When Time's Title Page reads: "THE MINDFUL REVOLUTION: The Science of Finding Focus In A Stressed-Out, Multi-Tasking Culture," you know that the need for "mindfulness" has struck home. We live in a culture where "distraction" is everywhere, where our senses and our minds are bombarded by more stimuli than we can ever hope to respond to.
When there are more stimuli than we can process, we wind up not processing any information very well; we also wind up with a series of psychological and physiological problems comparable to someone who has been sleep-deprived for far too long.
The article in Time offers the outline of a solution in two sentences: "If distraction is the preeminent condition of our age, then...mindfulness is the most logical response. Though meditation is considered an essential means to achieving mindfulness, the ultimate goal is simply to give your attention fully to what you're doing."
The "prophet" of mindfulness in recent years is Jon Kabat-Zinn, whose 1990 book, Full Catastrophe Living: Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness, established him as the pre-eminent figure in the mindfulness meditation revolution. Kabat-Zinn had worked in pain clinics and rehab centers, and he developed his "mindfulness" approach as a parallel therapy. What he perfected has been preached and practiced by countless thousands in the intervening years, and the judgment of time is that it really works, anyone can do it, and the practice is pretty simple.
Here is a four step version of it: Sit comfortably where you won't be disturbed for at least ten minutes; begin by focusing on your breathing out and breathing in; let your thoughts bounce off your mind like clouds hitting a mountain top, and come back to awareness of your breathing; do this ten minutes every day for a week, and you will find that you want to make it a regular part of your daily activity.
There are various scientific studies that document physiological benefits, including lowered blood pressure, but the real benefit is psychological: if you do this, you will cease being a member of "the harried information- overload class," you will process information more effectively, and the emotions that occasionally overwhelmed you will be more manageable. It could be the best imaginable use of ten minutes of your time each day, with benefits that go beyond all measurement....
People
often talk about how "stress-full" the holidays are. How can that be?
Holidays are days off from the serious business of making a living and
getting things done, supposedly giving us time to think about the things
that really matter. We are all caught in the grind of trying to get
more and more done in less and less time, and there are never enough
days in any week to get done all the things on your "To Do" list for
that week.
The
best time management technique I know is also the best stress buster.
Set aside ten minutes every day where you will not be disturbed or
easily distracted. Find a quiet place, and sit and meditate. Think first
about your breathing: breathe deeply, and for a few minutes, count your
breaths. You may want to spend a few minutes deliberately relaxing each
part of your body, beginning with your toes, and progressing to the top
of your head. You may want to focus on a plant that you can see, or a
blank wall. You may find a mantra helpful, something as simple as:
"There is nothing I have to do right now, there is no place I have to be
right now." Whatever trials and tribulations your life has brought you,
right now is a moment of tranquillity, when you are neither concerned
about the past or the future. Devote ten minutes a day for a week to
this simple practice, and you may find you want to make it a permanent
part of your day, and you may find you want another ten minutes in the
evening, or some other time when you can get away from it all, and focus
simply on the joy of being alive.
As
Gail Sheehy wrote many years ago, "there are predictable crises in
adult life." There are also unpredictable crises, and concerns that may
become more serious as you age. Every time you have a doctor's
appointment, you may hear something you would prefer not to hear, maybe
something you thought only happened to other people. We have our lives
parceled out to us one day at a time, and each day is something of a
little life, an entity complete to itself. It may be helpful to reflect
that as long as we exist we are in motion towards something, but that we
should also "delight" in what we have, what we have accomplished, and
what we hope to do.
One
of my meditating friends of fifty years passed away last week. His
dying words were: "I am ready to go, but I am not eager to go." There
have been giants of the spiritual life who have looked upon life and
death with equanimity, and written words like these: "Let nothing
disturb thee, nothing terrify thee: all things are passing, God never
changes." While atheists might ask what God has to do with it, and
theologians might debate the unchangingness of God, there is a point to
having an anchor somewhere where nothing will disorient or overcome you,
and the daily practice of meditation may help you reach that point.
