[Closed] Mindfulness - Useful tool or new age BS?

Having 10 minutes quiet time must do some good.

http://blog.ted.com/2013/01/11/4-scientific-studies-on-how-meditation-can-affect-your-heart-brain-and-creativity/

Personally I'd want it to do some good and not just do no harm.

Its useful. Is it good for kids? I dont know. Is it good for adults? I think yes.

It encourages an approach that says: well, the past is the past, can I change it? Clearly no. Can I learn from it? Absolutely.

There seems to be mounting (proper, validated) scientific evidence in favour of it.

Just watched the TED talk posted above.

I am pretty sure it would be useful for children even it it just pulls them away from IT for a few minutes a day. Even, as it says in the vid, they may not use it straight away but surely no harm in introducing it to them.

For me solo bike rides do the same thing ( does not work when I am out with other people, but I enjoy both)

nothing new though is it?

Useful so long as you have a good teacher.

Useless if you think you can achieve it in a short period time.

DT78 - Member
nothing new though is it?

Does it have to be?

It's just something that helps us to switch off from all the stimulus in our daily lives. To some degree, I don't think it's just helpful, but essential. It's probably something we all do from time to time without even realising.

Guard your faculties if you want to be mindful.

Seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling and action.

Watch out for the monkey mind as it will cause you havoc.

Mindfulness is a key element of buddhism, which is certainly not new age.
I'm not sure mindfulness on it's own is much without the other aspects of buddhism though (4 Noble Truths, Eightfold Path etc).
Rich.

At the end of the day, we are composed of the same matter as the universe, animated by some force we don't fully comprehend despite our intellect and technology (seems that the vast investment in CERN is in pursuit of the mystery matter that binds the universe) ; some [url= http://themindunleashed.org/2014/01/scientific-proof-thoughts-intentions-can-alter-physical-world-around-us.html ]recent studies[/url] have suggested that our thoughts and emotions can have a physical effect on the world around us.

When you think about it, there is no sound explanation for the placebo effect, or as I like to call it 'the jedi effect'

rwamartin - Member

Mindfulness is a key element of buddhism, which is certainly not new age.
I'm not sure mindfulness on it's own is much without the other aspects of buddhism though (4 Noble Truths, Eightfold Path etc).
Rich.

It's universal so not necessary Buddhism. If a person is mindful s/he will understand what Buddha is talking about.

Start (train) with the basic of mindfulness (tame the monkey mind) first then compare that to Buddha's teaching.

I had CBT for my bipolar which was useless.
Mindfullnes helps me a great deal when I feel an episode trigger. It doesn't always work but I'm a lot better than I was.

iolo - Member
Mindfullnes helps me a great deal when I feel an episode trigger.

That's good because you are able to see it rising but just keep observing it. Don't take any action. Just observe its rising and falling. It will soon disappear but will rise again with more powerful havoc. Do nothing but observe and soon it will give up. Continue observing.

I've done a few mindfulness sessions recently. I find them very relaxing. As long as the person guiding the session at a school was properly instructed, I'd say it was a good idea. A session need take only 10 minutes. My 8-year-old son's teacher sometimes puts on relaxing music and gets the kids to calm down and do some drawing. My son enjoyed it.

Deffo not new age bs,part of my life as a Buddhist not something that you can pick up after 10mins of one off teaching but if practised over a few days or weeks can be a BIG plus in life IMHO

I think it's a great idea. I've found it really beneficial and there's plenty of proper evidence supporting that.

Three words I endeavour to live by:

Mindfulness, acceptance and attitude.

Introducing mindfulness to people of a young age is a great step forward and gets my vote. 😀

I've been really pleased with the results of using mindfullness.

Really helped me with anxiety and depression. My life would be completely different if I had discovered it at school.

I've found it helps with enhancing experiences in my day to day life and really understanding what's important by enjoying the little things rather than just living in an autopilot and worrying about something that may never happen.

The most difficult aspect of being mindfulness is having to think through every action one is going to make with the consequential results.

Sorry OP, a bit OT

I had CBT for my bipolar which was useless.
Mindfullnes helps me a great deal when I feel an episode trigger. It doesn't always work but I'm a lot better than I was.

Bit random I know but would you mind dropping me an email? Completely understand if you don't want to.

Mindfulness, acceptance and attitude.

Three alternative words to live by: "Go for it!"

or even: "Vive la révolution"

It's sheep we're up against.

Personally, whilst I can see the wisdom behind mindfulness, CBT, etc., I find it very difficult to keep it at the forefront of my thinking.
It can be a good relaxation tool but find that it isn't the key to unlocking our inherent "programming" of worrying about the future and mulling over the past.
These seem like perfect biological tools for survival of a species. I'm sceptical whether this can be changed in a forced manner.

