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Mindfulness in Everyday Life: an Empirical Study of Mindfulness As It Is Experienced in Ordinary Life Among Long-Term Vipassana Practitioners

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Mindfulness in Everyday Life: an Empirical Study of Mindfulness As It Is Experienced in Ordinary Life Among Long-Term Vipassana Practitioners University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2007 Mindfulness in Everyday Life: An Empirical Study of Mindfulness as it is Experienced in Ordinary Life among Long-Term Vipassana Practitioners Jacqueline Kracker University of Tennessee, Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Kracker, Jacqueline, "Mindfulness in Everyday Life: An Empirical Study of Mindfulness as it is Experienced in Ordinary Life among Long-Term Vipassana Practitioners. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2007. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/4231 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Jacqueline Kracker entitled "Mindfulness in Everyday Life: An Empirical Study of Mindfulness as it is Experienced in Ordinary Life among Long-Term Vipassana Practitioners." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Psychology. Howard R. Pollio, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Miriam Levering, Leonard Handler, Sandra Thomas, Jack Barlow Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Jacqueline Kracker entitled "Mindfulnessin Everyday Life: An Empirical Study of Mindfulness as it is Experienced in Ordinary Lifeamong Long-Term Vipassana Practitioners." I have examined the final paper copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Psychology. Howard R. Pollio, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Acc�ptance fo�the Council: �-_ -� V�I(_. G(. g� Vice Chancellorand Dean of Graduate Studies Mindfulness in Everyday Life: An Empirical Study of Mindfulnessas it is Experienced in Ordinary Life among Long-Term Vipassana Practitioners A Dissertation Presented forthe Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Jacqueline Kracker August 2007 ii Copyright © 2006 by Jacqueline Kracker All rights reserved 111 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to those who have gone beforeand by virtue of their experience, help us understandwhat is possible and how to proceed. May allbeings be freefrom sufferingand the causes of suffering. May allbeingfind perfect peace. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Creating a dissertation is not a solitaryenterprise. I wish to thank: Dr. Howard R. Pollio, dissertation chair and mentor, forhelping me learnto see, listen, and experience things in ways that have deepened my clinical work, Dr. Jack Barlow for teaching me so much about object relations and psychoanalytic psychology, Dr. Leonard Handler forencouraging me to try to see the world throughthe eyes of my clients when working with them, Dr. Miriam Levering forher support and guidance in understanding Buddhist ideas, and Dr. Sandra Thomas forher support, encouragement, and practical approach to things. I am grateful to my committee forsupporting my interest in a subject that aroused my passion and trusting that I would make the journeyinto foreignterritory comprehensible and possibly even interesting. The teachers and authors who have gone beforeand speak so eloquently about what they found. Those with whom I've practiced meditation and shared experiences. The members of the phenomenology lab group for their help and support with this research. Friends fortheir encouragement. And, in particular, Katie and Rachael fortheir love and patience. V ABSTRACT This phenomenologicallook at theexperience of mindfulnessin everyday life situations is framed against thebackground of traditional Theravadin Buddhist descriptions and contemporaryWestern psychoanalytic ideas of the experience of mindfulness.The rnsearchmethod laid out by Pollio, Henley, and Thompson (1997) and by Thomas andPollio (2002) was used. In-depth, open-ended interviews were conducted with nine participantswho were judged to have stable, long-term(four years or longer) vipassana meditation practices, as determinedby three full-timevipassana teachers. The emergent thematic structure includes six major themes and several subthemes: (1) Present and Aware, (2) Spaciousand Open, including subthemes (a) Spacious and(b) Open (Not Judging), (3) Clear and Knowing, with subthemes (a) Alive and Embodied, (b) Seeing Clearly, and(c) Knowing Wisdom, (4) Not Separate (Connected), (5) Not