Even
in these busy weeks, set aside ten minutes where you will not be
disturbed. Take stock of your life: do you do some things that aren't
really necessary? Are there things you know you should do that you have
not taken time for? Do you set aside some time each day for yourself,
for your own mental and emotional health? Meditation may do more than
any other practice to put you on the path to taking control of your time
and your life. Don't wait. Your life, and the meaningfulness of your
life, depends on it...
It dawned on me that in whatever city I have practiced
Sitting Meditation with a group, I could have left my wallet and my car
keys anywhere on the floor, and they would have been there when the
session ended. Granted that those who practice Meditation are a special
subsection of the general population, there is something about all
practitioners of "mindfulness" that sets them apart, and not just the
capacity of some of them to sit in an unusual cross-legged position (a
capacity I do not happen to share). Is there something about practicing mind-full-ness
that disposes one to be more fully aware of how one should behave,
including a heightened sense of compassion? Are meditators more moral
than the rest of the population?
I
am reminded of what I heard from a Catholic priest, before the dawn of
the ecumenical era. He said: "Better to forget your umbrella in a
Protestant Church on a rainy Sunday, because Catholics are obligated to
go to Mass, so the moral people as well as the thieves are there, but
only the moral Protestants go to Church on rainy Sundays." Whether you
go to Church, Synagogue, or Mosque, the preaching inevitably will relate
to what you should do, and how you should live your life. And certainly
the quiet times, the interludes when nothing appears to be happening,
might be the times of quiet meditation, times for reflection, times for
thinking about how your life should be lived, and perhaps what your
obligations to others might entail...
How
much more "moral" our culture might be, if some form of Mindful
Meditation were taught in our schools! While some might fear an
intrusion of something that appears to have a Buddhist heritage,
Mindfulness Meditation has become a distinct practice that can be
applied in many ways. Jon Kabat-Zinn's new book, Mindfulness for Beginners, could
create something of a moral revolution, if what he teaches in the book
were ever widely practiced. "The real challenge...is that the practice
itself gives us instant access to other dimensions of our life that have
been here all along, but with which we have been seriously out of
touch." I wonder how many of those dimensions relate to how we might
become better at the art of being fully human...
There is a collection of stories within the Sufi Tradition called "The Nasrudin Tales." Here is a good example: "Nasrudin, is your religion orthodox?" "It all depends," said Nasrudin, "on which bunch of heretics is in power."
And
there is a story circulating in Meditation circles about a renowned
Rabbi from Byelorussia. An American traveler stopped to visit him, and
was surprised that the Rabbi lived in a one room apartment, with a
table, two chairs, and a small desk. The traveler said: "But where is
your furniture?" The Rabbi replied: "Where is your furniture?" The
traveler said: "I have no furniture, I am just passing through," to
which the Rabbi replied, "I am just passing through too...."
There is much to meditate about, in those tales...
There
were more Asians at the Tucson Consciousness Conference this year than ever
before. The presence of Deepak Chopra, the special section on "Eastern
Philosophy and Consciousness," and the increased interest in the West
about the practice of Meditation probably all contributed. Dr. Herbert Benson's
book thirty years ago, The Relaxation Response, fostered medical interest in the
benefits of the practice of meditation. Jon Kabat-Zinn has gone around the
country for many years offering stress reduction programs at Hospitals and
Universities; he has a new book, Mindfulness for Beginners: Reclaiming the
present moment and your life. It is an all out, no holds barred exhortation to
practice daily meditation. "In many Asian languages, the word for 'mind'
and the word for 'heart' is the same word. So when you hear the word
'mindfulness,' you have to hear the word 'heartfulness' simultaneously to
understand or feel what mindfulness really is."
There
are many thumbnail sketches of how to practice meditation; the following is
slightly modified from a recent posting on the RealAge website:
--Find
a quiet place to sit, where no one will interrupt you. Sit comfortably. Close
your eyes. Breathe.
--Unwind:
tense and relax each body part, to bring your whole body to stillness.
--Go
blank. When thoughts come to your mind, repeat a mantra like "peace,"
or "om," or "Cloud Nine."
--Don't
move for 5 minutes. Go for 10 or 20 minutes when you can.
--Get
up slowly, and keep the sense of peacefulness and calm with you as you go back
to your daily tasks.
