Gautama Buddha the Unique Psychotherapist

 
Gautama Buddha's teachings were taught as a way, "The Way", for us as human beings to overcome the suffering of this material world. As All the great teachings of this "One Truth", they were not a religion. He put into words this ineffable Truth, as best he could, so others could find their Way too. As with All the other teachings of this "One Truth" throughout history by other great Sages, his were understood by the Awakened Few and turned into a religion by the Sleeping Masses. Such is the way of this world for reasons I do not understand. Buddhism, though, particularly Zen or Cha'an Buddhism, has remained clear enough to this day that Science has begun studying the Mind-Restructuring that occurs through It's Practice. Psychologists realized the practical uses of Buddhist meditation years ago and an entire style of therapy has evolved from it. Through this Mindfulness Therapy, many patients and students have learned to overcome their emotional problems by training themselves to Be Present. It is during these moments of relaxation and focused silence that their repressed suffering surfaces where it can be let go. I have earlier posts on "Mindfulness" that I highly recommend you read too. Here are the links:

"What is Mindfulness?" 

"Caution: Mindfulness Includes Pain, and Requires Readiness" 

"Kindness - An Essential Companion of Mindfulness" 

"Mindfulness and Kindness: Inner Sources of Freedom and Happiness" 

Here are some additional resources:

"Meditation and Mindfulness Resources" 
 

Recently, a group of brain scientists from various disciplines have been studying the actual changes in the electrical activity in the brain. It took the invention of a special "MRI-type" brain scanner for this research to become a reality. It has now been proven that the mind can actually be reshaped. It is called "Neural-Plasticity" and many students of the Dalai Lama are currently allowing their neural activity to be mapped as they meditate. Here is an earlier post about an excellent interview by Krista Tippett of "Speaking of Faith" with his French translator, Matthieu Ricard, who participated in this study:


"The Happiest Man in the World"



 Now, back to this item. The title to this particular article caught my attention so I thought I would share it. It shows how the philosophy of Buddha has influenced many types of psychotherapy in use today. During his travels and teaching, you will see how his Wisdom helped several people with their suffering almost 2500 years ago. I hope you enjoy it.

Namaste'


Gautama Buddha the Unique Psychotherapist
By Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D., Sri Lanka Guardian, March 29, 2010

Ontario, Canada -- Many people interpreting Buddhism see it as one of the numerous philosophies and religions known from antiquity. Certainly Buddhism is a practical philosophy in the sense that prevails today.

This philosophy sets up a system of vast psychotherapy. In that context the Lord Buddha was a unique psychotherapist. In general Psychotherapy means a treatment of emotional, behavioral, personality disorders based primarily upon verbal or nonverbal communication. The Buddha who was an inimitable healer helped a large number of people to overcome stress, emotional problems, and relationship problems through friendly mediation.

Dr Sigmund Freud introduced the Psychoanalytic therapy. Psychoanalytic treatment involves discussing past experiences and how these may have led to present situation and also how these past experiences may be affecting the life now. The understanding gained frees the person to make choices about what happens in the future. Psychoanalysis attempts to get to the root of the problem" by analyzing the transference relationship which develops between the therapist and patient.

Buddha did a complete form of analysis and found the route cause of affliction, then successfully treated the particular psychological ailment and brought complete mental release to the person. In this analysis he went up to past lives. Past life therapy also known as regression or resolution therapy allows individuals to complete traumatic and emotionally stimulated past experiences which on an unconscious level are unresolved.

Today PLT or Past Life Therapy is popular in the Western world and it allows the client to resolve past issues in a therapeutic setting using clinical methods. The most famous Western past life therapist was Edgar Cayce who gave over 14,000 "readings" during a period of 43 years. Edgar Cayce demonstrated the uncanny ability to put himself into some kind of self-induced sleep and he could respond to questions asked by his patients about their illnesses.

Cognitive Therapy based on gaining insight into unconscious emotions and drives mainly focusing on thoughts, assumptions and beliefs. Albert Ellis's Rational Emotive Therapy is an example of Cognitive therapy. Ellis considers strong emotions to result from an interaction between events in the environment and beliefs and expectations.

Buddhist point of view, suffering is not caused by external, traumatic events, but by qualities of mind which shape our perceptions and responses to events. These same words were repeated by the Psychologist Albert Ellis in 1953 when he introduced his action oriented therapeutic approach – Rational Emotive Therapy. According to Ellis not the event that causes psychological distress but the belief held by the client. He further argues that one's emotional distress is actually caused by one's catastrophic thinking in appraising stressful events. Ellis theories that unrealistic appraisals of stress are derived from irrational assumptions.

Psychiatrist Aaron T Beck - the developer of CBT or Cognitive Behavior Therapy emphasized the role of cognitive distortions in depression and anxiety. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is one of the major orientations of psychotherapy and represents a unique category of psychological intervention because it derives from cognitive and behavioral psychological models of human behavior.

Lord Buddha used numerous kinds of cognitive therapies. In the story of Kisagotami Buddha used a cognitive mode of action to give insight to a young mother who lost her little son. She was devastated with grief. She went to Buddha Carrying the dead body of her son and asked for medicine that would restore her dead son to life. The Buddha told her to get some mustard seeds from a house where there had been no death. Kisagotami went from house to house but she could not find a single house where death had not occurred. She gradually got the insight and the meaning of death. She realized death is a universal phenomenon.

Buddha often used Socratic Method to teach his doctrine. Socrates (470 399 BC) was a Greek philosopher who engaged in questioning of his students in an unending search for truth. He sought to get to the foundations of his students' and colleagues' views by asking continual questions until a contradiction was exposed, thus proving the fallacy of the initial assumption. This became known as the Socratic Method.

When the assassin Angulimala screamed at the Buddha to stop the Buddha turned and told Angulimala that he, the Buddha, had already stopped and Angulimala, to do likewise. These few words made a cognitive revolution inside Angulimala's head. He realized that the Buddha has already stopped means he does not commit any violence so now the time for Angulimala to renounce violence. He threw away his sword and became a monk.

