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Follow your breath, not your thoughts

Awareness vs 'afflicted mind' - Why I teach mindfulness, not meditation

I teach mindfulness but not meditation and usually I practise mindfulness but not meditation. I think the distinction is important.

Knowing you are aware

In mindfulness, you are not only aware of what is going on but  you know that you are aware.  It's like the difference between walking and knowing  that you are walking. The knowing is what makes the difference when it comes to mindfulness. Mindfulness is something we naturally dip in and out of.  When you deliberately practise mindfulness you try to be mindful more often.  In my opinion it cannot do harm and is an asset worth cultivating.

Longer time

In meditation you focus your attention on an object such as your breath over a period of time, say twenty minutes.  This can lead to:

• a sense of calm 
• or of restlessness 
• or what what Buddhist meditators sometimes call 'afflicted' mind.

Afflicted mind

In 'afflicted mind' painful thoughts, emotions and memories arise. That's why I have real doubts about introducing meditation to groups of strangers - in the workplace for instance - about whom I know nothing and who I may never see again: I don't want to leave anyone to cope with that 'afflicted mind.'

But I am happy to introduce mindfulness itself to anyone - it is immediately beneficial and doesn't do harm.

(These thoughts were prompted by an article in Tricycle Magazine called The Mindfulness Solution by Andrew Olendzki, author of Unlimiting Mind and director of the Barre Centre for Buddhist Studies. The article is probably only accessible if you have a subscription to Tricycle).

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The best mindfulness research resource on the web

The American Mindfulness Research Association is a terrific resource for anybody involved in promoting or researching mindfulness. Its Mindfulness Research Monthly appears in PDF format and lists many research projects on mindfulness together with links to the publications in which the research is reported and it also highlights some of the studies.

Its news section reports on a very wide variety of areas in which mindfulness has been studied. These recent headlines will give you an idea of just how wide scope is:

"Mindfulness practice found to benefit drug-resistant epileptics."
"Mindful awareness programme offered to elite athletes on the USA cycling team."
"Veterans report reduced PTSD symptoms after a mindfulness meditation program."
"Brain imaging study of adolescents
links cortical changes and mindfulness."

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Why mindfulness in the workplace? What the Mindful Nation UK report says.

More and more organisations are introducing mindfulness to their wellbeing programs but what are the benefits and who is doing it? 

Here is a good summary from the Mindful Nation UK report produced last year by an all-party parliamentary group at Westminster (MBI's refers to mindfulness-based initiatives):

"A number of randomised controlled trials of MBI's have found positive effects on burnout, wellbeing and stress. Mindfulness can assist with focus and a range of cognitive skills. Studies have shown that those using mindfulness report lower levels of stress during multi-tasking tests and are able to concentrate longer without their attention being diverted. 

"Even brief periods of mindfulness practice can lead to objectively measured higher cognitive skills such as improved reaction times, comprehension scores, working memory functioning and decision-making."

Among those who have introduced mindfulness training in the UK and US, according to the report, are:

Teacher employers (University of Toronto)

Fire services in the US

Judges in the US

National Health Service

Department of Health

British Telecom

Unilever

Barclays

Goldman Sachs

Google

Transport for London

Bosch

Surrey & Sussex Police Force

The report notes that mindfulness is not the answer to a dysfunctional or toxic workplace. But most workplaces are neither toxic nor dysfunctional and mindfulness has a big contribution to make to employee wellbeing.

You can get the Mindful National UK report (pdf) at this link.

Seven ways to make 2016 a mindful year

If practising mindfulness is in your plans for 2016, these seven tips will help:

1. Choose a short mindfulness practice you can use every day or several times a day.
For instance, notice the sensation of your breath at your nostrils for the length of three in-breaths and three out-breaths. Even in this short space of time, your attention will drift; bring it back to your breath calmly and without self-criticism.

2. Try a little acceptance at the start of the day.
Mindfulness has two major aspects: returning your attention from mind-wandering to the present moment; and practising acceptance. Briefly look over what you are going to have to do today and accept it. This could include an annoying task or an unpleasant meeting or any of the other challenges in our day. Just accept it. Try to do this at a set time, for instance before you get out of bed in the morning, having breakfast, waiting for a train or tram and so on.

3. Make a "no problem solving" period part of every day.
We have an addiction to mulling over problems and this exiles us from the present moment. Set a short period every day during which you promise not to solve a single problem in your life! During that time you will find it much easier to be present and mindful. Good times for this? During meals, when commuting or tidying for instance.

4. Find your anchor point.
The "anchor point" is a practice or sensation that anchors you to mindfulness and helps you come back when you find yourself wandering off in your mind. Examples are: the sensation of your breath against your nostrils; the feeling of your feet against the floor, ground, or against the soles of your shoes; or the use of a silent word such as "returning."

