With a headline like that you might think I am anti Mindfulness Meditation. Far from it. When I was working at the Langton Centre, Surry Hills, Sydney early 2000’s several respected mentors – Gary T, Sally T, Joe B, Amanda M and Alison L introduced me to the benefits of mindfulness. These amazing practitioners were using it personally and professionally.
So I jumped in, signing up for classes, workshops, and reading professional texts – Mindfulness based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy by John Teasdale Mark Williams and Zindel Segal.
Loads of great books Jonathan Kabat-Zin, Thich Nhat Hahn and Eckhart Tolle. I took many training workshops including Dr Bruno Cayoun’s Mindfulness-integrated cognitive Behaviour Therapy (MiCBT).
I was mindful and using it a great deal with clients in both group and individual settings. Clients loved it and so did I. Sadly they clients reported that while they had gained insights they still were feeling bad. Mindfulness meditation has terrific benefits and I am totally for clients getting the most out of it. Who couldn’t profit from being in the present moment with awareness, right? I agree.
I don’t use it today in my counseling sessions. I refer them on to Mindfulness Mediation (MM) groups such as Open Ground. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Groups are another referral source. There is no happiness trap.
Most clients are isolated and a joining group is prosocial and they can acquire those skills there.
So why don’t I use MM today?
It has been superseded in my practice through my training and client field proven experience. In my heart I am a therapist. And certainly mindfulness is great way to be grounded and in the present moment. Sadly it does not deal with the origins of a client’s distress. It may offer be a band-aid of relief helping them avoid feelings. Possibly limiting or even halting therapy progress.
I now use Resource Therapy as it addresses the cause of underlying issues of our client’s issues at the source. When you have dealt with the origin of the fear or rejection they naturally disappear.
Leaving no need for self-soothing behaviours for clients. Panic attacks are a thing of the past; self-defeating behaviours no longer occur, relationships internally and externally improve with clients report leaving sessions lighter.
Clients are not stuck with explaining the origins of the their problems talking around the issues with no progress. Resource Therapy’s powerful actions provide the opportunity for rapid shifts. When you work with a Resource Therapist, you are going through a process that connects you to your feelings, thoughts, emotions and reactions that are at the source of why you sought help in the first place.
At the heart of my practice is a wish to be of service to others. I definitely gain from my psychology work. I was only chatting with a client in the debrief after a longstanding issue was resolved. I told the client I get a reward with Resource Therapy’s ability to rapidly deal with long-term issues and entrenched behaviour in the therapy hour. A deep sense of achievement, which comes from assisting someone out of pain into his or her freedom, cannot be underestimated. Therapy isn’t one-way street.
Therapy is for change
We go to counselling to talk about something; something we are not happy with, something others don’t like, or life issues that are confusing or holding us back.
With Resource Therapy, there is little talking or probing into a person’s past. All a client needs to present with is a willingness and desire to create change in your own life.
Founding the Resource Therapy Institute of Australia has been the most amazing and exciting growth experience. We continue to offer training, supervision and mentoring for therapists in Resource Therapy.
Love to hear your reflections and ideas in the spirit of kindness, comment below.