Chapter 14: Self-observation or effortlessness?

Both differ from concentrative practices in accepting mind wandering as a natural part of the practice. At the same time, there are subtle but important differences in the ways the two types of meditation deal with the spontaneous activities of the mind. Mindfulness emphasizes self-observation and close attention to the here-and-now, while nondirective meditation builds on a more easy-going and sensitive free mental attitude.

All meditation takes us through cycles. We begin by turning our attention to the meditation object (the sound, the breath, etc.). Sooner or later, our attention slips and spontaneously turns to thoughts that fill the mind of their own accord. At some point, we discover that we have forgotten the meditation object, and we return to it, starting a new cycle. Each cycle has three phases, although the length of each phase may vary considerably, as well as the number of cycles one goes through in a single meditation 1 session, see Figure 14.1.

The basic elements of the meditation cycle are the same in nondirective meditation and mindfulness. Both involve directing a light mental focus on a meditation object in phase 1 of the cycle. In contrast to concentrative techniques, both see uninvited thoughts as natural parts of human consciousness and accept the fact that the mind sometimes spontaneously wanders away from its original focus in phase 2. When discovering that the meditation object has been lost, both direct the attention gently back to the meditation object in phase 3.

Figure 14.1. The three phases of the meditation cycle: In phase 1, the meditator directs the attention to the meditation object, before being lost in thought in phase 2 and then returning to the meditation object in phase 3. Each meditation session may consist of any number of cycles, and the duration of the first two phases may vary considerably. (Figure designed by Freepik, modified by Tongtos Mahasuwan.)

In terms of effects, both mindfulness and nondirective meditation have been shown to alleviate stress symptoms associated with a modern lifestyle, and both are held to facilitate long-term changes in patterns of perception and behavior:

Figure 14.2. Short- and long-term effects shared by mindfulness and nondirective meditation: meditation may lead both to short-term stress reduction and to long-term changes in perception and behavior.

Because of the many similarities between nondirective meditation and mindfulness, many fail to distinguish clearly between these two approaches to meditation. For instance, a recent review article on mindfulness, Falcone and Jerram, 2018, includes a number of studies on Acem Meditation, which is actually nondirective. The authors of the article overlook the fact that their criteria for mindfulness, based on Bishop et al. (2004), contain an element that is not compatible with the free mental attitude of Acem Meditation and other nondirective practices: “monitoring the stream of consciousness.”

This would not matter much if there were not also significant differences between these two types of meditation. In the following, we shall focus on some of the most important differences between them regarding the practice, effects, and framework within which meditation is presented and understood.

The first wave of meditation interest

As a modern social phenomenon, nondirective meditation preceded the mindfulness wave. The technique now referred to as Transcendental Meditation or TM was first brought to the West in the late 1950s by the Indian guru Mahesh Yogi, and was at the time called Deep Meditation. It was soon followed by a number of other forms, including secular techniques such as Herbert Benson’s Relaxation Response, Patricia Carrington’s Clinically Standardized Meditation, and Are Holen’s Acem Meditation. Nondirective meditation stood at the center of the meditation movement during the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s, and it was by far the most frequently studied object in the newly emerging field of meditation research in the 1970s and 1980s. In the long run, however, the associations between TM and oriental spirituality led to a backlash as the interest in the counterculture waned. Secular alternatives such as Acem Meditation were not yet widespread enough to fill the gap on a global scale, though in Scandinavia interest in meditation actually increased in this period.

The second wave of meditation interest

The mindfulness wave began in the 1990s. Like Acem Meditation but in contrast to TM, the framework of mindfulness is largely secular and associated with science rather than Eastern religion and with modern lifestyle rather than ancient traditions, though it acknowledges its roots in Buddhism. The founder of the mindfulness movement, Jon Kabat-Zinn, established the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979. There, he introduced the eight-week program now known as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), which uses a combination of mindfulness meditation, awareness exercises, and yoga to help patients with pain problems and other conditions for which standard medical treatment falls short. In the 1990s, the psychologists Zindel Segal, John Teasdale, and Mark Williams developed another eight-week program called Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), which combines mindfulness meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy primarily to avoid relapse in patients who have been treated for depression. Beyond MBSR and MBCT, mindfulness meditation is taught in a vast number of contexts, including books, web-based programs, tapes, evening courses, and retreats of both long and short durations. The background of the teachers ranges from extensive training courses within wellestablished professional settings to no formal training at all.

Sustained attention

The term “mindfulness” indicates the attitude that is characteristic of this kind of meditation. In everyday language, the word “mindfulness” is associated with being aware, awake, attentive, alert, or vigilant, taking care not to overlook anything or make a mistake. In the context of meditation, the term is mostly understood to involve “intensive self-observation” and “an intentional effort to observe and gain a greater understanding of the nature of thoughts and feelings,” as Scott R. Bishop and co-workers (2004, p. 234) express it in an often cited article on the definition of mindfulness. According to Bishop’s team, the meditator “is instructed to make an effort to notice each object in the stream of consciousness..., to discriminate between different elements of experience... and observe how one experience gives rise to another.”

