Part II
Chapter 6
Remember that mindfulness is like the ocean. Your daily doings are the waves and ripples up top, but your stillness should always be present, way below the surface. Anything done with mindful awareness is meditation, including eating, driving, walking, talking and much more.
The author walked through a 'raisin eating exercise', reminisent of when a toddler eats a raisin for the first time. Use all your senses to see, hear, touch, taste, smell the raisin.
You are to be deeply connected when breathing, to becoming aware of all your sensations, and your body. "Before long, your mind may take you away into thoughts, ideas, dreams, fantasies and plans. That’s perfectly normal and absolutely fine. Just as soon as you notice that it’s happened, gently guide your attention back to your breath. Try not to criticise yourself each time your mind wanders away. Understand that it’s all part of the meditation process. If you find yourself criticising or getting frustrated, try gently smiling when you see that your mind has wandered away. Then guide your attention back to your breath."
Moving and stretching in a slow and mindful way is a wonderful preparation for more extended meditation exercises. Movement can also be a deep formal meditation in itself, if you approach it with full awareness.
The author explained the BODY SCAN meditation. Here is a guided walkthrough Link to article
One really positive thing from BODY SCAN: Releasing emotions stored in the body. Stressful events experienced from childhood, such as divorce or extreme discipline, cause great fear and can get locked and stored in the body as physical tension, an absence of sensation, or as a dysfunctional part of the body, such as problems with digestion. The body scan helps to release that stored-up emotion and tension. Some clients have had years of physical ailments relieved through the regular practice of the body scan meditation.
Diaphragmatic breathing is very helpful too: 1. Loosen any tight clothing, especially around your waist. 2. Get into a comfortable position, sitting or lying down. 3. Place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly. 4. As you breathe in and out, allow the hand on your belly to gently rise up and down while keeping the hand on the chest relatively still. Diaphragmatic breathing may take some prac- tice at first, but in time it becomes easy and natural. Practise as often as you want, and it soon becomes a healthy habit.
Help with posture: Imagine that your head is a helium-filled balloon. Allow your head to lift naturally and gently and straighten your spine without straining. You want to achieve an upright back without tension. Picture the vertebrae as stacked coins. Tuck in your chin slightly.
When your mind wanders during mediation: As you rest your attention on the breath, before long your mind will wander off. That’s absolutely natural and nothing to worry about. As soon as you notice it’s gone off, realise that you’re already back! The fact that you’ve become aware that your mind has been wandering is a moment of wakefulness. Now, simply label your thought quietly in your own mind. You can label it ‘thinking, thinking’ or if you want to be more specific: ‘worrying, worrying’ or ‘planning, planning’. This helps to frame the thought. Then gently, kindly, without criticism or judgement, guide your attention back to wherever you were feeling the breath. Your mind may wander off a thousand times, or for long periods of time. Each time, softly, lightly and smoothly direct the attention back to the breath, if you can. Continue this open, wide, curious, kind and accepting awareness for about ten minutes or longer if you feel like it. If certain parts of your body become uncomfortable, choose to breathe into that discomfort and note the effect of that, or slowly and mindfully shift your bodily position to relieve the discomfort. Whatever you choose, doing it mind- fully is the important bit.
Sounds: Let go of mindfulness of breath and body and become aware of sounds. Begin by noticing the sounds of your body, the sounds in the room you’re in, the sounds in the building and finally the furthest sounds out- side. Let the sounds permeate into you rather than straining to grasp them. Listen without effort – let it happen by itself. Listen without label- ling the sound, as best you can. For example, if you hear the sound of a plane passing or a door closing or a bird singing, listen to the actual sound itself – its tone, pitch and volume – rather than thinking ‘oh, that’s a plane’.
Loving-kindness meditation article: Link
May I/they experience God’s love. May I/they experience God’s rest. May I/they experience God’s peace....while reflecting on this, think of people you know, maybe you don't get along too well, or having difficulties. Visualize them, and send an equal amount of loving-kindness to them.
Chapter 7
Meditation can help us understand how all of us are restricted by our views because that's all they know - they only see one piece of the puzzle. Meditation, kindness, can help us gain more compassion and understanding of others.
3 minute meditation: "Practise the A step for about a minute or so, then move on to B for a minute, ending with C also for a minute – or however long you can manage. ✓ Step A: Awareness. Reflect on the following questions, pausing for a few seconds between each one: • What bodily sensations am I aware of at the moment? Feel your posture, become aware of any aches or pains, or any pleasant sensations. Just accept them as they are, as far as you can. • What emotions am I aware of at the moment? Notice the feelings in your heart or belly area or wherever you can feel emotion. • What thoughts am I aware of, passing through my mind at the moment? Become aware of your thoughts, and the space between you and your thoughts. If you can, simply observe your thoughts rather than becoming caught up in them. ✓ Step B: Breathing. Focus your attention in your belly area, the lower abdomen. As best you can, feel the whole of your inbreath and the whole of each out-breath. You don’t need to change the rate of your breathing – just become mindful of it in a warm, curious and friendly way. Notice how each breath is slightly different. If your mind wan- ders away, gently and kindly guide your attention back to your breath. Appreciate how precious each breath is. ✓ Step C: Consciously expanding. Consciously expand your awareness from your belly to your whole body. Get a sense of your entire body breathing (which it is, through the skin). As the energy settles in your body, notice its effect. Accept yourself as perfect and complete just as you are, just in this moment, as much as you can."
