By Dennis Johnson
Certified MBSR Teacher and Trained MSC Teacher
“There is no greater love than the immeasurable friendliness that can embrace all beings, all events, and all experiences with unshakeable kindness. There is no compassion greater than the fearless heart that can turn toward suffering and pain, tremble with empathy, and live with the commitment to end the causes of anguish. There is no greater happiness than inwardly generated joy and peace. There is no equanimity more unshakeable than the profound poise of the liberated heart that can meet the world of ungraspable conditions and events without being shattered.”
– Christina Feldman
Many people may be wondering about the relationship between MBSR and MSC. This article serves as an orientation toward both the commonalities and differences of these two programs. It presents a larger context in which their shared elements become apparent, and it sheds light on some hidden dimensions within their curriculum that allow for implicit and explicit ways of teaching and learning to take place. Their differences are then presented within a theoretical framework that helps understand the nature of their respective practices and the ways these interface in the alleviation of suffering. In doing so it reveals the many layers that may be at work when we are invited to feel our suffering with spacious awareness and to be kind to ourselves when we suffer.
Introduction
In this opening paragraph of her book “Boundless Heart,” contemporary Buddhist teacher Christina Feldman introduces the cultivation of the four immeasurable virtues of kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity in the context of the path to the end of suffering and the embodiment of liberation. Her abundant description of these immeasurable qualities acts as a vivid reminder of the many ways that mindfulness and self-compassion are intertwined and interdependent: When we cultivate the intentions of embracing all experiences with unshakable kindness, turning towards suffering with compassionate commitment, relying on inner joy, and meeting the world without being shattered, we are in fact relying on our innate capacities of present-moment non-judgmental awareness and loving connected presence.
The intentional cultivation of these innate capacities also takes center stage in a whole range of mindfulness-based and compassion-based programs that are being taught today on the basis of both contemplative traditions and modern science. Perhaps the two most prominent programs in this respect are Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC). They are our modern invitations to explore liberation in its contemporary forms of “full catastrophe living” (Jon Kabat-Zinn) and “being a compassionate mess” (Kristin Neff). In their shared commitment to alleviate suffering, they suggest to us to feel our suffering with spacious awareness and to be kind to ourselves when we suffer.
Hidden Dimensions
It is often said that mindfulness is taught implicitly in MSC and self-compassion is taught implicitly in MBSR. This goes to show that apart from the explicit contents of these programs there is also an implicit and hidden dimension to the teaching process. These hidden dimensions are expressed, for example, in the teachers’ embodiment of the practice, in the quality of the relational processes built between teachers and participants, and in the ways in which the group learning container is collectively held. While this play of the implicit and explicit is central to the contemplative pedagogy of these programs, it can also leave us wondering about the nature of their relationship with each other.
Therefore, this short article wishes to shed some light on the hidden dimensions of MBSR and MSC for all those who may find themselves confused by – or simply curious about – the complexities and intricacies of this field. I’ll start by making some personal observations and then draw upon some recent research on the shared elements of the programs and the different forms of practices they emphasize.
In my personal experience as both a teacher and a participant, it is in these hidden dimensions that loving connected presence manifests in the MBSR classroom just as much as present-moment non-judgmental awareness arises in the MSC classroom. Participants of either program find themselves developing facets of mindfulness and self-compassion. Whether the focus is on one or the other, participants benefit from learning how to combine the cooling effects of mindfulness with the warming effects of self-compassion as well as from learning how to regulate emotions through both attention and affiliation.
Shared Elements
While MBSR and MSC include mindfulness and self-compassion in more or less implicit and explicit ways, it is also true that there are important differences in terms of the forms of practices they emphasize. We will consider these differences below, but first let us take a step back and consider the larger context in which programs like MBSR and MSC are situated, which will allow us to see that mindfulness-based and compassion-based programs are united through several sharedcore elements. Many of these have already been alluded to above, but it is worthwhile to reiterate them here based on research by Rebecca Crane (Crane et al. 2017). According to this research, the core elements of these programs are the following:
- They are informed by theories and practices that draw from a confluence of contemplative traditions and modern science.
- They are underpinned by a model of human experience that addresses the causes of human distress and the pathways to relieving it.
- They help us develop a new relationship with our experience and ourselves that is characterized by present-moment non-judgmental awareness and loving connected presence.
- They support the development of greater attentional, emotional and behavioral self-regulation as well as positive qualities such as compassion, wisdom and equanimity.
- They engage participants in sustained and intensive contemplative training as part of an experiential inquiry-based learning process.
These shared elements not only act as a collective framework that underlies both MBSR and MSC, but they also are a helpful way to delineate mindfulness-based and compassion-based programs from other, perhaps more mainstream formats that involve the teaching of mindfulness and compassion in more general terms.
Families of Practice
This is not to say that there are also important differences in the respective emphasis of each program. With regard to these differences, it can be helpful to draw upon research in the field of cognitive science, which suggests a grouping of contemplative practices, such as those presented in MBSR and MSC, into three distinct “families” or forms that are referred to as the attentional, constructive and deconstructive families. A look at these can help us orient the richness of available practices these days and better understand their individual natures and relationships to each other. It also serves as a helpful framework for a closer look at what is taught more implicitly or explicitly in MBSR and MSC. Next to a summary of the key features of each of these families based on the research of Cortland Dahl (Dahl et al. 2015) below, I’ll also share a few thoughts on how they relate to the MBSR and MSC programs.
