Entries Tagged 'mindfulness' ↓
March 7th, 2008 — meditation, mindfulness
This week we spent a day practising different types of formal mindfulness meditation. This might sound daunting, but because the time was split into sessions of no more than 40 minutes, most of our group seemed to have no difficulty. We practised mindfulness while lying, sitting, standing , walking and during some simple yoga movements. I’ll talk about standing and walking today, you can read more about sitting and lying meditation (the body scan) in Week 2, and Week 3.
Standing Meditation
What is it?
This is meditation just like any of the other practices, just performed while standing.
How do you do it?
Its usually best to stand in an upright (but relaxed) , dignified posture-often described in the Yoga tradition as the Mountain Pose.
Stand with your legs about hip-width apart, your knees not locked. Gently pull down your tailbone ( the lower end of your backbone), and allow the spine to lengthen. Let the shoulders fall back, so that the chest is open.
Bring your attention to the body, to how it feels, to the weight pushing through your feet into the floor. Notice how your weight is distributed through the feet. Are you leaning backwards with the weight mostly through the heels, or forwards with it through the balls of your feet. Perhaps allow your position to adjust until you feel the weight is balanced.
As with most forms of meditation you can then pay attention to your breath, at the nostrils, the belly or elsewhere in the body, or try imagining the in-breath coming up through the ground into your feet and then out through the nostrils.
This position is useful if you’re feeling drowsy as its difficult to fall asleep while standing 
. And its also helpful when you’re restless- as there’s no where to go. You’re simply there, rooted to the ground.
How To Move to Walking Mediation
Stay in the mountain pose for a while then when you feel ready begin to walk. Try to let your steps follow your breathing, lifting one foot with the in-breath, placing it back on the ground with the out-breath, then lifting the other foot with the next in-breath and so on. Let the movements follow the breath rather than the other way around.
Try to pay attention to the each movement within a step. Where in the body does the motion start? Is there any shifting of weight before the foot is lifted- where is it? Then watch the foot lift off the ground, notice which part lifts first. Follow the foot as it moves through the air, and when it comes to the ground. Feel the shifting of weight , the movement of the leg and hip over that foot after it’s on the ground. Then follow the next step.
As with other forms of meditation thoughts and emotions will turn up. As always this is OK, and quite normal, and actually part of the whole process. Just bring your mind back to your body, back to the step. Try to move fully into the sensations of the breath and the movements of the body.
Walking slowly makes the movements within each step easier to follow, and is the way most people begin, But you can be mindful of walking and other movements at normal speeds, although it might be easier just to follow the back and forth movements of the upper legs, or the swing of the hips.
Where Do you Do it?
You can do it anywhere, but often its easier to start at home or in the garden if you have one. It helps not to have to think too much about where you’re going, or to really be going anywhere in particular. So a space which allows say 10 steps back and forth is ideal.
Taking Meditation into Everday Life
This kind of meditation is an ideal bridge between sitting meditation, and everyday life, encouraging us to bring our practice into daily activities.
Related Articles on this site
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Course (Series):
Week 1 Stress Relief with a Raisin
Week 2 The Body Scan
Week 3 Sitting Meditation
Next week Compassion meditation
External Links
A video on mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
Photo at top of page by skyseeker
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February 13th, 2008 — meditation, mindfulness
This week we switched from the body scan to sitting meditation. Which reduced the risk of falling asleep, but brought on a few aches and pains
So what is Sitting Meditation?
Sitting meditation is central to most people’s meditation practice- the hook on which everything else hangs. You can do it on the floor, in any of the cross legged or kneeling positions, but it’s also perfectly OK to sit in a chair. It’s the attitude rather than the position which is crucial. It is important though to try to sit in an upright, but not rigid, position with you head, neck and back in a straight line. This helps you to breathe more easily, and as Jon Kabat- Zinn says, encourages some of the meditation attitudes such as acceptance and self- reliance.
The Kneeling Position
I like to kneel on a meditation stool. It looks a bit like a medieval torture device, but is in fact very comfortable. You kneel on the floor with your sitting bones on the stool, which is about 6 inches off the floor. The top of the stool is angled so that the pelvis tilts forwards, pushing the back into a natural S shape- with minimal muscular effort.
