Too much mindfulness can increase anxiety

Someone sent me a link to an interesting BBC story, "How too much mindfulness can spike anxiety." It describes research about the downside of mindfulness and meditation in general. 

In any discussion of mindfulness, it’s important to remember that there are many different techniques that train particular types of thinking and being. The best-known strategies are mindful breathing, in which you focus on the feelings of respiration, and the body scan, in which you pass your attention from head to toe, noting any physical sensations that arise in the course of the session.

These kinds of practices are meant to ground you in the present moment and the effects can be seen in brain scans, with growth in the insula cortex, a region that is involved in bodily perception and emotion. As a result, mindfulness training can leave us more in touch with our feelings, which is important for good decision making.

Many mindfulness practices also encourage a more general “observing awareness”, in which you train yourself to notice your thoughts and feelings without reacting or judging. With practice, this can increase your capacity for emotional regulation so that you are no longer as susceptible to flashes of anger, for instance.

Ideally, these changes should complement each other and result in greater wellbeing. But that’s only possible if they occur in balance and moderation. Unfortunately, some meditators may pass the optimum point on either one of these elements, leading to distress.

The article ends with some sentiments that I heartily agree with. Sticking with one meditation approach for the rest of your life doesn't make sense if you aren't getting the results you want from it. Experiment. Try something different. Be flexible.

For those who still like the idea of contemplation, it may be time to consider a broader range of techniques. Certain religious traditions encourage practitioners to focus on things outside your body, for instance – such as a bunch of flowers on your desk or even a passage from a poem. These may be better at calming overwhelming feelings of anxiety, or coaxing yourself out of those feelings of dissociation than observing your body or your breathing, says Britton.

There’s also a growing interest in meditative techniques that encourage you to think about others’ perspectives and to cultivate feeling of compassion – strategies that are especially effective against feelings of loneliness.

At the moment, some people may feel like they have to stick with one particular strategy – like mindful breathing or the body scan – without considering the alternatives. But this is a mistake, says Britton.

“We should really honour the diversity of contemplative practices that are available, because they all do different things, and people would have a much better chance of matching what they need, if they had a bigger buffet of choices.” Each person should choose the best technique – and the correct “dose” – for their particular situation, rather than doggedly pursuing a plan that is not working.

Ultimately, Britton thinks that these issues should be incorporated into all mindfulness courses – in much the same way that the visitors to a gym are taught about the potential for injury. “It comes down to giving meditators a bit more agency.”

And as I discovered myself with my own ill-fated attempts to gain mindfulness, this may sometimes include the decision that enough is enough.

Comments

[Jen]

Tao Te Ching Explained .....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIIF60Rr720

Surrender yourself humbly
then you can be trusted to care for all things
Love the world as your own self
then you can truly care for all things
Empty yourself of everything
Let the mind become still
The ten thousand things rise and fall
while the self watches their return
They grow and flourish and then return to the Source
Returning to the Source is stillness
which is the way of nature
The way of nature is unchanging

[manjit]

Hi Jen,

That is a beautiful quote, thanks for sharing. Truly profound, if one only has the ears to hear.

Hope you are settling in well into your new surroundings and situation? Take care of yourself! :)

[um]

Probably it is not in the technique but in the intent.

Many techniques that are around for "changing" the mind or manipulation of the brain, like psychotherapies etc come with the remark that for the technique to be effective an certain atmosphere, relation or intent has to be there.

heartfelt intent. .... and .... as always .....that capacity is not only a matter of choice but also of talent.

Or ... one has .... to GIVE....something of one-selves
Not all have something to give and/or are able and prepared to give it.

[Jen]

Hi Manjit, thanks for your nice reply.

Yes, its a whole new life style for me now. I'm no longer independent and its a struggle because the mind wants to have its own way. Also it can be quite boring and restricting when living in an Aged Care Home. I'm trying to practice emptiness and letting the mind become still.

