Surprises
Posted: January 12, 2011 Filed under: Mindfulness | Tags: informal practice, surprises Leave a commentDoing the interior work of meditation or psychotherapy can feel like turning one blind corner after another. Often when just checking in with my body, I’ll get surprises I didn’t expect and definitely don’t want. For instance I was walking through a parking lot towards my office building. It was quiet, and I decided to engage in a little informal practice by feeling my breath and connecting with the silence. What I encountered was a racing heart and short irregular breaths. I’m sure the check-in didn’t cause this state, so it’s surprising to me that I can be walking around not aware that my body is in a panic state. Once recognized, the feelings were intense and unmistakable. By placing my attention on these sensations the panic dissipated, but I left with a different feeling of uneasiness. Am I truly walking through much of my life totally numb to saturated states like panic? How much of me am I missing? Is there a part of me that is willing me to ignore such bright red flags?
I’ve been told many times to be joyful when I recognize when my mind has wandered, and to be grateful when I can bring it back to my object of awareness. I do, though, have some strong feelings of grief for all the parts of my life that I’ve missed.
Happenings
Posted: March 28, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentOver the last couple of months I have bee lucky enough to partake in two special events. In late February, I spent a week training in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction with Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli. I can’t express enough gratitude for those 7 days and the profound effect they’ve had on my life. Sounds like hyperbole perhaps, but I hope to back it in upcoming posts.
I also managed to make it down to San Diego for the Buddhism and Psychology conference with Daniel Siegel, Ronald Siegel, Sharon Salzman, and Mark Epstein, among others. This conference gave me some basic understanding of how and where mindfulness, Buddhism and psychology intersect.
If you have an interest in any of these topics, I highly recommend related upcoming events or gaining access to these researchers and teachers.
Mindfulness: a multi-part definition, part 4
Posted: December 18, 2009 Filed under: Definition, Mindfulness | Tags: definition, Heal Thy Self, mindfulness, Saki Santorelli 2 CommentsSaki Santorelli provides a more detailed definition of mindfulness elsewhere in Heal Thy Self, but for right now, I really like this one:
…a disciplined way of learning to pay attention to all that is arising within. This is called mindfulness.
This definition is powerful because it so clearly focuses on the fact that our internal selves are constantly changing, and to be mindful is to start with that. Ultimately, and frequently, we lose self-awareness, but this provides us with the basis of practice.
Each time that we awaken to no longer being present ourselves or to another is, paradoxically, a moment of presence. If we are willing to see the whole of our lives as practice, our awareness of the moments when we are not present, coupled with our intention to awaken, brings us into the present. Given our penchant for absence, opportunities for practicing presence are abundant.
Practice doesn’t make perfect, and that can’t really be our goal, but more about that later.
Mindfulness: a multi-part definition, part 3
Posted: July 26, 2009 Filed under: Definition, Mindfulness | Tags: definition, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, mindfulness Leave a commentThe last definition entry may have sounded a little overwhelming. So, here, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse offers us some reassurance:
Awareness doesn’t prevent you from living, it makes living that much fuller. If you are enjoying a cup of tea and you understand the bitter and the sweet of temporary things, you will really enjoy the cup of tea.
Thank you to Ceez for bringing this quote to my attention.
Mindfulness in Schools
Posted: July 25, 2009 Filed under: Mindfulness | Tags: children, Education 1 CommentI’m just now learning about the use of mindfulness in education and schools. This application of mindfulness is new to me, but seems very promising.
One great example is Park Day School has a Mindful Schools community out reach program that teaches mindfulness to teachers and students in Oakland CA.
A couple of other information packed mindful education resources can be found at the Association of Mindfulness in Education and Mindfulness in Education Network.
Mindfulness: a multi-part defintion, part 2
Posted: July 25, 2009 Filed under: Definition, Mindfulness | Tags: definition, mindfulness, Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh Leave a commentIn the first part of this definition series, I gave you a pithy explanation from a Westerner. In this part, I’m going with Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen monk and strong advocate of mindfulness.
In The Miracle of Mindfulness he quotes the Sutra of Mindfulness as saying:
When walking, the practitioner must be conscious that he is walking. When sitting, the practitioner must be conscious that he is sitting. When lying down, the practitioner must be conscious that he is lying down..No matter what position one’s body is in, the practitioner must be conscious of that position. Practicing thus, the practitioner lives in direct and constant mindfulness of the body…”
However he doesn’t leave us with a simple focus on posture. He adds:
The mindfulness of the positions of one’s body is not enough, however. We must be conscious of each breath, each movement, every thought and feeling, every thing which has any relation to ourselves.
That is a huge goal! Being mindful of what your body is doing and what your mind is doing. Noticing what the world is presenting to you in the way of bodily sensations. Spread that awareness to how those sensations make you feel and what thoughts they may trigger. Imagine what it might be like to have all of those things have equal weight in your attentional mind at once. Do you think you can do that? Do you think you can build up to it?
Many of the definitions I will be presenting and commenting on may not be the best known formulations by their respective authors. Kalea Chapman, Psy.D. has a great list of mindfulness definitions by psychologists and others, and he’s an admirable blogger on the topics of psychology/psychotherapy (including mindfulness) and big pharma. I strongly suggest you give the blog a look.
Zoning Out is not Mindlessness
Posted: July 22, 2009 Filed under: Mindfulness, News, Science, The brain | Tags: mind wandering, Zoning out Leave a commentDiscover magazine published an interesting story about wandering minds and zoning out. It seems that even though our minds might wander from a task, however important it is, some key processing is going on.
