Developing inner freedom. Mindfulness training as a practice of self-detachment based on Viktor Frankl’s theory

Abstract

Viktor Frankl conceives man as unity in three dimensions: somatic (body), psychic (soul) and noological (spirit). The body and soul form a determined psychosomatic body. The spirit can distance itself from it, which is a condition of inner freedom. Its developing takes place through exercises of mindfulness which Kabat-Zinn defines as “awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment”. It creates a mental gap between the stimulus-response relations that shape automatic behavior. Thanks to it, man does not react automatically to internal stimuli, but consciously responds to them. The training of mindfulness leads from self-observation, through non-reactivity, to decentration, that is, the detachment of the sense of self from internal phenomena.