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Growth of mindfulness and meditation
One social trend arising from the Covid pandemic has been the broad acceptance of mindfulness or meditation as a means of coping with the anxiety or isolation that might come from enforced lockdown and restriction from normal, civil freedoms. Even government schools that would be aghast at introducing religious teaching and practice of any religion as a mainstream school activity have introduced and encouraged the practice of mindfulness as a coping mechanism. NYT Young adults report rising anxiety
Definition
Modern-day mindfulness refers to being fully present in body, mind and spirit with your conscious experience. It means living in the moment, and accepting your thoughts, sensations and experiences as they occur.
Other terms used are being "centred", "focussed", "in the moment".
Purpose
Mindfulness training, which is a form of meditation, has been used to teach self-mutilators to observe and identify their feelings in order to have some control over them.
Mindfulness involves a process of bringing body, mind and spirit together in harmony. This is, no matter how you want to dress it, religious practice.
Mindfulness introduced by Buddhist monk
So is it helpful and therefore a good thing?
As a Christian I had been concerned that occultic influence was being subtly introduced into schools in the guise of mental health welfare such as mindfulness but lacked any extra-Biblical evidence to support my concerns. However, it seems that even non Christian researchers are starting to see some warning signs.
Yet a growing body of research suggests that such stories may be surprisingly common, with one study from 2019 showing that at least 25% of regular meditators have experienced adverse events, from panic attacks and depression to an unsettling sense of “dissociation”
How mindfulness can spike anxiety - BBC article
Research report on Unpleasant meditation-related experiences in regular meditators
A Google search for "dangers of mindfulness in schools" will return a list of academic articles on the issues that arise from its practice in a school setting.
Christian Perspectives
— Matthew 6:25-33
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? … And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?… But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’… and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Christian meditation is the act of filling one’s mind with Scripture, and dwelling on God and all that He offers to humanity.
This article includes a helpful comparison of mindfulness and Christian meditation
When Mary, the mother of Jesus, was visited by the angel, Gabriel, and told that she would bear the Son of God Luke 2:19 KJV
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
Keeping our thoughts centred on the word of God and allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal God to us through that word is Christian meditation. It is God focussed and aligned to the word of God as revealed in the Bible.
Luke 5: 16 (NLT) New Living Translation
But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.
Non-biblical mindfulness is a counterfeit practice in disobedience to the First Commandment.
Mark 12:30 New King James Version
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
Giving our heart, mind and soul to someone or something else including ourselves is opening ourselves to demonic thoughts and influences.
Hebrews 4: 12 New American Standard Bible
For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Isaiah 26:3 New Life Version
You will keep the man in perfect peace whose mind is kept on You, because he trusts in You.
Mark 8 NKJV
But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
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