The term “mindfulness” actually denotes a number of different practices. Not all of them emphasize the intensity of selfobservation as strongly as Bishop’s. For instance, one of the techniques explored by J. A. Brewer and coworkers involves “pay[ing] attention to the physical sensation of the breath wherever you feel it most strongly in the body,” and when discovering that the attention has wandered, to “gently but firmly bring it back to the physical sensation of the breath” (Brewer et al., 2011). There is no reference to self-observation. We may refer to this as “pure breathing meditation.” In phases 1 and 3 of the meditation cycle, the attention is simply (re)directed to the breathing without further ado. If we disregard the difference in meditation object, pure breathing medita2 tion resembles nondirective meditation, although while phase 3 of both practices involves “gently” returning to the meditation object, Brewer’s formulation—“gently but firmly”—suggests a somewhat greater degree of effort in pure breathing meditation.

Even pure breathing meditation is often seen as part of a self-observation regime. According to the founder of the mindfulness movement, Jon Kabat-Zinn, the meditator starts by “concentrating on one primary object (commonly the successive flow of inbreaths and outbreaths), until attention is relatively stable, and then allowing the field of objects of attention to expand (usually in stages) to include, ultimately, all physical and mental events—body sensations, thoughts, memories, emotions, perceptions, intuitions, fantasies—exactly as they occur in time” (Kabat-Zinn 1982, p. 34). The ultimate goal is “detached self-observation,” in which the attention is (re)directed to “all physical and mental events” in phases 1 and 3 of the meditation cycle.

There are many other mindfulness practices, including body scanning, loving-kindness meditation, yoga, and various techniques that will not be discussed at length here. One widespread technique is “breathing meditation with self-observation,” in which phase 3 of breathing meditation is divided in two parts, one devoted to self-observation (phase 3a) and one where attention is returned to the breathing (phase 3b):

Figure 14.3. In breathing meditation with self-observation, phase 3 of the meditation cycle is divided in two. When the meditator discovers that he or she is lost in thought, the attention is first turned to the observation of these thoughts in phase 3A, before being redirected to the breath in phase 3B. (Figure designed by Freepik, modified by Tongtos Mahasuwan.)

For instance, Bishop et al. (2004, p. 232) describe phase 3 as follows: “Whenever attention wanders from the breath to inevitable thoughts and feelings that arise, the client will simply take notice of them [italics mine] and then let them go as attention is returned to the breath.” Some, such as the psychologist Marsha M. Linehan, go one step further and seek to aid self-observation by instructing the meditator to use linguistic labels such as “thoughts,” “judgmental thinking,” etc. to describe the content in what they observe, before redirecting their attention to the breath (Baer, 2003, pp. 126–127). Thus, while avoiding active and deliberate suppression of the wandering mind, the mindfulness meditator is often instructed to pay close attention to whatever passes through the mind spontaneously.

That may not sound very relaxing. Indeed, instructors of mindfulness meditation often emphasize that “achieving some special state of relaxation is not a goal of the exercise,” as formulated in the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) manual (Segal et al., 2013, reproducible forms, session 2, handout 1.). Some scientists have also begun to ask the question, “Is meditation always relaxing?” (Lumma et al., 2015). Their answer is no, at least for some types of mindfulness meditation, especially practices that are based on monitoring thoughts. These exercises are designed to work as attentional training regimes rather than as relaxation techniques, and practicing them may require considerable effort. The “investigative awareness” that Bishop’s team associates with mindfulness is both a part of the method and an ability that the practice is supposed to foster and enhance. In mindfulness, stress reduction is understood as arising from this increased ability to be alert and present. Long-term changes in perception and behavior are also typically linked to a further increase in self-awareness.

Figure 14.4. Short- and long-term effects of mindfulness meditation: stress reduction through increased alertness, and changes in perception and behavior through increased self-awareness.

Deep relaxation

The lack of emphasis on relaxation in mindfulness stands in marked contrast to the strong emphasis in nondirective meditation on the relaxation response, as described by Herbert Benson (2000). In the various forms of nondirective meditation, the instruction is to repeat a meditation sound or a mantra silently, gently, and without effort (and without the “firmness” of some mindfulness practices), while thoughts are allowed to come and go. When discovering that one has been lost in mind wandering, the meditator returns gently to the mental repetition of the sound without actively excluding any thoughts:

Figure 14.5. In nondirective meditation, phase 3 of the meditation cycle consists in gently redirecting the attention to the repetition of the meditation sound or mantra, with no attempt at active self-observation. (Figure designed by Freepik, modified by Tongtos Mahasuwan.)

The thorough relaxation that comes as a result of the practice is discussed in detail in chapters 4 and 5 of this book. It represents the most obvious short-term anti-stress effect of nondirective meditation.

The relaxation of nondirective meditation is both an effect of the practice and an element of the technique, and the two reinforce each other. Thus, relaxation is a result of the gentleness of the repetition. At the same time, relaxation further enhances the effortlessness, openness, and introspective sensitivity with which the meditator practices the technique. This interplay initiates a virtuous cycle that is seen as a starting point for the long-term effects that nondirective meditation may have on perception and behavior.