Patachara a young woman developed an acute stress reaction when she witnessed the death of her husband two children and the parents. She came to Buddha weeping and with utter confusion. After she became rational Buddha explained her true meaning of suffering and the nature of impermanence. The story of Patachara reveals an excellent case study of trauma counseling. Trauma counseling should offer practical help that works and should teach skills to manage flashbacks, painful memories and anxiety. Buddha used practically most of the above mentioned avenues to resolve the grief reaction of Patachara.

There are obvious similarities between the Buddha's empathically based attitude and Carl Roger's term empathy. Carl Rogers plays an important historical role in the development of Client Centered Therapy and he was one of the founders of the humanistic psychology movement. Like Carl Rogers Buddha accepted people with unconditional positive regard. Psychologists claim that living an authentic life is impossible without developing empathy. Empathy is a fundamental ability for being able to develop relationships with other people, and thus develop one's personality.

Buddha believed in human freedom. Rogers felt that it was irrelevant whether or not people really had free will. He further says we feel free when choices are available to us. Rogers pointed out that the fully-functioning person acknowledges that feeling of freedom, and takes responsibility for his choices. Buddha doesn't reject the human freedom with complete responsibility for one's action.

Robert Carkhuff -one of the pioneers in Client Centered Therapy studied and worked with Carl Rogers. He published his outstanding book Towards Effective Counseling and Psychotherapy in 1967. Robert Carkhuff introduced seven co conditions such as empathy, respect, concreteness, genuineness, self disclosure, confrontation and immediacy. In psychotherapy immediacy is a vital issue. The story of Rajjumala –a domestic servant who tried to commit suicide following the harassments caused by her mistress was saved by the Buddha. This is a fabulous example of suicide prevention counseling and Robert Carkhuff's seventh co condition "immediacy".

In the Buddha's teaching meditation has a special place. Meditation can be used for personal growth. Buddhist meditation is a process of mental clarification and geared to direct perception. The purpose of Buddhist meditation, therefore is to gain intellectual understanding of the universal truth. Buddhist Vipassana meditation gives realization of impermanence, suffering and non-self. The Mettha (loving-kindness) meditation helps to reduce anger and a perfect way to control aggressive feelings. Generally meditation helps to reduce stress and anxiety. Today many psychotherapeutic centers in the East and the West use meditation as a successful therapeutic mode.

Existential Psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy which aims at enhancing self knowledge. In Buddha's teaching existentialism is widely described. Buddhism brings up questions about ethics and the nature of our existence. The goals of existential therapy are to enable people to become more truthful with themselves, to widen their perspective on themselves and the world around them , to find clarity on how to proceed in the future while taking lessons from the past and creating something valuable to live for in the present. Also it helps to explore the client's physical, social, psychological and spiritual dimensions.

The story of Mattakundali – a young boy who was terminally ill and suffered without any medical assistance due to his father's greediness died prematurely. After Mattakundali's death his father became extremely sad and used to go to the cemetery everyday and mourn. The meaning of death is revealed in Mattakundali Jathaka in an existential form. Finally Mattakundali's father's grief was resolved. This story can be interpreted as a good example of grief counseling.

Buddha was a unique psychotherapist. His therapeutic methods helped millions of people throughout the centuries. Today the Western world has realized the psychological essence of Buddhism. Many Psychotherapeutic systems in the West derived from Buddha's teaching. Buddha showed empathy and non judgmental acceptance to everyone who came to him. He helped people to gain insight and helped in growth promotion while eliminating troubling and painful emotions. His therapeutic methods are exceptional and can be applied for all time.

Kindness - An Essential Companion of Mindfulness

This is the last section in Dr. Hopper's paper on mindfulness and it describes two essential elements or companions necessary in the successful practice of it. Anyone who meditates knows that you must be non-judgemental toward yourself because this practice of calming your thoughts will take a long time to master. Therefore, as your thoughts and emotions arise and interfere with your mindfulness, you must calmly accept this, just observe them, and return to your practice. This is natural for all so you should never allow this to cause frustration or a sense of failure. These two companions to mindfulness, lovingkindness and compassion, are tecniques to help you become non-judgemental, loving, and compassionate toward yourself as you deal with the thoughts and emotions that arise during your practice. These tools will help you to fine tune your mindful practice and achieve a much greater state of happiness and contentment in your life. Good meditating!

Namaste'

The non-judgmental quality of mindfulness discussed previously is very important. However, the absence of judgment toward unwanted experiences is necessary but not sufficient. People also need to cultivate the presence of kindness – toward themselves, toward others, and toward the inevitable unwanted, painful and otherwise distressing experiences in life.



There are two especially important forms of basic human kindness, which Buddhists refer to as "lovingkindness" and "compassion." These are ways of relating to ourselves and others that promote acceptance, calmness, happiness, and freedom (especially from reactivity and compulsivity). While lovingkindness and compassion are (moral and ethical) ideals for relating to others, they are also mental qualities essential for achieving greater peace, freedom, and happiness. Therefore, encouraging oneself or others to cultivate these qualities – as I'm doing here – is not about "preaching" or "moralizing" or pushing people to be "good" or "nice." Rather, the encouragement and suggestions that follow are intended to help you to discover how cultivating these qualities will help you to achieve much greater freedom and happiness in your life.



"Lovingkindness" is an English translation of the word "metta" from Pali, a language used to record the early teachings of Buddhism. The word has two root meanings, "gentle" and "friend," and the foundation of lovingkindness is being a gentle friend to yourself, no matter what kind of experience you happen to be having in the moment.



Lovingkindness refers to an unconditional and open love. This is not the kind of "love" that has requirements and conditions attached to it ("I love you because...", "I'll love you if..."), or that only accepts pleasant experiences and thus distorts one's perceptions based on wishes and illusions. Lovingkindness is not bound up with personal agendas or desire. Lovingkindness does not want things – including unwanted experiences – to be anything other than they actually are, in the present moment. Instead, the present moment and current experience are embraced, which, paradoxically, makes even unwanted and painful situations more "workable," by providing other options for responding than automatic and habitual reactions which cause more problems and suffering.



