Christina Feldman and Willem Kuyken: Mindfulness: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Psychology

Interest in mindfulness has proliferated over the past decade, and has increasingly been investigated in research, implemented in clinical contexts, and utilized widely by the general public (Brown et al. 2007; Khoury et al. 2013). Interest in mindfulness, particularly in Western contexts, has been predominantly secular. For instance, the most widely implemented manualized mindfulness training, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR; Kabat-Zinn 1990), was developed to be more secular in contrast to the Buddhist traditions from which mindfulness emerged. There are advantages to this approach, as mindfulness practice becomes more accessible for people from varied backgrounds when it is not tied to any particular religion or spiritual tradition. However, the rich history and Buddhist perspective when it comes to understanding, implementing, and teaching mindfulness does not have to be set aside in favor of a scientific modern psychology approach to mindfulness. These two perspectives can be held together without detracting from one another; rather, they can be complementary. …