The Big Five: 33 Definitionen von Achtsamkeit

Eine schwedische Arbeitsgruppe (Nilsson & Kazemi 2016) fand bei einer Literaturrecherche zu Definitionen von “mindfulness” (Achtsamkeit) aus den Jahren 1993 bis März 2016 insgesamt 308 englischsprachige Artikel, aus denen sie 33 Definitionen extrahierten:

1. “Mindfulness [. . .] is generally defined to include focusing one’s attention in a nonjudgmental or accepting way on the experience occurring in the present moment [and] can be contrasted with states of mind in which attention is focused elsewhere, including preoccupation with memories, fantasies, plans, or worries, and behaving automatically without awareness of one’s actions.” Baer et al (2004, p 191)
2. “Mindfulness is a process of regulating attention in order to bring a quality of non-elaborative awareness to current experience and a quality of relating to one’s experience within an orientation of curiosity, experiential openness, and acceptance.” Bishop et al (2004, p 234)
3. “. . . sati . . . provides the connection between its two primary canonical meanings: as memory and as lucid awareness of present happenings.” Bodhi (2011, p 25)
4. “. . . friendly, non-judgmental, present-moment awareness.” Brantley J (2007) Calming your anxious mind. How mindfulness & compassion can free you from anxiety, fear and panic. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger. p 7
   
5. “A receptive attention to and awareness of present moment events and experience.” Brown, Ryan & Creswell (2007, p 212)
6. “. . . mindfulness may be defined as a state of consciousness in which attention is focused on present moment phenomena occurring both externally and internally.” Dane (2011, p 1000)
7. “Mindfulness practice has been described as the intentional process of observing, describing, and participating in reality nonjudgmentally, in the moment, and effectively.” Dimidjian S & Linehan MM (2008) Mindfulness practice. In WO’Donahue & JE. Fischer (Eds) Cognitive behavior therapy. Applying empirically supported techniques in your practice (pp 327–336). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons. p 327
   
8. “. . . mindfulness, or bare attention, in which moment-to-moment awareness of changing objects of perception is cultivated.” Epstein M (1995) Thoughts without a thinker: Buddhism and psycho- analysis. New York, NY: Basic Books. p 96
   
9. “Mindfulness can thus be defined as the defused, accepting, open contact with the present moment and the private events it contains as a conscious human being experientially distinct from the content being noticed.” Fletcher & Hayes (2005, p 322)
10. “. . . awareness, of present experience, with acceptance.” Germer CK (2005) Mindfulness: What is it? What does it matter? In CK Germer, RD Siegel & PR Fulton (Eds) Mindfulness and psychotherapy. New York, NY: Guilford Press. p 7
    
