The Module on Mindfulness:
We all have some idea of what it is. We’ve all heard the word. We hear it quite a bit, don’t we? It might have been one of the things that drew you to this webinar. Most of us have been to workshops where the leaders used some version. Most of us have tried to understand and practice it to some degree.
So what is it?
Questions and responses. (Is it possible to have a whiteboard and a “scribe”? LOL. We're getting the assumptions and previous learning out there.
Is it meditation?
Is it a process you do to prepare for an exercise, a visualization, or something else?
Is it a breathing exercise?
Is it religious or spiritual?
Is it a visualization?
Is it Buddhist?
If it is Buddhist, what are the sources of the practice?
Does it take long to learn? Or can you ever really learn it?
How is it different from a “normal” or ordinary state of mind, our normal walking around attitude and habits?
But in our rush to make it scientific, we've also cut out some elements that seem religious or prescriptions of behavior. We may want to be spiritual rather than religiously Buddhist. I have no real objection to the inquiry, but it also might have eliminated a few critical elements, or that is my suspicion, so I’ll briefly review its history before we dive in.
The source is the relatively early Buddhist text, the Satipatthana Sutta, originally in Pali, associated with what is known as the Elder Tradition, the oldest Buddhist school. The oldest text is two thousand years old, though it certainly existed as oral instruction for monks much earlier. These instructions were passed from one generation to the next as oral teachings. They were memorized word for word. It is a relatively short text. Even today, especially in Sri Lanka and Myanmar, which used to be called Burma, most monks and many laypeople know the entire text. They’ve memorized it. I’ve met them.
The Satipatthana Sutta is translated as “The Foundations of Mindfulness.” Sati, the Pali term translated as “mindful,” simply means “remember.” So, it is not an exact translation. There is not much Buddhist philosophy. The emphasis is on specific exercises for purifying the mind, including even how to count the breaths correctly.
Although associated with meditation, the practice of sati itself is not a meditation. It is sometimes done while you meditate, but it can also be done while walking, standing, or even sleeping. It should not be confused with vipassana meditation (which it often is). Vipassana is known more widely in the West as “Insight Meditation.” Mindfulness practice and Insight Meditation made their debut in the West when two, Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield, stayed in Asia when the Conflict in Vietnam was raging, shaved their heads, and spent several years doing formal study as forest monks. When these men returned to California, they took off their robes and began to teach what they called Insight Meditation. They also taught sati practice. It attracted the attention of several clinical psychologists, who started to use various adaptations in therapy. Neuroscientists have also found that the practice can have remarkable effects on the synapses of the brain. (some have made incredible claims, but extraordinary results are new; in the two-thousand-year-old text, at the end, is a list of expected results from anywhere between seven years and two weeks of practice, and yes, they are all remarkable. Some things never change).
And you’ve been promised some remarkable results if you practice some form of Mindfulness.
Before I tell you to just be present and count your breaths, let’s examine the practice in detail and see what might be required. I am trying to opt for the non-religious or meditative version of the practice, but ironically, the earliest Pali texts give us the clearest introduction regarding the steps involved, the actual practice, and the overall understanding.
Starting point:
We are not creating a new way of thinking or believing. Mindfulness is not a new state of mind. It is not something you might get from a pharmaceutical intervention, like taking LSD or Ayahuasca.
It has to do with the ordinary day-to-day working of your mind. A concise answer about what it is might be to rule out specific definitions or descriptions of what to expect. We are not trying to change our minds or adopt a more helpful, different way of acting or behaving. If we discover something that appears new, better, or more exciting, we can be sure that it was already there and we just weren’t seeing it.
Even if I were to say that we are trying to learn a new way of seeing what’s happening, I would be wrong. So why don’t we see it? (most people who practice mindfulness do see and understand things that they previously not been aware of)
We get distracted. Human beings all get distracted. Almost anything outside our minds can be a distraction from what’s happening in our minds. A smell can trigger a memory; a single word can trigger an emotion related to something that happened in the past; a gesture reminds us that we were attacked one dark night. So this is an actual, normal reaction of our minds and something helpful; we may want to buy what smells good, we may want to avoid the person or situation that was triggered by the emotion, we may turn around and run from a situation that might become dangerous and not turn out well.
But these mental clues might also be false alarms, confusing a critical part of regular brain activity and giving us incorrect information. Have you ever heard that in a dangerous situation? You have to calm down, breathe deeply, and look around you to see what is really going on.
We are not necessarily in a life-or-death situation learning Mindfulness Practice, but the first piece of advice is the same--breathe. Count your breaths, 1 to 10. Start each count on the inhalation and end it when you breathe out. If you lose count, go back to 1 and start over. Keep it very simple. There is already a lot going on.
Then, we become aware of our bodies. How are we holding ourselves? Where are the strains, the tensions, the actual pain? What does it feel like? It may be the same as that night you were attacked, but right now, you are just sitting comfortably in a chair. If you pay attention to that area, does it disappear? You just allow your attention to go where you feel the contraction and rest. Does it change?
Then, we may start to see that the person you are at this moment is not the same person who was scared on the night you were attacked. So, just notice who is doing the breath counting and being aware of his or her body right now, not back then.
This is Mindfulness Practice. It might differ from how you usually experience your breath, thoughts, body, and idea of who you are, but it is not alien. It is just deliberately turning your focus inside your mind for a definite period. It helps us focus and train our attention so that we do not get distracted by everything happening outside ourselves.
When we first start doing this, we may experience discomfort. We will want to stop, but that is OK. I recommend that you start with five—or maybe ten-minute periods. It is called “Practice.” You may notice that your concentration improves, and you are less jittery or anxious. I cannot predict what will happen for you, but most people notice definite results over time.
Practice period (Probably 5-8 minutes, lots of silence).
Notice how you are sitting. Just make sure that you are going to stay awake. We will only be doing this for a bit longer than 5 minutes. Notice how uncomfortable you feel if you are uncomfortable or anxious.
Begin counting your breaths, 1 to 10; begin counting on the inhalation and end it on the exhalation. If you can't get to ten, simply go back to 1 and begin again. It is normal to lose track of the counting. This is not a contest.
Notice the quality of your breaths. Again, don’t try to change anything. Just notice if you are breathing deely or shallowly, rapidly or slowly. Is your breath labored?
2-3 minutes in silence
Do you notice any pains or tensions in your body?
Scan quickly from the top of the head to the toes. (3-4 minutes)
See what happens when you direct your attention to the part of the body that is tense or painful.
Who is doing all this?
Silence for 3 to 4 minutes,
Open your eyes, see where you are right now, see the room, readjust to the screen and the other Zoom participants.
