Brahmavihara meditation & its potential benefits for a harmonious workplace

Author: Jyotsna Agrawal*, Poonam Bir Kaur Sahota** *Assistant Professor (corresponding author), ** M.Phil Scholar, Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore Email id: [email protected]

Abstract:

For an organization to succeed it is important to give attention to employees’ well-being. With the advent of Positive Psychology, there is empirical evidence to suggest positive experiences, and individuals leads to a profitable organization, through building personal and social resources. When it comes to application of meditation as an intervention for this purpose, research has predominantly focused upon the beneficial aspects of concentrative and mindfulness meditation. The meditative traditions have a long and rich tradition, which also includes interpersonal aspects, however research in this area trails behind. Since the vedic times, there has been an emphasis on the development of qualities called brahmavihara and in yoga tradition, Patanjali has emphasized it for overcoming a variety of difficulties. The work place interpersonal context can become a fertile ground for development of jealousy, hatred, unhealthy competitiveness etc ( Sarawasti, 2013). To counter these Brahmavihara meditation may be practiced, which includes cultivation of feelings of friendliness (Maitri), joy and goodwill (Mudita), compassion (Karuna) and acceptance and equanimity (Upeksha). These specific meditations and interventions have been found to result in multi-faceted improvements with respect to lowering of anxiety, depression, psychological distress, envy and improvement in interpersonal harmony and well- being. The current paper will discuss the implications of Brahmavihara meditation for workplace harmony and wellbeing.

Key words: meditation, interpersonal, compassion, loving kindness Introduction

In the present era, there is a surge in researches on the role of meditation, a family of self- regulation practices that focus on training attention and awareness in order to bring mental processes under greater voluntary control (Walsh and Shapiro, 2006), in improving health and well-being (Brand, Holsboer-Trachsler, Naranjo, and Schmidt,2012; Davidson and McEwen, 2012; Kaliman et al., 2014; Ospinaetal., 2007; Sedlmeier et al., 2012). Mindfulness meditation, where the attention is directed at the mental content, the current feelings or sensorial experience, with a non-judgmental attitude, has demonstrated effectiveness in reducing negative psychological states, such as stress, anxiety, and depression (Hofmann et al., 2010). This has led to interest in other forms of meditation, closely linked to mindfulness based meditation, involving emotional modes of attending to objects.

The four-fold practice of Brahmaviharas is one such practice. Brahmavihāra, translated as living in the realm of Brahma, is meant to reflect the ‘sublime inner states’ of loving-kindness (maitri/ mettā), compassion (karunā), empathetic/ appreciative joy (muditā) and equanimity (upeksha/ upekkhā, or samata). These attitudes are supposed to be object neutral, in the sense that they are not supposed to change depending on who the object of these attitudes. The earliest indication of importance of this concept is reflected in Rigveda, where God Mitra, the symbolic power/ God of friendship is one of the most important Gods. Further, it is considered that one of the oldest Upanishad (Brihadaranyaka) contains the still popularly used chant, ‘Om sarve bhavantu sukhinaH, sarve santu nitaamayaH / sarve bhadraaNi pashyantu maa kashchit duHkhabhaak bhavet / OM shaantiH shaantiH shaantiH!’ (May all attain peace, may all be healthy - may all enjoy good fortune, may none suffer misery and sorrow. Om !! Peace Peace Peace). Similarly, Chandogya Upanishad talks about how matri (friendliness) and ahimsa (non-violence) leads to Brahmaloka. Yoga Sutras of Patañjali mentions cultivation of these 4 bhavana, as one of the way to overcome a variety of obstacles in the spiritual path (Maitri-Karuna-muditopeksanamsukha- dukha / Punyapunya-visayanamnbhavanatascitta-prasadanam; i.e. The mind becomes clarified by cultivating attitudes of friendliness, compassion, gladness and indifference respectively towards happiness, misery, virtue and vice; Patanjali Yogasutra, Verse 33. It has also been emphasized in Yoga Vashitha. Later, Buddhism added its own language and interpretation to Brahmaviharas, (Aronson, 1980), which was called four immeasureables or illimitable, as it is supposed to be cultivated towards all without any limits (Bhikku, 1993).

