Re-contextualizing Mindfulness Meditation: Integrating Traditional Buddhist and Contemporary Approaches to Healing and Well-Being

Abstract

Mindfulness mediation has become increasingly popular in the west as an intervention for a number of medical and emotional disorders. From its onset it has been presented as a secular form of Buddhist meditation in order to widen its accessibility. Within the Buddhist spiritual tradition mindfulness is considered as one of the several key practices that are deemed to be integral to the cesssation of suffering and psychic pain, and the cultivation of unconditional emotional health and well-being, sometimes termed nirvana or enlightenment. This article argues that modern mindfulness mediation mayh show more robust clinical outcomes and benefits if it is re-contexualized by integrating the key elements of the Buddhist path of well-being, each of which addresses different aspects of human functioning and which holistically can profoundly transform the personality.