Speaker:
- Name: Joanne Cook
- From: University College London
- Date: 22nd Feb 2017, 5.30pm - 7pm
- Venue: Stanford University, School of Anthropology, Building 50, Room 51A
- Intention of research is to write a book
Subject areas to be covered:
- Understand the limits of relational thinking
- Spiritual training that changes experience
- Research earlier works on Vipansana Burmese practice
- applications of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on daily life
Political aspects of mindfulness
New Areas for research in Anthropology
- New focus proposed on the Anthropology of belief
- Anthropologist should include styles/mode of belief
Trends and events driving MBCT
- 1980s trend of relapsing depression -
latent vulnerability to relapse: 50% for first timer,
- latent vulnerability to relapse: 75% for second timer onwards
- Medical confirmation
Rumination n planning good for evolution survival but not good for emotions
- Clinical Trails on three groups where non-control groups exhibited same effects
Control
- MBCT practitioners
- users of anti depressant
- Buddhist modernism
indigenous response to western science
- Compatibility of reformist Buddhism and science
- Seeing the Buddha as the first psychologist
- Presented as skill training n way of being
- Vipasana - is reformative buddhist practice
taught it to the lay people to help them to deal more easily with lay life
- Buddhism is bring interpreted as way of life and not religion facilitates this transition
- Political drive
Lord Richard Layard and Lord William's concern on the lack of compassion in health care
- All party parliamentary group in west minster
- To use her anthropological process to provide critic
- Report was written with proposed further area for research
Health, education, criminal Justice n work place
- Outcome: The mind became a sign for political focus - objectified
- UK emphasis
from preventive care
- To Human flourishing n virtue and maximization of health
- UK - increasing mental capital
- Quoted from the Parliament teacher who said "meditation needs to come with health warning as it could radically change ur life"
- Mindfulness for politician: 1/3 of U.K. Parliament has done mindfulness courset
- Story of human enhancement - third wave
?Charles Taylor on steroid
- Silicon Valley human enhancement trend - becoming the best U
Aspects of Mindfulness Learning in MBCT
- Cognitive - new frame work for self mind n depression
- Meta cognitive - relating to thoughts as thoughts. Cultivate desensitize perspective to thoughts. See rumination as is. Aka structured consciousness
Seeing thoughts are just thoughts - can choose how to react
- Distancing oneself from thought and looking at them instead of through them
- Attitudinal - friendly curiosity towards thoughts that goes through the mind
David Atinbra attitude towards self
- Friendly n curious
- Compassion
- Kindness
- Friendliness
- Acceptance
Objectives of MBCT
- A effective substitute from prolonged Anti depressant use
- We're looking for maintenance form of CBT
- Learning to shift underlying meta scheme about how people see themselves
- Developing awareness rather than acting on auto pilot
- Recognize subtle shifts in the body
- Practice how to move attention from one area to another
- Each time bad things happen bring attention back to body to understand how it actually feels in the body
- Build a Mind-gap
- Suspend commitment to thought
- To Shift from consciousness as part of thinking to thinking as part of consciousness
- Practitioners learn that Thoughts are not Facts
Format on how MBCT is conducted
- MBCT is very scripted
When frustrated invite to congratulate themselves of awareness of frustration
- Teacher constantly lace with invitation terms n encouragement towards kindly ways
- 8-12 people meet once per week 2 per week for 8 weeks
- Patients who had 3 or more episodes but are currently well
- Progressions:
Body scan,
- breathing,
- thoughts,
- space
- During meditation
Once realize the mind has wandered off, acknowledge that and bring it back to the breathe n abdomen
- In week 4 - learn about the **territory of depression**
Given list of negative works view and asked to see if any identify with any in the list
- These are symptoms of depression instead of truth
- Depressive people - easy trigger automatic ruminative negative thinking
- See them as mental events instead of thoughts
- Mental suffering is a result of mindlessness
- Once negative thinking starts its hard to stop - like Niagara falls
- Patients are not directly taught Buddhism
Format on how MBCT theraphist are trained
- MBCT Therapist training has loads of Buddhist training - Christina fieldman
Expected to go on Meditation retreat
- Learned about 8 path, 4 foundations
- Use the framework for their job and to communicate with their colleague
Mindfulness versus Evangelical Christianity
- Evangelical Christianity:
Seek to experience intense emotional intimacy with god
- Paying attention to ones thought to identify gods words
- Prayer trains attention
- Trains to experience part of their mind as presence of God
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- Similarities
Thinking about thinking
- Differences
In MBCT Meta cognition is reward in itself
- Content of thought is not very important in MBCT versus Christian training
- MBCT learn to relate mind as mind an object versus Christian to achieve relation with god through changing contents of thought
Further thoughts
- Readings of mindfulness as an ethical versus utility value
- What happens to transcendence n enlightenment?
Finding transcendence in the mundane?
Washing dishes for the sake of washing dishes
- important but is a gradual change and not a radical change
- The monastery as a boot camp?
- A society where it becomes common place?
- If u are witnessing u then where are u? U can really trip out!
Further readings
- Book: Dark night of the soul: frightening experience of spiritual practice
- Book: The Buddha brain
- Book: mindful America - Mindfulness has step into the path of traditional spirituality