…mind wandering is not useless mental static. Instead, Schooler proposes, mind wandering allows us to work through some important thinking. Our brains process information to reach goals, but some of those goals are immediate while others are distant. Somehow we have evolved a way to switch between handling the here and now and contemplating long-term objectives. It may be no coincidence that most of the thoughts that people have during mind wandering have to do with the future.
Studies have shown that sometimes we’re aware of our mind wander and sometimes we’re not, but the mind is always doing something regardless of the presence of metathought. Discover goes on to state:
Even more telling is the discovery that zoning out may be the most fruitful type of mind wandering. In their fMRI study, Schooler and his colleagues found that the default network and executive control systems are even more active during zoning out than they are during the less extreme mind wandering with awareness. When we are no longer even aware that our minds are wandering, we may be able to think most deeply about the big picture.
Because a fair amount of mind wandering happens without our ever noticing, the solutions it lets us reach may come as a surprise. There are many stories in the history of science of great discoveries occurring to people out of the blue. The French mathematician Henri Poincaré once wrote about how he struggled for two weeks with a difficult mathematical proof. He set it aside to take a bus to a geology conference, and the moment he stepped on the bus, the solution came to him. It is possible that mind wandering led him to the solution. John Kounios of Drexel University and his colleagues have done brain scans that capture the moment when people have a sudden insight that lets them solve a word puzzle. Many of the regions that become active during those creative flashes belong to the default network and the executive control system as well.
It seems apparent that there is thought that we cannot attend to consciously. Is this non-attentional thought (using the word unconscious is too loaded) going on all the time? When we remember something when we stop trying to remember it (that word on the tip of our tongues) does that me that our attentional thought processes and non-attentional thought processes are mutually exclusion; that they get in each others way?
And what are the implications for mindfulness? Is the goal of mindfulness antithetical to non-attentional thought? When we’re told to just wash the dishes when washing the dishes how does that affect other, necessary types of brain activity?
Thoughtfulness vs. Mindfulness
Posted: July 14, 2009 Filed under: Mindfulness Leave a commentWhile thinking about the definition of mindfulness, the word “thoughtful” popped into my mind. What is the difference between the two words? Do they describe the same thing?
Dictionary.com defines thoughtful as:
adj.
- Engrossed in thought; contemplative.
- Exhibiting or characterized by careful thought: a thoughtful essay.
- Having or showing heed for the well-being or happiness of others and a propensity for anticipating their needs or wishes.
At first, I was thinking that thoughtfulness intersects with mindfulness at points representing the first and third sub-definitions above. The first type reminds me of somebody sitting alone on a bench in a park while thinking. This person is truly in his/her head and disconnected from the world to some degree; lost in thought. The second type is keyed into others’ needs. He/she is thinking about how to meet and exceed those needs ( I imagine cooking breakfast-in-bed for a loved one or spending time picking out just the right gift).
Mindfulness isn’t really an activity in itself , either we are doing something mindfully or we aren’t. So if mindfulness isn’t on the same level as the other activities we are doing, like being thoughtful, then what is it? At least at this point in my investigation, I suggest that it is the context of our actions. This seems clearer when Thich Nhat Hanh urges to just wash the dishes when we’re washing the dishes (Miracle of Mindfulness), but is more complex when the activity is mostly in our heads. The person in the park can be aware of being in the park while thinking, and the gift giver can be aware of how picking out a present is affecting his/her emotions and body. Thinking is an action, and we can do it in states of distraction and disconnection or we can do it mindfully with our brains and our hearts.
Mindfulness: a multi-part definition, part 1
Posted: July 8, 2009 Filed under: Definition, Mindfulness | Tags: definition, Full Catastrophe Living, Jon Kabat-Zinn, MBSR, mindfulness Leave a commentSo what is mindfulness anyway? Let’s ask the experts.
Jon Kabat-Zinn, who is often credited with bringing mindfulness to medicine and health says:
Simply put, mindfulness is moment-to-moment awareness. It is cultivated by purposefully paying attention to things we ordinarily never give a moment’s thought to. It is a systematic approach to developing new kinds of control and wisdom in our lives, based on our inner capacities for relaxation, paying attention, awareness, and insight. (Full Catastrophe Living, Fifteenth Anniversary Edition, 2005, p. 2)
Moment-to-moment awareness of what? Our thoughts? Our feelings? Others’ expectations of us? The fact that the car needs a tune-up? Everything?
And why does awareness need to be cultivated? Can’t we just pay attention to things without any practice? Will I do more on this blog than just ask questions?
Dr. Kabat-Zinn has a deeper understanding to share about mindfulness, but I thought this would be a good starting point. More soon.
Here is a more complete and direct definition by Dr. Kabat-Zinn:
Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally. — Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life
Blogging the Here and Now
Posted: July 7, 2009 Filed under: Uncategorized 3 CommentsHi and welcome to an experiment in blogging about mindfulness.
Mindfulness has been a topic I’ve loved for many years, and I hope to use this blog as a collection and integration point for thoughts, research, open questions, and personal experiences about mindfulness.
Ideally the posts you’ll find here won’t just be about my exploration of this subject, though there will be plenty of that. With any luck there will be more than a few contributors, but for now you’re stuck with me.
Just to give you a taste of what I intend to touch on, here is a list of potential topics:
- What is mindfulness?
- What is it good for? How is it used?
- Mindfulness in everyday life
- Who are the big players in the field and what are they saying?
- Mindfulness and psychology
- Mindfulness as a Western phenomenon (from its roots in the East)
- Mindfulness in relation to meditation
- Religious and cultural traditions that incorporate mindfulness (Buddhism, Sufism, yoga, etc.)
There will be much more, and please don’t hesitate to suggest topics.
Thanks, and stop by often!
Here and Nowness 