[annielovesbacon]

I personally have always thought the concept of mindfulness -- being present in the moment, not thinking about the past or future -- is a bit of bullhonky, at least as a therapeutic strategy. My T brought it up for the first time last week and I had to keep myself from groaning out loud.
My problem with it is, it shifts all blame from my anxiety to myself. My anxiety causes me to worry about my future and focus on my past, but now I have to blame myself because I wasn't being "mindful" enough. Of course I know from CBT that I do have some control over my thoughts and my thoughts influence my emotions, but as someone who has a really hard time with being overly strict with myself, I am trying to steer away from placing all blame on myself all the time, and that's how I perceive mindfulness.
In the opposite vein, sometimes I don't WANT to be present in this moment. I think about the future or past to escape bad feelings that I have RIGHT NOW. So why would I want to be mindful about this exact moment?

But maybe I'm being too cynical. I'm curious to hear how others think about mindfulness, specifically as a therapy tool.

I agree with the value of the present moment, and that it shouldn't be overlooked, because it's all that really exists.
However, the whole mindfulness as a coping tool or something doesn't appeal to me at all. T1 used to go on and on about staying mindful and it left a bitter taste in my mouth I think. If it works for others then great, but I found it impossible to get any therapeutic use out of it.

[atisketatasket]

I'm not sure why it would place blame on you. I would see it as placing responsibility on oneself to do the best you can in the present moment. If you fail at it, you fail at it. We all screw up constantly. Blame shouldn't apply for failure to live in the present.

As for the concept, I've been told I do it automatically. I see it more as me avoiding the reality of the past and future.

[annielovesbacon]

Originally Posted by Echos Myron

I agree with the value of the present moment, and that it shouldn't be overlooked, because it's all that really exists.
However, the whole mindfulness as a coping tool or something doesn't appeal to me at all. T1 used to go on and on about staying mindful and it left a bitter taste in my mouth I think. If it works for others then great, but I found it impossible to get any therapeutic use out of it.

Okay, I guess that's kind of how I feel about it. I also agree that the present moment is valuable. But I do not like it as a coping strategy -- it doesn't help me.

Originally Posted by atisketatasket

I'm not sure why it would place blame on you. I would see it as placing responsibility on oneself to do the best you can in the present moment. If you fail at it, you fail at it. We all screw up constantly. Blame shouldn't apply for failure to live in the present.

As for the concept, I've been told I do it automatically. I see it more as me avoiding the reality of the past and future.

Blame is how I specifically feel about it because I have a natural tendency to blame myself for everything. So, to me, when I fail at being mindful, it's just another thing to blame myself for. I know that's not how everyone sees it, and it's not how I'm supposed to see it, but it is.

[Out There]

I like it and use it a lot , but I don't perceive it as placing the blame on yourself ? There are different techniques , my T gave me a printout of some like using an object for example. But I know people cringe at the mere mention of the word - like I do with standard CBT ( just not a fan of it. . )

[stopdog]

I am not against it in general. It has nothing to do with therapy for me.
I despised cbt and found it harmful. If mindfulness in therapy has anything to do with cbt - I would never consider allowing it.
I have found meditation and qi gong breathing etc useful to me in my life - but I was doing them long before I tried therapy.

[Skeezyks]

From my perspective, mindfulness is not a remedy for anxiety. Mindfulness grows out of calm centeredness the way a beautiful plant might grow out of well-prepared soil. To cast mindfulness as a therapy for anxiety is, to my mind, putting the cart before the horse, as we used to say...

[annielovesbacon]

Originally Posted by Skeezyks

From my perspective, mindfulness is not a remedy for anxiety. Mindfulness grows out of calm centeredness the way a beautiful plant might grow out of well-prepared soil. To cast mindfulness as a therapy for anxiety is, to my mind, putting the cart before the horse, as we used to say...

That makes sense to me, and it would make sense why I don't like it now as my anxiety is nowhere near under control!

["andstillirise"]

I like the concept this is how I see it: Pilot (me), Plane (my life), Fog ( triggers), Mindfulness (tool). I navigate through my fog (triggers) by reminding myself I am here in the now. I fully accept my inability to change yesterday, and I have no power to predict my tomorrows. By using the tool (mindfulness). I see myself becoming a better person, more powerful. I don't blame myself if I forget to stay mindful.

[AllHeart]

I used to practice mindfulness quite a bit and it did help with my excessive overthinking and ruminating. I so need to try to get back into it.

[InnerPeace111]

My experience has been that certain strategies have appealed to me and have worked better at different stages of my life. For example, CBT was perfect for me in my 20's and 30's while mindfulness and meditation are perfect for me now in my 40's and as I approach my 50's. How you feel about mindfulness is how you feel...there is no right or wrong here...there is just simply doing our best day to day.

[ScarletPimpernel]

True mindfulness is about being non-judgmental. Nothing is good or bad, right or wrong. It just is.

And mindfulness is an exercise. Sometimes you need to think about the past or prepare for the future. You're not meant to be mindfull 100% of the time.

[retro_chic]

I used to see a T who did Acceptance and Commitment Therapy which uses some mindfulness techniques. Overall I found it annoying because it sort of brushed off the root of the problem. To me it felt like the therapy equivalent of putting your hands over your ears and saying "LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU". As a short term coping skill it is okay but as an overall treatment it's not for me.

