Mindfulness
At any moment you may be doing something – a task, activity, job whatever term fits best, but at the same time you are probably thinking about what happened earlier in the day or the previous day or further back still or what will be coming up later today or at some time in the future. You may be worrying about what you should have done or what you might do.
In fact at this moment you are anywhere but here and if you are not here you cannot know what is happening right now, right this second. And now that is the past, you’ve missed it and second by second that keeps happening until suddenly what you missed jumps up and bites you either physically or psychologically.
What can you do about it—do you want to do anything about it—is there really an It ?
In the western world we are tuned to see “problems” and fix them as quickly as possible. Often we miss a vital step of noticing the situation in its entirety, accepting that total picture BEFORE analysing and problem solving—if in fact there is a problem. This added step means that you can see the situation dispassionately and accept that it is real and multidimensional. This then allows many alternative ways of dealing with it to come to your mind--- Tried and trusted is not necessarily the best way every time and over time may actually become the wrong thing to do.
So what is Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a way of being Here and Now: to be aware of yourself and anything affecting you , in the present moment—No past No future Just NOW
What will that do for you
If life is a constant battle to keep up or to get ahead you never have time to be present and enjoy the now. What is the purpose of all the rushing about?—it is to achieve something ( wealth, happiness etc) that we never get to enjoy because instead of being happy , content, satisfied we are looking to the next opportunity—a party, a holiday, a meeting, a new house /car/gadget /answer--- and so the endless list goes on. As each goal is reached another bigger further, harder to attain one is set—constantly challenging ourselves to be “better” and get more.
Meditation--- this is a loaded word, it evokes thoughts of eastern mystics, hippies, burning incense, tendency to drug use, wild out of the box thinking, all linked to a 1960’s subculture that only represented a small proportion of time and population.
Synonyms for meditation: musing thought, contemplation consideration, reflection, rumination, introspection, , concentration, deliberation,
Mindfulness is establishing the mind body link, it is awareness of the self , feeling complete
You are totally in the Now As you breathe in—that action is happening right now as you experience it.
It takes 2—3 seconds to become mindful—to be in touch with the entirety of yourself.
Simply walking from the car to the office, concentrate on nothing other than the process of getting from one place to another –if nothing else it is a safer way to get there –BUT—by walking concentrating in the first 3 secs on breathing – clear the mind so that from there on the focus is on what you are doing right then, not what went before or on what is coming up. That is the difference because normally you try to think ahead, anticipate, plan BUT all that effort is wasted because you are imagining what might happen and planning for things that have not happened If you are in a state of clear uncluttered awareness you can react, quickly and effectively to what really happens.
When you have a head full of plans and rehearsed arguments you are not prepared to deal with the real world, you have to dump all that preconception before you can begin to deal with what is actually in front of you.--- TRY IT.
How is mindfulness used?
1. It is used by clinicians:-
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a psychological therapy designed to aid in preventing the relapse of depression, specifically in individuals with Major depressive disorder (MDD).[1] It uses traditional Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) methods and adds in newer psychological strategies such as mindfulness and mindfulness meditation. Cognitive methods can include educating the participant about depression.[2] Mindfulness and mindfulness meditation, focus on becoming aware of all incoming thoughts and feelings and accepting them, but not attaching or reacting to them.[3] Like CBT, MBCT functions on the theory that when individuals who have historically had depression become distressed, they return to automatic cognitive processes that can trigger a depressive episode.[4] The goal of MBCT is to interrupt these automatic processes and teach the participants to focus less on reacting to incoming stimuli, and instead accepting and observing them without judgment.[4] This mindfulness practice allows the participant to notice when automatic processes are occurring and to alter their reaction to be more of a reflection.
In more technical terms:-
Beyond its use in reducing depressive acuity, research additionally supports the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation upon reducing cravings for substances that people are addicted to. Addiction is known to involve the weakening of the prefrontal cortex that ordinarily allows for delaying of immediate gratification for longer term benefits by the limbic and paralimbic brain regions. Mindfulness meditation of smokers over a two-week period totalling 5 hours of meditation decreased smoking by about 60% and reduced their cravings, even for those smokers in the experiment who had no prior intentions to quit. Neuroimaging of those who practice mindfulness meditation has been shown to increase activity in the prefrontal cortex, a sign of greater self-control.[5]
It can be used by individuals for their own benefit
Changing feelings about feelings !
Try this :- Think of a social situation that was bad ( Having to stand up in front of people to speak) Say the negative feelings you got from that situation, scale them 1---10 of how bad that makes you feel. Now be aware of the breath moving in moving out of you nose or chest—so you focus on that. Now count backwards in 2’s from 169 ( about 5 steps) Now think about the original situation in a way that is less uncomfortable / stressful. Notice how your breathing pattern has changed. Simply by changing your breathing pattern in a moment of anxiety or panic you can halt / reverse/ deflect the feelings that are developing. This has to be a positive action and you need to take your mind to a calm, unthreatening state--- but the point is YOU can do it.
