#300 Suffering, Mindfulness, Self-regulation, Self-exploration, Self-liberation

     Interest in meditation is often "focused on its effects as a self-regulation strategy in addressing stress and pain management and enhancing relaxation and physical health. By operationalizing the content and components of meditation, and divorcing it from its (deeper) context, meditation could be viewed as a self-regulation strategy."
       Shapiro DH. A preliminary study of long-term meditators: Goals, effects, religious orientation, cognitions. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 1992; 24(1): 23-39.

     Yet, the actual aim of Mindfulness practice is "not to bring about particular desired states or experiences, but rather to accept experiences as they are without reacting to them or judging them negatively. It is therefore clear that the main aim of mindfulness programs for pain is not sensory pain reduction, but rather better control over the cognitive and emotional aspects of pain, and it is this that defines the usefulness of mindfulness within a pain self-management program." 
       Brown CA, Jones AK. Psychobiological correlates of improved mental health in patients with musculoskeletal pain after a mindfulness-based pain management program. Clin J Pain 2013; 29(3): 233-44.


      With continued practice, a gradual shift occurs even in the intention behind practicing - from self-regulation, to self-exploration, and finally self-liberation.
       Shapiro DH. A preliminary study of long-term meditators: Goals, effects, religious orientation, cognitions. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 1992; 24(1): 23-39.

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