Practicing Insight
AUTHENTIC MINDFULNESS INSTRUCTION
On Mindfulness
How Mindfulness Meditation Works
Deconstructing Your Overwhelm.
Mindfulness is a skill that enables us to deconstruct the patterns we are caught in, so that we can start to recognize where our response can be most effective, instead of being lost in too many competing alerts that fatigue our system.
Imagine two people arriving at the scene of an accident. One of them is trained as a paramedic, the other has no training. How does the person with no training respond? Fear. Confusion. Distress. This person sees chaos: many people needing help, injuries, disorder. They will not know how to help, or what to do. They will feel overwhelmed.
Now. Imagine the same scene when a paramedic arrives, or someone with medical and emergency training. What do they see? They see injuries that they know how to provide aid to, an ability to organize the scene: to know what and who needs to be helped first, and how. They have the skills to apply, and they know how to apply them. This is more than showing up with some knowledge of a technique (CPR, splinting, etc.) they are showing up with techniques, yes, but their expertise is in recognizing which techniques are appropriate, when they are appropriate, and how to adapt as the situation unfolds.
That's what mindfulness practice develops. An ability to deconstruct something that initially seems overwhelming or chaotic into workable elements.
Overwhelm, anxiety, stress and worry are real. But they are the results, not the cause, when everything feels equally urgent and we don't yet know where to begin.
Mindfulness helps us recognize where we can begin. It allows us to distinguish what requires our attention now, from the many competing alerts that fatigue our minds and bodies. As experience becomes clearer, appropriate and effective response becomes possible.
Mindfulness doesn't remove life's demands. It helps us become better at triage. It expands our capacity to respond.
Why Should I Meditate When I Already Have Too Much To Do?
To learn mindfulness, we're asked to add another thing to our day! How can this possibly help me when I'm already overwhelmed?
One of my teachers, who runs a retreat center and a separate meditation center, and has a very busy teaching schedule, and who has many, many responsibilities and demands on his time once shared that whenever he thinks he doesn't have time to meditate, is when he knows he most needs to stop and do it. He described what happens when he does: that when he thinks he can't possibly fit all that he has on his plate in his day, that after taking time out for formal practice, he actually finds much more spaciousness in addressing what needs his attention.
Practice gives us the confidence in our ability to meet the demands of our lives by letting us see more clearly that we can navigate them effectively.
Finding Room to Breathe
We live in an age where there is so much that requires our time and attention that many of us scarcely feel we have room to breathe. Not only time, but also that which is driving us to meet these demands: fear, anxiety, a sense of urgency and pressure don't only occupy our minds, they impact our bodies in real-time, causing physical contraction and patterns of holding that impact our actual experience of breathing.
Formal practice takes some of that time back, and then uses it to teach us how we can bring spaciousness into our lives as a way of being. In that spaciousness, the body begins to remember how it breathes more naturally again. Mindfulness practice doesn't only make the breath an object, it gives us back to it.
Today, we are asked to be 'mindful' in every context imaginable.
But what does it really mean?
Is it simply to 'be aware' or 'pay attention'? Maybe. But the practice of mindfulness is much more than this.
Some people come to mindfulness practice because they are drawn toward something: a different way of living, a spiritual path, or simple curiosity about meditation. Many others come seeking relief. Relief from anxiety, stress, depression or emotional suffering, or illness and pain. While circumstances may differ, they often share a common experience of feeling overwhelming to us. When we see how mindfulness works to support us when we feel overwhelmed, we also begin to understand the nature of mindfulness itself.
Mindfulness Beyond the Buzzword
Today, the word mindfulness is used in almost every context imaginable. It is used to indicate general wellness, suggest an antidote for lack of productivity, or signal a kind of vague 'spirituality'. It's important to recognize the difference between mindfulness practice as a formal contemplative practice, and the more casual everyday uses of the word.
In the mainstream rush to adopt what has become a popular idea, as well as some of the confusion created with the various usages of the word, the understanding of what's involved in learning the practice has become somewhat muddled. And, while in its essence it's very simple; there's also a very specific practice, requiring a level of intentionality and effort needed to develop this capacity and skill, through both formal and informal approaches.
Making the effort to cultivate not just the techniques, but the more nuanced understandings that allow them to become an integrated part of our lives, however, can ultimately bring back to our lives a greater sense of balance, confidence and even joy in how we meet experience.
Over years of teaching, watching the 'Aha!' moment when this is recognized has been incredibly rewarding. Authentic mindfulness, while not a quick fix or band-aid solution, is quite powerful, much more than what can be experienced by just learning a few techniques.
So, what exactly is mindfulness in the context of mindfulness meditation?
Is being mindful just so easy as 'paying attention'? Well, the answer is yes and no...
Mindfulness as defined by leading health experts:
- "... paying attention on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgementally to the unfolding of experience moment to moment"
- "... mindfulness is... bringing all of our awareness to the here and now, to the immediate sensations in our bodies and our breathing, for example, rather than letting much of it slip away in contemplation of the past and future or of other subjects that are not present."
- "Mindfulness is not some exotic ritual; in essence, it helps us train our minds to focus on what matters in the moment..."
You can listen to Jon Kabat-Zinn,
the founder of the MBSR program,
describe mindfulness...
The Roots of Modern Mindfulness
The way the word 'Mindfulness' is used in our culture today finds it's roots in the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program created by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, in 1979 for the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. MBSR arose out of the contemplative and philosophical practices of Buddhism going back more than 2500 years, however the MBSR course was developed as a program to be offered in a secular health care context to support those dealing with serious health challenges. Its effectiveness in that environment soon attracted greater interest, and adoption broadened into many areas of healthcare, community-based programs and wellness focused initiatives across many fields. MBSR is approachable for people of any religious, spiritual or non-religious background.
What Will You Learn in a Mindfulness Course?
You'll learn techniques to broaden and deepen awareness in the contemplation of the breath, body, and feelings, as well as a way of relating to thinking as a 'process' (as opposed to analysis or evaluation of thoughts,) and the skills to utilize them in both formal practice and daily life. You'll learn:
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Mindfulness meditation as a grounded, 'in the body' presencing which enables a greater capacity for self awareness and equanimity, rather than ideas about special states or esoteric 'out of body' experiences.
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Mindfulness as a learned and practiced skill, rather than a philosophy to read about and cognitively understanding.
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Mindfulness as a living engagement with experience as it is *right now*, in all of its joys and challenges, and not merely a set of techniques.
While Mindfulness is, in many ways, simply 'paying attention', it's a very particular way of paying attention, requiring systematic and intentional cultivation, that ultimately shifts our relationship with our experience in profound and consequential ways, with a range of benefits to physical, social and emotional health.