What
do the presenters at the Consciousness Conference have to say about this? There
are now (f)MRIs available to monitor what is actually going on in the brains of
both novice meditators and long-term practitioners. The bottom line?
"Long-term meditators, those who have been practicing for many years, or
even decades, do enter states of very deep relaxation. Breathing rates can drop
to 3 or 4 breaths a minute, and brain waves slow down from the usual beta (seen
in waking activity) or alpha (seen in normal relaxation), to the much slower
delta or theta waves." The oddity here is that most of these meditators
are not doing it to seek relaxation, but something quite different: they
meditate to seek salvation, to help others, to gain insight, or because it is
the portal to ASCs, "altered states of consciousness," and they
simply have become habituated to this unusual experience. For such experts, the
goal is the original meaning of the word "meta-physical," they are doing
something beyond the physical.
To
the person who sets aside five minutes a day and uses meditation as a mode of
relaxation, the experts would probably say, better spend that time going for a
walk, or engaging in vigorous exercise. What do I think of all this? I
believe that even a few minutes a day dedicated to Meditation can help you cope
with the stresses of daily life. I suspect that the experts in Meditation, who
practice for an hour or more a day, really do experience something denied to
the rest of us, something we might perceive in that occasional "Aha!"
experience, something that, however infrequent, cleanses the doors of
perception, and enables us to see more deeply into what our life means. Even a
little bit of Meditation is better than none; even a few moments of reflecting
on the mystery of Consciousness, the mystery of what it means to be a self, is
better than going through life only half awake.....
Meditation has been described in many ways, and there are distinctively different ways of meditating. There will be Buddhist meditators at the upcoming Consciousness Conference in Tucson, and they will set aside an hour each day, and invite beginners to "sit" with them. "How best to meditate? Simply sit still; calm your body, and then, calm down your mind. Think of nothing in particular, and do not worry about where your consciousness takes you. Within a few minutes, you will find that your body and your mind have attained a level of tranquillity that will remain with you the rest of the day." Religiously disposed meditators might begin by thinking of Psalm 46: "Be still, and acknowledge that I am God." " Others might begin with the invitation of Jesus in Mark 6: "Come apart, and rest awhile." Some psychologists have worked with "centering meditation," encouraging the practitioner to focus on a particular problem, the antidote to the problem, and cultivating the emotions needed to cope with the problem.
Some people seldom have a problem with sleep. Most people, however, will experience periods of some sleep disturbances, sometimes for clearly physiological reasons, at other times for emotional stresses. At sleep clinics, insomniacs often state that some nameless anxiety is the partner in their sleep difficulties. If you wake up in the middle of the night and are "anxious" about some event of the day that did not disturb you then, but does now, you are probably having a fairly universal experience. But if it happens continually, and over truly trivial matters, you probably have something specialists would classify as an anxiety disorder. "More than 40 million American adults are affected by anxiety disorders each year. However, it's often hard to judge when normal feelings of worry, fear, and stress cross the line and become a serious condition that impacts both your emotional and physical health." --Harvard Health Letter. And that is where "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Insomnia," or "CBT-I" for short, comes in. Sleep clinics often try to wean long-term insomniacs off the strong medications they have been taking, by having them attend a few sessions with a psychologist who practices this form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The heart of the therapy is as ancient as the Greek and Roman Stoics, and as modern as the Reinhold Niehbuhr serenity prayer. There are things you can change, and things you can't change, and it takes prudence to know the difference. Or as Marcus Aurelius said: "Be like the rock against which the waves continually break: it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it." In the ancient world, there were more Stoics than there were Platonists or Aristotelians, and for good reason: Stoicism is a philosophy that works. It accepts that bad things happen to good people, and tells you to take that in stride, and get on with your life. And the ancient world had large scale problems in some ways similar to the kinds of problems we encounter, although our problems may have a more global scale. The ancient world had a way of saying you can disagree without being disagreeable or hostile, but we seem to be losing some of that good sense.