First, the attentional forms of practice train a variety of processes related to the regulation of attention. They involve the systematic training of the capacity to initiate, direct and/or sustain attention while also strengthening the ability to be aware of the processes of thinking, feeling and perceiving. These attentional practices involve two main forms known as focused attention and open monitoring. Focused attention involves the narrowing of attention and the cultivation of concentration, which leads to the development of metacognitive awareness, or, in simple terms, the conscious awareness of our thoughts and mental processes. Open monitoring involves the expanding of attention to incorporate the entire flow of perceptions, thoughts, emotions, and/or subjective awareness, which likewise gives rise to metacognitive awareness.
The practice of attentional regulation is certainly foundational to both MBSR and MSC – it’s hard to imagine engaging in any form of contemplative practice without the regulation of attention. However, MBSR probably places more explicit emphasis on this, whereas MSC teaches it more implicitly. MBSR also places a greater emphasis on formal contemplative practice through its extensive training of mindfulness meditation in its core practices of the bodyscan, mindful movement and sitting meditation, whereas MSC contains shorter meditations and more pen-and-paper exercises.
Next, constructive forms of practice include those that strengthen psychological patterns that foster well-being. They often involve the cultivation of virtuous qualities and deliberate shifts in the content of thoughts and emotions, as opposed to simply observing them. These constructive forms of practice involve two main orientations that are referred to as the relationship orientation and the values orientation. Practices with a relationship orientation emphasize nurturing relationships with self and others, which often involves the cultivation of kindness and compassion. Practices with a values orientation involve the integration of ethical frameworks or values into one’s perspective.
We can clearly see that such constructive practices form the bedrock of the MSC program. Its three core practices of Affectionate Breathing, Loving Kindness for Ourselves and Giving and Receiving Compassion as well as many other exercises, such as those around core values and gratitude, are centered around these constructive practices. While MBSR also supports the cultivation of virtuous qualities – if you think, for example, of the nine attitudes of mindfulness, such as non-judgment, patience, beginner’s mind, trust, non-striving, acceptance, letting go, gratitude and generosity – it certainly does so in a more implicit way. To be fair, it should be noted that MBSR session seven on the topic of self-care usually includes some explicit constructive practice in the form of loving-kindness meditation.
Finally, deconstructive forms of practice aim to undo maladaptive cognitive patterns by exploring the dynamics of perception, emotion and cognition and by generating insights into one’s internal models of the self, others and the world. These deconstructive practices employ self-inquiry to elicit insight into the nature and dynamics of conscious experience. Object-oriented insight practices employ self-inquiry to investigate the objects of consciousness, whereas subject-oriented insight practices involve inquiries into the nature of thought, perception, and other cognitive and affective processes.
Both MSC and MBSR aim to undo maladaptive cognitive patterns in times of distress on the basis of insight into the dynamics of our experience. The mindfulness component of MSC explicitly promotes object-oriented insight into the experience of suffering. In this way, it keeps us from becoming carried away by the associated storyline and becoming overly identified with the experience. The two other components of MSC promote subject-oriented insight into our self-model in more implicit ways. It does this by highlighting our habitual patterns of self-criticism and gradually replacing them with self-kindness. It also addresses cognitive processes that underlie experiences of isolation and replaces them with perspectives that emphasize our common humanity. MBSR likewise aims to undo maladaptive cognitive patterns. It explicitly promotes object-oriented insight by bringing awareness to various aspects of the body and to feeling states as well as subject-oriented insight by bringing awareness to states of consciousness and the elements of psychophysiological experience. In doing so, MBSR also implicitly fosters the cultivation of acceptance of our experience together with the development of a spacious awareness which is sometimes referred to as dereification or defusion. Note that in these examples we can see how constructive and deconstructive forms of practice converge on the basis of attentional regulation in the dance of the implicit and explicit.
Conclusion
Please remember that these families of practice are a theoretical framework that I’ve added some personal observations to, and therefore the above description cannot really be taken as a blanket statement. As mentioned above, MBSR and MSC include ample time for experiential group inquiry on the basis of participants’ experience and they also allow sufficient space for teachers to personalize their practice instructions. Therefore, an individual emphasis on these different forms of practice may show up in the teachers’ embodiment, the relationship between teachers and participants, and the group learning container – not to mention the fact that individual participants often come with their own resources or inclinations based upon their psychological makeup and previous practice experience.
However, this presentation of the shared elements of MBSR and MSC as well as their different attentional, constructive and deconstructive forms of practice can provide a useful framework to realistically consider both the commonalities as well as the differences of these programs and their related practices without losing sight of the bigger picture. My hope is that this discussion may contribute to an increased understanding of the many ways in which present-moment non-judgmental awareness and loving connected presence show up in our teaching, study and practice. I firmly believe these qualities of mindfulness and self-compassion can act as a solid foundation for the cultivation of the kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity that are necessary for the alleviation of our modern suffering and a more fully embodiment of contemporary forms of liberation.
Finally, if this article has inspired you to explore these issues once again with a beginner’s mind and in a more experiential way in a participatory group context, then I’d like to invite you to join us in the first live online MBSR course in the context of the Community for Deepening Practice that I will be leading. The class begins on Thursday, Sept. 21, and we’d love to see you there!
With best wishes,
Dennis Johnson
Resources:
Crane, Rebecca S., Robert Callen-Davies, Aesha Francis, Dean Francis, Pauline Gibbs, Beth Mulligan, Bridgette O’Neill, Nana Korantemah Pierce Williams, Michael Waupoose, and Zayda Vallejo. “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Our Time: A Curriculum That Is up to the Task.” Global Advances in Integrative Medicine and Health 12 (2023): 27536130231162604–27536130231162604.
Dahl, Cortland J, Antoine Lutz, and Richard J Davidson. “Reconstructing and Deconstructing the Self: Cognitive Mechanisms in Meditation Practice.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 19, no. 9 (2015): 515–23.
Feldman, Christina. “Boundless Heart: The Buddha’s Path of Kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity.” Shambhala Publications, 2017.
