Even if that he awareness It is considered a relatively recent practice, its foundations come from Buddhism, a philosophical doctrine that dates back to 2500 years BC and which includes a variety of beliefs and traditions. In this case, it is said that the awareness closely related to Zen meditation and vipassanarepresentatives of the Buddhist current of here and now.
Having said that, let’s see how Buddhist philosophy is present in the teachings and principles of awareness. Do not miss it!
The arrival of awareness in the West
In 1979, the molecular biologist Jon Kabat ZinnA longtime practitioner of yoga and Zen meditation, she decided to investigate the potential benefits of the disciplines she studied for mind awareness and stress relief in a clinical context.
Because of this, developed an 8-week program based on contemplative practices and away from religious and cultural beliefs. He called this Mindfulness-based stress reduction or “mindfulness-based stress reduction practice.”
The class was held in the basement of the University of Massachusetts, where Kabat-Zin received patients who hadn’t found relief from conventional treatments. Results showed that the program was able to relieve a variety of symptoms associated with anxiety, eating disorders, addictions, chronic depression, and even psoriasis, among other conditions.
As, the program founded by Kabat-Zinn gave birth to the Stress Reduction Clinic inside the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. That’s how it became popular awareness as a therapeutic practice.
Today, the awareness it is understood as a formal meditation practice and, in turn, as a fully conscious perception of the world, of life and of oneself. dice the proven benefits that it has on health, has been placed as the main element in the many third generation psychotherapies.
Relationship between Buddhism and mindfulness
Kabat-Zinn and other experts have confirmed this He awareness It is the center of Buddhist meditation, for its relationship to meditation vipassana and Zen, currents that focus on the here and now.
This approach involves a meditation technique and a state of consciousness that leads to full attention to ourselves and our surroundings. Now, to better understand the relationship between Buddhism and awarenessLet’s look at the commonalities.
awareness and meditation vipassana
Although there are other Buddhist traditions, such as vajrayana AND mahayanaHe awareness it is considered a version of Buddhism theravadapopularized by Buddha Siddhartha Gautama in Southeast and South Asia.
Among the meditation techniques of Buddhism theravada highlights the vipassanawhich means “observing things as they are, not as they appear to ourselves”.
In this case, meditation vipassana is described as follows:
- In the first place, the person undertakes not to steal, not to kill, to have adequate sexual conduct, not to lie, not to ingest toxic substances, not to disturb the peace of others. AS, try to achieve sufficient serenity to continue.
- Second, you learn to control your mind, making it focus on the same thing, like breathing.
- In third place, the integral vision of nature itself is constructed. This would be the culmination of Buddhist teaching, which involves self-purification through observation.
awareness and Zen meditation
For its part, the relationship between Buddhism and awareness It becomes evident in the use of techniques typical of Zen meditation, such as attention to breathing and body positions (walking, lying down or sitting).
Furthermore, taking Zen meditation as a reference, Kabat-Zinn points out that the essential elements of awareness are the following:
- Always be patient which implies knowing how to respect the natural course of events and being open to every moment, since things are discovered when the time is right.
- Get rid of the habit of analyzing and judging our experiences as good or bad.
- Free ourselves from expectations caused by past experiences. This means keeping a beginner’s mind first.
- Believe in yourself and learn to listen to your own being.
- Neglecting the effort to get resultssince the practice of awareness it will give results on its own.
- Accepting ourselves and seeing things as they are in the present. This does not mean adopting an indifferent and passive attitude towards what one sees, but the willingness to see things as they are, without distortions.
take into account
The relationship between Buddhism and awareness it becomes evident in practices that encourage mindfulness in the here and now. Therefore, both help to gain a greater sense of connection and awareness with ourselves and the world around us.
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