In Acem Meditation, for instance, deep relaxation is described as a precondition for the actualization of previously non-conscious material, which in turn may facilitate emotional processing and shifts of cognitive perspective (Holen, 2016, pp. 97ff.). When we are relaxed, our mental defenses are less activated. This increases our access to thoughts and feelings that would otherwise stay on or beyond the fringes of consciousness. A relaxed frame of mind also enhances our ability to think and act flexibly, and to adjust to new challenges. As the relaxing effect deepens, the meditator will sometimes become lost in thought, drowsy, or simply fall asleep. In mindfulness, this may be seen as a deviation from the ideal state. In nondirective meditation, however, the shifting back and forth between the meditation sound and mind wandering “is seen as a key to deeper personality development.” According to Are Holen’s classic book on Acem Meditation, Psychology of Silence, “it is regarded as contributing towards recreational and reconstructive resolutions of superficial and deeper unresolved issues of the psyche” (Holen, 2016, pp. 35ff.).

“Intensive self-observation” and “monitoring the stream of consciousness” are therefore not parts of nondirective meditation. According to Benson (2000, p. 12), the relaxation response is best elicited by “passively disregarding everyday thoughts that inevitably come to mind” rather than observing, monitoring, or investigating their content. According to Holen (2016, p. 50), “the emerging content is generally seen as being less important,” and since “the primary emphasis is not on understanding or on insight, … it is not essential which thoughts are passing through the mind, but that they have a chance to pass freely.”

In other words, nondirective meditation reduces stress by inducing deep relaxation. The relaxation of body and mind pave the way for long-term changes in perception and behavior, which are typically linked to spontaneous processes partly beyond the threshold of consciousness (though often stimulated by discussions of meditation experiences):

Figure 14.6. Short- and long-term effects of nondirective meditation: stress reduction through deep relaxation, and changes in perception and behavior through spontaneous processes.

The short- and long-term effects and processes of mindfulness and nondirective meditation therefore only partially overlap.

There are few if any scientific studies that directly compare the effects of mindfulness and nondirective meditation. Both practices are said to be effective ways of combating stress. In general, however, mindfulness studies tend to focus on the stress-reducing effects of enhanced attention, while studies of nondirective meditation more often see stress reduction as a result of the relaxation response. It is too early to conclude what this means in terms of actual results. It should be noted, however, that one study of different mindfulness techniques finds that pure breathing meditation, which is perhaps as close as one can get to nondirective meditation in a mindfulness context, is more relaxing than what above has been called “detached self-observation” (Lumma et al., 2015).

Two modes of attention

Attention and relaxation are not mutually exclusive. In fact, it has been argued that attention is an important element in all forms of meditation, including nondirective meditation (Eifring & Holen, 2014; Eifring, 2016; Ospina et al., 2007; Cardoso et al., 2004). The specific quality of the attention, however, may vary from one type of meditation to another. In particular, mindfulness and nondirective meditation differ in the strategies they employ when the meditator discovers that he or she is lost in thought and embarks on phase 3 of the meditation cycle.

First of all, the cognitive approach of mindfulness contrasts with the behavioral approach of nondirective meditation. As we have seen, mindfulness involves an element of self-observation, in which the meditator is told to “take notice of each thought, feeling, and sensation that arises in the stream of consciousness” (Bishop, 2004, p. 233). In contrast, for the nondirective meditator the clue lies not in the observing, but in the acting, i.e., in the particular way in which the sound is brought back and repeated in the mind.

In nondirective meditation, the meditator does not merely mechanically return to the same way the sound was repeated before the mind began to wander. Instead, the increased relaxation makes it possible to find a way of repeating the sound that requires even less effort and makes the mental repetition even more subtle and sensitive. In this way, inner friction is reduced, and according to Holen (2016, p. 132), “the inner meditative action and the spontaneous elements of the mind move together to release unresolved mental issues and towards the emergence of new resources and contentment anchored in the silence within.”

Although nondirective meditation does not build on deliberate cognitive self-observation, it is still held to bring about an increase in self-awareness. However, this process occurs in the periphery rather than the center of attention (Holen, 2004; Hersoug, 1979). The self-observation of mindfulness directs the entire field of attention, including the center of focus, toward the stream of consciousness. Nondirective meditation instead creates a more receptive frame of mind by placing the focus of attention as lightly as possible on the sound, while the inner flow of spontaneous activity is allowed to pass freely in the fringes of awareness. The subtler layers of the mind are believed to become more accessible in the non-intrusive periphery of the mind than in its center of focus. Allowing the focus of attention to be occupied with the gentle repetition of a neutral sound does not block out spontaneous impulses, but rather creates space for them to enter into consciousness via the periphery.

The increased receptivity and sensitivity of nondirective meditation may form the basis of a different kind of self-reflection. In contrast to the self-observation of mindfulness, it takes place not during but after meditation, in discussion that brings some of the ephemeral impulses passing through the meditator’s mind closer to conscious awareness. According to Holen (2016, pp. 84, 87, 141), such dialogue represents a kind of “verbal processing” that reinforces the “meditative processing” of the practice itself. Thus, Acem Meditation is often combined with various forms of guidance, in particular at retreats with long meditations, whereas Clinically Standardized Meditation is typically combined with psychotherapeutic dialogue. The aim of such guidance is both to improve the meditation practice and to facilitate personal change in everyday life. See chapter 12 for further details.

How far should the mind be allowed to wander?

