Abstract
In the clinical use of mindfulness, there may be a group gathering, as in one of the many mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) targeted to specific clinical populations, or a therapist and client may apply mindfulness in their work together. This positions the MBIs and other clinical uses of mindfulness as relational or, we might say, collaborative or dialogical in nature. Ironically, the extent of this relationality has been obscured by the juggernaut of a scientific evidence base that has, in effect, reified mindfulness, reduced evidence to individual outcomes and ignored or factored out the actions and effects of the teacher and group participants. Pedagogical theory and teacher training, thus, require a different discourse from that of the science as practiced. The intention of this chapter is to counteract the dominance of the individualist and positivist discourse of mindfulness, by exploring the relational dimensions that underlie the activities of teaching and learning. This chapter will define the relational situation through resources offered by interpersonal neuroscience, communications theory, cultural anthropology and social psychology. It will discuss the identity and formation of mindfulness teachers within the milieu of clinical applications, including explorations of professional qualifications, lineage and training. It will describe four basic skill sets for teaching, from stewardship of the group or dyad; to guidance of meditation and other practices; to the sharing of didactic information in conversational format, such as physiology and neurophysiology of stress and meditation; to the subtleties of inquiring into a participants’ direct experience in the present moment. Finally, it will consider how a teacher may know that what they are doing is ‘working’ and what to do when it is not. This will be characterised as an ethical stance for clinicians when using mindfulness and an aesthetics of the pedagogy.
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Notes
- 1.
This discourse of bounded individuals dominates our culture and therefore our language. Gergen (2009) notes that it is nearly impossible to find terms in English that suggest the relationships of the confluence. Rather than creating a new set of terms, the reader could readjust their thinking, and when they see the term, say, ‘participants’ to consider the mutually defining and shifting identities of the confluence. In comparing the pedagogy of mindfulness-based interventions in the United States and Korea (McCown, under review), Korean terms are found to describe the confluence situation clearly. The term ‘Ahwoolim’ connotes a meeting of more than two different persons or things that become harmonious; however different they were, they come to resonate with each other and lose their ordinary self-boundaries. The term Shinmyong describes an ecstatic state of aliveness and mutual sense of becoming one another; it literally means a state when a divine force becomes brightened and connotes the fullness of vital life force when something bottled inside is completely released.
- 2.
This does not call into question the existential commitment to mindfulness of either a Western Buddhist or a secular practitioner. It is simply that the fit for the situation may be more or less close and thereby more or less successful. This suggests that staying within the practice “lineage” of secular and clinical mindfulness may have value in establishing oneself as a valuable therapist/teacher. This should not be seen in any way as a less spiritual path; the commitment is to the other as the central concern, meaning the sense of self-sacrifice or selflessness is primary and noteworthy. As Shonin and Van Gordon (2015) note, “Belonging to a lineage theoretically ensures that a person has the necessary ‘credentials’ to be an effective meditation teacher, and as such, knowing an individual’s lineage can help us make an informed decision about their suitability as a teacher. However, just because a given meditation or mindfulness teacher is from a scientific background and/or is not particularly interested in being part of a Buddhist lineage or tradition, this does not by default mean that they are not authentic. Likewise, just because a teacher belongs to an‘established’ Buddhist or meditation lineage, this does not, by default, mean that they are able to impart an authentic transmission of the teachings” (p. 143).
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McCown, D. (2016). Being Is Relational: Considerations for Using Mindfulness in Clinician-Patient Settings. In: Shonin, E., Gordon, W., Griffiths, M. (eds) Mindfulness and Buddhist-Derived Approaches in Mental Health and Addiction. Advances in Mental Health and Addiction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22255-4_3
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