Introduction to Mindfulness
(Introduction to Mindfulness – class 1)
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the ability to experience and be present in the moment. It means being present now, being aware of what is really happening as it happens; in your mind, your feelings, your emotions, now in the present moment.
Our mind is constantly moving and producing thoughts. According to scientists, about 50 000 of them every day! Most of the time we’re not aware of our thoughts, even though thoughts are constantly operating in the background - a little bit like an anti-virus on a laptop, scanning in the background.
If we are not practiced in Mindfulness, then it's likely that, if we were asked, we wouldn’t have noticed our immediately preceding thoughts as they arose, and most likely wouldn’t know if they were positive or negative.
Noticing our thoughts as they arise is the essence of Mindfulness.
Another core element of Mindfulness is that we observe only, but don't react. Noticing our thoughts without changing them, without controlling them. Simply noticing. By developing the skill of noticing our thoughts as they arise, we live fully in the present moment, and being present in the moment in this way, means we change our experience of the “now”. Changing our experience of the "now" means literally we change our experience of life.
Living a life with this kind of awareness is life changing in more than one way. Besides seeing things differently as we experience them, by studying the philosophy of Mindfulness, we also adapt our world view over time. We begin to see that there is something beyond living reactively. We begin to see the fleetingness or transitoriness or impermanence of our thoughts and emotions. We become aware of the fact that even strong emotions move through us, come and go, and we can experience emotions without identifying with it to the extent that they define us.
Being aware of our experience as it is happening, in the moment, means we learn to observe our feelings and emotions from a slight distance. So we begin to notice that we feel anger, rather than our mind telling us we are angry. The difference might seem semantic, but the difference it makes to our experience is rather larger.
To become more mindful, we can practice Mindfulness in various different ways. One of the tools we use is meditation. Based on an ancient Buddhist meditation technique, brought to the west by various people in secular form, we know it as Mindfulness Meditation.
We begin by learning to concentrate on the breath to focus and still the mind. This form of meditation is also called Samatha or Tranquil Abiding. Once we are a little experienced in this form of meditation, one could move to Vipassana or Insight Meditation, which, as the name suggests, provides us with insights into the workings of our mind, our mental habits, etc.
Another form of meditation that is sometimes used is similar to Yoga Nidra. A supine form of meditation which includes scanning the body from top to toe, consciously relaxing every muscle, before moving the focus to the breath.
These meditation techniques, besides being very beneficial in many ways, can also be very relaxing, moving our bodies from the sympathetic nervous system (our flight or flight mode) to the para-sympathetic nervous system (our calm and relaxed state), which is why so many people are attracted to the practice.
Mindfulness meditation benefits are well-documented, and include increased focus and attention, improved creativity and productivity. Regular meditation improves sleep, reduces anxiety and helps reduce depression by elevating and regulating moods. It reduces stress levels and helps reduce symptoms of stress-generated ailments such as IBS, high blood pressure, eczema, etc. Daily meditation has also been noted to relieve symptoms of inflammatory ailments.
