Lotus Therapy

Every so often, there will appear a mainstream article on meditation usually within the context of it being used as an adjunct to psychotherapy or in and of itself as a therapeutic method.

This is fine. One thing that people tend to ignore is simply the possibility of developing a meditation practice for the purpose of benefiting themselves and the people around them who will eventually find a person who is less of a dickhead.

Meditation is therapeutic but its also a spiritual practice. Perhaps our culture has some sorting out to do because it could be that the two meet and share the same goals.

This article appears in the New York Times. I've taken a few excerpts including a simple instruction for practicing mindfulness.

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NYT: Lotus Therapy

...focused awareness and mental catch-and-release of emotions has become perhaps the most popular new psychotherapy technique of the past decade. Mindfulness meditation, as it is called, is rooted in the teachings of a fifth-century B.C. Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama, later known as the Buddha. It is catching the attention of talk therapists of all stripes, including academic researchers, Freudian analysts in private practice and skeptics who see all the hallmarks of another fad.

In the 1990s, Dr. Linehan published a series of studies finding that a therapy that incorporated Zen Buddhist mindfulness, “radical acceptance,” practiced by therapist and patient significantly cut the risk of hospitalization and suicide attempts in the high-risk patients.

Mindfulness meditation is easy to describe. Sit in a comfortable position, eyes closed, preferably with the back upright and unsupported. Relax and take note of body sensations, sounds and moods. Notice them without judgment. Let the mind settle into the rhythm of breathing. If it wanders (and it will), gently redirect attention to the breath. Stay with it for at least 10 minutes.

After mastering control of attention, some therapists say, a person can turn, mentally, to face a threatening or troubling thought — about, say, a strained relationship with a parent — and learn simply to endure the anger or sadness and let it pass, without lapsing into rumination or trying to change the feeling, a move that often backfires.