MINDFUL MEDICINE
Finding Balance in Life Uncertainty
Samita Seetho, M.D.
Obstetrician and Gynecologist Institute of Medicine, Suranaree University of Technology
It’s commonly thought that people in the medical field, especially doctors, nurses, and emergency staff, accept and understand uncertainty better than others because they work closely with life and death. But in reality, that isn’t necessarily true.
Dr. Samita Seetho, 29, a medical professor at Suranaree University of Technology and an obstetrics and gynecology specialist, understands this saying too well. As someone who has practiced Vipassana meditation since her teenage years and has experienced the sudden loss of a loved one, Dr. Samita has found that time heals only to a certain extent. The grief from losing someone dear cannot be truly healed unless it comes from understanding at a spiritual level, which is possible only by training the mind to see things as they truly are.
What inspired you to become a doctor?
When I was young, I actually wanted to be an actress. I was involved in many school activities. I didn’t really want to be a doctor until I met one of my father’s friends. He was a doctor and told me how wonderful being a doctor was. At that time, I wasn’t particularly hardworking, but after being inspired, I wanted to do better in school. I felt Ididn’t understand science at all and wasn’t good at English, so I took extra classes…I’ve now been working as a doctor for about six years.
So If outstanding academic results aren’t the most important thing for being a doctor, what do you think is most important?
Mindfulness. Mindfulness comes first, especially if you’re a surgeon.
I heard you’ve been practicing meditation since you were a teenager. Is there a connection, and how did you start?
It all began with my parents. They started practicing first and invited me to join them. They didn’t say much, just suggested I try it. I was okay with it. Whatever mom said, I went along with. I was 17 then. My first experience was Vipassana meditation.
How does mental training benefit you?
Since I wasn’t the top student, studying medicine was very difficult for me. Everything was intense. Just in the first to third years, we studied much more than students in other faculties, with constant exams and reading. My spirits would often drop.
The advantage of Vipassana meditation is that when I felt down, I could quickly bring my mind back because I had learned how to lift up my mood. I could really see how much it helped. The 4th to 6th year were even more challenging because it wasn’t just sitting in class and taking exams. We had to work, be on duty, attend to patients on the ward, and face pressure from colleagues, professors, patients, and their relatives — everything all at once, plus sleep deprivation. If you’re not strong enough mentally, you’ll definitely give up. This is the period when many students transfer to other faculties because they can’t handle the pressure.
Could you share some ideas on how you managed your schedule to make time for mind training when you barely had time to sleep?
Let me put it this way. The difference between periods when I made time for meditation and when I didn’t was dramatic in terms of mental energy and mindfulness. During times when I didn’t meditate at all, I could feel my mind sinking, with no mental energy or motivation to do anything. But during periods when I did meditate, not only could I clear out all the problems, but once my mental energy returned, I also knew what I should do next and how.
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