Mindfulness is a hot topic in today’s world. Even if you aren’t sure what it is, most of us are familiar with the concept of mindfulness. You may have heard about it in school, on television, at a doctor’s office or on a podcast. Yet, it is often hard to articulate the meaning of mindfulness.

Mindfulness is the practice of awareness in which you purposely pay attention to what is going on right now, without judgment. I emphasize the words practice and purposely because they are the key elements of mindfulness. Mindfulness enables one to slow down and observe what is happening internally and externally. However, it can be difficult to slow down long enough to take in what is happening in the moment.  Think about what you are doing right now. Maybe you are reading this article, but also making a mental grocery list or analyzing a conversation from yesterday. In reality, most of us are thinking about the past or worrying about the future while participating in a present activity. This is why thinking of mindfulness as a purposeful practice of paying attention to the present moment is so important. Mindfulness, like so many things, doesn’t happen naturally, but grows and deepens if you make a commitment to it (Kabat-Zinn, 2005).

You may have also noticed that remaining nonjudgmental is an element of mindfulness. Not only are we often thinking about the past or future, but we are also hard on ourselves. Maybe you got a little annoyed at yourself when you realized you were making that grocery list while reading this article. Perhaps you weren’t just rethinking a conversation, but were also criticizing yourself for what you said. In truth, self-judgment is normal and habitual for most of us. This is why the practice of mindfulness also involves not reacting to our thoughts and feelings in the present moment. Instead, mindfulness encourages simply allowing yourself to be with whatever is occurring in the moment (Kabat-Zinn, 2005).

Although mindfulness is considered a hot topic, it is not new. Mindfulness practices have existed for thousands of years and have roots in Buddhism. It is only more recently that mindfulness has become mainstream in Western culture. Many credit John Kabat-Zinn with bringing mindfulness into Western culture. It was in 1979 that Kabat-Zinn created the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. It is no coincidence that mindfulness found its footing in Western culture within the medical community. Extensive research has shown that the mind and body are connected, and although that makes sense to many of us, the practice of mindfulness has provided greater context for this truth. Mindfulness is rooted in the body and encourages us to pay attention to, as opposed to react to, what is happening in our body (Kabat-Zinn, 2005). This shift away from reactivity has shown to have a significant physical health impact, such as decreasing one’s blood pressure (Niazi & Niazi, 2011).

Beyond decreasing our blood pressure, the practice of mindfulness in medicine is part of a greater shift from “curing” to “healing.” We often think that the sole goal of medicine is to “cure” or make an illness go away. In reality, many diseases, including cancer, are not always curable but are manageable. What is medicine’s role then? It is not simply to stabilize symptoms, but also to assist people to live as well as possible. In the world of mindfulness, the focus of medicine shifts to “healing” or learning to relate to an illness in a different way. This quote by Kabat-Zinn, summarizes this well, “Being told that you have to learn to live with the pain should not be the end of the road—it should be the beginning” (2005, p. 286). As this quote highlights, mindfulness is an avenue for learning how to live as well as possible, even with pain and discomfort.

Within the world of oncology, the practice of mindfulness can help patients and families relate differently to the challenges they face both physically and emotionally. Instead of focusing one’s energy solely on wishing an illness or symptom would go away, mindfulness helps create space for patients to remain in the present. Mindfulness would argue that, in the present moment, we can move from reacting to our feelings to sitting with them and then responding. The goal of responding is not necessarily to change anything, but to have a greater ability to “be with” an experience with less distress. Whether or not we realize it, much of our distress comes from harshly judging our reaction to a situation and wishing for things to change in either the past or future. Mindfulness allows us the space needed to slow down and truly choose how we want to respond. The feeling of choosing, as opposed to reacting, can often give us a greater sense of ownership over even the most difficult situations.

It is very common to feel lost in how to begin practicing mindfulness. Especially when navigating the often stressful world of oncology, it can feel impossible to have time to simply be in the moment. The good news is that you can cultivate a mindfulness practice anywhere and in just a few minutes a day. Practicing mindfulness can be as simple as focusing on your breathing before a doctor’s appointment, doing a three-minute meditation to start or end your day or attending a weekly yoga class. There are a plethora of books and apps that can help guide you as you enter the world of mindfulness. The key point is that mindfulness isn’t a goal you need to achieve or cross off your list. Mindfulness is an ongoing journey on how to be more present and, in being more present, relate differently to the inevitable stressors we all face. For those facing cancer, mindfulness can be one tool to help cope with the many tests, scans, symptoms and unknowns that are often part of this disease.

References

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2005). Full catastrophe living: Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness (15th anniversary ed.). New York: Delta Trade.

Niazi, A.K., & Niazi, S.H. (2011). Mindfulness-based stress reduction: A non-pharmacological approach for a chronic illness. North American Journal of Medical Sciences, 1, 20-23. doi: 10.4297/najms.2011.320