'Tis a fearful thing to love what death can touch.

The practice of mindfulness may offer a new way of being in these present moments as they shift and change. But what is mindfulness and how could it be of service?

Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, launched mindfulness meditation from an alternative practice into the mainstream within the U.S. health system when he designed the eight week “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction” (MBSR) program in 1979. The MBSR curriculum allowed mindfulness to be put under the microscope of clinical trials in exploration of various clinical applications. Subsequent studies now number in the thousands and demonstrate its efficacy in alleviating chronic pain, depression, anxiety; positively impacting the immune system and reducing blood pressure, among many more.

Before looking into the use of mindfulness within the field of oncology social work, it’s important to recognize a key fact—mindfulness does not equal paying attention. If mindfulness was only strengthening our ability to pay attention, it would be called attention training. Mindfulness is BOTH the training of attention and training in kindness.

When practicing mindfulness meditation, a person is instructed to bring their Attention, Kindness, Awareness, Patience and Noticing TO THE PRESENT MOMENT WITH Acceptance, Curiosity, Fresh eyes, Experiencing, Nonjudgement, Presence, Trust and Attending.   

Because our natural plan is to pay attention to the total environment, it is likely that when we bring our attention to the present moment by choosing just one thing to pay attention to (e.g., physical sensations, the breath, sounds, movement, the person we’re talking to), soon enough, we notice that our attention has been grabbed by something else and we are no longer paying attention to that initial focus. Are we able to kindly bring our attention back? Or do we browbeat ourselves? Here is when kindness plays an especially large role. When we notice our attention has wandered, what is our relationship toward our mind?

If you’re anything like me, you often forget the kindness piece and go straight for your own jugular. “Bad attention. Stay! Get back here and stay here!” Instead, we could investigate what happens when we train both our attention and our kindness. Then, when we notice that our attention has moved or wants to move away, we can treat it as we would a favorite child and gently return it to the present moment.

If you are considering using mindfulness as an intervention or support for social workers, patients, families and colleagues, be aware of these questions to consider:

1. Would a brief mindfulness exercise be appropriate for support in bearing/witnessing/shifting a temporary state?
    
2. What is the easiest place for a person to pay attention to with kind curiosity? And to return their kind attention to when the mind has wandered? The breath? The body moving? A sound?
    
3. Is there a long-standing habitual pattern that the person is interested in shifting—for example, numbing strong emotions?
    
4. Is there space in their daily life to make a commitment to a longer, on-going mindfulness meditation training program like MBSR?
    
5. If you as a social worker are interested in sharing mindfulness as a potential intervention, do you have your own established mindfulness practice?
    
6. What is the correct ‘dose’ of mindfulness and in what form?

If you work within a large health system, chances are that you as an oncology social worker may have access to a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course. It’s also likely that you can receive up to 26 CEUs for completing the program. If you’re interested in exploring the question of mindfulness and oncology social work further, please reach out. I promise to bring my full attention and kindness to your questions!