• Ramakrishnan Parameshwaran.
• Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA, Adibhat Foundation for Integrating Medicine and Spirituality, Greater Kailash-I, New Delhi, India.
• Indian J Psychiatry. 2015 Jan 1; 57 (1): 21-9.

BackgroundOf various spiritual care methods, mindfulness meditation has found consistent application in clinical intervention and research. "Listening presence," a chaplain's model of mindfulness and its trans-personal application in spiritual care is least understood and studied.AimThe aim was to develop a conceptualized understanding of chaplain's spiritual care process based on neuro-physiological principles of mindfulness and interpersonal empathy.Materials And MethodsCurrent understandings on neuro-physiological mechanisms of mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) and interpersonal empathy such as theory of mind and mirror neuron system are used to build a theoretical framework for chaplain's spiritual care process. Practical application of this theoretical model is illustrated using a carefully recorded clinical interaction, in verbatim, between chaplain and his patient. Qualitative findings from this verbatim are systematically analyzed using neuro-physiological principles.Results And DiscussionChaplain's deep listening skills to experience patient's pain and suffering, awareness of his emotions/memories triggered by patient's story and ability to set aside personal emotions, and judgmental thoughts formed intra-personal mindfulness. Chaplain's insights on and ability to remain mindfully aware of possible emotions/thoughts in the patient, and facilitating patient to return and re-return to become aware of internal emotions/thoughts helps the patient develop own intra-personal mindfulness leading to self-healing. This form of care involving chaplain's mindfulness of emotions/thoughts of another individual, that is, patient, may be conceptualized as trans-personal model of MBI.ConclusionChaplain's approach may be a legitimate form of psychological therapy that includes inter and intra-personal mindfulness. Neuro-physiological mechanisms of empathy that underlie Chaplain's spiritual care process may establish it as an evidence-based clinical method of care.

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