11. “Mindfulness means awareness, openness, and acceptance of whatever arises, without attachment to pleasant, aversion to the unpleasant, or forgetfulness of natural feelings.”  Goldstein J & Kornfield, J (2001). Seeking the heart of wisdom: The path of insight meditation. Boston, MA: Shambala. p 154
12. “Keeping one’s consciousness alive to the present reality.” Thich Nhat Hanh (1976) The miracle of mindfulness. An introduction to the practice of meditation. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. p 11
13. “A state of keen awareness of mental and physical phenomena as they arise within and around (oneself).”  Harvey  P (2000) An introduction to Buddhist ethics: Foundations, values and issues. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p 38
14. “Being attentively present to what is happening in the here and now.” Herndon (2008, p 32)
15. “Mindfulness is an orientation to our everyday experiences that can be cultivated by means of various exercises and practices.” Hick SF (2009) Mindfulness and social work: Paying attention to ourselves, our clients, and society. In SF Hick (Ed) Mindfulness and social work (pp 1–30). Chicago, IL: Lyceum Books. p 1
16. “Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” Kabat-Zinn J (2005) Wherever you go there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. New York, NY: Hyperion. p 4
17. “Mindfulness is nonreactive, nonelaborative, nonreified awareness that has meta-cognitive functions, monitoring ongoing awareness and discriminating wisely between aspects of awareness content so that awareness and behavior can be directed according to the goals of genuine happiness, virtue and truth.” Kang & Whittingham (2010, p 170)
18. “Mindfulness is a flexible state of mind in which we are actively engaged in the present, noticing new things and sensitive to context, with an open, nonjudgmental orientation to experience.” Langer EJ (1989). Mindfulness. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo. p 220
19. “A mode, or state-like quality, that is maintained only when attention to experience is intentionally cultivated.” Lau et al (2006, p 1447)
20. “Mindfulness, a psychological construct associated with nonjudgmental attention and awareness of present-moment experiences.” Long & Christian (2015, p 1409)
21. “Bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis.”  Marlatt GA & Kristeller JL (1999) Mindfulness and meditation. In WR Miller (Ed) Integrating spirituality into treatment (pp 67–68). Washington, DC: APA. p 68
22. “Mindfulness is in general connectedness, not being scatter-brained; whereas awareness is more precisely keeping oneself under constant observation, not letting one’s actions (or thoughts, or feelings, etc.) pass.“ Nanavira T (1987) Clearing the path: Writings of Nanavara Thera (1960–1965). Colombo, Sri Lanka: Path Press. p 155
23. “The clear and single-minded awareness of what actually happens to us and in us at the successive moments of perception.”  Nyanaponika T (1962) The heart of Buddhist meditation. London, United Kingdom: Rider. p 5
24. “. . . sati is literary “memory”, but is used with reference to the constantly repeated phase “mindful and thoughtful” (sato sampanjano); and means that activity of mind and constant presence of mind which is one of the duties most frequently inculcated on the good Buddhist.” Rhys Davids TW (1881) Buddhist sutras. Oxford, United Kingdom: Clarendon Press. p 145
25. “A simple mental factor that can be present or absent in a moment of consciousness. It means to adhere, in that moment, to object of consciousness with a clear mental focus.” Rosch (2007, p 259)
26. “Mindfulness refers to an open state of mind where the leader’s attention, informed by a sensitive awareness, merely observes what is taking place: worry about the future and negative ruminations or projections are brought back to the present moment where the situation is seen for what it is.” Roche, Haar, & Luthans (2014, p 477)
27. “Mindfulness is a quality of relationship to the object of awareness. Just having an experience, say hearing a sound, is not really being mindful. Knowing a sound without grasping, aversion, or delusion is being mindful.” Salzberg S (2008) Interview with Sharon Salzberg. In R Shankman (Ed) The experience of samadhi. An in-depth exploration of Buddhistmeditation (pp 130–135). Boston, MA: Shambala. p 135
28. “Mindfulness is a bare and continuous moment-to-moment awareness of our experience.” Schmidt (2004, p 9)
29. “. . . in mindfulness practice, the focus of a person’s attention is opened to admit whatever enters experience, while at the same time, a stance of kindly curiosity allows the person to investigate whatever appears, without falling prey to automatic judgment or reactivity.”  Segal ZV, Williams JMG & Teasdale JD (2002) Mindfulness based cognitive therapy for depression: A new approach to preventing relapse. New York, NY: Guilford Press. p 322-323
30. “Sati can be translated as mindfulness or awareness and can be defined as an embodied and ethically sensitive practice of present moment recollection.” Stanley (2013, p. 6)
31. “Giving full attention to the present, without worries about the past or future.” Thondup T (1996) The healing power of mind. London, UK: Penguin. p 48
32. “Mindfulness is a mental state characterized by particular qualities of attention and awareness that has its origins in Buddhist and other Eastern meditative traditions.” Watford TS & Stafford J (2015) The impact of mindfulness onemotion dysregulation and psychophysiological reactivity under emotional provocation. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 2, 90–109. p 90
33. “Eastern mindfulness means having the ability to hang to current objects, to remember them, and not to lose sight of them through distraction, wandering attention, associative thinking, explaining away, or rejection.” Weick & Sutcliffe (2006, p 518)

Aus diesen Definitionen extrahierten sie die “Big Five of mindfulness”:

1. Attention
2. Awareness
3. Present-centeredness
4. External events
5. Cultivation and ethical mindedness.