Mindfulness Talks
Mindfulness is the cognitive skill, usually developed through meditation, of sustaining meta-attention towards the contents of one's own mind in the present moment. Mindfulness derives from sati, a significant element of Hindu and Buddhist traditions, and is based on Zen, Vipassanā, and Tibetan meditation techniques. Though definitions and techniques of mindfulness are wide-ranging, Buddhist traditions describe what constitutes mindfulness, such as how perceptions of the past, present and future arise and cease as momentary sense-impressions and mental phenomena. Individuals who have contributed to the popularity of mindfulness in the modern Western context include Thích Nhất Hạnh, Joseph Goldstein, Herbert Benson, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Richard J. Davidson.
Clinical psychology and psychiatry since the 1970s have developed a number of therapeutic applications based on mindfulness for helping people experiencing a variety of psychological conditions. Mindfulness practice has been employed to reduce depression, stress, anxiety, and in the treatment of drug addiction. Programs based on mindfulness models have been adopted within schools, prisons, hospitals, veterans' centers, and other environments, and mindfulness programs have been applied for additional outcomes such as for healthy aging, weight management, athletic performance, helping children with special needs, and as an intervention during early pregnancy.
Clinical studies have documented both physical- and mental-health benefits of mindfulness in different patient categories as well as in healthy adults and children. Studies have shown a positive relationship between trait mindfulness (which can be cultivated through the practice of mindfulness-based interventions) and psychological health. The practice of mindfulness appears to provide therapeutic benefits to people with psychiatric disorders, including moderate benefits to those with psychosis. Studies also indicate that rumination and worry contribute to a variety of mental disorders, and that mindfulness-based interventions can enhance trait mindfulness and reduce both rumination and worry. Further, the practice of mindfulness may be a preventive strategy to halt the development of mental-health problems. Mindfulness practices have been said to enable individuals to respond more effectively to stressful situations by helping them strike the balance between over-identification and suppression of their emotional experiences by finding the middle point which is recognition and acceptance.
Evidence suggests that engaging in mindfulness meditation may influence physical health. For example, the psychological habit of repeatedly dwelling on stressful thoughts appears to intensify the physiological effects of the stressor (as a result of the continual activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis) with the potential to lead to physical health related clinical manifestations. Studies indicate that mindfulness meditation, which brings about reductions in rumination, may alter these biological clinical pathways. Further, research indicates that mindfulness may favorably influence the immune system as well as inflammation, which can consequently impact physical health, especially considering that inflammation has been linked to the development of several chronic health conditions. Other studies support these findings.
Critics have questioned both the commercialization and the over-marketing of mindfulness for health benefits—as well as emphasizing the need for more randomized controlled studies, for more methodological details in reported studies and for the use of larger sample-sizes. While mindfulness-based interventions may be effective for youth, research has not determined methods in which mindfulness could be introduced and delivered in schools.
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July 24th, 1982, Serial No. 01516, Side B Heart Sutra, Mindfulness, Eight Aspects, Concentration, Aspects of Practice,... |
Jul 24 1982 |
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Mumonkan: Case #19Serial: BZ-00036A "Nansen's Everyday Mind in the Way", Saturday Lecture MM-19
Nansen, Absolute-and-Relative, Koan, Ordinary Mind, Non-violence, confusion,... |
Jun 26 1982 Berkeley Zen Center |
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Mindfulness and Care: Adapting to ConditionsSerial: BZ-01516A Sesshin Mindfulness, Lay Practice, Composure, Lay, Bell, Daily Life, Non-discrimination,... |
Jun 1982 Part 1 of 1 Berkeley Zen Center |
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Essence of Mind: The Fifth ParamitaSerial: BZ-00008A Subject and Object--Buddhanature, Saturday Lecture Subject-and-Object, Duality, Buddha Nature, Buddha Nature, Daily Life, Subject-and-... |
May 15 1982 Berkeley Zen Center |
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Dana: The First ParamitaSerial: BZ-00011B Saturday Lecture Dana, Study Period, Precepts, Posture, confusion, Concentration, Mindfulness, Daily... |
Apr 17 1982 Berkeley Zen Center |
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Buddha's ParinirvanaSerial: BZ-00017 Eight Aspects of Enlightenment, One-Day Sitting Parinirvana Sutra, Enlightenment, Eight Aspects, Buddha, Eight Aspects, Right Effort... |
Feb 13 1982 Berkeley Zen Center |
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The Stages of Practice IISerial: BZ-00024B Saturday Lecture resistance, Daily Life, Samadhi, Mindfulness, Aspects of Practice, Doubt, American,... |
Apr 04 1981 Berkeley Zen Center |
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April 4th, 1981, Serial No. 01064 resistance, Daily Life, Samadhi, Mindfulness, Doubt, Aspects of Practice, Priest, Ego... |
Apr 04 1981 Berkeley Zen Center |
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Unknown TitleSerial: BZ-00306B Day four of Rohatsu sesshin at Tassajara. Addiction, Right Effort, Culture, Building, Discrimination, confusion, Mindfulness,... |
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Tassajara Zen Mountain Center |
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Unknown Date, Serial 00529, Side A Mindfulness, Daily Life, Practice Period, Composure, Aspects of Practice, Posture,... |
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Unknown Date, Serial 00421, Side B Buddha Nature, Platform Sutra, Lineage, Anger, Soto Zen, Buddha Mind, Rinzai,... |
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