In the Buddhist tradition, it is said that practices designed to cultivate lovingkindness were first taught to help people to overcome fear. Such practices can be extremely helpful to people with histories of childhood hurt and betrayal who continue to struggle with fear in their lives. In fact, many of the automatic and habitual reactions that make situations worse are based on fear of being hurt, exploited or otherwise mistreated, even if one is not aware of this at the time.



Before going further, it is important to clarify what lovingkindness is not. It is not about accepting or condoning other people's hurtful behavior. It does not mean becoming more vulnerable because you no longer experience or respect your fear or anger and simply "letting down your guard." As suggested above, exactly the opposite is true:



The mental quality of lovingkindness allows one to accept the reality of what is happening in the present moment, including one's potentially intense negative emotional responses.



Accepting rather than rejecting what is happening in the current moment does not mean believing or "accepting" that one can do nothing to prevent the situation from continuing or getting worse in the next moment. Nor does it mean blindly accepting and simply allowing one's own automatic and habitual responses – no matter how compelling or "justified" such responses may initially feel. Just the opposite: accepting the current moment enables you not to allow the external situation, or your internal reactions, to rob your capacity for freedom in the next moment.



It's not about "letting down your guard," but rather guarding your mind – guarding it from being carried away with automatic, habitual, and unhelpful responses based on reactions to past hurts; guarding it from being consumed by fear and self-defense rather than being supported by clear perception, effective reasoning and wise choices about how to respond skillfully and without worsening the situation.



With lovingkindness, taking care of oneself, and responding compassionately to others, are not in conflict but go hand in hand. Most of us sometimes "defend" ourselves when it's not necessary, or respond with more extreme self-protective measures than are required or helpful in a particular situation. And most if not all of us think we were "just trying to defend myself" when attacking another person. Lovingkindness practices can reduce and eventually help to eliminate these habitual ways of thinking and behaving.



All of the descriptions above are fairly abstract, so let's reflect on a typical experience in everyday life, and how lovingkindness can radically change it:
You are walking down the street, partly paying attention to where you're going but mostly focused on concerns about the past and worries about the future, when suddenly someone bumps into you. In response, you automatically do one or more of the following: (a) say something like "hey, watch where you're going!" or "what's wrong with you?!" (b) think to yourself something like "I can't believe she did that!" or "People are such jerks!" or "Just another example of how I get pushed around all the time." We've all had experiences like this. Our mind and brain, already in a state of distraction and stress, are vulnerable to responding automatically in ways that only increase our stress and, should we say something out loud, could escalate the situation by evoking anger and aggression in the other person. We really don't know why the person bumped into us, but our distracted and stressed mind assumes ill intent, perceives an attack which must be defended against, and reacts by directing anger toward the other person and/or our self.



You are walking down the street, feeling calm and happy, enjoying the sights and sounds, when suddenly someone bumps into you. As you watch the person continue past you, you notice how your body immediately swerved to the side and tensed up; how the thought, "hey, watch where you're going!" automatically arose in your mind and is now quickly followed by attempts at explanation with thoughts like, "what a pushy person," "maybe she's in a hurry," "maybe she's distracted and stressed." Mindfully observing the conditioned responses of your body and mind, you maintain the background of calmness and acceptance and, with an attitude of gentle friendliness, simply notice that your body has tensed and your mind is attempting to assign meaning and blame – then go back to enjoying the sights and sounds of walking down the street. You might even look at the person who bumped into you and think, "I hope you have a nice day." Sometimes it can be hard to feel kindness (especially if you've experienced a lot of hurt and betrayal in your life). Try starting with something simple:



The starting point is to imagine a person or animal that spontaneously and irresistibly evokes feelings of kindness. Picture them in a peaceful quiet setting, like a nice field of grass.



This could be a person – for example, a baby, a niece or nephew, another little child, or a much-loved grandparent who is still living or has passed away. If you choose a person, it's important that it not be someone for whom you have any mixed feelings, otherwise they could get in the way.



Or it could be a cute little puppy, kitten, or other baby animal, or a group of them.
Notice the feeling you get when you imagine this person or animal. Notice whether your body changes, any internal sensations of kindness.



If you can feel this kind and warmth feelingt, give yourself a minute to continue imaging the person or animal and feeling that warmth, and the attitude of gentle friendliness that goes with it.



If you don't feel the kindness and warmth initially, give yourself some time, and experiment with images, until you find one that helps you have some feelings of safety and comfort. Then give yourself a minute to continue having those feelings, and imagine wishing them for a lovable person or animal. Notice the kindness behind your wish, and give yourself some time to experience that kindness and feelings of warmth that go with it.



Then bring to mind an image of yourself as a young child. Move the kindness from the other person or animal to yourself. If the young image of yourself is too young for words, simply hold your hands over your heart. If you wish to use words, gently add the phrase "may I love myself just as I am" while holding your heart. Other lovingkindness phrases are, "may I be happy, may I be peaceful, may I be safe, may I be free of suffering," but feel free to make up your own, whatever works for you.



It is important not to force the lovingkindness. If you can't feel anything or it feels routine or cold, try compassion practice instead (described below). If you have felt a great deal of pain in your life, you may be more naturally able to feel compassion. For example, as one woman with a history of severe child abuse observed, "At certain times, working with lovingkindness felt like silencing the pain. Paradoxically, though, as soon as I listened to and cared about my suffering with compassion, then the lovingkindness naturally arose."



Also, if you sometimes don't experience lovingkindness when you do exercises like these, it is important not to be hard on yourself, or to give in to thoughts or feelings of hopelessness that may arise. As Sharon Salzberg explains in her book, Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness,



"In practicing metta [lovingkindness] we do not have to make certain feelings happen. In fact, during practice we see that we feel differently at different times. Any momentary emotional tone is far less relevant than the considerable power of intention we harness as we say these phrases. As we repeat, 'May I be happy; may all beings be happy,' we are planting seeds by forming this powerful intention in the mind. The seed will bear fruit in its own time...



