Overview
Naikan is a Japanese approach to introspection that uses three fundamental questions about each relationship in one’s life to guide a sense of gratitude and agency:
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What have I received from this person?
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What have I given to this person?
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What troubles and difficulties have I caused this person?
Traditional naikan involves 7 days of isolation with 15 hours a day spent on self-reflection, interrupted every hour by a guide, a Naikan-sha, who listens for a few minutes about what the individual has analyzed. 60% of one’s time is meant to be spent on the third question.
In contrast to Western modalities of therapy and wellness, Naikan adopts a more “Eastern” view of an interdependent self whose identity is inextricably bound into the relationships they maintain with the people and world around them. The Naikan-sha is there primarily as a witness to the individual’s analysis and changes rather than playing the role of a therapist who might interpret elicited information.