According to the Dalai Lama (2001), mindfulness can enhance presence in four ways. First, it can heighten the sustainability of focused attention. Second, mindfulness practice can enhance self-compassion which should lead to greater empathy and compassion with clients. The compassion and acceptance developed in mindfulness practice is viewed as ultimately valuable as the basis of compassion and acceptance toward others (Dalai Lama, 2001). Third, mindfulness can offer a way to reduce stress and enhance well-being and care for one’s own self. Fourth, mindfulness can help generate greater openness and receptivity as well as grounding in one’s self. The qualities of therapeutic presence enhanced through mindfulness can ultimately allow for a greater therapeutic relationship to develop, which we know contributes to a positive therapy outcome (Lambert & Simon, 2008).
Mindfulness practice can help counselors enhance their ability to have focused attention as well as …show more content…
Compassion is defined as having empathy and understanding for others as well as having the wish or intent to use that understanding to help others and alleviate their suffering (Shapiro & Carlson, 2009; Vivino, Thompson, Hill, & Ladany, 2009). As we have seen in Buddhist perspectives and the definitions of mindfulness, compassion begins with compassion for one’s self. This perspective was supported by a study that explored psychotherapy videotapes and found that therapists who lacked self-compassion were also more critical toward their clients and had poorer therapy outcomes (Henry, Schacht, & Strupp, 1990). A study by Shapiro, Brown, and Biegel (2007) indicated that mindfulness practice helps counselors to develop greater self-compassion, compared with a control group. To develop compassion for one’s self or others, therapists need to have a level of harmony, and mindfulness practice helps to cultivate that harmony for one’s self and others (Siegel,
Mindfulness practice can help counselors enhance their ability to have focused attention as well as …show more content…
Compassion is defined as having empathy and understanding for others as well as having the wish or intent to use that understanding to help others and alleviate their suffering (Shapiro & Carlson, 2009; Vivino, Thompson, Hill, & Ladany, 2009). As we have seen in Buddhist perspectives and the definitions of mindfulness, compassion begins with compassion for one’s self. This perspective was supported by a study that explored psychotherapy videotapes and found that therapists who lacked self-compassion were also more critical toward their clients and had poorer therapy outcomes (Henry, Schacht, & Strupp, 1990). A study by Shapiro, Brown, and Biegel (2007) indicated that mindfulness practice helps counselors to develop greater self-compassion, compared with a control group. To develop compassion for one’s self or others, therapists need to have a level of harmony, and mindfulness practice helps to cultivate that harmony for one’s self and others (Siegel,