"Doing metta, we plant the seeds of love, knowing that nature will take its course and in time those seeds will bear fruit. Some seeds will come to fruition quickly, some slowly, but our work is simply to plant the seeds. Every time we form the intention in the mind for our own happiness or for the happiness of others, we are doing our work; we are channeling the powerful energies of our own minds. Beyond that, we can trust the laws of nature to continually support the flowering of our love" (p.39).



"Compassion" is an English translation of the Pali term "karuna." As Sharon Salzberg explains, karuna means "experiencing a trembling or quivering of the heart in response to a being's pain." The compassionate response of the heart involves engaging with pain – gently, with acceptance and strength – not being overwhelmed by it. Many of us have learned first hand that being overwhelmed by pain can lead to depression and despair, even anger and aggression directed against our self or others. Such conditioned responses, while understandable, especially if one was hurt as a child and has not yet learned to respond compassionately to one's own suffering, must not be confused with compassion.



There is much to learn about developing compassion, from books like those listed below, from teachers of compassion-cultivating meditation practices, from therapists, and from many experiences in life and relationships.



Here are some compassion practices to try out and experiment with. Remember, don't try to force things, and give the practices and yourself some time. It's not helpful to judge yourself or give up hope – but if judgments or hopeless thoughts and feelings arise, don't judge yourself for having them or lose hope!



Simply repeat, with a genuine intention, a few phrases of kindness and compassion toward yourself. Some commonly used phrases are, "May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I be free of suffering." Another option is, "May I have a calm, gentle, and loving mind." Or you can make up phrases of your own, experimenting until you find ones that work for you. After a few minutes of repeating these phrases, and continually reconnecting with the intention behind saying them, you may find that feelings of kindness and love, a state of calm, and/or other nice things are happening in your mind and body. Doing this practice for 10 to 20 minutes once a day can be very powerful, and can create a resource to draw on during particularly stressful times.
Offer compassion to your painful feelings. A common phrase to use is, "I care about my pain." Again, you may be surprised to discover the power of simply repeating a phrase like this with a sincere intention.



When difficult emotions arise, try holding them like you would a crying child. Hold the fear like you would hold a fearful child. Hold the anger as you would hold an angry child. Ultimately, it's about learning to meet each one of your thoughts and mind-body states with this unconditional love, like welcoming all your children home.



Offer compassion to the hurt part of yourself. Bring to mind an image of yourself at a time of hurt and pain, and offer compassion to the child or adult you were then. You might use phrases like, "may you find peace, may you be free of suffering."



Try a practice known as "tonglen" (which involves "sending and receiving" coordinated with breathing). Picture yourself at a time of pain and hurt. On the in-breath, breathe in that person's pain and suffering. On the out-breath send that person support and caring.



Finally, try directing compassion to the quality of your own mind, or the part of you, that can be mean or cruel to yourself or others. Recall a time that you were hurtful to yourself or someone else (start with a relatively mild case). Notice how you were responding based on past conditioning, feeling like you were defending and protecting yourself, or justly punishing yourself or the other person. Offer compassion to that tendency to respond to pain or being wronged with anger and aggression. Offer compassion to yourself for how – like all human beings, especially those who have been deeply hurt – you can create more suffering because of your confusion and your limited ability to respond to pain compassionately.



These fundamental forms of human kindness, lovingkindness and compassion, are indeed essential companions to mindfulness. They will calm your mind and body. They will bring you peace, ease, and happiness. Like mindfulness, lovingkindess and compassion require practice and discipline, as well as patience with yourself. But the practice and patience are well worth it. Gradually but inevitably, you will find yourself having kind, loving and compassionate responses to a greater and greater range of experiences – ultimately even the most difficult and painful ones.

By Jim Hopper, Ph.D.

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Caution: Mindfulness Includes Pain, and Requires Readiness

In my previous post, Dr. Hopper explained "mindfulness" in detail. This practice of being completely in the moment is at the core of all spiritual teachings and is necessary for you to progress on your Path with Heart back to your True Nature. In these moments of "non-thought", some people may experience difficulty or discomfort if they access past negative emotions. This can be difficult and require emotion-regulation skills. In this second post, Dr. Hopper discusses this situation thoroughly and explains how you can be prepared in case this happens to you. I strongly recommend that you read this and learn these skills so you will be prepared for this unpleasant situation should it occur.

Unless you have overcome this material world, you have had and will continue to have bad experiences. The best thing to do is to deal with them as they happen with acceptance and love but few of us have mastered this very Zen state of Being. This means that we have repressed painful and unpleasant experiences and emotions hidden deep beneath our consciousness. As you meditate, you may encounter one of these repressed emotions so it is always good to be aware of this and prepared to deal with it. This is only natural and can be very therapeutic. You should never let this possibility interfere with your mindfulness practice and stop you from continuing on your Path with Heart. The wise person accepts the obstacles on their Path and deals with them even if he/she needs help in doing so. Whenever you need help, be sure to get it. Once you overcome this obstacle your life will be much better. You will also feel a stronger Love coming from our Source, your True Nature, because you are getting closer now that your Path is clear.

Namaste'

Caution: Mindfulness Includes Pain, and Requires Readiness

To better understand this section, a preliminary discussion of pain and suffering is necessary. Physical and emotional pain are inevitable parts of life. Our brains are designed to experience pain as a source of crucial information (e.g., this is harming me, I need to avoid doing that again, that part of my body needs care, etc.). While our brains are wired to avoid pain, the function of this avoidance is not to avoid pain itself, but rather to avoid causes of pain that are harmful to our well-being. And after harm has occurred, causes of pain are avoided because they can slow or prevent recovery from the harm that has already occurred.

A simple example of physical pain's function: When you cut your finger, the initial pain informs you of the harm, leads you to care for your finger, then to think about how this occurred so you can avoid it happening again. Later, after the initial first aid, pain lets you know that your finger is vulnerable, that it needs extra caution in how you move and use it, or ("ouch!") that you've just done something that may be slowing or preventing healing.