Where to Sit
It often helps to choose a quiet room or area, which can be your regular meditation spot. you may then begin to associate this place with meditation, which aids the whole process. Its better if its somewhere you know you won’t be disturbed.
When to Sit
Morning is probably the best time, preferably before there’s anyone else up and about. It sets the scene for the day. If you meditate in the evening then as early possible, preferably before dinner, is best.
What to do
Take your position with intention. Have a sense of settling into your body, becoming centered. Then direct your attention to your breathing. You can follow the air as it passes over the nostrils, or the belly as it balloons in and out, or just have a general sense of the breath entering and leaving the body.
There’s no need to force anything, as Jon Kabat- Zinn says, you have to sneak up on the breath gently. Whether its at the nostrils of the belly try to follow the breath from the beginning to the end. Watch the pause after the in-breath, then follow the out-breath all the way. Keep with it till the end, again watching for the pause and stillness before the next in-breath, when the cycle starts all over again. Bringing your attention to the belly can have a more calming effect than the nostrils ( and so is often used in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction classes). So if you’re feeling agitated the belly may be a better area to focus on, and if you’re drowsy try focusing on the breath at the nostrils.
Thoughts
If thoughts pop into your mind as you are following the breath don’t worry. It’s the normal activity of the mind. Just observe the thought, and any emotion linked to it, and then gently but firmly return to the breath. You may have to do this over and over, but that’s OK. Its really an essential part of the meditation.
Discomfort
Its common to experience some discomfort during the sitting meditation. If possible try observing the discomfort at first. It may help to direct your out breath to the area. Try staying with the sensation. Of course this may not be possible. If you do have to move because of discomfort that’s perfectly OK. Try to move with the breath though, mindfully, watching your body as it repositions itself.
Sounds, Sensations and the Mind
After some time ( perhaps 5 to 10 minutes) with the breath as the centre of attention , you may want to bring you awareness to the activity of your mind. To the thoughts and emotions, or the sounds around you, or your physical sensations- knowing that at any time you can return to the breath if you need to. I’ve written more about this in How to Meditate Mindfully
Next week Walking Meditation and the “day long retreat”
Related Articles on this site
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Course (Series):
Week 1 Stress Relief with a Raisin
Week 2 The Body Scan
Related Links
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction at Sharpbrains
Photo at top of page by beggs
meditation, mindfulness, stress reduction, Kabat-Zinn
February 4th, 2008 — meditation, mindfulness
This week there were no raisins (see Week 1), but we did get a chance to lie down.
So What is The Body Scan?
It’s a meditation technique, from the Vipassana tradition, where attention is brought to different parts of the body (from the tip of the toes to the crown of the head). It has been adapted by Jon Kabat-Zinn to become an important part of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Course, partly I think because it’s such a good way to develop attention . In fact it’s often used at the start of a meditation, as a way to still the mind.
How to Do the Body Scan at Home
Where?
Find somewhere quiet, where you can lie reasonably comfortably on the floor, undisturbed for 45 minutes. The idea is not to fall asleep, although many people do, which is perfectly ok. But its probably best not to encourage sleepiness with pillows under the head, or by lying on the bed. Its useful to cover yourself with a blanket, as body metabolism may slow during meditation, and you might find yourself getting quite cold. (see Relaxation Response).
What Position?
Most people lie flat on their backs, with the arms by the sides, the hands facing palm upwards. Its an open position, which tends to help the meditation. But you don’t have to lie like this if you find it too uncomfortable. The hands can be placed on the abdomen for instance or, particularly if you have back pain, the knees may be supported by placing a cushion underneath them.
Start by bringing your attention to the toes of the left foot, and then the arch and heel. Notice what you can feel when your mind comes to rest on each area. Notice any sensations on the skin, feel the weight of the foot pressing through the heel into the floor, notice if there’s warmth or cold. You can bring the breathing into your meditation, by imagining that your sending each out-breath into the foot. Imagine the breath flowing down into the toes over and over each time you exhale.
Then bring your attention to the ankle go through the same process, slowly. Asking what do I feel now, seeing the out-breath flood into the ankle.
