Exploring the History of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
Depending on where you first heard about mindfulness-based stress reduction, you might already have some knowledge about its origins and background. Maybe it's a part of your religion, or perhaps you've heard your therapist talk about it in a session. Or you may have first heard about it on TV or in a magazine.
Whatever you know about mindfulness meditation, there's a unique history that's worth understanding as you further your practice. Let's examine when mindfulness first became a practice, how it worked its way into Western civilization, and how it's becoming a booming trend in America today.
Tracing the Origins of Mindfulness Back to Ancient Times
Many people are surprised to learn that we can trace the roots of mindfulness back to meditation practices that were used in ancient Eastern philosophies. Centuries before the birth of Christ, Hindus were practicing yoga, Daoism followers were participating in qì gong exercises, and Buddhists were practicing mindfulness meditation.
Although it's challenging to determine precisely when the practice of meditation was born, there's Indian art that depicts people in meditative postures from approximately 5,000 to 3,500 BCE. Furthermore, almost all Hindu religious books reference meditation to at least some degree, supporting the idea that meditation was first developed in India.
No matter what culture or religion you look at, there's usually some sort of evidence supporting the idea that their practitioners used meditation for stress and anxiety. Even Christianity and Judaism have practices placing focus on thought awareness and stress reduction. While mindfulness may be somewhat of a generic word, it has been practiced in various forms for thousands of years.
University of Massachusetts Medical Center, 1979
Although evidence of mindfulness stress reduction practices in many cultures can be found throughout history, most experts consider a man named Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., to be the founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction exercises. The research he conducted in the late 1970s and early 1980s completely revolutionized how we view mindfulness in Western society.
At the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979, Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic. It was here that systematic and intensive training in mindfulness meditation and yoga took flight in America. Through his research, Kabat-Kinn found strong evidence that his MBSR (mindfulness-based stress reduction) program significantly relieved suffering and improved the well-being of participants.
After learning about Kabat-Zinn's successful stress reduction and relaxation program, many American psychologists became interested in mindfulness as a potential tool to help their patients. Experts began to study its effectiveness on everything from cognition to emotion, as well as stress management. Instead of just being viewed as a part of religious or cultural practice, mindfulness was finally being recognized as a scientifically based practice.
Fast-forward to about 2015
By the mid-2000s, a deep well of scientific research has formed. Over 80% of American medical schools had adopted some element of mindfulness training, research, and/or education as a part of their degree programs. National news outlets like Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, American Scientific and many others were writing articles and cover stories aimed at introducing the millions of Americans now intrigued by how mindfulness could relieve their high levels of stress and anxiety.
Today, thousands of certified MBSR instructors have graduated from the Massachusetts Medical Center course design by Kabat-Zinn. Many methods of meditation for stress and anxiety have become widely used, including:
Body scanning or progressive relaxation
Yoga
Breathing awareness meditation
Guided meditation
Today, mindfulness-based stress reduction is no longer considered a "hippy-dippy" alternative therapy. It has become a mainstream treatment method accepted by doctors, scientists, and psychologists around the world.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Today
In the past five to six years alone, meditation's popularity has more than tripled in the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control. To prescribe fewer pills to treat depression and anxiety, many physicians are now recommending mindfulness-based therapies alongside other routes of treatment.
Yoga might be the most popular mindfulness practice, but there are many accepted meditation techniques to achieve stress relief. The question is, why the sudden boom in mindfulness popularity, especially here in America?
One of the biggest reasons is the scientific evidence that meditation helps people navigate stress. Whether you're dealing with chronic stress, short-term anxiety, or a particularly stressful situation, the brain responds to mindfulness in surprising ways.
Take a look at the graph above, which gives us a feel for how dramatically mindfulness-based research has increased over the past few decades. With more research available to the public, more people are becoming aware of the practice and its apparent benefits.
Additionally, more and more people are practicing mindfulness meditation just because it makes them feel good. Thousands of people have been sharing their stories of increased compassion, kindness, relaxation, and mental health, all thanks to the practice of meditation.
For a great example of how life-changing mindfulness has been for some Americans, check out Karen Liebenguth's personal story on HR Zone.
For many years, she lived in constant, catastrophic fear on a day-to-day basis because of her chronic anxiety. With meditation, she was able to analyze her stress pattern and adjust it accordingly. In her story, she says:
"Mindfulness is not an idea, it's a practice. It requires daily commitment, faith, and stamina. The pay-off is huge and can be life-changing. It certainly has given me back my life."
In Conclusion
Regardless of how you practice meditation, where you first heard about mindfulness, or how you feel about the concept as a whole, it's clear that there's a fascinating history surrounding the subject. Although we can trace its roots back thousands of years, it seems even more relevant to us today. Our stressful "always-on" technology-driven lifestyles are crying out for some relief. And millions of people are finding that mindfulness meditation is just what the doctor prescribed.
If you've been looking for help with mindfulness-based stress reduction in Boston, don't hesitate to get in touch. I've been a Boston mindfulness coach for many years and am available to work with aspiring meditators of any level.
Join millions of other Americans and start your powerful journey toward mindfulness today!