Emotional pain is different from physical pain. When someone is experiencing physical and emotional pain at the same time, different areas of the brain process the physical sensations of pain and the emotional pain, even though these may be subjectively experienced as inseparable.

Emotional pain is sometimes referred to as "emotional suffering," or just "suffering." Most of us have observed, to some extent in ourselves and others, that the experience of physical pain may or may not be associated with emotional suffering. And of course, emotional pain may arise on its own in the absence of physical pain. For example, experiences of sexual, physical or emotional abuse, and memories of abuse of various kinds, can be associated with extreme emotional pain.

Experiences of emotional and physical pain can be altered by the nature of our attention. We've all learned that ignoring (or attempting to ignore) pain can reduce our experience of it, and that focusing on experiences of pain can amplify them. An important difference between emotional and physical pain makes emotional pain more capable of being altered by attention: emotional pain usually involves an interweaving of feelings and thoughts. The thoughts can take many forms, but typically involve interpretation and judgment – about the emotional pain itself, about the events the pain is associated with, about oneself, or about others involved in the experience: "This is horrible!" "How could he have done that to me?" "I can't take this any more!" "I wish she would drop dead!" "There's no hope for me." In fact, such thoughts may even be the cause of emotional pain arising in the first place.

And like attention, thoughts can increase emotional pain. The greatest amplification of suffering comes from focusing one's attention on the pain while thinking thoughts that escalate the pain. Such thoughts can take many forms, including interpretations, judgments, and memories. Many of the thoughts that escalate pain and suffering are stories that we tell ourselves – about the past, the present, and the imagined future. The stories can be very involved and elaborate, and may revolve around themes of betrayal, rejection, failure, punishment or revenge that are guaranteed to generate more negative emotions and suffering.

We all know how such cycles of thinking, feeling, remembering, and imagining can spiral out of control, and sometimes lead to drastic attempts at escape (which can become causes of new physical and emotion pains).

As described above, mindfulness can help, by allowing you to catch these cycles of suffering early on, and to cut through the automatically unfolding chains of associated feeling, thinking, remembering, fantasizing and story-telling. The present-focused, non-judgmental attention of mindfulness allows one to directly observe the separateness of feelings and thoughts, to attend to feelings without running off into associated memories, stories, etc. The following techniques may help you to catch yourself in the midst of this and interupt the cycle of escalation by creating a moment of mindful reflection:

• Stop and ask yourself, quite directly, "Can I know, absolutely, that these thoughts are true?" If you can't answer "yes" with certainty, then it's probably a story you're telling yourself.
• When things aren't going well and you're in danger of escalating further, try asking yourself periodically, "Aside from the unwanted emotions I am experiencing, however unpleasant they are, am I otherwise OK right now?" This simple reality check can show that while you may not be feeling good, in that moment your mind is prolonging the suffering, or even creating additional misery.

However, this is where the caution comes in: Only a solid foundation of self-regulation skills, and disciplined practice, will enable one to attend to emotional pain with a sustained mindfulness that does not bring escalation – as opposed to having one's attention grabbed, dragged, and swept away in escalating cycles of suffering.

That is, for someone who (a) lacks skills for tolerating and regulating the intensity of painful feelings, and (b) typically copes by escaping or acting impulsively, practicing mindfulness can bring a flood of intolerable painful feelings into awareness. For some, it will be necessary to learn mindfulness practices in the context of a therapy relationship.

Important: If you have any of the following problems at times, then practicing mindfulness before you are ready will tend to make them worse or create new problems:

• Tendencies to become overwhelmed and "flooded" by painful feelings and memories, due to underdeveloped self-regulation and coping skills. For people with histories of traumatic child abuse, this is common and normal during the "first stage" of recovery, when learning such skills and establishing safety and stability in one's life are the main tasks. (To learn more about the "stages of recovery" from child abuse, see the About Therapy and Recovery section of my Child Abuse page and Judith Herman's book, Trauma and Recovery – links open as new pages.)
• Tendencies to "dissociate" – that is, blank out, space out, leave one's body, etc. – in stressful or upsetting situations. These are not uncommon experiences among those with histories of severe child abuse, and can become automatic and habitual. Originally self-protective in otherwise inescapable situations, dissociation can later cause many problems. For beginning meditators with abuse histories, dissociative states are sometimes confused with mindfulness. Learning "grounding techniques" and other emotion-regulation skills will probably be necessary first steps toward cultivating mindfulness.
• Tendencies to get "lost in your own world" and withdraw from relating to others, or to not even bother trying to connect with others. In this case, mindfulness practices could possibly be "co-opted" by strong habits of self-absorption and disconnection from others.
• Tendencies to hear voices in one's head that sound like those of real other people, or to become convinced of ideas that are extremely unlikely or clearly untrue to other people. (As this can be a delicate topic for people with such experiences, and difficult to address in writing rather than thoughtful and respectful conversation, I will not write anything more.)

Even if you have one or more of the tendencies or problems above, it is possible to practice mindfulness. But to be ready, you will need a foundation of self-regulation skills.

Good therapists can help you improve your self-regulation skills. For people with histories of child abuse (an area of expertise for me), excellent self-help resources are available too. I highly recommend those below, and the first one is particularly helpful if you struggle with dissociation.

• Growing Beyond Survival: A Self-Help Toolkit for Managing Traumatic Stress, by Elizabeth Vermilyea
• The PTSD Workbook: Simple, Effective Techniques for Overcoming Traumatic Stress Symptoms, by Mary Beth Williams and Soili Poijula
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook, by Glenn Schiraldi
• Peter Levine's book Waking the Tiger and Healing Trauma audio tapes have some great exercises, including how to "pendulate" or move back and forth between experiences of pain or fear and safety.

How does a mindfulness meditator learn to feel strong emotions and bodily sensations without getting overwhelmed or dissociating?