Don’t worry if you notice that your mind has been drawn away from the object of your attention, and you find yourself thinking about something else (it nearly always is). Just calmly, gently but firmly bring your mind back to the part of the body you’ve reached. You may need to bring your attention back over and over, but this is ok, really just part of the meditation.
You can move in this way through the left calf, knee, hip, and then repeat with the right leg. Then through to the pelvis and lower back. When you reach the abdomen become aware of the movement of the diaphragm with the breath, causing the belly to balloon in and out. Pause here for a while with your attention on the belly. You can move through the chest shoulders, arms, hands, and head, focusing on the breath again when your attention reaches the nostrils. And finally settling perhaps on a sensation of the whole body lying on the floor, and of the breath passing in and out of it.
Next week sitting meditation
Related Articles on this site
Related Links
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mindfulness, stress, Jon Kabat-Zinn, meditation, body scan
February 1st, 2008 — meditation, mindfulness
Acceptance
Meditation is not striving to get somewhere in the way we we usually do with most activities. In fact trying to be more relaxed, or to achieve a certain state with meditation, is likely to be counter-productive. Meditation is best practiced by letting go, with an attitude of patience, trust and acceptance of the present moment. Watching your mind and body intently, but without getting caught up in it all.
Jon Kabat Zinn, developer of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction , likens meditation to cultivating crops ” the right attitudinal soil is required to grow anything, nothing will grow if the soil is polluted by striving or pushing too hard”.
Ekhart Tolle in his book “NOW” says, ”Surrender (acceptance) is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding rather than opposing the flow of life. The only place you can experience the flow of life is now, so to surrender is to accept the present moment unconditionally and without reservation”.
So important elements of meditation include patience, acceptance, non striving and letting go. All these attitudes are to do with not pushing or trying too hard, fully being with this moment not trying to change it, whether it is pleasant or unpleasant.
It is also important to try to be non-judgmental of whatever is experienced in meditation. This is really part of acceptance. However it is in our nature to continually judge all we see as good or bad. The aim in meditation is just to observe this judging. To watch how the mind leans either toward or away from all it encounters.
Acceptance can be practiced during meditation, by observing physical sensations, thoughts and emotions. Pain and discomfort for example can be an opportunity to practice. When sitting the usual tendency for most of us is to shift position if the slightest discomfort arises, trying to achieve a more comfortable, more pleasant position, and stop the unwanted sensations. In “Mindfulness in Plain English” the Venerable Henepola Gunaratana says, ” Once you sit, do not change the position again until the end of the time you determined at the beginning. Suppose you change your original position because it is uncomfortable, and assume another position. What happens after a while is that the new position becomes uncomfortable. Then you want another and after a while, its too becomes uncomfortable. So you may go on shifting, moving, changing one position to another the whole time you are your meditation cushion, and you may not gain a deep and meaningful level of concentration. ”
So it may be worthwhile trying not to move at the first sign of discomfort, but if possible just observing the sensations, accepting them for what they are. Accepting, surrendering to discomfort may improve it, as pain is often made worse by our anxious and tense reactions to it. Of course sometimes you do need to move during a meditation, the best way to judge when is probably simply to be mindful of what your body is telling you. For more about meditation and pain see Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Observing The Mind
When we sit and look at the mind thoughts and emotions stream past. Perhaps surprisingly this seems to be the normal state for our minds. Some thoughts are pleasant, some unpleasant or painful, often dwelling on the past or looking hopefully, or anxiously to the future. As with physical discomfort the natural tendency is to retreat from anything unpleasant, to push these experiences away or suppress them (in which case they may reappear later as physical symptoms).
Here again the suggestion is to try to accept, to surrender, be with whatever comes up. To try to view thoughts and emotions with a detached interest, with equanimity. This process can be helped sometimes by visualisation. For example when you sit to meditate imagine your mind as a vast open blue sky, and any thoughts and emotions that arise as clouds drifting by. Realize that they’re in the sky (the larger mind) but not affecting it. Watch them pass by and disappear.