My best experience has been a recent out-of-body experience. Me hovering above and looking down at my body. I was happy to know that there is some kind of spirit or soul which survives after this life and it cheered me up to think that my next adventure will be exploring the inner spiritual regions. Hopefully!

[Appreciative Reader]

Double-Pronged Vipassana

Vipassana meditation is universally taught as having two "legs". There are Shamata practices, that focus on things like your breath or the form of some deity or some mantra or some yantra or some mandala or whatever, which basically "center" you. "Inner sound" as well, incidentally -- similar to the RSSB thing I guess.

And then there are the so-called analytical practices, that would be Vipassana proper, that comprise disinterested objective observation of things like sensations or thoughts or emotions or whatever.

And they keep drilling into you that you must not give in to your inherent predilection and end up concentrating on just the one or just the other, but instead walk on both "legs". Focusing on just the one -- which is what this article of Brian's is about, in this case analytical mindfulness, and which apparently gives rise to anxiety et al -- would be a classic case of mis-applied meditation, that the skilled teacher will recognize in their student, and the skilled meditator will recognize in themselves.

Or so they say.

To an extent I can attest to this from personal experience. But only to an extent. And a pretty small extent at that.

[Appreciative Reader]

Haven't posted here in a while now. Have html tags been disabled? Put in the boldface squiggles for the title, didn't seem to take.

-------------

Hello, Jen.

Aged Care Home, is it? Cool. Enjoy your new environment. And stay careful, stay safe!

As for the after-life: Sure, believing in one opens one up to expectation of all kinds of adventures awaiting one. On the other hand, not believing in the after-life offers you relief from anxiety. What could be more peaceable than utter cessation, automatic effortless nirvana as it were?

I wish you a peaceful and happy life, in the here and now. As for the after thing, that too, sure, why not, should there be one.

[Miss Contrary]

Mindfulness is a really big word. I see how it could cause anxiety.

Never any now anyhow.

Watch this now or forever be ignorant.
https://youtu.be/3WRgikuVZpQ

After you finish watching you’ll be totally 🤤🤤🤤. But you’ll be enlightened!

I love it because it debunks the traditional materialist view of the universe AND it debunks Sant Mat’s linear view of karma.

[Dungeness]

@ it debunks Sant Mat’s linear view of karma. *

Thanks for the video.

*But mystics (eg, RSSB's Ishwar Puri) state that all events were
created in a timeless moment. There is no linearity to them. We
only experience them one at a time when trapped in duality.

[Mary]

But trapped in duality is just a state of mind. You don’t have to leave this world to think differently. The problem with Sant Mat is it teaches you that you are a victim. It teaches you that you have all this karma that only an enchanted spell of 5 words can erase. It doesn’t teach you how to perceive differently. Time is perception.

Keep repeating those 5 magical words, take a bite of the apple...

[Dungeness]

@ The problem with Sant Mat is it teaches you that you are a victim. It teaches you that you have all this
@ karma that only an enchanted spell of 5 words can erase. It doesn’t teach you how to perceive differently.

No, you misunderstand RSSB. Mechanically repeating words doesn't erase
anything.It's only a mindfulness tool to distract the mind which has co-opted
our thoughts 24x7. It increases our awareness of what's going on inside us
which is the first step in greater understanding. That's empowerment, not
victimization.

[Uchit]

Its interesting that you mention the 5 names used by RSSB @Mary

Isn't it funny that the RSSB path lead by GSD, the greedy self serving guru (behind the scenes) and by a contract, say that there is no satan and say kaal is just the mind. Yet on the other hand you are told to constantly repeat the 5 secret names in their meditation, the names are the names of the lords/ entities/aliens/ demons of various regions. The first name is Jot N****jan and means the light of the devil ( the lord of the first region). Also the light and sound you hear and told to follow are the breadcrumbs by malavalent beings and are nothing but tricks by the fake gurus disguised as love and light to mislead you. So beware

[Mary, Mary]

I think it’s weird that satsangis are so weighed down by guilt yet feel so special to be “chosen” at the same time.

