Dear Sir,
Jo Gardner (‘Mindfulness: is it useful?’ en October 2018) is too quick to dismiss mindfulness without considering Christian Mindfulness and the natural faculties God has designed us with. Helpfully she points to a more considered paper on the CMF website by Dr James May which has a more careful conclusion.
I agree with Jo that no secular counselling technique, including mindfulness, can deliver what God in Christ wants to do in the lives of those who follow him. However, I am comfortable using the basics of mindfulness where it can be of benefit.
For those of us who want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, mindfulness can remind us to pay attention to what is going on in our bodies, minds and hearts, especially when it is troublesome, and from that point on to use the Scriptures to reconnect and anchor us back to the LORD, the I AM, the one who is always in the moment. So often we know the verse that encourages us to be still and know that he is God, but we don’t have a clue about when and how to apply it; we know that as far as east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us, but we continue to beat ourselves up; we know the psalmist’s experience that in his anxiety God’s consolation brought him joy, but how do we get that? By learning to pay attention, on purpose, in the moment, non-judgmentally, we can give ourselves that minuscule of time when we recall the Scripture, regain the peace that only he can give and experience the joy and freedom of those who are living with Christ now.
... and the breathing exercises – well, they are there to trigger our para-sympathetic system to calm us, just as God designed. Once we have calmed down we will be able to recall his Word more readily (which could be through the words of a Christian song), just as he designed.
Yours sincerely,