Identified (Self-less), and(6) Free, including subthemes (a) Freedom and(b) Choice. Additional results include relationships among the themes andthree non-thematic aspects that relate to the experience of mindfulness over time: (1) Mindfulness Comes and Goes, (2) Facilitating Factors, and (3) Changes Over Time. This work empirically validates theexperience of mindfulness as described in the Buddhist literature andthe psychological literature althoughinteresting differencesin emphasis were found among the three perspectives: traditional, psychological, andfirst­ personparticipant accounts.It is my hope that this study will furtherunderstanding of mindfulnessfrom both theoretical andpractical perspectives. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1. INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW...................... 1 Introduction . .. 1 Mindfulness in an EasternLight - A Theravadin Perspective . .. 4 Mindfulness in a WesternLight - A Psychological Perspective . .. 17 ComparingEastern and WesternPerspectives . .. 54 PhenomenologicalInquiry . .. .. .. .. 59 2. METHODS AND PROCEDURES . .. 66 Method of Data Collection . .. .. .. .. 66 Participants . .. .. .. .. .. .. 68 Thematic Analysis of the Narratives . r • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 69 3. RESULTS . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 70 Types of Experiences Reported . .. .. .. .. .. .. 70 Thematic StructureDerived fromthe Narratives . .. 72 Non-Thematic Aspects of MindfulExperience................... ....... 85 4. DISCUSSION . 94 REFERENCES . .. .. .. 124 APPENDIX . .. .. 132 Pali-English Glossaryand Select Buddhist Concepts . 133 VITA ............................................................ 138 vu LIST OF FIGURES 1. Welwood's Reflectionand Space ..................................... 26 2. Engler's 1983 Model of PsychologicalFunctioning ....................... 37 3. The Relationships of Reflection,Identification, Awarenessand Duality in Welwood' s Model . 47 4. Relationships Among Reflection, Space, Identification, Awareness and Duality in Welwood's Model ........................................ 53 5. Relating Aspects of Self-Experience to Welwood's Model ................. 53 6. Experiences Described by Participants ................................. 71 7. Themes and Subthemes of the Experience of Mindfulness . 73 8. Examples of the Experience of Not Being Mindful ....................... 84 9. Non-thematic Aspects of the Experience of Mindfulnessin Everyday Life ..... 85 10. Shiftinginto Mindfulnessand the Experience of Self and World/Others ....... 88 1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW If''ps ychology"is taken as the systematic attempt to understand the workingof the human mind, and to develop ways to methodically improve its workingswhen they go awry, then Buddhism can claim to be one of, ifnot the, most ancient psychologicalsystems in the world. (Peter Harvey, 1997, p. 341) The stated aim [of mindfulness} is threefold: to come to know one's own mental processes; to beginin this way to have the power to shape or control them; and, finally, to gain freedom from the condition in which one's psychic processes are unknown and uncontrolled (Nyanaponika, 197 3, quoted in Engler 1983, p. 32) Introduction Mindfulnessis a growingtopic of discussion and inquiry in psychology. Some of theinterest comes fromthe observation that mindfulnessappears to confersome degree of psychological well-being (Brown & Ryan, 2003), it may be "a facultywhich is latent in all humanbeings" (Nairn, 1999, p. 22), andit can be increased through training and practice. Cliniciansare particularly interestedin the potential applications of mindfulness within therapeutic contexts, including the use of mindfulnessas the basis for psychologicaltreatment andas adjunct treatment with traditional formsof therapy. One way to increase mindfulnessis throughpracticing mindfulnessmeditation. There are manyopportunities across thecountry to learnthis formof meditation throughmeditation retreats, meditation groups, or medical clinics that use mindfulnessfor stress or pain management. Although mindfulnesscan be learned as a skill, long-term practitioners oftenreport that it growsinto way of living in. theworld. There are several conceptualizations of mindfulnessin currentuse. They range fromthe 2500-year-oldTheravadin Buddhist perspective of vipassana 1 meditation to contemporaryviews by Langer (1989) and Bishop et al.(2004). In the Buddhist
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