It’s like: I’m such a lowly sinner but so much more blessed than most people because I’ve been chosen by a “perfect living master, GIHF”. Such a rare gem... a priceless gift. I’m the 1% of the 1% spiritually speaking. I’m so lowly but feel such pity for all the lost souls around me.

[MM]

But that attitude is true of almost every type of religion and spiritual philosophy.

That’s why people become atheists. A conversion to atheism is a sort of an act of humility...

[um]

@ MM andd others

To be chosen is one thing to consider that choice as an attribute of execelence of sort, is another thing.

Nothing in this world had free choice to appear in this universe as it is; all of us readers and writers function in a body, a mental make up that is GIVEN to them. Given, not pointing that there is a giver but to the fact that it was not in their hands.

Even abstract things as culture, and all related to it as religion are "GIVEN"

There is really nothing to be proud of ... NOTHING.

If there is a judge at the end of this life, the question will be:
WE GAVE you XXXXX what did you do with it.

XXXXXX can be replaced by everything you can imagine if it is part of your life.

RSSB is only something "special" in talking the walk but has no meaning whatsoever in walking the walk.... just an opinion, a show off. ... nobody needs to now one follows a spiritual path. If others know ... one has talked about it, made oneself seen as this or that.

Showing of as atheist and being for that reason humble, makes no difference.

[um]

@ Uchit

All religious schools start with given an answer by a mystic, prophet or whatever, to the question: "Who am I?" .... Ye are Gods ... they say .... wake up from your slumber

Mystics etc. having been given that answer, told others how to realize the same. They developed all sorts of techniques and practises, one being the use of mantra.

The meaning of an mantra, "is" the answer to an [unasked] question.

All interest in regard to religion, philosophy and mysticism, starts out with a seeker, someone that wants to know something, needs something. Without delving into themselves, figuring out that question, that desire, no involving in whatever school of thought will bear fruit.

That path can also be used to understand the teachings of philosophers and mystics.
Who were they, what were their circumstances they grew up in. Reading their words apart from that understanding bears no real fruit, only opinion.

Everything in nature is related and co-dependent .... EVERYTHING ... and in that field things are born, grow and die.....everything has its own unique time and place.

[um]

@ MM

Watch children when they are hungry and they are offered a piece of apple pie.
What do they do? ... talk??
They eat it and ran away again to play with their friends.
At best they ask for another piece
or
for their friends out door
Seldom if ever they make a compliment or have something to say.

By the way it its eaten, the mother knows about her pie ... and ... her child.
Nothing needs to be said.
They all know.

Lao Zi started by pointing this out.
What holds for apple pie holds for everything also the tao.

Words are only movers

[Jesus Christ on a bicycle]

Even Saints have bad days. Some days they wake up and say fuck it. It happens. Some days just suck.

But that’s OK. We have 365 days in the year. Most of them aren’t that bad when you think about it.

Aspiring to be “perfect” or to have nothing but perfect days without any run ins with others is to deny being human.

It’s true, laughter is the best medicine. Don’t take yourself or your mantra too seriously.

[Uchit]

@jesus
@Even Saints have bad days. Some days they wake up and say fuck it. It happens. Some days just suck.

Then theres the so called "SAINT" but evil mastermind GSD, who loves the limelight, more than madonna, and works tirelessly to get his beard, turban, clothes perfect only to sit on a stage and cleverly manipulate the audiences perception. The real back story is that he is a crook a greedy and control freak. A cold, narcissist that has taken billions fraudulently from his own blood relatives. On top of this hes a land mafia, and shows no remorse to anyone outside his RSSB investment interests and agenda. Hes nothing but a dirty old man, desperate to keep rssb together. The once camera shy guru who is now trending faster on YouTube than Beyonce are embarrassing actions of a guru desperate to mend his battered image and keep this satanic cult thriving. Puppet of satan, you will face your karma.