More and more, scientific research has made clear that mind wandering is not merely an irritating phenomenon that distracts us when we want to concentrate, but a basic human resource, which has important functions for our survival and quality of life. Mind wandering helps us to remember the past, plan for the future, work creatively, imagine alternative scenarios, empathize with others, understand ourselves, process difficult emotions, and access energy and potential that reside within us.

Nondirective meditation is based on the acceptance and activation 3 of mind wandering during meditation. While many meditators report enhanced concentration after nondirective meditation, there is no expectation that mind wandering will necessarily abate during the practice. On the contrary, mind wandering has its particular functions within nondirective meditation. In phases where underlying stress or unresolved issues are brought closer to the surface, mind wandering is likely to temporarily increase. This is believed to provide opportunities for the processing of important psychological issues and for accessing emerging resources and potentials. According to one account, mind wandering in meditation “provides partial release of inner tension from areas in which you are not yet capable of dealing with the underlying issues more directly” (Holen & Eifring, 2013, p. 19). Forgetting the meditation object for a while may help the meditator to reconnect with hidden or forgotten parts of the mind.

Scientific studies suggest that during nondirective meditation, brain activity linked to mind wandering actually increases beyond normal rest levels (Xu et al., 2014; Travis et al., 2010a; Engström et al., 2010). According to Xu et al. (2014), this increase takes place in brain areas associated with memory retrieval and emotional processing, possibly reflecting the spontaneous processing of emotions and memories during meditation. Such brain activity may represent a neural counterpart to the physiological relaxation response. This fits well with both the common experience of deep bodily and mental relaxation and physiological research that shows a striking reduction in oxygen uptake, respiratory rate, heart rate, and blood pressure, as well as an increase in heart rate variability and slow brain waves during nondirective meditation. The relative intensity of mind wandering during meditation may in fact be part of the reason many meditators find it easier to concentrate after meditation.

In sharp contrast to this positive attitude, the mindfulness literature often sees mind wandering as a necessary evil rather than an important part of the meditation process. The literature routinely links mind wandering to rumination, brooding, and depression, and repeatedly quotes the famous article titled “A wandering mind is an unhappy mind” (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010), despite the fact that follow-up research has revealed that the conclusions of this study are highly problematic (Poerio et al., 2013).

Even the MBCT manual shows a subtle bias against mind wandering. While the manual assures us that mind wandering “is perfectly OK” and “not a mistake or a failure,” it also tells us to “gently congratulate” ourselves when we discover that the mind has been wandering, because we then have an opportunity once again to “gather and settle the mind.” That, we understand, is where the real value lies.

A similar bias is evident in what Bishop’s team says about “flexibility of attention” during mindfulness practice. It turns out that this flexibility is only about the ability to switch back to the meditation object after a period of mind wandering, not about the spontaneous switch away from the meditation object when the mind begins to wander. Their expressed goal of mindfulness training is to stimulate “skills in sustained attention,” defined as “the ability to maintain a state of vigilance over prolonged periods of time” (Bishop et al., 2004, p. 232), not only in everyday life (which is a commonly reported effect of several types of meditation), but even during meditation practice.

Some scientific studies suggest that this is indeed the result of mindfulness training. According to these studies, experienced mindfulness practitioners report less mind wandering during meditation than do inexperienced ones (Brewer et al., 2011; Holzel et al., 2008), and they also display lower activation of the default mode network (the parts of the brain that are activated during mind wandering), or at least altered patterns of activation and connectivity (Brewer et al., 2011; Sood & Jones, 2013). Actually, this is what one would expect from a meditation practice that requires a degree of effort, since any effort will tend to focus the mind and thereby reduce the activity of the default mode network. However, there are also studies that do not corroborate these findings, showing no systematic difference between experienced and inexperienced meditators with regard to the amount of mind wandering (Hasenkamp et al., 2012).

Descriptions of mindfulness often give the impression that the thoughts and feelings that have occupied the mind are to be brought to an end when the meditator returns to the meditation object: “The client will simply take notice of them and then let them go as attention is returned to the breath.” (Bishop et al., 2004, p. 232) Breathing out is sometimes used as an aid in the process: “The outbreath is the natural vehicle used in letting go.” (Segal et al., 2013, p. 92) Instead, nondirective meditation seeks to redirect the focus to the meditation object without actively making thoughts and feelings disappear. In this way, the interplay of deliberate and spontaneous elements becomes more intensive and intimate, and there is less active interference with the spontaneous activities of the mind.

Although in name accepting all thoughts, mindfulness frequently uses elements of “positive thinking” to counter what it considers negative thoughts, evocatively describing them as “the dark thought, the shame, the malice.” In the MBCT manual, the meditator is asked to “meet them at the door laughing” (Segal et al., 2013, reproducible forms, session 5, handout 5). This easily translates into subtle suppression or rather “reaction formation,” to use the psychoanalytic term for repressing a feeling and replacing it with an exaggerated expression of its opposite. As pointed out in chapter 12, some forms of nondirective meditation also idealize certain states of mind, as when Transcendental Meditation tends to see feelings of “bliss” as an ideal. More typically, however, nondirective meditation emphasizes the ability to meet any thought or feeling, whether positive or negative, with the same free and open mental attitude. This also applies to judgmental thoughts, often referred to as metathoughts, which although sometimes painful may represent important pathways to the discovery and modification of negative self-images that hold great sway over us in our everyday lives (Holen & Eifring, 2013, pp. 53–56).

