Mindfulness : Are We Doing it Right?

In just a few decades, Mindfulness Meditation has gone from being a specialist element of Buddhist teaching to the must have app for celebs, and corporate businesses use it to boost productivity and to reduce staff stress levels.  It's even prescribed on the NHS now for health purposes.  So why has this become so popular in such a relatively short space of time?  There's so so much to say about this, of which I will delve into in later posts.  In this edition, I'm simply going to explore how it is being received and used in Western Culture.  Let's explore this...

[I'd like you to just become aware of your breath and allow it to become deeper, counting up to 3 on the inhale, and 3 on the exhale...notice any sensations in your body...feel the support of the ground beneath you...and just give yourself some time to notice the sounds around you...notice the room around you.] 

This is effectively coming into the Present, and this is the essence of Mindfulness Meditation.  It's really about awareness! Being aware of yourself.  It's likely you'll feel more grounded and calm in this moment.  A brief release from the stress of our everyday life.  When was the last time you actually did this?  Do you think you could benefit from doing this more often.  

I know what you're thinking...

1. I'm too busy for this.  What if I miss a deadline?
2. What if I become boring?  What if I become too relaxed?
3. How can I slow down my mind? Even if during these periods of Mindfulness, my mind becomes quieter and I feel more clarity, what about when I'm finished.  My mind speeds up again and I'm back where I started!
4. What if I become obsessed with it, give up all my belongings, and move to Thailand to become a Buddhist monk? (YES I'VE REALLY BEEN ASKED THIS!)

These are all really valid questions!  When I first started learning about Mindfulness, these were questions I was constantly asking myself.  I had this constant battle (known in Psychology as 'Mental Tennis') in my mind about how this could work for me.  My mind ran so fast, how could I slow it down safely without losing something important?

However, in my scenario, with the condition I was going through, Mindfulness Meditation was the only thing that could lessen my symptoms initially. I'm still not sure exactly how...but studies have shown that it calms down the nervous system and the stress response, and as a result, it probably released the anxiety and fear I was feeling about my relentless symptoms that had become my world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  

The most important thing I learnt was to not be scared of what was happening in my body, and that it was an ally in healing, not an enemy!  On hearing the body's messages,  it was simply trying to give me useful feedback i.e. you've overdone it today, you need to rest and take it easy this afternoon.

Anyway, I digress! Let me come back to the 4 questions above, in particular Q3.  This seems to be the most common problem associated with Mindfulness Meditation.  This seems to be the way it is taught in many large Corporate Businesses like Google, Starcom MediaVest (I know this one from experience!), and the big City banks.  They use the format of getting employees to sit down on a mat for 20 minutes at lunchtime once a week, focus on their breath, observe their thoughts, and just become aware of themselves in the room. Great!!

HOWEVER! This doesn't really address the core issue here...these employees are still being burdened with ever increasing workloads that are often beyond their capabilities, and are being subjected to 12-14 hour days.  If we're being honest, the old 9-5 working day paradigm simply doesn't exist anymore!  Therefore, what I'm advocating here, is not just being Mindful for those 20 minute sessions here and there, but being more mindful in life in general on a daily basis.  This is the REAL essence of Mindfulness 

This doesn't mean you need to sit and meditate all day every day.  By all means, have a daily connection practice of meditation for 10-20 minutes per day (perhaps just closing your eyes on the train to work), but how about going through your day simply....

• being mindful of what is happening in your environment
• being mindful of your thoughts but not attaching yourself to them
• being mindful of your reactions or emotions around other people (you're likely to notice different emotional feedback from different people)
• being mindful of your breath, your body, and its stillness (this is the best and easiest way to become Present)

That's all it takes! It's not easy at first, and takes practice, but it's likely that you'll find you have more energy freed up in your body, more clarity, and more detachment from intense situations.  The best thing is that anyone can learn this, it's the act of simply tuning into your body and your breathing.  At it's very core, it's an extremely calming, relieving, and satisfying feeling to experience!

Below is a short Mindfulness taster, led by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, is Professor of Medicine Emeritus and creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.  It's quite amazing how simple, yet powerful this modality is!

An additional resource for us secular folk is by P Mark Williams, Professor of Psychiatry at Oxford University. Click here

Mindfulness isn't for everyone, and it certainly takes discipline, but I suppose the question to ask is : what have you got to lose?

Now breath deeply and relax my friends, because this particular journey through Mindfulness has come to an end :-)