For the most part, scholars tend to be charitable in their arguments with each other, even political scientists. We have seen recently, in the public sphere, inflammatory remarks by politicians and others, where not only hostility, but enmity or hatred accompany the verbal interplay. Those scenes are disturbing, and could be sources for what might keep people awake at times they would rather be sleeping. I have no prescription to cure whatever political ills afflict us, but I do have an antidote to the "hidden anxiety" that may disturb the sleep of some. Time set aside for meditation might put the body into a more tranquil state; it might move deeply into the physiology of emotions, and put the body at rest, which may keep the mind tranquil. The sleep specialists say that the root source of some of the sleep problems of older people is due to arthritis: the joints of the body send disturbing messages when they are not moved, and may awaken one from even the deepest of sleeps. Surely some of the repressed emotions of the day, some of the raw emotions from challenging encounters, may affect our psyches in a similar manner, and bring us to wakefulness that is not easily subdued. Perhaps the daily practice of meditation, or a meditative form of Tai-Chi, might put our minds at rest, the way a warm bath might ameliorate arthritic problems. And for those who have the good fortune to sleep soundly almost all the time: meditation might either promote even deeper sleep, or, it might make them more aware of the kinds of problems that keep other people awake late into the night! Whichever outcome, setting aside a few minutes each day for the practice of some form of meditation is all but guaranteed to produce beneficial results...
The word "philosophy"
comes from two Greek words, "philo," the love of, and "sophia," wisdom.
So philosophers are simply "lovers of wisdom." Philosophers are not
necessarily wise, but, if they are deserving of the name at all, they
are at least in pursuit of wisdom. Socrates' reputation as 'the wisest
man in Athens," was rooted in the fact that he knew he was not wise! It
is not uncommon, in any survey of the history of philosophy, to find
philosophers who give up on the use of words altogether, because they
cannot find the words to express their most profound perceptions. (I
cannot tell you what it is I am trying to say, but if I had a piano
here, I could play it for you." -Gabriel Marcel) It is not unknown for
philosophers, lovers of words though they are, to turn to the experience
of meditation, or to turn to the comparative silence of contemplation.
The Dalai Lama is a person of the most profound wisdom. His new book, Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World, is
a distillation of the wisdom he has been espousing for half a century.
While the theme of the book is his expression of a "secular" ethic to
which everyone in the world could subscribe quite apart from their
religious convictions, for me the most relevant chapter in the book is
entitled: "Meditation as Mental Cultivation." The Dalai Lama's hope for
peace in the world is based in his hope that some form of meditation
might become universal, and the fruit of this practice might be the
anchor for global peace breaking out all over.
The
Dalai Lama's summary of the practice of meditation is brief: Set aside
some time early in the morning when your mind is freshest and clearest.
Begin by setting aside ten or fifteen minutes, and reserve for yourself a
couple five minute interludes later in the day. Find a position that is
comfortable, and begin by simply focusing on your breathing. Even a few
minutes a day will help you overcome any tendency toward excessive
worrying, useless obsessions, or anxiety about having more to do than
you have time for. It may be helpful to focus on a flower, or a
painting, or some object of religious devotion, "or you may imagine
looking down from a mountaintop where you have an unimpeded view in
every direction." It may be helpful to focus on compassion, or patience,
or tolerance, or forgiveness. His own words offer the best summary:
"In
a typical session, we begin by settling our mind through breathing. We
then choose our object of meditation and focus our attention on it. When
we notice our mind wandering, we gently bring it back to our object of
meditation. When we wish to end our session, we can do some deep
breathing exercises once again so that we finish in a relaxed state of
mind."
Meditation
is a very simple practice. It can help us overcome our negative
emotions, it can promote greater wakefulness, and it can help us cope
with the predictable and unpredictable stresses of everyday life.
Strangely enough, by emptying ourselves of our negative feelings and our
inclination toward self-centeredness, we can become more ourselves.
Meditation is an essential ingredient in the pursuit of wisdom. The
Dalai Lama has led a tempestuous life, yet he has come through all his
adversities unscathed. His capacity for meditation has been a major
ingredient of his success, and probably of his good health. Improve your
capacity for meditation, and, who knows? You may become the next
incarnation of the Dalai Lama! Short of that, your daily life may be
much improved...
Meditation!