Nondirective meditation and mindfulness also tend to regard the spontaneous impulses of the body differently.

In nondirective meditation, bodily relaxation is seen as a natural correlate to the relaxation of the mind. The emphasis is on a relaxed bodily posture with good support in the lower back, so that as little energy as possible is spent on maintaining a specific position. Changes in bodily posture that occur spontaneously as a result of relaxation, as when the head or upper body tilts slightly forward, are not discouraged but rather seen as a natural part of the overall relaxing effect: “This is a sign that the body is releasing fatigue, and 4 we don’t resist this in any way.”

In contrast, mindfulness tends to be more particular in instructions concerning the bodily posture to be adopted: “It helps to adopt an erect and dignified posture, with your head, neck, and back aligned vertically—the physical counterpart of the inner attitudes of self-reliance, self-acceptance, patience, and alert attention that we are cultivating.” (Segal et al., 2013, session 3, handout 1) Choosing this kind of posture will usually involve an increased use of muscular energy.

Mindfulness also tends actively to discourage sleep and drowsiness that may come during meditation as a natural result of relaxation. Mindfulness practitioners are often encouraged to take specific measures to avoid sleep: “breathe a little harder for a minute or so,” “practice with eyes slightly open,” “practice standing up for a few minutes,” or “go to the bathroom and wash your face with cold water” (Cayoun, 2015, p. 75). Some instructors advise their students to keep a hand in the air during meditation, so that when their hand falls down, they will wake up from sleep.

In contrast to mindfulness, nondirective meditation does not discourage sleep or drowsiness that emerges when the body relaxes and suppressed tiredness comes to the surface. While the wakefulness of mindfulness meditation sometimes involves combatting the tendency to fall asleep, the wakefulness that follows from nondirective meditation comes as a result of allowing sleepy impulses to enter and pass through the mind even when they lead to occasional periods of actual sleep. In addition to the obvious effect of catching up on lack of sleep during periods of sleep deprivation in daily life, sleep during nondirective meditation is also understood as something that may be linked to long-term psychological processes:

... the regular practice of meditation is in the process of bringing about some deeper changes in the mind, temporarily increasing the need for sleep. To allow sleep will sustain the process of change. (Holen & Eifring, 2013, p. 26)

In such cases, sleep and drowsiness are seen as first signs that hidden impulses and potential are in the process of entering into awareness.

Spontaneous vs. self-generated meditation objects

The most obvious technical difference between nondirective meditation and mindfulness lies in the meditation object toward which attention is directed. In nondirective meditation, this object usually consists of a meditation sound or mantra that is gently repeated in the mind. In mindfulness, the object is some aspect of the breath (in breathing meditation), body sensations (in body scanning), or thoughts (in detached self-observation). This difference may be important.

The breath, body sensations, and thoughts are all spontaneous phenomena, which are already present before one begins to meditate. As there is nothing for the meditator to produce or generate, this aspect of mindfulness meditation is quite free of effort—“‘being’ rather than ‘doing’” (Segal et al., 2013, p. 92). One might think that it requires more effort to repeat meditation sounds or mantras in nondirective meditation, since they are not spontaneous but produced by the meditator during meditation. In fact, however, the gentle repetition of such sounds has been shown to trigger far deeper relaxation than ordinary rest (Solberg et al., 2004). The use of sounds, therefore, does not seem to get in the way but rather contribute to relaxation.

The main challenge in mindfulness meditation does not lie in generating the meditation object, but in observing it with mindful awareness. This contrasts with nondirective meditation, where the challenge is twofold: 1) to generate the meditation object with as little effort as possible, and 2) to direct the attention to this object with a free mental attitude. In other words, while both forms of meditation may be seen as cultivating the receptive aspect of meditation, only nondirective meditation combines this with a form of relaxed and effortless mental activity.

A more subtle point concerns how directing the attention toward the meditation object affects the spontaneous stream of consciousness. In mindfulness, the meditation object is itself a part of the spontaneous activity, and focusing on the meditation object involves directing the attention to an aspect of this stream. In nondirective meditation, the meditation object is not part of the spontaneous activity. In either case, the meditator is instructed to avoid interfering with or trying to change any of the spontaneous activity that passes through body and mind. However, directing the attention to a part of this activity will easily lead to some degree of interference, in that someone who meditates on breath, body sensations, or thoughts will easily begin to alter the spontaneous flow. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it creates a training ground for the meditator to let go of tendencies to interfere with activities that are best left alone. On the other hand, as long as the meditator interferes, this will reduce the freedom of spontaneous activity. This has consequences for both the relaxation response and the psychological processing and deepening that takes place during meditation. In contrast, letting the attention rest on a nonspontaneous element such as a meditation sound or mantra may leave a larger space in the unmonitored periphery of the mind for the spontaneous activity to come and go unhindered.