• First, choose an object of attention that can provide a "base" and "safe place" to come back to when experiences threaten to become overwhelming. People often choose their hands, feet, or the center of their belly as a comfortable or neutral place. For others the breath will work, or a comforting phrase, or an image or memory of a safe place or person. Practice gently bringing your attention back to this base whenever it becomes distracted or pulled along by something else.
• In all meditation traditions, cultivation of focused attention precedes cultivation of the open attention associated with mindfulness. For people who can become overwhelmed by "opening" to whatever arises in their experience, including painful feelings and memories, it is even more important to practice focusing one's attention on one object and repeatedly bringing attention back to it. The idea is not that you will never get distracted (only very advanced meditators achieve this), but that you will usually be able to bring your attention back soon after it has wandered (i.e., within 10-20 seconds), and sooner when it wanders into emotionally painful territory (i.e., 1-5 seconds).
• Once you have achieved some skill at concentration, when a difficult emotion, sensation or memory arises during meditation, you can choose to "touch up against it" in small increments. Briefly touch the pain with your attention, and then back off and return to your safe object of attention until you feel the strength and presence to touch the difficult experience again.
• Other ways to back off include opening your eyes and focusing on something you can see, or switching to a lovingkindness or compassion practice. *
• Such gradual, tolerable and deliberate re-experiencing of painful feelings and memories can modulate their intensity and foster increasing confidence and mastery. It really is possible to relate to painful experiences and memories without trying to escape or becoming overwhelmed.

For many people, it is necessary to work with a therapist and/or meditation teacher who is experienced at helping people deal with the four problems listed above. One therapy that can be extremely beneficial is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). This treatment approach incorporates mindfulness into a comprehensive individual and group program designed to cultivate skills of emotion tolerance, emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness. (For more information on DBT, see the section, "Resources for Learning to Be More Mindful")

Finally, some people need to take medication for severe depression, anxiety, posttraumatic or other symptoms. A group of long-term meditators who are also physicians – Roger Walsh, Robin Bitner, Bruce Victor and Lorena Hillman – have written a very thoughtful article on this issue, Medicate or Meditate? They discuss preliminary research findings on potential benefits of anti-depressants for meditators who suffer from major depression.

* I will post the section about this practice next time.

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What is Mindfulness?

I have used the terms "mindful" and "mindfulness" quite often when describing the unified state of "body-being", the Oneness of mind and body, but it never occurred to me until now that some people may not understand what it means. Meditation is central to my Path with Heart whether it be in a seated form, a moving meditation like Tai Chi, or expanding this state of being into every-day tasks and situations. Because all forms of meditation or body-being integrity require mindfulness, here is an in-depth explanation of this state of being by an expert in the mind-body-environment relationship, Jim Hopper, a Harvard Ph.D. in Psychology. This is just an introduction so there is much more useful information on mindfulness that I will add at a later date. Enjoy!

Namaste'



Psychologist and mindfulness meditation teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn has simply defined mindfulness in this way:

"paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally."

This sounds simple, but mindfulness is a skill that takes practice to cultivate and maintain. Why? Let's consider the different parts of the definition...

• "Paying attention"
• How much of the time are you really paying attention to what's happening in your life – as opposed to thinking about something else, remembering things, imagining possible futures, and acting out habitual patterns or, more accurately, reacting to people and situations based on old habits of perceiving, thinking, feeling, and behaving?
• Paying conscious attention can be especially hard when a current interaction reminds us of past hurts or betrayals – and before even realizing it, we can automatically and defensively responded as if those old experiences were happening again.
• All of us have our habitual patterns, our vulnerabilities to automatic reactions based on past experiences of hurt, our "buttons" that can get "pushed." This is particularly true when we are already stressed and/or in a hurry. Truly paying attention in our lives is a challenge for anyone.



• "On purpose"
• It takes a conscious decision, and effort by one's mind and brain, to pay attention to what's happening in the present. In fact, such choices and efforts are required over and over again, since we are continually pulled back into habitual ways of processing information and responding to things.
• Too often we're on "auto pilot," not even trying to pay attention to what's actually happening in the unique situations and interactions that make up our lives.



• "In the present moment"
• Most of us, most of the time, are absorbed in memories of the past or visions and plans for the future.
• For most people, it is rare to be aware, without some amount of distraction or multi-tasking, of what is actually occurring in the present moment.
• Particularly when strong emotions arise, people often respond not to situations as they are, but to reactive perceptions and thoughts based on painful experiences in the past. In the most extreme instances, one may not be "here" in the present, but "back there," reliving the past through responses to present situations.



• "Non-judgmentally"
• This is one of the hardest things to achieve. We so often react intensely to our experiences, particularly unwanted experiences, and to our initial responses to them.
• "This is horrible!" "What an idiot!" "How could I do that?!" "I can't take this any more!" "Here I go again." You know the ways you can instantaneously and automatically judge situations, other people, and your own thoughts, feelings and behaviors – often in a chain reaction of increasing judgment and distress.
• "I need..." "I want..." "I deserve..." Positive judgments and the cravings they evoke can also be a problem, particularly when they are automatic and intense. We can lose our focus, forget what's important, get caught in cycles of addiction, selfishly take advantage of others, etc.
• In contrast, the non-judgmental quality of mindfulness brings great freedom – to see things more clearly, to evaluate situations with some distance from our habitual emotional reactions and impulses, to observe emotions and impulses as they arise without either trying to escape them or letting them carry us away.
• We all have at least glimpses of this potential, when we are feeling so positive and relaxed that something which would normally cause strong judgment and negative emotions is seen as no big deal, more clearly for what it is: a passing unwanted experience or temptation to indulge.
• But to bring this non-judgmental quality into our daily lives, consistently, even at very stressful times, this is something many of us can hardly imagine. Yet it is possible, by practicing mindfulness (and kindness).
• And for those who are vulnerable to remembering and reliving painful experiences from the past, to strong waves of emotion, to intense self-criticism – the cultivation of non-judgmental mindfulness can bring tremendous relief and freedom from old patterns. One must be prepared, though, to be able to relax this flow of emotions if they become become overwhelming.*

In addition to defining what mindfulness is, it's important to define what it is not. Here are two common misconceptions:

• Paying attention mindfully is not about detaching from your experience and failing to emotionally engage with your life. It does not cause apathy. It does not kill passion. In fact, mindfulness allows one to engage more fully with one's emotions and other experiences, rather than simply reacting to them with habitual patterns of avoidance or acting out.
• For positive emotions, this means having more access to them and greater ability to put them into beneficial action.
• For negative emotions, such direct and open engagement is a foundation for making them more manageable, a protection against attempting immediate escape or impulsively acting out.