Modern conceptualization of the Brahmaviharas or four immeasurables

Loving-kindness/ Maitri / Metta: Mettā literally means friendliness or having a ‘friend-like inner state’ (mittassabhāvo-mettā). It has been described as having unconditional love and goodwill for everyone, which is not colored by passion or sensuous attachment. Maitri is cultivated by developing some sense of connection with others, some commonality and oneness, and filling of the heart with loving-kindness. It results in removal of hatred, aversion or ill will, which is its opposite feeling. However one also has to be careful not to misunderstand it with selfish love or lust. Research has reported that it leads to increased daily experiences of positive emotions, along with increase in wide range of personal resources (e.g., increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, decreased illness symptoms) leading to increase in life satisfaction and reduction in depressive symptoms in a sample of randomly selected 135 software and IT services employees (Fredrickson et al, 2008).

Compassion/ Karuna: Karuna is having kindness for others, wanting to protect them and end their sufferings, and wishing their happiness. It is activated on seeing someone having difficulties and helplessness, resulting in a wish for alleviation of their pain and misery. It leads to peace and harmless thoughts, avoidance of injury, violence or cruelty. However it has to be differentiated from pity, which is a feeling colored by egoism. A variety of programs have been developed for compassion training for others and self, which has been found to be associated with decreased anxiety, depression and self-criticism, along with improved ability to manage negative events and take personal responsibility (Gilbert and Procter, 2006; Leary et al, 2007).

Sympathetic or appreciative Joy/ Mudita: Muditā is about feelings of joy or delight at the happiness or well-being of others. It is supposed to be triggered by sight of the happiness, good fortune, or prosperity of others and leads to destruction of envy, jealousy or dislike. Zeng et al., (2017, 2018) found appreciative joy meditation enhanced positive other-focused emotions (pro- socialness), happiness, life satisfaction and decreased negative emotions and envy.

Equanimity/ Upekkha: It can be translated as overlooking, being patient with, enduring and maintain a balanced state of mind, in spite of attraction or repulsion, and not go through elation or depression. The process seems to include distancing, accepting, non-judging and non- attachment. In interpersonal context, it is characterized by impartiality and being equal visioned, without attachment and aversion. It is supposed to be developed by having a perspective about larger laws of nature and of karma. It is about having a impartial witness stance, similar to psychological self-distancing and meta-awareness, and can decrease emotional and physiological reactivity, rumination, depression and facilitate adaptive self-reflection, maintaining calm and mental equilibrium even when provoked (Desbordes, Gard, Hoge and Holzel, 2015; Ayduk and Kross, 2008, 2010; Kross, Ayduk, and Mischel, 2005; Kross and Ayduk, 2008, Teasdale et al., 2002, Carmody et al., 2009). It can make people treat thoughts as transient and insubstantial mental events, which may provide space to choose an optimal response based on the current situation, help in extinguishing habitual maladaptive behavior responses and hence indirectly promote cognitive flexibility and psychological health (KashdanandRottenberg, 2010). Hadash, Segev, Tanay and Goldstein (2016) conceptualized Equanimity as an intentional attitude of acceptance of experiences, regardless of its hedonic tone and reduction of autonomic reactivity to the hedonic tone of experience, and decoupling of desire from the hedonic tone of current or anticipated experience. The model includes higher acceptance and lower experiential avoidance, thought suppression and distress tolerance leading to decreased anxiety sensitivity and cognitive reactivity to mood. Although it is hardest to cultivate. In a mindfulness based intervention, after 4 session there was reduction in reactivity to unpleasant hedonic tone, however it did not lead to attitude of acceptance (Hadash, Segev, Tanay and Goldstein, 2016).