It has been argued that the focus on the breath in mindfulness is in a sense more neutral than the repetition of a meditation sound or mantra in nondirective meditation. From a cultural point of view, mantras or sacred phrases that are semantically or symbolically linked to Hindu deities, as is the case in some forms of nondirective meditation, are obviously neither entirely secular nor neutral. In methods such as Acem Meditation, however, the meditation sounds are non-semantic, non-symbolic, and non-associative, and have no connection to Indian traditions. Culturally speaking, these sounds are just as neutral as the breath, and their effects in meditation build on mechanisms in the body and mind that are independent of cultural differences. From a psychological point of view, it has even been argued that meditation sounds are more neutral than the breath. The reason is that breath is closely tied to our bodily and emotional stress activation and is therefore less likely to provide the meditator with a psychologically neutral and alternative point of reference within the mind than is a non-semantic sound, which is less tied to the body or emotions.

It is possible both to observe the breath and to repeat a meditation sound in superficial or more profound ways. The breath may be fast, rough, and shallow or slow, calm, and deep, although on all levels it is closely tied to the body. On the other hand, the degree of depth in repeating a sound is connected to the extent with which the meditator involves the body in the repetition. On a superficial level, a sound may be pronounced aloud, whispered or subvocalized, making use of the speech organs or other parts of the body, and the repetition may be linked to bodily rhythms such as the breath or the heartbeat. On a more profound level, the repetition of a sound may be more subtle, almost entirely mentalistic and free from associations to the body. While breathing meditation is often discussed in the context of body-mind interaction, sound-based meditation is often seen as leading beyond the body and all the emotional tension that resides therein.

Top-down vs. bottom-up

Mindfulness meditation is often understood as using a mindful practice, such as turning the attention to the breath, to create a mindful state. Over time, this develops mindfulness as a more permanent trait, enhancing the meditator’s “predisposition to be mindful in daily life” (Kiken et al., 2015; cf. also Bishop et al., 2004; Falcone & Jerram, 2018). According to this account, the path from practice to result is linear and straightforward: the meditator sets up a goal and strives to achieve it. This is a top-down process, where what you put in at the top determines what you get at the bottom.

Figure 14.7. The top-down view of the working mechanisms of mindfulness meditation: The practice of mindfulness leads to a mindful state, which gradually evolves into a more permanent trait.

Similar views of meditation have been prominent in scientific and pseudo-scientific accounts ever since the idea of meditation as a form of self-hypnosis appeared in the early nineteenth century (see chapter 11).

In nondirective meditation, the relaxation of body and mind is also a predictable effect, but not because the meditator attempts 5 to achieve it. The Acem Meditation website states this explicitly:

You don’t try to relax. You just sit comfortably in a chair with eyes closed, practising a simple mental technique, allowing a deep relaxation to take hold of body and mind.

The idea is similar to what Benson (2000, p. 99 and, for further details, pp. 110ff.) describes in his book on the relaxation response, which is an “involuntary response that causes a reduction in the activity of the sympathetic nervous system” and brings about reduced oxygen consumption, respiratory rate, heart rate and, in some cases, blood pressure, as well as an increase in slow brain waves of the alpha type. These physiological effects come as a reflex that is triggered by the meditation technique itself, and do not occur because the meditator attempts to generate them. Gently repeating the meditation sound or mantra triggers what Benson calls an “involuntary” response. Others have used other adjectives, such as “automatic,” “autonomic,” “autogenous,” “organic,” and “spontaneous,” emphasizing different aspects of the nondirective nature of such processes. In other words, the only thing the meditation technique does is to pull the trigger—the response itself is already present as a potential in body and mind:

Figure 14.8. The bottom-up view of the working mechanisms of nondirective meditation: The gentle repetition of a sound unleashes spontaneous mental processes that bring about short-term relaxation and long-term personal development.

A comparison between the notions of “mindfulness” and “free mental attitude” may illustrate the contrast. In mindfulness meditation, doing mindfulness practice is thought to create a state of mindfulness, which may be carried over into daily life and develop into a permanent trait. In nondirective meditation, the free mental attitude is primarily a technical element of the meditation practice, a way of repeating the meditation sound—gently and effortlessly—and of relating to the spontaneous flow of thoughts—in an inclusive and accepting way. This technical element is a means to set in motion spontaneous processes in mind and body, and not a mental state or trait to be cultivated throughout daily life. Divergence from the free mental attitude, such as active concentration or laissez-faire laxness, is considered incorrect meditation. Nevertheless, they may be highly desirable abilities in certain situations of daily life, as when we need to concentrate on important tasks or, on the contrary, get away from it all, let go, and have a refreshing holiday. Nondirective meditation enables the meditator to deal with the various situations of life outside meditation with a higher degree of flexibility rather than with a particular state of mind. This flexibility makes it easier not only to relax and recuperate, but also to focus the mind and concentrate on particular tasks when that is required.

Beyond the relaxation response, different accounts have been offered regarding the long-term effects of nondirective meditation. Transcendental Meditation talks about the mind settling down to an experience of “pure consciousness.” Acem Meditation emphasizes how underlying psychological patterns of perception and behavior become manifest and then modified. These various views are described in more detail in chapter 12. What all have in common is the notion that the changes brought about by nondirective meditation are not the results of pursuing pre-set goals through training and discipline, but of setting in motion spontaneous inner processes.