Components of attention
Alerting—sustained vigilance to an object—meditate on breath
Re-orienting--- switching attention focus
Executive control---selective attention, inhibitory control.--- deleting unnecessary thoughts
Negative emotions – act in the left amygdala--- brain reacts to negative self beliefs.
Slow down to become more aware of emotions that may not be pleasant but the object is to raise awareness --- then may be necessary to deal with what you become aware of --- things you have been suppressing.
Spinning – the sequence of thoughts that come from a single thought.
Forms of self processing ( how we feel about our Self)
Broadly people fit two sets:-
1. Analytical /narrative self:- they are past/future orientated, Have a fixed Self concept, They are prone to Rumination so trap themselves within an image that they think is them
2. Experiential self:- they are “present moment” focused, constantly changing their experience of Self, They may however have a reduced, over generalised memory, which can lead them towards depression and anxiety if they focus on negative aspects of the past. They have more fluid ideas of themselves and are thus more able to adapt
Depressed people often have difficulty remembering detail and tend to over generalise—will say I always *** , or I never ***.,rather than less extreme expressions of memory
Limbic system= emotion recognition / generates emotion
Meditating may limit the thinning (with age ) of the frontal cortex, the benefit being greater self confidence and feelings of being more in control.
The basic principle & process of mindfulness in practice
Paying attention on purpose—making the mind focus and work
Breathe to find the calm space—notice that the mind is wandering, draw it back to the calm place and just accept that the thoughts that come are there to be looked at without being judged but with a friendly curiosity.
Mindfulness is Not a distraction but a way of being aware , calm and curious. It Assists in reducing rumination—stops people worrying because that has no benefit or function
The meditator's body and mind should be alert but not tense.
Mindfullnes is not a therapy per se but is of a therapeutic nature and enables the individual to attain the right frame of being to gain the most from specific therapies.
From the Foundation for Mindfulness:-
When practicing mindfulness of breathing, attention should be focused at the tip of the nose or at the point of the upper lip immediately below where the current of air can be felt. The meditator's attention should not leave this "focusing point" from where the in-coming and out-going breaths can be easily felt and observed. The meditator may become aware of the breath's route through the body but he should not pay attention to it. At the beginning of the practice, the meditator should concentrate only on the in-breaths and out-breaths, and should not fall into any reflections about them. It is only at a later stage that he should apply himself to the arousing of knowledge and other states connected with the concentration.
In this brief introduction, only the first steps of the beginner can be discussed. For more information the student may refer to the English translation of the Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification, chap. VIII) by Bhikkhu Ñanamoli, or to Mindfulness of Breathing by Bhikkhu Ñanamoli, and to The Heart of Buddhist Meditation by Nyanaponika Thera.[3]
The lay Buddhist who undertakes this practice will first take the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts; he will review the reflections on the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, transmit thoughts of loving-kindness (metta) in all directions, recollect that this meditation will help him to reach the goal of deliverance through direct knowledge and mental calm; and only then should he start with the mindfulness of breathing proper, first by way of counting.[4]
While following the in-breaths and out-breaths thus, they become fainter and fainter, and at times it is not easy to remain aware of that subtle sensation of touch caused by the respiration. Keener mindfulness is required to keep track of the breaths then. But if the meditator perseveres, one day he will feel a different sensation, a feeling of ease and happiness, and occasionally there appears before his mental eye something like a luminous star or a similar sign, which indicates that one approaches the stage of access concentration. Steadying the newly acquired sign, one may cultivate full mental absorption (jhana) or at least the preliminary concentration as a basis for practicing insight.
The Foundations of Mindfulness
Satipatthana Sutta
translated by
Nyanasatta Thera
"The Foundations of Mindfulness: Satipatthana Sutta", translated by Nyanasatta Thera. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanasatta/wheel019.html .
The 7 principles of Mindflulness
1. Non-judgmental
2. Patience
3. Beginners mind
4. Trust
5. Non-striving
6. Acceptance
7. Letting go
Dealing with unwelcome thoughts,:-
Rather than trying to push them away ( which in fact adds power and energy to them) just try to look at those thoughts, not judging them , not doing anything with them , just noticing that they are there: when they get no reaction they usually get bored and go away --- just like a playground bully.
Self : The way we define our “Self” is by measuring ourselves against our experiences of others, comparing, contrasting and judging. If reality is our expression of our experience of the world then our Self is our expression of our experience of being in the world. No one sees us as we see ourselves because everyone applies their own beliefs/ values to whatever they see, hear etc.
