How to Practice Decentering While You Meditate

Decentering is both a concept and a practice common in certain types of clinical psychology, most notably in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as well as Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). It’s tangentially related to the cognitive development concept of decentration espoused by the psychologist Jean Piaget, wherein a child learns to recognize multiple perspectives and aspects to a situation.

The definition of “decentering” may change slightly depending on the therapeutic modality, but it generally means to adopt a decentered perspective around your own unabridged and unedited thinking—to put it proverbially, to think outside of your own box. This sort of distanced perspective can allow you to achieve a reappraisal of a specific difficult emotional experience, or it can help you perform a detached meta-analysis of negative thoughts and return you to the present moment.

Systematic review of the empirical evidence available suggests that decentering practices can help bolster mental health and increase metacognitive awareness, particularly when you integrate them into a wider interpersonal process in cognitive therapy (regular talk therapy). Future research of these psychometric properties is poised to continue working toward confirmation of their efficacy as a stress reduction program.

The mechanisms of mindfulness training are simple, even when it comes to decentering—that is, adopting an objective view of oneself. Here are three tips for decentering yourself while meditating:

1. 1. Recognize your ego. Your ego is a story you tell yourself about yourself. The defusion process of decentering begins with recognizing how much you’re applying a narrative to your thought patterns. When you have a thought—whether it be about a fun trip to New York you took years ago, a negative experience you had as a child, or something more mundane—simply let it be what it is. It doesn’t need to become a jumping off point for a grander narrative about who you are as a person. Rather than centering yourself around this sort of thought story your ego creates, decenter yourself from it and let your thoughts flow freely.
2. 2. Be prepared to be distracted. Decentering and related constructs in mindfulness all rely upon an external source of focus to return to when you inevitably become distracted. Whether you choose a word of the day or just focus on your breath, taking your focus away from your thoughts to a present sensation or mantra is an essential part of mindfulness.
3. 3. Note what you’re thinking and feeling. As you inevitably get distracted by negative thoughts or feelings, recognize them as just that: thoughts and feelings. These aren’t you so much as they’re passing through you. Within this perspective, consider using some of these example sentences to describe the sensations brought on by your thoughts: “I feel sadness,” “I feel anger,” “I feel happy,” “I feel neutral,” and so on. This can help you realize how often your feelings and thoughts are temporary and in a state of flux. You might be able to more easily assert to yourself that your worst thoughts and experiences are not the center of your being.

Find something comfortable to sit or lie on, grab a MasterClass Annual Membership, and dial into the present moment with Jon Kabat-Zinn, the father of the Western mindfulness movement. From formal meditation exercises to examinations of the science behind mindfulness, Jon will prepare you for the most important practice of them all: life itself.