Paul Wilson meditation teacher, and author of “The Quiet” describes another technique. When you meditate picture yourself in a cafe looking through the window at the street. Imagine thoughts and emotions as people passing by. You look and see, but do not become involved with them. You watch them pass by out of sight. With time, when the mind is brought to thoughts and emotions in this way, their temporary insubstantial nature becomes more evident . Sometimes however this is not the case, particularly with more painful emotions. In this case it is worthwhile just trying to accept, and be with what is there for now. As Ekhart Tolle says , surrendering to whatever is present now, somehow changes it, and reduces its power over you.
More on meditation attitudes in later posts.
Related Articles
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mindfulness, stress, Jon Kabat-Zinn, meditation, acceptance, patience
January 29th, 2008 — Health, meditation, mindfulness
I’ve just started an 8 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Course, and will post a weekly review on it to let you know how I’m getting on, give you an idea of what is involved, and where you can find out more.
Stress Relief With a Raisin: Eating meditation
In the first class you practice eating meditation. All this means is to eat with awareness. And all that means is to just eat. Not think about what you have to do that evening, about the shopping or cleaning the car. Just bringing you mind to the sensations, smells, tastes, sights and sounds of eating.
So last Thursday night I found myself sitting in a circle with a group of 12 others, all of us intently staring at a raisin sitting in each of our palms. And after a few minutes becoming aware of the details on the raisin’s surface, patches of light and dark, folds in the skin, reflections, and the sensation of it lightly resting on my palm.
If other thoughts appear you’re encouraged to just gently but firmly bring you mind back to now. In this case back to the raisin sitting on your palm. We continued like this- next picking up, smelling the raisin, placing it against the lips, noting the sensation, putting it in the mouth but not chewing. Just noticing how it felt. And asking the question- Whats happening now? Noticing where the tongue was, noticing saliva building up in the mouth, and perhaps the urge to chew building up.
Next we were all instructed to bite into our raisins- noticing how the tongue pushed it to the side of the mouth, noticing if it went to the left or right. Feeling the teeth bite through the surface, and tasting the sweet bitter juice flow over the tongue and mouth. Noticing the clenching of the jaw when chewing, and finally the sensation of the raisin passing down the throat as it is swallowed.
It was, I can safely say ,the best raisin I have ever eaten!
What is the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Course?
Its a training programme developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn 20 years ago, at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre, which used mindfulness meditation to reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression and pain. Patients were usually referred from clinics where they had been unsuccessfuly treated for these symptoms for several years.
Kabat-Zinn used mindfulness meditation techniques based on Buddhist meditation practices, particularly insight meditation or Vipassana. Mindfulness has been described as paying attention in a very particular way: non judgmentally with intention. Have a look at What is Mindfulness Meditation? for more on this.
Initially training includes lying ,sitting and walking meditation, and later everyday activities like brushing your teeth and taking out the rubbish. Participants are encouraged to observe all of their experiences, thoughts and feelings with a detached interest. To bring awareness to the moment, to what is happening now. This tends to reduce stress, anxiety and depression, which are usually triggered by worrying about future or past events. If you are really present now, in the moment, worries fall away. As Mark Twain said “I have know a great many troubles but most of them never happened”.
Next Time I’ll talk about Lying Meditation- based on the Vipassana Body scan
Related Articles on this site
Further Reading
- Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn published by Piatkins
(outlines the stress reduction programme in detail)
Related Links
Photo at top of page by 60058591@N00
mindfulness, stress, Jon Kabat-Zinn, meditation, anxiety, depression
January 21st, 2008 — meditation, mindfulness
Mindfulness is a practice taken largely from Buddhism, although it is not in itself religious. It requires awareness to be brought to physical sensations, thoughts and emotions as they present in the moment. The mindful individual is aware but does not get involved or attached. Sensations, emotions and thoughts are viewed and examined in detail, from a third party point of view, with no attempt being made to deny or block them, or distract from them. This allows him to become more familar with all this mental activity, appreciating how it arises and if left alone, passes. This is useful when dealing with troublesome emotions like fear, anger, envy and with desire.
Watching the coming and going of thoughts and emotions allows the mindful individual to become aware of their transient and insubstantial nature, while taking a 3rd person perspective reminds him that he is more than this mental activity.
Mindfulness is non-judgmental, so emotions and thoughts are observed impassively- if a particular negative thought or emotion such as anger or envy appears it is not judged but simply observed. This may be helped by mental labelling: for instance thinking “there’s some anger” or just thinking “anger”. There are a number of other attitudes which are thought to be required to develop mindfulness- these include patience, acceptance, newness, trust and non striving (more on this in later posts).