[Luce]

Ex T used mindfulness, but back then we didn't want a bar of it. Fast forward 20 years and I needed to deal with / resolve a current stressful situation with very limited resources, one of the few available being a mindfulness course, so I took it. I didn't like the way they did it, but I adapted some of the techniques for ways that suited us better and found them helpful.
I had two very intense examinations this week, in which the outcome (pass or fail) will make a huge difference to our quality of life. (It will either go up a little, or down a lot). In the two weeks leading up to the exams the anxiety levels were sky high, then in the last week conversations with a friend and my T reminded me to use the mindfulness and EMDR techniques that we have. I found that in the days before my exams the anxiety level was about 2/10, and in the exams themselves it was more like a 1.
I am not one much for sitting down and meditating, but I like to practice awareness of self, tension, breathing etc, and to practice being fully present in nature. Those techniques seem to work best for me.

[annielovesbacon]

Originally Posted by retro_chic

I used to see a T who did Acceptance and Commitment Therapy which uses some mindfulness techniques. Overall I found it annoying because it sort of brushed off the root of the problem. To me it felt like the therapy equivalent of putting your hands over your ears and saying "LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU". As a short term coping skill it is okay but as an overall treatment it's not for me.

That's how I feel about it, too. My anxiety is not because I am not mindful, and so I feel like if I focus too much on mindfulness I will never address the root of my anxiety.

[Luce]

Originally Posted by annielovesbacon

That's how I feel about it, too. My anxiety is not because I am not mindful, and so I feel like if I focus too much on mindfulness I will never address the root of my anxiety.

When I talked about my first experiences with mindfulness with ex T last year I told her it felt like dissociation - that I was simply pushing everything aside and pretending it didn't exist. It felt like breathing my way through the anxiety was just like ignoring it.
Now - having just amazed myself at the almost complete lack of anxiety in the immediate lead up to and in the exams themselves this week - I think who cares what the root cause of it was? I just went through a stressful situation with barely a ripple of anxiety at all. No tummy upset, no panic attack, no hyperventilating, no insomnia, no butterflies, no bathroom issues - nothing.
I amazed myself. I didn't know it was possible.

In the end I guess the symptoms of anxiety are just that - symptoms. The anxiety itself could be caused by a whole range of different issues. If mindfulness eases the symptoms of anxiety you are correct in saying that the cause of the anxiety is still there. But you can still deal with the cause of the anxiety even without experiencing the symptoms of it. Not being in an anxious state would make it easier to deal with the issues, wouldn't it?

[skeksi]

I feel like my anxiety takes me away from my body and the present moment. My brain turns into a tornado of fears and what ifs and that is where I exist in that moment. Mindfulness brings me back to earth and to right now. Like you Luce, I have found it makes it easier to deal with my anxieties when I am being mindful. (But not as calmly as you describe--I'm so happy it went well for you!)

[Luce]

Originally Posted by skeksi

Like you Luce, I have found it makes it easier to deal with my anxieties when I am being mindful. (But not as calmly as you describe--I'm so happy it went well for you!)

Thanks. I have to say I was remarkably surprised myself. I never expected to feel anywhere near as calm as I did. It was a completely new experience for me. I could see how nervous and anxious everyone else was around me, and I would even say it felt disconcerting to be SO free from anxiety.
Wouldn't change it for the world, though!

[junkDNA]

my T has his masters degree in contemplative psychotherapy. he got it at Naropa university in colorado. they combine buddhist practices into western psychotherapy concepts. so needless to say, my T loves mindfulness. he has been on retreats where they had to spend 3 consecutive days meditating. i would DIE. he knows i struggle with it, and does not push it on me. at first he kinda did...when we first met. i tried it out. my brain is far too loud to meditate... i do try to focus on the present moment sometimes, but i find that hard as well. im constantly thinking into the past or the future

[scorpiosis37]

I simply don't find mindlessness or meditation useful. If I did them in therapy, I would see it as a huge waste of time and money when i could be talking about things that WOULD be helpful. Outside of therapy, my life is quite busy and stopping a productive activity to do mindfulness or meditation would be a waste. I feel my best when I get things done and when I make a connection with another person. I absolutely hate sitting in silence and doing these kinds of exercises; it feels like I am being trapped and prevented from doing something useful.

[Onward2wards]

I think it has its useful place, but its one tool of many.

[ruh roh]

It's not something I would pay a therapist for, and depending on when or if one of them brings it up, it can feel really dismissive if the therapist is a mindfulness clod. There are places to go for free or low cost, plus a lot of reading and video material.

[precaryous]

Although I'm certain I don't know all there is to know about it, the thought of mindfulness annoys the **** out of me.

My therapist got on a mindfulness kick a few years back. I humored him for awhile trying to keep an open mind. I read a book he recommended and tried some of the exercises. I found it rather useless for me personally. I wasn't in a place anymore where I was dealing much with anxiety or ruminations (which is where perhaps mindfulness could have been a help if he'd introduced it at that time). I already had developed methods of calming my mind that didn't seem so contrived and hokey to me, so it just seemed like a waste of session time to work on it in therapy -- kind of too little, too late. Eventually I just pretty much forbade him from bringing up the topic of mindfulness because it just didn't have clear relevance for me and it frankly pissed me off to waste time on it; it felt off-topic and came off as a disconnect because it really wasn't what I needed or wanted at the time (like I said, it probably would have helped moreso years earlier than it did at the time he started bringing it up). Fortunately, he respected my opinion and backed off.

[Pennster]

I find mindfulness very helpful, but I think of it differently than many people are talking about it. For me it's just a way of being more engaged in the world. It doesn't make me all that much less anxious, it just helps me to live a more engaged life while feeling whatever I'm going to be feeling.

I think of mindfulness as a heightened awareness of my current experience in the world. Meditation is one way to develop it, but it's by no means the only way. Just really paying attention when you are taking a walk can be mindfulness, or even talking to another person.

I used to live my life so much in my head and I didn't even know that I was doing it. I try much harder to be mentally present in the world now. We didn't spend a lot of time in therapy doing mindfulness exercises, but my therapist is a big promoter of it so I read a lot to understand it and did exercises on my own.