Mindfulness
It is just a thought
Thinking: Lays a man underground (Robbie Burns)
The problem with thinking: it gets in the way. It stops us enjoying what is happening now and takes us away from the present moment, as we worry about the past or the future.
When we think about things we start to ascribe meaning, and then make judgements based on these meanings and start acting as though our judgements are true.
While we are doing this we are not concentrating. We are not aware of what is happening now. We deprive ourselves of the enjoyment of the present moment.
We only have moments to live.
We only have A moment to live.
There is only “now”.
The antidote is Mindfulness. The practice of awareness in the present moment, with judgement suspended, so we can find joy and wonderment, as we see each moment as if for the first time. In this way we can really start to understand and appreciate ourselves and the way we feel about the world around us, and accept that life is as it is, rather than as we might like it to be. The only time and place to achieve these insights is the here and now. This ever-present opportunity for enlightenment is the only place from where we can really start to make powerful and enduring changes.
Definitions of Mindfulness
The practice of conscious awareness
A healing and creative technology based in Eastern meditative traditions
The practice of bringing the mind back into the body.
Thich Nhat Hanh The Miracle of Mindfulness (1975)
The Buddhist Anapanasati Sutra teaches the use of the breath to guard the mind. Mindfulness describes the meditative practice of gently bringing the attention back to the breathing, whenever there is awareness that it has wandered from it.
The awareness that arises by paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally, as if one’s life depended on it.
Jon Kabat-Zinn Full Catastrophe Living (1990)
Content-free, subtle, non-dual awareness, spread uniformly throughout the field.
Stephen Gilligan
There is no universally agreed definition of Mindfulness
Benefits of regular meditation
More happiness and contentment than average
Longer and healthier life
Better and more fulfilling relationships
Improved: Memory, reaction-times, mental and physical stamina, concentration, focus, learning and knowledge-retention
Decreased: anxiety, depression and irritability
Reduction in key indicators of chronic stress, including hypertension
Effective in reducing disease impact: chronic pain. Cancer, drug and alcohol dependence, eliminating bad habits
Improved immune function: increased resistance to infections
Specific Mindfulness-based interventions
Stress-reduction (Kabat-Zinn)
Depression: treatment and relapse-prevention (Mark Williams)
Purpose
To guard the Mind
The Pursuit of happiness, peace of mind
Happiness, like success, is a means of travel, not a destination.
Happiness comes from doing things
3 components:
Pleasurable activities, flow, meaningful activities
Mindfulness is about “being”, rather than “doing”.
Peace of mind will then come
“You cannot just be happy, but you can learn to do things happily. Living happily entails paying attention to, and enjoying the process of doing whatever it is you happen to be doing.” (Richard Bandler)
The challenge is to transcend thinking and disassociate from negative self-talk and from reactive impulses and emotions.
See the world with new, open eyes
Find wonderment and contentment in the present moment.
Put space between stimulus and response, cause and effect.
In that space, choose your response.
Mindfulness sits in the space between blind panic and defensive dissociation
The Practice of Mindfulness dehypnotises
Everything is done for a feeling.
Long after people have forgotten what you said and did, they will remember how you made them feel
The Seven Attitudes of Mindfulness
(Jon Kabat-Zinn 1990)
Non-judgement not labeling: Let It Be
Patience allow things to unfold in their own time
Beginner’s Mind every moment is new and unique
Trust trust in your feelings: they are telling you something: respect your integrity
Non-striving not goal-oriented:
not attached to outcome or achievement
Acceptance seeing things as they really are frees up energy to take action
Letting go non-attachment,
put aside tendency to elevate some aspects of our experience and reject others
Plus: Kindliness and compassion
Gratitude
Generosity
Skills
Awareness
Compassion
Openness
Acceptance
Tolerance
Detachment
Concentration is not Mindfulness. It is the tool that brings focus and allows you to choose Mindfulness, which is a practice.
Mindfulness is the next step beyond concentration: the state of awareness. “Presence” of mind. The switching off of internal dialogue and showing up to be present in the moment
Techniques
Formal
One-Minute Breathing Space (eyes open)
Conscious observation:
visual: focus on object
auditory: listen
kinaesthetic: sensation: emotion
Hour Glass Meditation
Body Scan
Guided Meditations
Mindfulness in Movement
Informal
Morning routine
Domestic chores
Eating
Walking
Etc.
Apps:
Free:
Stop, Breathe and Think
Calm
Mindfulness Training App
Buddhify
Guided Meditations
Smiling Mind
Insight Timer
Etc.
And: Headspace Andy Puddicombe
Applications
Personal
Commitment to daily regular practice of formal technique
(10-60 minutes)
Opportunistic informal practice
Therpeutic
ACT
(Acceptance and Commitment Therapy)
ACT
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Steven Hayes
1999
Aim: increase psychological flexibility
Core Processes
Present-moment Awareness
Self as context (disassociation/transcendence)
Cognitive Diffusion
Acceptance
Connecting with values
Committed Action
Three Step Approach (Sinclair and Beadman 2016)
Wake up
Loosen up
Step up
Summary
Pay attention to details of experience, especially your body and your awareness of it.
Notice experience without judgement, then let it go.
Try neither too much or too little
Don’t just do something, Sit there.
STOPP
When struggling/challenged:
Stop
Smile
Take some breaths (abdominal respiration)
Consider Options (think them through)
Pick the best one
Proceed: take action
and
Take your daily meditation
References:
Full Catastrophe Living
Jon Kabat-Zinn
1990, 2013 Piatkus Books Ltd.
ISBN 978-0-7499-5841-1
Mindfulness
A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World
Williams and Penman
2011 Piatkus Books Ltd.
ISBN 978-0-7499-5308-9
Mindfulness For Health
A Practical Guide to Relieving Pain, Reducing Stress and Restoring Wellbeing
Burch and Penman
2013 Piatkus Books Ltd.
ISBN 978-0-7499+5924-1
The Miracle of Mindfulness
Thich Nhat Hanh
1991, 2008 Random House
ISBN 978-1-84-604106-8
Handbook of Mindfulness
Theory, Research and Practice
Brown, Creswell and Ryan
2015 Guilford Press
ISBN 978-1-4625-1890-6
The Ladybird Book of Mindfulness
ISBN 978-0-718-18352-3
Flow
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
1992, 2002 Penguin Random House
ISBN 9780712657594
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Hayes, Strosahl and Wilson
Second Edition 2012 Guildford Press
ISBN 978-1-4625-2894-3
Get Out of Your Mind and Into your Life
Steven C.Hayes
2005 New Harbinger Publications Inc
ISBN-10 1-57224-425-9
ISBN-13 978-1-57224-425-2
The Little ACT Workbook
Sinclair and Beadman
2016 Crimson
ISBN 978-1-78059-243-5
M.E.W.C 19/2/2017
mctraining.org.uk
08968 046315
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