Cultivation of Brahmaviharas

Majority of research in this area has been conducted over last decade, and it has been dominated by loving-kindness and compassion meditation, while appreciative joy and equanimity has few intervention based studies. The studies on cultivation of brahmaviharas, often focus on one or the other aspect of it, and usually are a mix of meditation practices, didactic teaching and group discussions. It generally includes contemplation and reflection on the conditions that are inimical and those that are favourable for the four brahmaviharas. Further there is an attempt to cultivate particular feeling, and then extend it from a small group (or a single person) to larger groups and finally to the entire world. For example, for development of loving kindness, one may start with generating the feeling of loving kindness for oneself, then towards someone for whom it is typically easy, then towards someone neutral, then towards someone who is challenging and difficulty and eventually towards everyone.

Brahmaviharas and workplace harmony

When one reviews the beneficial effects of Brahmavihara meditations, it is noted that since these practices are predominantly interpersonal in nature, not only it enhances positive emotions, life satisfaction and decreases negative emotions, but also have beneficial effect with respect to cultivation of positive social emotions, such as empathy, kindness etc. Modern work place is interpersonal in its context whereby people from different backgrounds, abilities and skills, come together for common goal. It is natural for negative social emotions to creep in such as jealousy, envy leading to unhealthy competitions and at times sabotaging of the organizational goal. Therefore Brahmaviharas meditations can lead to improved employee well-being and their interpersonal relationships.

Research has shown even one aspect of Brahmavihara meditation can lead to increase in a variety of desirable outcomes such as positive emotions, life satisfaction, self-awareness, self- acceptance, compassion for self and others, empathy, perspective taking, emotional concern and altruistic actions. It further leads to embracing rather than denying the suffering, and decreased self-criticism, distress, depression, anxiety and perception of relative lack along with envy (Leppman, 2014; Boellinghaus, Jones and Hutton, 2013). Although Patanjali in his yogasutra, have suggested brahmavihara or four bhavana for the purpose of overcoming a variety of difficulties, including dullness of mind, doubt, procrastination, distractibility etc. However research has not been conducted on these effect. If proven effect for them, these meditations amy be useful for even intra-individual problems seen at work place, going beyond interpersonal context.