Guided vs. self-administered meditation

A related contrast lies in the fact that nondirective meditation usually emphasizes the self-administered practice of the individual, whereas mindfulness meditation often offers tape recordings with instructions for guided meditations. Guided meditation may fit more easily with the top-down processes of mindfulness than with the bottom-up processes of nondirective meditation, although the contrast is not absolute: mindfulness is also often practiced without guided instructions, and there are also guided instructions for nondirective 6 meditation.

A similar contrast may be drawn between the typical forms of guidance practiced within mindfulness and at least some forms of nondirective meditation. In MBCT, for instance, each student is given a “home practice record form” to fill out. The questions are given in advance. In contrast, Acem Meditation has developed types of guidance that leave it almost entirely to the meditator to define which topics are going to be discussed, in order to stimulate the bottom-up processes that may lead to personal development. The meditator needs to be responsible for his or her own process and progress.

Origins of modern meditation

Both nondirective meditation and mindfulness meditation build on practices that originate from Asian traditions, but from different contexts. Nondirective meditation is a modified form of the popular Hindu-based practice of recitative meditation called japa, while mindfulness meditation builds on basic Buddhist practices such as anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing).

While nondirective meditation is a fairly unified concept, referring to the gentle repetition of a meditation sound or mantra while thoughts are allowed to come and go, mindfulness meditation does not refer to one particular technique. The practices taught include various forms of awareness training (most famously including the mindful eating of a raisin), breathing meditation (sometimes while counting the breaths, at other times not), body scanning, awareness of spontaneous thoughts, yoga postures, loving-kindness meditation, and a number of other methods designed to increase one’s degree of mindful awareness or mental presence. There is some degree of overlap with both Zen and Vipassana. Among the many methods taught, breathing meditation is probably the most widespread technique. Compared to the variety among mindfulness practices, the technical differences between nondirective approaches discussed in chapter 12 are minor.

Both mindfulness and nondirective meditation encourage the meditator to meet the meditation process without expectations. They tend to do so, however, for slightly different reasons. At least the way it is presented in the MBCT manual, mindfulness focuses on the time it takes for results to appear, as it may take longer than expected for the specific effects to take hold. Nondirective meditation more typically focuses on the fact that the precise nature of the results cannot be known in advance; the non-linear process that nondirective meditation facilitates may take the meditator in different directions than expected, and the results may be different from those that originally motivated the meditation habit. Nondirective meditation and mindfulness may have therapeutic effects, both for physical ailments such as cardiovascular disease and for psychological issues such as mood problems, nervous problems, fatigue, etc. Active and widespread use in therapeutic contexts, however, requires a higher degree of predictability than the open processes described within nondirective approaches allow for. Beyond basic relaxation and stress management, nondirective meditation is typically associated with open-ended existential exploration. Although by no means uncontroversial, mindfulness is nevertheless often presented as part of a therapeutic or complementary treatment.

Degrees of mind control

We have seen that while similar in many respects, mindfulness and nondirective meditation differ in significant ways, as summed up in the following table:

Table 14.1. Differences between mindfulness meditation and nondirective meditation

Most importantly, nondirective meditation is less control-oriented than mindfulness meditation. It focuses on the introspective sensitivity, mental flexibility, and processes of change that typically come with deep relaxation, and recognizes and accepts that this leads to periods of mind wandering, drowsiness, or natural changes in body posture.

Mindfulness attempts to exert more active control over the mind than does nondirective meditation. This is evident in its emphasis on alertness, vigilance, and sustained attention, as well as the instruction to be cognitively aware of the content of the stream of consciousness and to use a certain degree of effort to maintain a straight bodily posture.

In sum, while the basic principles of nondirective meditation and mindfulness have many similarities, the relaxation response of the former and the active self-observation of the latter are an important difference. This difference has implications for both how meditation is practiced and its effects. It is to a large degree rooted in different attitudes toward mind wandering.

Notes

1 A similar account of the meditation cycle involves four phases (or “intervals”): 1) sustained focus, 2) mind wandering, 3) awareness of mind wandering, and 4) shifting attention (Hasenkamp et al., 2012). The third of these phases, awareness of mind wandering, is unique in activating the salience network of the brain. When comparing different kinds of meditation, however, this phase is of little importance and is treated in this chapter as just a transition between phase 2 (mind wandering) and phase 3 (back to meditation object). 2 Instructions for pure breathing meditation with a free mental attitude are included in Holen and Hobbel (2012, p. 136). 3 Though Benson (2000, p. 109) seems to believe that “the purpose of this repetition [of the mantra in TM] is to prevent distracting thoughts.” 4 1GiantMind app faqs. 5 https://acem.com/acem_sites/acem_com/the_method 6 The 1GiantMind app uses guided nondirective meditation, but recommends meditating without external input. One study of nondirective meditation builds on guided meditations, see Carrington et al. (1980).

References

Baer, R. A. (2003). Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10(2), pp. 125–143.

Benson, H. (2000). The relaxation response, updated and expanded edition. New York, NY: HarperTorch.

Bishop, S. R., Lau, M., Shapiro, S., Carlson, L., Anderson, N. D., Carmody, J., Segal, Z. V., Abbey, S., Speca, M., Velting, D. & Devins, G. (2004). Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11(3), pp. 230–241.