The author recommends mindfull exercise for taking care of all our body.
The author recommends sleeping well, with the following tips: Stick to regular hours, avoid over-stimulating before bed, do some mindfulness exercises before, gentle stretching, mindfull indoor walking (5 minutes), when in bed, feel your breaths and count them. Do no OVER WORRY about not being able to sleep. Accept your worries.
What can I do to find a wiser and healthier balance in my life?
Relationship with YOURSELF: Set the intention of looking after youself, you have to help yourself before helping others. Understand no one's perfect, step back rom self-criticism, be KIND to yourself, forgive yourself, be grateful, practice the kindness meditation (May they experience God's peace, etc.)
Relationship with OTHERS: Be an attentive listener, be aware of your EXPECTATIONS of them. Those are your own ideals.Don’t speak unless you’re settled and calm.
"When dealing with difficult people it’s worth remembering you have two ways of meeting another human being. The first way is to see your ideas, memories, thoughts, opinions and beliefs about that person. The other way is to actually see that person as he is, without the judgements and ideas and stories. This is meeting anew, meeting afresh, as if for the first time. Mindfulness is about meeting all experience afresh. When you connect with your senses, you’re no longer in the realm or ideas, opinions and beliefs. You’re in the field of the present moment. Meeting another human being in that way, you can’t help but feel a warmth towards him as well as a sense of wonder."
Chapter 8
Mindfulness is portable – you can be mindful anywhere and everywhere.
Start the day with some mindfulness meditation.
You simply need to remember to stay in awareness mode and the most effective way of doing this is by one- to three-minute mini meditations, by feeling the sensation of your own breath as it enters and leaves your body. The breathing space meditation (a type of mini meditation) consists of three stages. In the first stage you become aware of your thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations. In the second stage you become aware of your own breath- ing. And in the third and final stage, you expand your awareness to the breath and the body as a whole.
HOW? Use any posture you like, as long as your spine is relaxed and upright. The simplest form of mini meditation is to feel your breathing. If you find feeling the breath too difficult, you can say to yourself ‘in’ as you breathe in, and ‘out’ as you breathe out. Alternatively, count each out-breath to yourself, going from one to ten. As always, when your mind drifts off, simply guide the attention gently and kindly back, even congratulating yourself for noticing that your mind had wandered off the breath.
IF WANTING TO ANGRILY REACT: Sit on your chair, gaze downwards and begin to feel the sensations of your breath. Notice if you’re breathing in a shallow or rapid way, due to your frustration, but try not to judge yourself. Expand your awareness to a sense of your body as a whole. Become mindful of the processes taking place inside you. Feel the burning anger rising from the pit of your stomach up through your chest and throat, or the racing heart and dry mouth when you’re nervous. Honour the feeling instead of criticising or blocking the emotion. Experiment. Notice what happens if you don’t react as you normally do or feel like. Try breathing into the feeling. Bring kindness and curiosity to your emotions. Ask yourself: m I able to respect my own rights as well as responsibilities in the actions I choose? What would be a wise way of responding right now, instead of my usual reaction? If I do react, can I acknowledge that I’m not perfect, and make my next decision a more mindful response? The benefits of a considered, balanced response as opposed to an automatic reaction include: ✓ Lower levels of blood pressure, a cause of heart disease. ✓ Lower levels of stress hormones in your blood stream, leading to a healthier immune system. ✓ Improved relationships because you’re less likely to break down com- munication between colleagues if you’re in a calmer state of mind. ✓ A greater feeling of being in control, because you’re able to choose how you respond to others rather than automatically reacting involuntarily.
If your job involves dealing with issues and problems, whether that involves people or not, you can train yourself to see the problems differently. By seeing the problems as challenges, you’re already changing how you meet this issue. A challenge is something you rise to, something energising and fulfilling. A problem is something that has to be dealt with, something draining, an irritation.
Waking up Mindfully:Waking up mindfully When you wake up, breathe three mindful breaths. Feel the whole of each inbreath and the whole of each out-breath. Try adding a smile to the equation if you like. Think of three things you’re grateful for – a loved one, your home, your body, your next meal – anything. Then slowly get up. Enjoy a good stretch. Cats are masters of stretching – imagine you’re a cat and feel your muscles elongate having been confined to the warmth of your bed all night. If you want to, do some mindful yoga or tai chi.
Do your daily home obligations, like cleaning, mindfullyThe great thing about everyday jobs, including eating, is that they’re slow, repetitive physical tasks, which makes them ideal for mindfulness. You’re more easily able to be mindful of the task as you do it. Here are a couple of examples to get you started.