. Now, we need to continue to shine thelight on the emotion and begin the process of mindful-investigation.Mindfulness allows us to build a relationship with our inner emotionalcomplexes that is spacious, non-threatening and safe. We are so used toreacting, that we never actually spend any quality time with our emotions. Itis like the busy friend who never seems to have time to have coffee with you.“Sorry, can't stop now. Catch you later.” This is what we do with our emotionalsuffering all the time; we don’t take the time to simply be present with ourinner pain, and it is hardly surprising that the pain persists. Mindfulness isall about making time to be with your emotion, literally sitting with it as youwould with a friend, and listening. Hence the second dimension of mindfulnessis RELATIONSHIP and PRESENCE. We all know how important it is to be fullypresent with your spouse or friend when they are suffering. They need yourpresence more than advice or words.            Thethird dimension of mindfulness emerges quite naturally after you haveestablished mindful-presence and this is INVESTIGATION. When we investigate anemotion like anxiety or depression with mindfulness, it responds bydifferentiating into more subtle feelings, memories and inner imagery. Wesimply see more, and this is very important, because it is in the details ofwhat we see that transformation becomes a possibility. Just like a car thatwon't start, the best response is to open the hood and look inside the engine.Solutions present themselves. If you see a loose wire, the solution is simple;but you had to look inside first or you would never have discovered thesolution. We tend to stay stuck at the superficial outward appearance of ouremotions; we take our anxiety or depression to be solid entities, when in factthey are never solid and never what they first appear to be. An emotion is aconstruct, like a fortress, and mindfulness is the process of taking apart thebricks and mortar. When you begin to disassemble the emotion, then thesolutions begin to present themselves quite spontaneously.            Hence,there is a fourth dimension to mindfulness, a TRANSFORMATIONAL domain. First welearn not to react; then we learn to be present. When we are present, we beginto discover the inner structure of the emotion, and this paves the way fortransformation. Actually, each of these preliminary dimensions of mindfulnessis transformational; overcoming reactivity and learning to relate to inner painis the hallmark of successful psychotherapy. However, making the innerstructure of our depression conscious will directly lead to the transformationat the core level. The psyche has a remarkable ability to heal itself if giventhe freedom to change and this freedom is provided by mindfulness. We all havean innate inner wisdom-intelligence, called satipanna in Buddhism, which directs change from instability to stability;from discord to harmony; from suffering to well-being. This naturalintelligence is just like the wisdom of the body, called homeostasis, whichcontinually makes adjustments to maintain health. The psyche is also guided by psychologicalhomeostasis towards well-being and happiness. Whenmindfulness is established, we create the ideal conditions of inner freedom inwhich this natural intelligence will direct the process of innertransformation.            Manyof my clients discover the intuitive resolution to their depression, anxietyand post-traumatic stress through learning to listen inside with mindfulnessand allow the psyche to heal itself. The mechanism for this innatetransformation frequently involves experiential imagery, which will have to bethe subject of another article. You can also read more about this on mywebsite.