Thus it may be concluded that although the field is still developing, and research on all four aspects is yet to built up, however the preliminary results indicate a lot of potential of Brahmavihara meditations, especially for developing, maintaining and enhancing workplace harmony and employee performance and well-being. Important references Bodhi, B. (1993). A comprehensive manual of abhidhamma: The abhidhammatthasangaha of âcariyaanuruddha. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society. Bodhi, B. (2010). The noble eightfold path: The way to the end of suffering. Buddhist Publication Society. Boellinghaus, I., Jones, F. W., & Hutton, J. (2013).Cultivating self-care and compassion in psychological therapists in training: The experience of practicing loving-kindness meditation.Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 7(4), 267. Brand, S., Holsboer-Trachsler, E., Naranjo, J. R., & Schmidt, S. (2012). Influence of mindfulness practice on cortisol and sleep in long-term and short-term meditators. Neuropsychobiology, 65(3), 109-118. Carmody, J., Baer, R. A., Lykins, E. L., &Olendzki, N. (2009).An empirical study of the mechanisms of mindfulness in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65(6), 613–626. Desbordes, G., Gard, T., Hoge, E. A., Hölzel, B. K., Kerr, C., Lazar, S. W., ...&Vago, D. R. (2015). Moving beyond mindfulness: defining equanimity as an outcome measure in meditation and contemplative research. Mindfulness, 6(2), 356-372. Forfylow, A. L. (2011). Integrating Yoga with Psychotherapy: A Complementary Treatment for Anxiety and Depression. Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 45(2), 132-150. Fredrickson, B. L., Cohn, M. A., Coffey, K. A., Pek, J., &Finkel, S. M. (2008). Open hearts build lives: positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of personality and social psychology, 95(5), 1045. Gilbert, P. (2009). Introducing compassion-focused therapy. Advances in psychiatric treatment, 15(3), 199-208. Gilbert, P., & Procter, S. (2006). Compassionate mind training for people with high shame and self‐ criticism: Overview and pilot study of a group therapy approach. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy: An International Journal of Theory & Practice, 13(6), 353- 379. Hadash, Y., Segev, N., Tanay, G., Goldstein, P., & Bernstein, A. (2016). The decoupling model of equanimity: theory, measurement, and test in a mindfulness intervention. Mindfulness, 7(5), 1214-1226. Hofmann, S. G., Grossman, P., & Hinton, D. E. (2011). Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: Potential for psychological interventions. Clinical psychology review, 31(7), 1126-1132. Kashdan, T. B., &Rottenberg, J. (2010).Psychological flexibility as a fundamental aspect of health. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(7), 865–878. Kearney, D. J., Malte, C. A., McManus, C., Martinez, M. E., Felleman, B., & Simpson, T. L. (2013). Loving‐ kindness meditation for posttraumatic stress disorder: A pilot study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 26(4), 426-434. Khalsa, M. K., Greiner‐‐ Ferris, J. M., Hofmann, S. G., &Khalsa, S. B. S. (2015). Yoga enhanced cognitive behavioural therapy (Y‐ CBT) for anxiety management: a pilot study. Clinical psychology & psychotherapy, 22(4), 364-371. Kraus, S., & Sears, S. (2009). Measuring the immeasurables: Development and initial validation of the Self-Other Four Immeasurables (SOFI) scale based on Buddhist teachings on loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.Social Indicators Research, 92(1), 169. Kross, E., Ayduk, Ö.,&Mischel, W. (2005). When asking “why” does not hurt. Distinguishing rumination from reflective processing of negative emotions. Psychological Science, 16(9), 709–715. Kuyken, W., Watkins, E., Holden, E., White, K., Taylor, R. S., Byford, S&Dalgleish, T. (2010). How does mindfulness-based cognitive therapy work?. Behaviour research and therapy, 48(11), 1105-1112. Leary, M. R., Tate, E. B., Adams, C. E., Batts Allen, A., & Hancock, J. (2007). Self- compassion and reactions to unpleasant self-relevant events: the implications of treating oneself kindly. Journal of personality and social psychology, 92(5), 887. Lutz, A., Brefczynski-Lewis, J., Johnstone, T., & Davidson, R. J. (2008). Regulation of the neural circuitry of emotion by compassion meditation: effects of meditative expertise. PloS one, 3(3), e1897. Ozawa-de Silva, B., & Dodson-Lavelle, B. (2011). An education of heart and mind: Practical and theoretical issues in teaching cognitive-based compassion training to children. Practical Matters, 4(4), 1-28.

Pace, T. W., Negi, L. T., Adame, D. D., Cole, S. P., Sivilli, T. I., Brown, T. D., ... & Raison, C. L. (2009). Effect of compassion meditation on neuroendocrine, innate immune and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 34(1), 87-98. Pace, T. W., Negi, L. T., Sivilli, T. I., Issa, M. J., Cole, S. P., Adame, D. D., & Raison, C. L. (2010). Innate immune, neuroendocrine and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress do not predict subsequent compassion meditation practice time. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 35(2), 310-315. Sanharakshita. Living with kindness: The Buddha’s teaching on metta. Birmingham, UK: Windhorse publications; 2004. Sedlmeier, P., Eberth, J., Schwarz, M., Zimmermann, D., Haarig, F., Jaeger, S., &Kunze, S. (2012). The psychological effects of meditation: a meta-analysis. Psychological bulletin, 138(6), 1139. Sheng-Yen, M. Hoofprints of the Ox: Principles of the Chan Buddhist path as taught by modern. Chinese Master. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2001. Walach, H., Buchheld, N., Buttenmüller, V., Kleinknecht, N., & Schmidt, S. (2006). Measuring mindfulness—the Freiburg mindfulness inventory (FMI). Personality and individual differences, 40(8), 1543-1555. Zeng, X., Chan, V. Y., Liu, X., Oei, T. P., & Leung, F. Y. (2017). The four immeasurables meditations: differential effects of appreciative joy and compassion meditations on emotions. Mindfulness, 8(4), 949-959. Zeng, X., Wang, R., Oei, T. P., & Leung, F. Y. (2018). Heart of Joy: a Randomized Controlled Trail Evaluating the Effect of an Appreciative Joy Meditation Training on Subjective Well-Being and Attitudes. Mindfulness, 1-10.