I'm probably doing it wrong though 😉

I was very sceptical when I first heard about mindfulness - new age woo doesn't get a lot of credance from me. However after seeing that it is actually backed up by medical results I thought I'd give it a go. It's not just quiet time, its certainly not meant to be relaxing, but it most certainly is all about observation, acceptance (but not passive submission) and being with the present.

Teaching it to kids? Dunno - what are you trying to achieve? Are they willing to commit to learning and putting in the practice on their own?

Professional opinion: useful and not BS.

Decent enough evidence base for a relatively new thing (except as pointed out above, its not really new, it's just the 'packaging' of it that is!) and a key part of managing the emotional disregulation of really troubled people in the also well-proven Dialiectical Behaviour Therapy.

Also interesting is the growing number of mental health professionals who choose to use these exercises for themselves or with colleagues (but who don't have a professional interest in it so to speak). If it was ballix the first people they would stop using it on would be themselves!

The Mrs is doing her clinical psychology Phd and has an interest in Mindfulness, in fact she's doing a full scale trial in S.Yorks with three schools next year with a hope to further validate the emerging evidence base as regards its usefulness.

Personally I think it's pointless, introspective bollocks, but then I'm not a practicing social worker/CBT practitioner with 20 years experience, and she is. Apparently "they should just f_in man up" isn't helpful....

Who knew.

It's good for women, as they never seem to be able to let go of shit..

FeeFoo - Member

Personally, whilst I can see the wisdom behind mindfulness, CBT, etc., I find it very difficult to keep it at the forefront of my thinking.

That's monkey mind hence very difficult to tame. Bear in mind we are constantly bothered by everything surrounding us with no way of escaping unless you know how to control your mind. A moment lack of concentration and the monkey mind will play havoc on you.

Most people give up after trying to tame the monkey mind to no avail. Put it this way if a person cannot control his/her own mind what chance has s/he got to have peace of mind? Temporary fix is just for short term gain only.

Sui - Member

It's good for women, as they never seem to be able to let go of shit..

That I have to disagree as gender has nothing to do with taming monkey mind. Letting go or detaching from the 5 senses is not something we can all do with ease. Some are better at detaching certain senses but deep down it is extremely difficult to detach from all senses with just a short period of training. You will find that you are at peace with yourself once you have attained certain level of detachment. Detachment does not mean without compassion and the act of balancing them are equally difficult. i.e. when do you detach and when do you show compassion that is the question.

sq225917 - Member

Personally I think it's pointless, introspective bollocks, ...

Yes, it can be pointless if a person is not ready to give it a try. Even trying for a few times can be pointless without knowing the purpose of mindfulness.

thepurist - Member

Teaching it to kids? Dunno - what are you trying to achieve? Are they willing to commit to learning and putting in the practice on their own?

Kids are able to concentrate better than adults because of their purity without the corruption of daily routine. Remember the time when you were a kid? Did you have to worry about mortgage or being a bread winner? Kids might not understand (some will) the exact purpose of mindfulness but they set the foundation for getting/trying out the technique. Teach them but let them decide if the knowledge gain will be useful for their future.

🙂

If they can find time for Mindfulness how about getting them to run for a quarter of an hour before lunch too. Walking past a school in the UK it looked like the porky little things would have benefited more from moving than sitting still.

I'd be very interested to find out more about this, maybe give it a go.

Anyone got any pointers for an intrigued wannabe...?

I'd be very interested to find out more about this, maybe give it a go.

Anyone got any pointers for an intrigued wannabe...?

I personally was recommended bemindfulonline, really pleased with the results.

@chewkw, I was being facetious

When I was a kid, we used to have "quiet" time for about 20mins a day at primary school. That was a very long time ago.

Thanks, Shep, bookmarked...

Total convert here - had a massive difference on my life and would recommend it to everyone.

Although having said that some people need it less than others just due to the way their minds are wired.

If it's useful, the government will pay lip service to it. Probably make a huge play about how they are going to encourage it in schools, plough in several millions, etc. Then having ticked the box, pull the plug.

I learned about mindfulness when I studied practical philosophy. In a nutshell it's about being aware of what's going on and staying with the present. I find it helps a lot when I've got a list of things I need to do, not 100% foolproof but it helps.

I've practiced for over 10 years. Still barking mad, but somewhat less so.

Thanks for all the replies folks.

Not sure if it's been mentioned already but the headspace app is good (and free).

My zombie maggot mind is always playing monkey with me all the time. Keeps coming up with new tricks to draw my attention. Never ends. 😡 I am going to beat it one day.