mindfulness meditation
MMT is an exciting new development in which mindfulness is applied directly to difficult emotional states such as phobias, anxiety, anger and other forms of emotional reactivity.
Personal relationships provide one of the greatest challenges in life and most of us will experience difficulties with patterns of habitual reactivity that are triggered by our partner. Our buttons get pushed and we become angry or upset. This dynamic is based on learned habitual reactivity in which both the perpetrator and victim are compelled to react. You may say something knowing that it will cause offense, but unable to stop yourself from saying it. The victim feels compelled to react by taking offense and becoming upset or angry.
The key to changing these repetitive patterns of habitual reactivity in both parties is to first recognize the reactions and then learn how to form a relationship with the emotional energy that compels the reaction. Once you have recognized a reaction, then you can actually study it and examine how it works. You begin to see the reaction as an object to be investigated and known, rather than getting entangled in the story-line of who did what to whom and who is right and who is wrong. This is the first function of mindfulness - learning to recognize a reaction, seeing it as an object and not getting seduced into further reactivity.
In order to change a habitual reaction, it is essential that you are able to "sit" with the underlying felt-sense of the compulsion to react. Mindfulness provides one of the best ways of working with these emotional trigger points, by keeping our attention firmly focused on the present experience of the emotion and preventing the attention wandering off into thinking and further reactivity. Mindfulness is called sati in Pali, the language of the Buddha's discourses and the quality of pure non-reactive knowing of the present experience of an emotion is called satisampajanna, clear seeing with mindfulness.
When we are able to establish the relationship of satisampajanna with our inner compulsion or pain, then some remarkable changes begin to unfold quite automatically. Any form of emotional suffering, or dukkha, represents a state of instability and the Psyche hates instability and will always try to resolve dukkha if given the freedom to change. Mindfulness and satisampajanna provide this therapeutic space and freedom in which transformation and resolution can occur. This is an experiential process that usually involves subtle changes in feelings and memories and often involves experiential imagery. The exact nature of what unfolds is different from one person to another, but the effect of this inner transformation of experience eventually leads to the resolution of the emotional energy that powers a reaction. When the reaction looses this compulsive energy, called tanha in Pali, then you find that you have more choices and are not compelled to react, either in causing offense or becoming upset when your partner hurts you with unkind words.
This natural healing energy is called satipanna, the innate wisdom-intelligence that we all possess and that becomes active when there is mindfulness.
MMT offers an exciting new way of working with emotions and provides a tool for improving well-being and happiness and I invite you to look more closely at how you can apply mindfulness to work with your inner conflicts and dukkha.
Peter Strong, PhD is a scientist and Buddhist who specializes in the study of mindfulness and its application in Mindfulness Meditation Therapy. He teaches mindfulness meditation (vipassana) and coaches individuals and couples in the application of mindfulness for resolving difficult emotional problems, including anxiety, depression, phobias, grief and trauma and the management of anger and stress. Besides face-to-face work, he also works with individuals and couples via email and web conferencing. Visit http://www.mindfulnessmeditationtherapy.com
Email enquiries welcome.
About the Author:
Peter Strong, PhD is a scientist and Buddhist psychotherapist, based in Boulder, Colorado, who specializes in the study of mindfulness and its application in Mindfulness Psychotherapy. He teaches mindfulness meditation and coaches individuals and couples in the application of mindfulness for resolving difficult emotional problems, including anxiety, depression, phobias, grief and trauma, anger and stress. Besides face-to-face work, he also works with individuals and couples online through email counseling.
http://www.mindfulnessmeditationtherapy.com
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Mindfulness Counseling & Psychotherapy for Marriages and Relationships in Boulder Colorado