• Non-judgmental awareness is not the same as passively accepting whatever happens, including harmful things. It does not mean failing to evaluate whether others' actions or your own are harmful, or failing to protect yourself from victimization, or failing to prevent yourself from causing harm. Quite the opposite: non-judgmental mindfulness enables one to respond to such situations from awareness and thoughtfulness rather than habit, over-reaction, compulsion, addiction, etc.

* I will post another entry soon pertaining to this situation.

"The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds. In other words, be mindful."

~ RD Laing

"When living mindfully we define our own success, live in the moment and open our Self up to the abundance we deserve. Uncertainty is removed as we choose our own definitions and free our Self from the cultural confines placed upon us. The practitioner is then free to realize individual success beyond expectation..."

~ Jodi Williams, The International Centre for Mindful Existence

---

My Crooked Path

I have three reasons for creating and writing this blog. I am using it to make a map of my Path with Heart so that seemingly unrelated insights (pieces to a puzzle) can be seen in one place and possibly lead to epiphanies, or solved puzzles. Although completely unnecessary once knowledge becomes Wisdom, it could also be interesting to look back at my journey and relive some of the wonderful moments. Secondly, I have always been a teacher of something and hope that this "map" of my Path might help another to some day solve a "puzzle" and gain this universal Wisdom a little faster. Then lastly, I pray that some who are yet to Awaken, might find that spark within my writings that leads to their Awakening and subsequent Path with Heart. Now, after seventy-plus posts, I feel it is necessary to clarify something that most teachings from the Masters rarely do. Your Path with Heart will never be a straight line from Awakened to Enlightened to One with True Nature, Source, Self, God, et al. I write about the Way we are supposed to be so most of my posts are about being on my Path. This is the ideal and is what I have devoted my life to doing. It is not easy and requires complete dedication, however, the ever-increasing time I spend on It is absolutely the most worthwhile and rewarding time I could ever spend!

This topic came to mind a few days ago when I veered far from my calm Center in the Present to a state of Ego-stricken, raging anger. One thing common among All who are truly on their Path with Heart is Compassiom to the point of Empathy - our True Nature. With this in mind, I lost my balance when confronted by two fools protesting healthcare reform and depicting President Obama as Hitler, mustache and all. I had planned to ignore them and walk straight from my truck into the Post Office, get my mail, and then exit the same way. Plans work so well when morons stay out of your way but this was not one of those occasions. One of them came at me with a handful of something I did not want to see and I departed my Path with Heart at full warp speed! I was spitting fire the instant I felt his intention and said something about nuts, heads on poles in the town square, or something to that effect. Regrettably, a very old feeling came over me and for a moment, I was kind of hoping he would make a move. So much for Love and Compassion! Fortunately, he backed up much faster than he approached and his partner sat down the instant I looked through him. I got my mail but still let my Ego take charge as I started out the door. I was much nicer this time, though, and just said something about a waste of space or good air, or something like that. I left quickly but didn't really "leave" for quite some time. This is extremely rare for me and is always a great lesson in how to be a fool. I allowed my Ego to interfere with a perfectly beautiful day in paradise just like it did the first day it arose to consciousness in the mythological "Garden of Eden". The Ego has been the sole source of All bad and Evil, pain and suffering, and keeps us separated from our True Nature or Source to this day. However, Ego is not the focus of my post here but just the underlying cause.

I am writing this to make sure that everyone who reads my posts knows that although I have gained much Wisdom over the last thirty-some Awakened years, my Path with Heart is still crooked. It is far less crooked than most but far more crooked than many other devoted practitioners. The whole point that All of the great Sages throughout history were making in their various teachings of the "OneTruth" is to permantly remove yourself from the chaos of Karma by living without thought and completely in the mindful Present. To make it sound even simpler, just "Be"! That one word sums up All of the great teachings of Jesus, Lao-tse, Buddha, Krishnamurti, don Juan, et al. In fact, Jesus is referred to as the great "I Am" *! You must also be Compassionate and respectful to others and all living things but when you are living completely in the Present, there is no other way you can be. The reason it takes so many words to teach this is that getting to that state of impeccable Being is literally the most difficult thing in the universe. However, once you understand the mission (Awaken), you can begin to shrink your Ego, teach it to sit quietly "next to" you on the passenger's seat, and just observe the magificent view while our Source drives the bus of life. This is done through dedicated daily and lifelong practice of being in the Present through various types of meditation, mindful movements such as Tai Chi, or any number of similar paths. The more you are able to let go of this illusion of control by just Being in the Present, the easier and more natural it gets. It is these times in the Present that you are One of Mind, Body, and Spirit where only Altruistic Love, Compassion, Beauty and Joy beyond description, exist as One with your Infinite and Quantum True Nature. The other time is spent amongst the rat race of Ego-driven thought and illusion. This is when you leave your Path with Heart like I did that day at the Post Office. We All do it in an infinite variety of ways from committing mass murder to simply having a conscious thought interfere with the silence of the moment. Most of your time will be spent outside of the Present but over time, it will become less and less as long as you always stay mindful of your Path and continually correct your course by relaxing back into the Present. With continual practice and dedication, your Path with Heart, as mine, will become less crooked while the Magic of your infinitely Powerful and Loving True Nature envelopes you more and more in the ineffable Bliss and Comfort of our Source, our Home.

Namaste'

* God, who reveals his name as "I AM", reveals himself as the God who is always there, present to his people in order to save them.

"When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will realize that "I AM"."

~ Jesus

An abstraction in the mind of the Stateless State, of the Absolute, or the Supreme Reality, called Parabrahman. It is pure awareness, prior to thoughts, free from perceptions, associations, memories.

