I explore arguments about secularized mindfulness and its (possible) detachment from Buddhist ethical roots. Here, a tension emerges: I try to highlight concerns that mindfulness has been co-opted to serve neoliberal interests, while also pointing toward my own experiences of healing with this practice. Critique and intellectual engagement, I suggest, are important for the maturity of one's practicing life.

In this second reflection (first one here), I delve into how mindfulness practices provided a lifeline during my struggle with severe depression. After an experience with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in an outpatient program, mindfulness meditation became a profound catalyst for my healing. 

In this essay, I dive into the importance of understanding the context of contemplative practices when using them in academic disciplines, such as counseling or counselor education. I focus on mindfulness and Buddhism in order to highlight how certain ideas and assumptions―such as Buddhist exceptionalism―can filter into research and practice if we are uncritical in our approach.

In this essay I reflect on depersonalization/derealization, contemplative practice, and my experience within a toxic social setting. The intersection of mental distress, social instability, and graduate-level training manifested in my experience with DP/DR and panic attacks. Within this reflection, I question the function of contemplative practice in my own life. I finish with questions that have yet to be answered.

In this post, I explore the intersection of trauma, self, and mindfulness in counseling in therapy. I specifically focus on the potential distress and destabilization that contemplative practices like mindfulness can evoke in clients with traumatic experiences. As helping professionals, we have much more to learn about contemplative practices―including mindfulness―before we can confidently lead clients through meditative terrains. I end with some resources and tentative conclusions about using mindfulness in therapy.

In this essay, I critique traditional psychotherapy research paradigms, advocating for a holistic approach that values human experience as vital context to the outcomes we desire. I emphasize the common factors approach and its connection to the 4e approach of studying the circularity of human cognition. I suggest some reasons why contemplative practices can be helpful for counselors, therapists, and other clinicians.