What Are The Origins Of Mindfulness
What are the origins of mindfulness? Tracebacks from Hinduism, Christianity, Muslim, and Buddism to secular mindful practices in the West
By | Giang Cao Ho My |thriveglobal.com
Mindfulness has become popular in the modern world for stress relief, emotional management and maintaining mental focus. However, it is not a trendy cultural moment or therapy. In reality, mindfulness finds its origins back to more than 2500 years.
What are the origins of mindfulness? Knowing them helps you gain a deeper understanding and more meaningful practice. This article offers a comprehensive review.
Mindfulness is an ancient technique with modern benefits.
Mindfulness is the capacity to focus on the “present” moment. However, its ancient religious origins gave more meaning to this practice than simply being present. It embraces “living a wholesome life and having loving-kindness to all sentient beings” (Kuan, 2007, Visionpsychology).
“Mindfulness traces its origins back to various religious and secular traditions. These include Hinduism, Christianism, Muslim, Buddhism before the modern secular practices. There are many mindful practices. They range from a variety of meditation traditions to yoga and Tai Chi. Most recently, there are more and more non-religious mindful techniques and awareness-raising therapies. Indeed “people have been practicing mindfulness for thousands of years, whether on its own or as part of a larger tradition” (PositivePsychology).
Understanding the origins and philosophy of mindful practices brings us a broader insight and practice depth. So what are the origins of mindfulness? Let us look into some of them.