First what is mindfulness?
One definition by Jon Kabat-Zinn, the pioneer of mindfulness in the West, is that it has two components.
First: present moment awareness and attention. Like a spotlight illuminating whatever it rests upon.
Second: attitude of non-judgmental curiosity, which itself is made up of two components.
Regulation of attention to hold on to the immediate experience. And approaching experiences with curiosity, openness, and acceptance, whether the experiences are positive or negative.
Essentially there are three components to the act of mindfulness; intention, attentional control, and specific attitude towards experience, itself marked by acceptance and friendliness.
Which is the different between being mind full or mindful.
Think of your family pet. hey are present in the moment. Not thinking about the past, or about your plans in the future, things like what am I going to eat.
You need to remember to pay your bills. You just want to be present in the moment. You can do this anywhere.
You don't have to be sitting in a lotus position! Mindfulness is not about relaxing or clearing the mind, about controlling thoughts, or a quick fix to unpleasantness, nor is it necessarily easy or enjoyable in the beginning.
Mindfulness is stability of your awareness to understand our rising thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations. It is decentering or learning how to relate differently. being an impartial observer versus emotionally reactive. True mindfulness shifts how one responds to positive negative, and neutral experiences with an attitude of acceptance and kindness.
Meditation is the accepted term of all practices for mental training.
Just like how physical conditioning is essentially muscle exercise. You can exercise your muscles through weight training, and you can also exercise effetely by swimming, some types of yoga and many other physical exercises. meditation is no different, there are many different practices that all lead to some kind of lasting change in the brain and other more specific regions depending on the style of meditation.
In the 1970s, Dr. Herbert Benson suggested, meditation was a practice designed to elicit the relaxation response. The Dalai Lama said "the more modern science and the ancient science of mind come together and work together, the more our knowledge will be explained.
Then eventually we can educate humanity on the importance of our inner world and mind in order to promote peaceful families, a peaceful society, and a peaceful world." Since then there have been many scientific studies into the effects of meditation. studies that have gone beyond just looking at stress and relaxation to look more closely at structural and functional changes in the brain.
Mindfulness IS
Training stability of awareness to understand arising thoughts, emotions, and body sensations.
De-centering: Learning how to relate differently from habits of mind – impartial observation vs. emotional reactivity.
Shifting how one responds to pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral experiences with an attitude of acceptance and kindness.
Mindfulness is NOT
About relaxing or clearing the mind.
About controlling thoughts.
Quick fix to unpleasantness.
Necessarily easy or enjoyable in the beginning.
How do we begin a meditation and mindfulness practice?
Remember, thoughts are not facts. Thoughts are what makes your emotions.
It's about the situation, but how we interpret the situation that determines our reaction.
Breath focus meditation helps train the mind to settle, let go of mental clutter, and focus in the present moment.
It also helps connect mind with body. So, how to begin?
Find a comfortable position, in a chair or on a cushion on the floor.
Your spine should be erect, but not rigid.
Start with a body scan, bringing your attention to your head, feeling your hair and scalp, work your way down your face, jaws, where you often carry worry and tension.
Your tongue, neck, shoulders and so on, until you reach your feet.
Imagine that you are releasing tension through your fingertips and toes. When your mind wanders, notice, and gently guide attention back to the breath, and do that repeatedly.
Do this for 5 to 20 minutes daily for lasting positive results. my challenge to you is to di some kind of meditation for three weeks straight. just a few minutes per day.