The mindful individual accepts the present moment for what it is rather than feeling unsatisfied because things are not right for some reason. So if there is anger, fear or envy for instance they are accepted as present in this moment. In fact these negative emotions and states of mind are welcomed as an opportunity for learning and becoming more mindful, as they show the transient and insubstantial nature of such mental states.
Acceptance does not mean passivity, but rather awareness that whatever the goal a true understanding of the current situation, through being mindful, is more likely to produce the desired progress- with a calm state of mind.
Related Posts
Does Mindfulness Protect Us From Depression?
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mindfulness, Buddhism
January 15th, 2008 — Health, meditation, mindfulness
What is Mindfulness Meditation?
Mindfulness is often defined simply as paying attention in a very particular way. In concentrative meditation attention is directed towards a specific object like the breath as it passes over the edge of the nostrils, a repeated mantra or an external object, such as a statue of the Buddha. But during mindfulness meditation you are encouraged to become aware of whatever arises in the mind. This might be bodily sensations, such as tingling in your feet, an ache in your back, sounds around you, or various thoughts and emotions. You are advised to accept and not judge whatever comes up. To watch without getting too involved. For example if you think ” this meditation is a waste of time”, or ” I just can’t do this” then you just observe these thoughts, and any linked emotions such as fear and anxiety. Just keep watching.
How mindfulness meditation can protect us from Depression
Depression is often triggered by identification with the negative thoughts, which endlessly cycle in the mind. This is known as rumination. Mindfulness can help to loosen identification with these thoughts. To help you realise that you are not your thoughts.That they are transient, and will fade if you don’t become involved with them. In fact practising mindfulness, can make you a sort of expert on you own mind, so that you can spot negative thoughts before they take over
Can mindfulness make us happy?
Can practice mindfulness go further than just preventing depression, bringing us to a neutral state. Can it actually help us to be happy?
The Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard argues that happiness is a skill to be learnt. It is, he says, a process of eliminating negative emotions like anger and envy using specific methods. Probably the most powerful and simple is observation or mindfulness of thoughts and emotions as they arise, coupled with an attitude of acceptance.When attention is focused on an emotion such as anger, says Ricard, without looking at the cause of the anger, the transient, insubstantial nature of the emotion becomes evident. It cannot persist. However if attention slips to the reason for the anger then the emotion is fed.
How to Practice Mindfulness of Thoughts and Emotions
Mindfulness can be practiced anywhere, while brushing your teeth or mowing the lawn but the most useful place to start is probably during sitting meditation. When you meditate its best to begin by establishing some stability in your mind by spending a few minutes watching your breath. You can then move on to observe the ebb and flow of your thoughts and emotions. Its best to spend just a few minutes on this before returning to the breath again.
Jon Kabat Zinn, author of Full Catastrophe Living, explains how to practice mindfulness meditation of thoughts and emotions as follows:
- When your attention is relatively stable on the breath, shift your awareness to the process of thinking itself. And just watch thoughts come into your field of attention. Try to perceive them as events in your mind.
- Note their content and charge while if possible not being drawn into thinking about them.
- Note that an individual thought does not last long it is impermanent. If it comes it will go. Be aware of this.
- Note how some thoughts keep coming back.
- Note those thoughts that are “I”, “me”, or “mine” thoughts, observing carefully how ” you” the non judging observer feel about them.
- Note when the mind creates a “self” to be preoccupied with how well or badly your life is going.
- Note thoughts about the past and thoughts about future.
- Note thoughts about greed, wanting, grasping, clinging.
- Note thoughts about anger, disliking, hatred, aversion, rejection.
- Note feelings and moods as they come and go.
- Note feelings associated with different thought contents.
- If you get lost in all of this just get back to your breathing.
Summary
- Practising mindfulness during meditation and everyday life seems to be an effective way to prevent depression and cultivate happiness.
- Its a skill, which although requiring effort, can be learnt.
Further Reading on mindfulness
Jon Kabat-Zinn Full catastrophe Living Published by Piatkus
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meditation, mindfulness, depression, happy