Reality is the meaning we give to current experiences in light of our unique past experience. There is not one reality but millions, each of us sees things from our own perspective, we read situations based on what we know or think we know. We judge by past experience, commonly held opinion and our own beliefs.
Dealing with unwelcome thoughts:- If you push a thought away it will push back harder to make itself noticed. If you are able to acknowledge that a thought has come to you , but then just let it be, it does not have to go anywhere or be “Dealt with” it is probably just one on thousands of thoughts constantly being generated and discarded as un-needed.
Think perhaps of looking out of the window at passing traffic, a constant flow of vehicles but occasionally one will catch your attention, not for any good reason and not because you need to be aware of it, it is just your brains way of proving that the visual inputs are being noted. To continue that analogy if you do take notice of that particular vehicle , suddenly you see them everywhere you go--- until something else takes your attention. It is the same with random thoughts , if you pay attention to one you find you are making connections to it and very quickly that thought is able to dominate and grow because it appears to be linked with everything else in your life.
So the point of this is ---awareness--- recognising that thoughts come and go, we are not being lazy or inattentive by not following up every one—in fact to do so would render us useless like a frozen computer screen., not being able to deal with what is important, in the present moment.
Awareness in the present moment:- I didn’t see that coming ! When did that start?, How did I miss that? Phrases we utter all the time because we have let go of the ability to be present in the NOW. We are constantly Doing something—avoiding that voice that says “The devil finds work for idle hands”. We are conditioned to be constantly busy so that as we are walking the dog we are thinking about what happened earlier at work or about what we are going to do later in the evening but we are not fully conscious of the exact moment, there on the path, where we should be enjoying the sights, sounds, smells, sensations of the place in which we are. How often do you pass someone and find yourself suddenly startled and saying things like – “ Oh hi, I was miles away, didn’t see you there”.
Meditating creates a state , not of relaxation on the edge of sleep but relaxation on the edge of total awareness. The meditation does not take you away to a fantasy place, it brings you to focus and awareness about your immediate surroundings and situation. To be truly effective you have to be present—and the point is that most of us think we are paying attention – because we are constantly Doing but doing needs a stage before hand that makes it valid and effective. We leap from problem to solution but miss the simple awareness of the problem, a point at which we have various options. We do this is because we make assumptions and judgements which we layer onto any situation. The purpose of meditating is to take us to a point where the judgements and preconceptions are suspended so that we see, hear, feel taste, smell what is actually there at that moment. Reaching a point of Stop.
Breathing to awareness
All you need to do for this exercise is to be---this is simple but not easy
Things to look out for:
Wandering mind--- what we are doing is training the mind to operate in additional ways. As I said we are looking for that point of peace but we are conditioned to keep going so very quickly--- maybe already--- your mind will wander. Its natural and will take time to adjust, just accept that it has gone of focus and come back on track--- no guilt, no failure --- just part of the process.
Sleepyness: concentrating on nothing but your breathing can, when you first start doing it, appear boring, especially as it is also part of the process NOT to be getting to a particular goal other than an open awareness.
By sitting up. In a comfortable way, with feet resting on the ground but with the back away from the back of the chair.
Breathing: As an introduction to each session, to let your body know that this is a separate time begin by relaxing your stomach muscles, simply to allow you to breathe deeper and more comfortably. Now just take a few long breathes noticing the difference from your regular breathing pattern. Notice how your body feels compared with your normal pattern. Now, as your body benefits from the chemical release that comes with those long breathes to relax your body, focus your attention on the flow of breath in and out of your body, feel how the breath affects your body feel where the breath goes…….
Awareness:
In awareness there is nothing but consciousness; it is not a state of activity, you do not DO awareness you simply allow it to be. You do not need to react, or to do anything with the awareness just accept that it is there, notice what it is without judging or demanding anything from it.
The future and the past are concepts but the present is fleeting and real
Discussion ( shaking apart hoping that a result will emerge ) V Diologue ( coming together
Interesting links to follow:
Bemindful.co.uk
Oxfordmindfulness.org
Scienceoxfordlive.com
to match and compare /contrast)
These Youtube links will really help you see and hear what mindfulness is about, they are by the creators of mindfulness and show how they extracted from Buddhist philosophy and practice the things that can be accepted and used by people of the western world:-
1. Professor Mark Williams http://youtu.be/wAy_3Ssyqqg?list=PL1oPh8dYXU3mCUyjWpQt6px8vFyffKfjn
2. Jon Kabat Zinn Life is right now http://youtu.be/EU7vKitN4Ro
3. Jon Kabat Zinn 9 Attitudes of Mindfulness http://youtu.be/HE60Hk786Lw the remaining 8 attitudes are listed in the side panel at the end.
