Who doesn’t want to experience deep relaxation in their
lives? I came across this flyer in my
local dry cleaner’s shop. The back of
the Mindworks flyer promises that the meditation and mindfulness training course will enable
the student to let go of everyday stress: “You can learn how mindfulness enhances and deepens your capacity to
relax. You can also strengthen your
clarity and effectiveness at work with better concentration and calm.” The course also includes a presentation of
scientific research which purportedly supports the benefits associated with
mindfulness practice. “By being more
present you can discover spaciousness in your life to help cope with daily
challenges.”
Nowhere is there a single mention that meditation or
mindfulness practices have any spiritual content or association. The course is presented as purely cognitive
therapy. I find this deeply
misleading. When I enquired of the
course leader whether mindfulness had a spiritual side he explained that what
he actually teaches is something called Core Process Psychotherapy which he explains is a mindfulness-based approach that integrates current Western psychotherapeutic approaches
and Buddhist psychology; “it is based on
the understanding that Awareness is intrinsically healing and that this can be
experienced in relationship. This
approach can help you to find new confidence and a deeper sense of well-being
in the present moment.”
I also asked whether there were any risks or side effects associated with Core Process Psychotherapy. He replied that for people with serious psychiatric
problems or conditions, mindfulness might not be appropriate as it could
worsen their condition; that it would be “too much to deal with.” All mindfulness programmes should disclose their risks.
Mindfulness is an inherently spiritual practice; those that
teach these methods are being disingenuous when they say that the spiritual and
the cognitive can be bifurcated. Simply
because someone does not believe that a spiritual realm exists does not mean
that it doesn’t. And crucially, if one
does believe that there is a transcendental world, tread carefully because it
is not uniform. All religions are not
the same, are not of the same origin, have differing purposes, and do not lead
to the same place.
