What is Mindfulness?
“Mindfulness means, paying attention, on purpose, to the present moment, without judgement” Jon Kabat-Zinn
It is a way of living, a way of being in the world. Noticing and being aware of our internal and external experience, moment to moment, without judging it. It can be practiced as a formal meditation or by doing everyday tasks in a mindful way.
Our internal experience includes our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and our external experience includes the environment we are in, surroundings, sound, light, weather, relationships etc. Everything we take in through the senses, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, touch. We cultivate an awareness of all that is happening in the moment and practice maintaining this awareness with an attitude of openness and kindness towards ourselves.
You may wonder, what is the point of that? Cultivating this kind of awareness, allows us to press the pause button and notice, becoming aware first and foremost, with practice we become more skillful at responding in situations, in ways that serve us well. Rather than, reacting in situations, which we often do on auto-pilot, and can find ourselves repeating old habits, that may no longer serve us or cause distress. You could say, it provides a space that allows you to choose how you will respond in any given situation, in any given moment. Pretty cool right?
Mindfulness practice helps us to live life more fully, with vibrancy and appreciation. It can help to manage and prevent feelings of depression, stress, anxiety, or discontent. Practicing non-judging is an essential attitude because we can be our own worst critic and if we are unaware, we could be beating ourselves up, putting ourselves down with negative self-talk and engaging in all sorts of unhelpful habits that hold us back or causes suffering. We can learn to notice the critic in the moment and find new ways of responding to ourselves too.
When we practice mindfulness we sense into the body and mind, right there and then, in this moment in time rather than being pulled into the past going over old stories and stresses or being swept off into some fantasy future (in our minds) that hasn’t happened yet or may never happen. We learn to practice acceptance of what is, at this moment in time, without wishing it were different. Kabat-Zinn reminds us “there is more right with you than wrong with you, no matter what the condition of the body/mind or what you are going through right now”. I love this quotation, it is this type of kind and caring attitude we learn to cultivate towards ourselves and others with regular practice and are essential to the teachings. See and hear Jon describe his definition of mindfulness in this very brief video clip below.
Though Mindfulness has its roots in Buddhist meditation, a secular practice of mindfulness has entered the global mainstream in recent years, in part through the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn and his Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, launched at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979. Since that time, thousands of studies have documented the physical and mental health benefits of mindfulness in general and MBSR in particular, inspiring countless programs to adapt the MBSR model for schools, prisons, hospitals, veterans centers, and beyond.
With practice, Mindfulness Meditation brings peace, joy and calm into our lives. We notice a reduction in stress and are better at handling depression and anxiety. It’s a wonderful practice to re-connect with your true self and find peace and joy. We discover beautiful moments even in the midst of tough times, which balances our nervous systems and allows us to breathe. It certainly changed my life and I am so grateful for the practice. Mindfulness can be practiced informally as well, we can do ordinary things, daily chores, a mindful cup of tea, a mindful walk, or going up the stairs mindfully, these informal practices can be just as powerful. Not only do we become more aware of our own moment to moment experience but our awareness expands to become more conscious of all other living beings, our precious environment, the world, and discover how our day to day thoughts, actions and moments are all interconnected.
I had fun painting stones mindfully during the summer after the first lockdown 2020, an idea I got from the Shore Art Project in Clahane, Liscannor, Co. Clare, Ireland. https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0721/1154675-rock-art-is-an-unexpected-draw-on-the-wild-atlantic-way/