Unpacking Mindfulness Meditation

     When I sat down to write this month’s article, I was intent on having it coalesce around the idea of food justice, food as a weapon of war, and the greed and power that contributes to, if not creates worldwide hunger; my reason was primarily because I’m in the midst of organizing the San JoseWalk to Feed the Hungry.  But I really struggled to remain unemotional.  

     Instead I ended up writing this article on mindfulness meditation.  Deconstructing this popular and much-researched meditation technique also served to remind me of the power in this seemingly simple meditation.  Many of you’ve heard or know something about it, and perhaps have even learned and practised it.  I’d like to share with you my take on this profound meditation technique.

     I’ll conclude with hints on, to use a modern word, “hacking” your life to greater mindfulness.

     

WHAT IS IT?

     Mindfulness meditation comes from the Buddhist tradition. Its main components are: first, it is a meditation.  This means you have to actually experience it and not just study it.  Second, it is a practice and as such you need to do it daily or at least often enough to begin reaping benefits.

A moment of pure awareness

    Mindfulness is awareness.  Awareness of something you see, hear, smell, and so on in the moment before you identify or label it.  This is a particular kind of awareness:  it is knowing or noticing in a detached manner. Typically such awareness is extremely brief, a flash really. 

     The way we mostly go through life now is unconsciously judging all our life experiences.  Either we hate something and want it to end immediately, or we love a thing and desperately wish it to last forever.  Our lives are characterized by this pervasive dissatisfaction.  We rarely experience pure awareness that’s separate from our desires, dislikes, and disinterests.  The aim of practicing mindfulness meditation is to increase the duration of pure awareness. 

     Right now, you are probably thinking, is this doable?  Yes!  True, the mind can’t conceive of another way of being because it is accustomed to its current operating mode. Just as the habit of wishing for things to be different was honed over a long time, so too can the tendency to impartially observe our life experiences.  

     It takes effort, discipline, and commitment. As with all worthwhile ventures, when you know your reason for undertaking such an endeavor it makes it easier to commit to it.

     

THE TECHNIQUE:

     The first thing you do is train the mind to be aware of just one thing.  If that sounds contradictory, I suppose it is.  But if the mind were allowed to be aware of everything unfolding in the moment, it is easy for it to get lost and wander aimlessly.  So an entire meditation session can pass by with you fantasizing and ruminating.  There are open awareness meditations that use the above technique, but they are difficult for beginners to do. 

     Therefore to keep the mind from being swept away by discursive thought, we train it to pay attention to one thing.  By giving it an object to constantly return to, it becomes attentive.  When the awareness and attention are working together, the awareness will notice the object (for example, breath or a flame) and the attention will keep it on the object.  More importantly, when the attention wanders away, the awareness notices and nudges the attention back to the object.    

     The repetition of this pattern calms the mind.  When the mind calms down, the body relaxes.  Currently, our thoughts drift from one thing to another without awareness.  As a result of this mindlessness, we don’t notice the corresponding tension created in our bodies and minds by our thoughts.  Our anxiety, worry, fear, pain, and anger are increased because we aren’t aware of the interconnectedness of our body and mind. 

     Mindfulness meditation brings to the surface of our awareness the deeper inner workings of mind and body.  Such awareness also grows emotional intelligence and social competence.

Daily activities you can do more mindfully:

1.      Sound of your keys:  every time you pick up your keys, let the sound remind you to notice you are breathing.

2.      Put a mindfulness app on your phone which will gong to remind you to pay attention to your surroundings, your thoughts, and your feelings.

3.      Every door handle (car, house, mailbox) you touch, set the intention that you’ll stop and breathe.  This is especially helpful at the end of a hard day’s work.  As you turn the handle on your front door, breathe, drop your worries, and then enter.

4.      Before you hit the send button on your email, stop and breathe three times to slow yourself down.  This will prevent you from sending something prematurely or when you are upset.

     I hope the break down of this meditation technique will empower you to mindfully go through life increasing your own and others' joy.  If you’d like to learn mindfulness meditation, I teach at CACE on 23 September 2017 and through my own business Acceptance Healing (email me). 

     May your awareness grow from moment to moment.