I come back, on a regular basis, to the importance of the practice of
Meditation. If you want to improve your life and your health in the New
Year, you too might want to begin the practice of meditation, or improve
upon your practice, if you have been doing it for a long time. I have
practiced meditation, in one form or another, for over fifty years, and I
find the practice becomes increasingly important for me. I have written
about it in various places, and I often find myself trying to improve
on what I have said before. Here is the gist of it:
Set
aside some secure time, find a comfortable position, and meditate just
for the sake of meditation. Focus your mind on your breathing, and
meditate with no specific purpose in mind. Do not be surprised if, over
time, meditation becomes the root of major changes in your attitudes and
dispositions. It has been well documented that meditation works to
reduce the feelings of stress, and we all face some major sources of
stress each day. Meditation can easily become the most important
activity of your day. "Meditation is not the killing of time. It is the
deepening and enriching of time."
There
are many sources of stress in our lives. Most cardiac care programs are
composed of sessions on diet, exercise, and stress reduction. I handle
the stresses of daily life much better, if I start off the day with a
few minutes of walking meditation, in which I do nothing but try to
breathe deeply, while setting my mind at peace. There are many different
masters of meditation, and many different religious traditions have
generated their own methods of meditation. I have found Thich Nhat
Hanh's book, Peace Is Every Step, to be particularly helpful, and
I find what he says is applicable to many different forms of
meditation. The following paragraph says it better than I ever could:
"Do
not lose yourself in dispersion and in your surroundings. Practice
mindful breathing in order to come back to what is happening in the
present moment. Be in touch with what is wondrous, refreshing, and
healing, both inside and around yourself. Plant the seeds of joy, peace,
and understanding in yourself in order to facilitate the work of
transformation in the depths of your consciousness."
--With
the New Year, I know I have many new readers for these "occasional"
reminders about "the things that really matter." What I offer is the
distillation of many years of "philosophical" thought, results of my
encounters with people much wiser than I, and people who have in one way
or another mastered the art of living. I have been a cardiac patient,
and have been "in death's vestibule" a time or two, so I have a deeper
sense of the importance of living each day as well as possible. The year
2012 has all the earmarks of becoming a year of multiple sources of
stress for all of us. Is it too much to ask of yourself that you set
aside a few minutes everyday to practice some form of meditation, to be
sure you spend some time concentrating on your own breathing, and
develop some sense of trying to live in harmony with your surroundings?
It might be one way of making sure that you make the most of the golden
opportunities that every new year brings...
Meditation helps. It may be a religious practice, but it is also part of many different therapies, ranging from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Cardiac Rehab, and addiction treatments. While meditation may be “targeted,” with some particular goal in mind, meditation best accomplishes its purposes when the meditator does it just for the sake of meditating, without any particular goal in mind.
Perhaps the best way to practice meditation does not involve sitting, but a practice frequent among Buddhists called “walking meditation.” While one may meditate while walking in the woods or around a city block, it may be advisable to walk around in a circle somewhere, where the distractions will be minimal and concentration on breathing uninterrupted.
Walking around in circle, with minimal sensory stimuli, may enable you to enter the meditative state more easily than if you are comfortably seated, where the “relaxation response” may be doing more to calm your body than to focus your mind.
Walking has this benefit: we are the most sedentary society the world has known, and we sit for hours everyday, either at work, at meals, driving somewhere, or watching TV. Walking slowly around in a circle may do a better job for most of us in producing the calm that characterizes the meditative state.
There is abundant medical literature documenting the health benefits of meditation, beginning with Dr. Herb Benson’s The Relaxation Response and John Kabat-Zinn’s Full Catastrophe Living. Kabat-Zinn writes: “Walking meditation involves intentionally attending to the experience of walking itself. It involves focusing on the sensations in your feet or your legs or, alternatively, feeling your whole body moving.”
The famous French philosopher Jacques Maritain said: “Walking is a meditative habit unknown to Americans.” That was years ago, and by now, Americans have taken up the habit of walking for the sake of walking, sometimes walking in circles in their own backyards, or walking around the block, or around their own living rooms. Walking is touted for producing a variety health benefits. Add meditation to your walking, and you may find your personal tranquility index rising, your blood pressure falling, and your overall life-equilibrium restored. Walking is a meditative habit that can easily become part of your routine. It is part of mine, and although I have practiced many different meditation techniques, a period of “walking mediation” each morning helps me face the predictable and unpredictable challenges of adult life. It is one of those “little things” that can make a big improvement in the quality of your life!
