Gregor and Masa Zvelc from the Institute for Integrative Psychotherapy and Counseling presented on the power of Mindful Processing at the 4th European Conference of Positive Psychology.  Their presentation was entitled: “The Power of the present moment – Mindful Processing in psychotherapy and counseling.”  As defined by Jon Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness is “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally.”  Zvelc commented that the cornerstone of mindfulness is a non-judgmental and accepting awareness of the present.  During the presentation, the Zvelc couple cited Segal, Williams, and Teasdale’s paper from 2002, which compared “doing” mode and “being” mode.  Doing mode stresses solving problems.  In contrast, being mode focuses on accepting and allowing without pressure to change the present.

During the workshop the Zvelcs taught a method of counseling called “Mindful Processing.”  Mindful Processing “invites the client to become aware of the moment” and to experience the present with acceptance.  The counselor is also in a state of mindfulness with the client.  With both therapist and client tuned into the present moment, the therapist asks the client to describe his/her present bodily sensations, feelings, and emotions.  The client is not to judge the sensations, only to describe and experience them fully.  The result is “deep experiencing.” 

The Zvelcs showed a video of Mindful Processing between a client and therapist.  In the video, the client first explained the situation that was causing him trouble.  He next expressed his bodily sensations becoming very aware of them.  With an awareness of the body, came an awareness of his emotions.  He deeply experienced the emotions that this situation had brought out.  The therapist helped to guide the client and to extract the meaning from the emotional experience.  With a better understanding of the emotions in this mindful state, a transformation of the emotions became possible.  New awareness arose along with insight into the initial situation.

The Zvelcs summed the protocol one should follow for Mindful Processing into a seven step process:

Step 1: Description of Mindful Processing to the client

Step 2: Description of the original situation – What issue would you like to discover more about?

Step 3: Finding body sensation connected to the whole problem – How do you feel it in your body?  Where?

Step 4: Focusing on body sensation related to the whole problem – Close eyes and focus.  Just observe what is happening within your body.

Step 5: Description of the Inner Experience – Slowly open your eyes and tell me what occurred.

Step 6: Intrapsychic Contact and Mindfulness – Stay with that feeling, emotion, sensation, thought.  Focus on it.  Just be aware.  Just observe.

            (Repeats steps 5 and 6 as many times as desired.)

Step 7: End of Processing – When considering the original issue, what comes?

Mindful Processing can be a very powerful way to gain new insight in an objective manner on any issue or problem.  It is without a doubt a slow and meditative process; however, with time and patience it can be quite effective.