Event Title

Poster: The Languaging of MBSR’s Body Scan: Cultivating Self-as-Process

Location

Moakley Atrium

Start Time

13-5-2015 4:00 PM

End Time

13-5-2015 5:00 PM

Description

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teaches contemplative practices which foster present-moment, non-judgmental awareness. A core component is the Body Scan, a 45-minute, sequential inquiry into subtle physical sensations. Despite MBSR instructors’ careful use of language, discursive aspects of this practice have rarely been researched. Mindfulness instructions convey an implicit formulation of the practitioner’s self, requiring detailed explication of the language employed in teaching mindfulness practices. This analysis demonstrates how language is used to depict “self” as process. Kabat-Zinn’s recorded Body Scan was systematically analyzed for its discursive style. Analyses display a unique verbal style: grammatical patterns counter-act the typical construction of self as a fixed entity. Plural pronouns de-emphasize separation between speaker and listener, reducing reification of self. Present participles and articles replace second-person pronouns, de-emphasizing the experiencer. Physical sensations are simply observed impersonally, rather than possessed, encouraging de-identification with both self and body.

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
May 13th, 4:00 PM May 13th, 5:00 PM

Poster: The Languaging of MBSR’s Body Scan: Cultivating Self-as-Process

Moakley Atrium

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teaches contemplative practices which foster present-moment, non-judgmental awareness. A core component is the Body Scan, a 45-minute, sequential inquiry into subtle physical sensations. Despite MBSR instructors’ careful use of language, discursive aspects of this practice have rarely been researched. Mindfulness instructions convey an implicit formulation of the practitioner’s self, requiring detailed explication of the language employed in teaching mindfulness practices. This analysis demonstrates how language is used to depict “self” as process. Kabat-Zinn’s recorded Body Scan was systematically analyzed for its discursive style. Analyses display a unique verbal style: grammatical patterns counter-act the typical construction of self as a fixed entity. Plural pronouns de-emphasize separation between speaker and listener, reducing reification of self. Present participles and articles replace second-person pronouns, de-emphasizing the experiencer. Physical sensations are simply observed impersonally, rather than possessed, encouraging de-identification with both self and body.