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

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Little Buddha Walking - Zen Walking Meditation

This is a very useful article from Zen Moments that can help everyone to get in touch with their body (mindfulness) and learn how to be Present while moving through their day. I have been doing something similar to this for years after every Tai Chi session and it helps me to continue and increase that blissful and energetic state of Being for much longer - sometimes for hours. Anyone can do this and the more you do, the easier it is to do. In time, you will find yourself naturally entering this Present state without even trying. Now, how cool is that?!! Enjoy!

Namaste'



Little Buddha Walking

Have you ever looked into the eyes of an infant and felt that you could jump in and go for a swim? They are so open and inviting it's almost unnerving.

You can't help but wonder how they see life; that somehow they experience a magical world beyond your vision.

Why do we feel that? It isn't logical. If you couldn't walk or feed yourself; if you were incontinent; if all you could do was roll over in bed; if you had no ability to speak or even think in rational verbal terms — wouldn't you be considered disabled?

Why then are we so quietly envious of these little people? What magic do we sense in them? Does Buddha swim in the depths of those liquid eyes?

Perhaps there is a Buddha consciousness in these 6 month old, uninhibited, sometimes serene, often demanding, easily fascinated, bed-wetting bundles of joy. Why not?

Life is strange. Is it such a stretch that infants, despite all of their outward limitations, process abilities of perception we wish we had?

And since their limitations primarily set them apart from us, could it be that these limitations are their causative Buddha-factor?
The silent advantage of infants

Infants perceive their world in each moment, fully, deeply, and without bias. Us big people on the other hand, experience a verbal-thought-summation of what we see in the moment based on pre-established judgments. Adults perceive life through a template of fixed, albeit slowly changing, definitions. Infants have no template blocking their vision.

One of the reasons for this is that infants have no verbal language associated with their thought and perception.

Think for a moment about this vast mysterious world. Try to use all of your imagination to probe the depth and reach of its content. It's impossible. And yet, we allow words to define our experience of it.

Can you imagine what it might be like to have no words entering your mind as you perceive and think about your world? How would that change your world-view?

Also, because everything is new to them, infants judge less. They haven't yet acquired the experience to know what to accept and what to reject. How would it change your life if you could selectively suspend judgment to facilitate a more dynamic view of circumstance?

Science Daily recently featured the research of Lisa Scott, a psychologist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The articles reported her findings on the perceptual development of infants. Of infants 6 months or under, Lisa says, "During this time the brain is sensitive and responsive to the surrounding environment."

But after 6 months of age, Scott concludes, "what is most intriguing about these findings is that they collectively suggest that typical perceptual specialization and development is characterized by the gradual decline of abilities."

Scott is suggesting that we loose our dynamic responsiveness to the world after 6 months of age, in preference for a selective focus on the essential elements of survival and satisfaction.

In the Association for Psychological Science, an article titled, New study shows that infants have mind-reading capability describes the work of Luca Surian, a psychologist at the University of Trento in Italy.

Luca's research is primarily concerned with the ability to reason about the mind. According to the article in APS, his findings indicate that psychological reasoning skills enabling us to predict another's behavior are in place in infants, independent of environmental or learned behavior. Surian explains that, "this is mind reading proper, however rudimentary."

Is it possible that infants have perceptual and intuitive abilities, and that we have lost some of those attributes? It appears so. Can we reclaim them? The research isn't clear on that, so perhaps the best way to explore this is experientially.

Here then is one of my favorite, definitely fun, meditation techniques, that will always connect you to that pure awareness and fascination of an infant.
Little Buddha Walking meditation

It is not as silly as it sounds. Outwardly, you will be going for a simple stroll, but inwardly you will be having an immersive experience. No one will notice your mental gymnastics.

Your own little Buddha will constantly challenge you, but you will find this exercise easier than standard meditation training. Anyone can master this after a few attempts. Even if you have never had an interest in meditation, this enjoyable exercise will teach you some rather advanced core meditative skills.


Try your best to follow the steps below:

1. Pick a time when you are in a calm and neutral state of mind. Plan a 20 minute solitary walking route where there is no chance that people will engage you in conversation.

2. Your goal on this walk is to avoid thinking in words, and other than safety-related concerns, to avoid conscious judgments. Remember that you are now an infant, albeit, an infant that can walk. This can be challenging so you are going to have be vigilantly self-aware.

3. As you walk, observe everything you see. Soak it all in without labeling. When you catch yourself thinking in words, let them go and get back to being present in your body.

4. Take in all the sights, colors, and smells; feel the air on your skin; how your feet strike the ground and move you forward. Listen intently to every sound. Let your environment wash through you. Become part of your surroundings.

5. Allow yourself to experience fascination and awe. Give yourself permission to explore your surroundings deeply without the usual "seen this, done that" judgment.

6. When you arrive home, spend 5 minutes or so enjoying a comfortable chair. Like a fine tea, allow your experience to steep and mature into your mind and body. Now you can go about your day, and your inner Buddha will be there with you.


That wasn't so bad was it? Don't be fooled by its simplicity though. This is a powerful practice that just so happens to feel exquisite.

Have you ever wondered what awareness precedes your verbal thoughts?

The words could not have arisen first. They merely describe your mind's creation. What then comes before the words? Can you recall?

Your moments of genius, and everyone has them, occur before you put words to your mental creations. If you cannot recall that process, then you are not consciously present, or in control of, your genius.

The creative moments of infants are different though. Because they have no words to freeze-frame and define their creative process, thereby stopping it cold, they remain continually present within it.

Your adult verbal thoughts are mostly pointless interruptions to your true creative processes. Pay close attention to your thoughts and you will realize this. Every time you refrain from thinking in words, your creative ability becomes more open-ended and less fixed, and your appreciation of life deepens.

You have the right to choose how you think and create, and how you experience your world. The Little Buddha Walking meditation gives you that choice.

Pardon the pun, but words cannot describe how this walking meditation technique will make you feel. Try it a few times. Give it your full attention and you will enter a new and fresh world of perception, creativity, and satisfaction.

What do you think? Will you try it?

Over to you now.

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