Most of us feel the stresses of everyday life, and find various ways to deal with them. (It is a myth that as you get older, you know how to handle stress. Some of life’s most stressful events do not happen until you have gray hair and a weakened immune system!) Physical activity at any age reduces stress for most people, but the practice of meditation has a long and successful history of helping people to cope with life’s challenges. Anyone can practice meditation: you don’t have to go to India and hire a guru; you don’t have to visit a monastery and join the monks at prayer. Meditation can be a religious exercise, or it can simply be a calming experience, a way of stepping back and emptying the mind of all that is extraneous and trivial. “To people who say they are too busy to meditate, I tell them, set aside ten minutes every morning for meditation, and you will find that your schedule is not nearly as oppressive as before you started the practice of meditation.”
If you are new to meditation, or returning after a long absence, begin with five minutes. Find a place where you will not be disturbed, make yourself moderately comfortable, and simply sit and meditate. Close your eyes if that helps, have a clock where you can see it if you look, and begin by counting your breaths for five minutes. By the second day, you will look forward to this time of collecting your self, and you will find something else to hold your attention, whether a word, a thought, a picture, or a blank wall. Meditation comes naturally to those who set aside a time, find a place where they will not be interrupted, and empty their mind of all distractions.
Many medical professionals recommend meditation as a way to good health. Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years, for reasons religious, philosophical, and healthful. It is a calming and quieting experience, a turning off of the noise and distraction of everyday, and attentiveness to what is basic and elementary: breathing, for example. The simplest form of meditation is to find a quiet place, sit comfortably, and spend ten minutes simply paying attention to your breath. Dr. Andrew Weil says there is no medical prescription more important than re-learning how to breathe! (From the Mayo Clinic Health Letter: “Resperate is a portable electronic device that promotes slow, deep breathing. Resperate is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for reducing stress and lowering blood pressure. The goal is slow, deep breathing with particularly long exhalation. Resperate is intended to be used at least 15 minutes a day, three to four days a week. Within a few weeks, the deep breathing exercises can help lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.”) Given our American passion for technology, we have found a way for technology to produce what experienced meditators have been doing for centuries!
As we get busy, we tend to breathe shallowly. We can go days or weeks without paying attention to our own breathing. Simply counting your breath can help focus your attention. Controlling your breath is the next step: breathe in for 5-10 seconds, hold your breath, and then breathe out slowly and calmly, and try to focus your entire attention on the act of breathing.
Is meditation really as simple as that? You can dress it up in many ways, but that is the basis. You may make it a religious experience by incorporating the appropriate imagery, you may make an aesthetic experience by meditating on the sunset or on the stars, or some other natural phenomenon, or you may make it a calming and relaxing experience through the recitation of some “mantra” that has particular significance for you.
Dr. Herbert Benson has documented that the regular practice of meditation lowers blood pressure; Dr. Dean Ornish claims that regular meditation reduces the risk of sudden heart attack. Dr. Weil claims that meditation boosts the effectiveness of the immune system. Perhaps it does these because it brings us back to our most basic self, puts us in touch with the roots of our pre-consciousness, and does something to establish a calm and tranquil center at the heart of our activity.
Among philosophers, Socrates had his meditative trances from which he could not be awakened. Plotinus had his transformative experiences of solitude, of being “alone with the Alone.” Thomas Aquinas was so transformed by his meditations that all he had written seemed like so much straw. Asian traditions are parallel: Thich Nhat Hanh, perhaps the greatest living teacher of Buddhism, recommends the simple formula: Breathing in, I calm my body, breathing out, I smile. His books, Peace is Every Step, and Interbeing, can be great helps along the path to successful meditation.
The best cure for an overly-busy schedule is to set aside a few minutes a day of uninterruptible quiet time, quiet your mind and your emotions, put your breathing, and therefore your life, into good and peaceful order…
