Mindfulness: Reflections

Over the course of the next few weeks and months, I am setting my intention to tune in and listen/watch an 8 part series of interviews done by Dr. Rick Hanson, a neuropsychologist who is the author of recently published "Hardwiring Happiness". The series of interviews is called Hardwiring Happiness, and can be found under the Video Series tab on Hanson's website: http://www.rickhanson.net/rick-hanson.

Today I finished watching an interview of Joseph Goldstein on the topic of Mindfulness. Selfishly, aside from wanting to share these wonderful interviews with your wonderful selves, I am also taking the opportunity to blog about them in order to better cultivate and solidify the neurostructures I just finished stimulating while watching the interviews!

The basic premise of building neurostructure, and skillfully the ones you want (such as increased capacity for happiness, contentment, love, and peace versus pain, discontent, hatred or rage) is by setting your intention to grow the good in your mind and following through with it as many times (in an unpressed manner) as you can. Borrowing the analogue Rick Hanson uses, drop by drop a bucket is filled. Aligning appropriately with my motto at Yoga In The House, with patience and persistence we can grow the brain structures and perceptions we want. Isn't this awesome news!!! You can grow the brain you want. All the old notions of you are who you are, old dogs can't learn new tricks, and so on and so on, do not stand up in the face of current neuroscience. This notion, in non-western-scientific terms, has been around for centuries. This is the premise of a Buddhist practice, this is the premise of a yoga practice, this is likely the premise of most if not all spiritual practices, but it is so awesome to have science firmly backing it up. Most of us in the West function from our critical thinking, analytical brain. As a yoga teacher, this is where I see the power of neuroscience, as it delivers conviction in a form that more people in the West are comfortable with. Though having faith/trust and walking a spiritual path are enlightening and worthwhile in and on their own, the concept of following something purely from a faith and spiritual point of view is some what intimidating for a large majority of westerners (including myself once upon a time). Being politically correct, as I find we are very strongly so in Canada, leads us away from religion, which in turn we also associate with the term spirituality. Anyhow, why I think yoga is a great practice and how neuroscience wholesomely backs it up is an entirely other blog. Back to the subject matter: Mindfulness.

Mindfulness is a skilled practice in developing mental faculties and inner resources to help us on our journey through life. Mindfulness of your own experience helps you to first focus, then observe, then recognize and finally skillfully cultivate a healthy and wholesome brain. Joseph Goldstein readily described meditation/mindfulness as a two step process(which can be done while walking, cutting vegetables for dinner, looking out the window, in conversation, taking a shower, sitting on the toilet, eating your breakfast, waiting in traffic, or sitting in any comfortable pose in a quiet room at a meditation center). The first step is sustained focus. Being present and witnessing your mind (which isn't just your thinking mind, this is your feeling/emotional mind, your feeling/physical sensation mind, your tasting mind, your seeing mind, your hearing mind, your breathing mind, and what ever 6th, 7th, 8th, or 9th sense mind your may have that I don't!), accepting and holding what ever you are experiencing (aka: here is pain, I neither push it away or pull it into me; here is joy, I neither push it away or pull it into me; here is cold, I neither push it away or pull it into me). All of these experiences just are, they are happening in the present moment. Before we default to judging and then reacting to them, first we need to see them and then accept them as they are. Secondly, Joseph Goldstein says in mindfulness, after seeing and accepting our present experience, we need to inquire as to how we are relating to it. Do we push it away, as in we are disgusted by it, or don't like it, we are adverse to it (which is usually the case with pain, anger, frustration, sadness and other negatively viewed feelings, emotions, thoughts and experiences). Or, do we pull it in, like it or want it (which is usually the case with joy, goodness, happiness, bliss and other positively viewed feelings, emotions, thoughts and experiences). Joseph describes those two steps, which might also be viewed as three: witness, accept and inquire, as the basic premise of a mindfulness practice.

After the inquiry comes the opportunity to take it a step further. After we are aware of how we relate to our experience, we can then skillfully chose to grow the perception we want. So, let's say you have a moment with a child where you are trying to get them out the door and it becomes very apparent to you that they are not going to get out the door on time as they are not focused on tying their shoes, instead they are looking in the mirror and making funny faces at themselves... In this moment you may possibly, as I would, feel frustrated. So, with our mindfulness practice we would first see the frustration in our physical body (tense jaw, tense shoulder, shallow breath, tense brain even), we would see the frustration in our minds/emotional responses (feeling frustrated/annoyed/angry emotions and thinking frustrated/angry/annoyed thoughts "why doesn't he/she just focus, OMG they are going to be late, this is so frustrating, this happens every bloody day, don't they get it, why can't they just listen"). Next, we would accept the experience: oh, here I am feeling frustrated, ok, here it is, this is frustration; I am neither trying to push it away (as in I don't like this), I am neither trying to pull it in (which of course is less likely in this situation). From here the last step in the mindfulness practice would be to inquire as to how I relate to this feeling, how do I attach to it, what is my habit with it: such as do I feel I am a victim, do I feel out of control, do I feel like things are being done to me against my volition, do I feel powerful, do I feel like I know better, like I am better than the other, do I use it in a way that debilitates me or my child, do I use it in a way that facilitates me or my child? So we investigate our experience. Now, if you want to grow a better brain you can now choose that perception or way of relating to frustration that you want. Maybe you don't want to feel the detrimental effects of frustration, the tense jaw and short breath, so as you experience frustration you start to focus on your breath, trying to relax it a little more, trying to relax your body a little more.

Anyhow, the possibilities are endless really. Thanks for reading.
Jenelle