Brewer, J. A., Worhunsky, P. D., Gray, J. R., Tang, Y. Y., Weber, J. & Kober, H. (2011). Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108, pp. 20254–20259.1.

Carrington, P., Collings Jr., G. H., Benson, H., Robinson, H., Wood, L. W., Lehrer, P. M., Woolfolk, R. L. & Cole, J. W. (1980). The use of meditation: Relaxation techniques for the management of stress in a working population. Journal of Occupational Medicine, 22(4), pp. 221-231.

Cayoun, B. (2015). Mindfulness-integrated CBT for well-being and personal growth: Four steps to enhance inner calm, self-confidence and relationships. Chicester: John Wiley & Sons.

Eifring, H. (2016). Types of meditation. In H. Eifring (Ed.), Asian traditions of meditation (pp. 27–47). Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.

Eifring, H. and Holen, A. (2014). The uses of attention: Elements of meditative practice. In H. Eifring (Ed.), Hindu, Buddhist and Daoist meditation: Cultural histories (pp. 1–26). Oslo: Hermes.

Engström, M., Pihlsgård, J., Lundberg, P. & Söderfeldt, B. (2010). Functional magnetic resonance imaging of hippocampal activation during silent mantra meditation. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 16(12), pp. 1253–1258.

Falcone, G. & Jerram, M. (2018). Brain activity in mindfulness depends on experience: A meta-analysis of fMRI studies. Mindfulness 2.

Hasenkamp, W., Wilson-Mendenthall, C. D., Duncan, E. & Barsalou, L. W. (2012). Mind wandering and attention during focused meditation: A fine-grained temporal analysis of fluctuating cognitive states. NeuroImage 59, pp. 750–760.

Hersoug, T. (1979). Sentrum og periferi (Center and periphery). Acem-nytt no. 5, pp. 6–7.

Hofmann, S. G., Grossman, P. & Hinton, D. E. (2011). Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: Potential for psychological interventions. Clinical Psychology Review 31, pp. 1126–1132.

Holen, A. (2004). Oppmerksomhet og erkjennelse i Acem-meditasjon (Awareness and insight in Acem Meditation). Audio CD. Acem.

Holen, A. (2016). Psychology of silence: Perspectives on Acem Meditation. Oslo: Dyade Press.

Holen, A. & Eifring, H. (2013). Acem Meditation: An introductory companion, 2nd edition. Oslo: Dyade Press.

Holen, A. & Hobbel, T. (2012), Meditative yoga: Integrating body, breath and mind. Oslo: Dyade Press.

Holzel, B. K. Ott, U. Gard, T., Hempel, H., Weygandt, M. Morgen, K. & Vaitl, D. (2008). Investigation of mindfulness meditation practitioners with voxel-based morphometry. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 3, pp. 55–61.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (1982). An out-patient program in Behavioral Medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: Theoretical considerations and preliminary results. General Hospital Psychiatry 4, pp. 33–47.

Kiken, L. G., Garland, E. L., Bluth, K., Palsson, O. S. & Gaylord, S. A. (2015). From a state to a trait: Trajectories of state mindfulness in meditation during intervention predict changes in trait mindfulness. Personality and Individual Differences 81, pp. 41–46.

Killingsworth, M. A. & Gilbert, D. T. (2010). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science 330(6006), p. 932.

Lumma, A.-L., Kok, B. E. & Singer, T. (2015). Is meditation always relaxing? Investigating heart rate, heart rate variability, experienced effort and likeability during training of three types of meditation. International Journal of Psychophysiology 97, pp. 38–45.

Ospina, M. B., Bond, K., Karkhaneh, M., Tjosvold, L., Vandermeer, B., Liang, Y. Bialy, L., Hooton, N., Buscemi, N., Dryden, D. M. & Klassen, T. P. (2007). Meditation practices for health: State of the research. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment (Full Rep), 155, 1–263.

Poerio, G. L., Totterdell, P. & Miles, E. (2013). Mind-wandering and negative mood: Does one thing really lead to another? Consciousness and Cognition 22(4), pp. 1412–1421.

Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. G. & Teasdale, J. D. (2013). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression, 2nd edition, Kindle edition. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Solberg, E. E., Ekeberg, Ø., Holen, A., Ingjer, F., Sandvik, L., Standal, P. A. & Vikman, A. (2004). Hemodynamic changes during long meditation. Applied Physiology and Biofeedback 29(3), pp. 213–221.

Sood, A. & Jones, D. T. (2013). On mind wandering, attention, brain networks, and meditation. Explore (N.Y.) 9, pp. 136–141.

Travis, F., Haaga, D. A. F., Hagelin, J., Tanner, M., Arenander, A., Nidich, S., Gaylord-King, C., Grosswald, S., Rainforth, M. & Schneider, R. H. (2010a). A self-referential default brain state: Patterns of coherence, power, and eLORETA sources during eyes-closed rest and Transcendental Meditation practice. Cognitive Processing 11(1), pp. 21–30.

Xu, J., Vik, A., Groote, I. R., Lagopoulos, J., Holen, A., Ellingsen, Ø., Håberg A. K. & Davanger, S. (2014). Nondirective meditation activates default mode network and areas associated with memory retrieval and emotional processing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 8(86), pp. 1–10.