5. Do a body scan when you wake up at night.
When you wake up at night it's all too easy to drift into worries or regrets. Instead, bring your attention to your body from your toes to the top of your head, in stages (for instance toes, feet, calves etc). Rest your attention on each area for the length of three in-breaths and out-breaths. When you find your mind has drifted, come back to wherever you had reached. Doing this mindfulness practice is far more restful than worrying about being awake - and it might even send you back to sleep!

6. Use a free mindfulness resource. 
If you're on Facebook, join my mindfulness group for a simple, unobtrusive way to remind yourself to be mindful during the year. Enter the name of the forum (Padraig O'Morain's Mindfulness Forum) in your Facebook search box. It's a closed group but if you click "join group" I'll add you. Thousands of people receive a brief daily mindfulness reminder in their email from myself. It's called The Daily Bell and you'll find a sign-up box on this blog.

7. Eat with awareness
Be aware that you are eating while you are eating. Pay attention to taste and texture and to the sensation of fullness. If you don't already eat mindfully you will be surprised at how much of our eating is "mindless".  One way to practise mindful eating is to choose to be aware of your food for the first minute of every meal. This will then expand into a more general mindful eating practice.

Related: Six ways to make 2015 a mindful year


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Mindfulness and the appreciation of fleeting happiness

I have met people who refuse to be happy because happiness doesn't last. They have never accepted the fact that you can't summon happiness and you can't make it stick around. It comes and goes. They even think happiness causes subsequent unhappiness - though that unhappiness would most likely have come anyway.

So mindfulness doesn't guarantee happiness. However, it can increase your appreciation of your own happiness when happiness comes to call. 

Think of happiness as a visitor who comes into your home, stays for a while, then goes away without warning about its business. But though you are sorry to see it go, you know it will come back again.

The next time you notice you are happy, make a space for it. When you find yourself ignoring your visitor and going off into some story of resentment or fear in your head, come back to your experience of happiness. Just check in that it's still there and, if it is, enjoy it.

We have a tendency to devote more attention to getting what we want than to enjoying while we have it. This may have developed as an evolutionary trait - for instance, hunters and gatherers need to spend more time hunting and gathering than, for instance, eating what they have gathered. So it comes very easily to us to discount happiness and let it go by unnoticed.

Mindfulness, the practice of returning again and again to awareness of your experience, will help you to enjoy your happiness while it is with you and, with luck, it will prolong its stay. But one hour or day you will notice that happiness has gone away. Relax. It will return. Your job is to notice it when it comes back and to give it your attention.

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Ireland's Mister Mindfulness, Frank Liddy, becomes Zen chaplain to Belfast City Council

Image from Belfast Telegraph

If Ireland has a "Mister Mindfulness" his name is Frank Liddy and he's based in Belfast. If you're involved in mindfulness work you won't spend long in Belfast without hearing his name. He runs the Mindfulness Belfast website  along with David Cameron (no, not that one).

According to the Belfast Telegraph, he is now the first Zen chaplain to Belfast City Council "his role is to provide secular advice for the Lord Mayor, and he is also a mindfulness practitioner for Aware, the Northern Ireland based depression charity."

He was appointed as a local assistant to the Dalai Lama on the latter's two visits to Belfast.

I really like this quote from the Belfast Telegraph article:

"My Zen teacher told me that I had two lives. When I asked when I would get my second life he told me it was when I realised that I had only one. The idea is that only when you fully realise that you have one life is when you will live it to the full."

He is a member of the Black Mountain Zen Centre in Belfast.

The Meditation How website  has this interview with Frank Liddy about how he came to Zen via the trauma of the Troubles and his discovery of Transcendental Meditation.

Oh, and it you'd like to hear the Body Scan delivered in a Belfast accent, check this out.

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Seven ways to practise mindfulness of breathing

1. Focus on your out-breath
 As you breathe, give your main attention to your out-breath. Sometimes it feels as though the breath is going right down through your feet and into the floor. The out-breath tends to be particularly calming.

2. Find your anchor point
 This is the point at which you are most aware of your breathing – typically your nostrils, chest, tummy, throat. Bringing your attention to the anchor point can return you to mindfulness straight away. If you don't have a particular anchor point, you can establish one by, for instance, focusing for a while on the sensation of the breath at the tip of your nose.

3. Count each cycle of breathing
 Count your first in-breath and out-breath as one, the next as two, the next as three and so on up to seven. When you get to seven return to one again. If you become distracted and lose your place, return to one and start again.

4. Observe without managing
 Observe your breathing without trying to change it in any way. This is actually almost impossible to do but making the attempt means you really have to pay attention.

5. Visualise
 Imagine you're standing on a beach in your bare feet. The water is coming in very slowly, touching your toes, and then going out slowly again. Try to match the water coming in with your in-breath, then a pause, then the water going out with your out-breath.

6. Cool in, warm out
 As you breathe, notice that the air is cooler as you breathe than when you breathe out. Keep returning your attention to this change in temperature.

7. 5/7 breathing
 Make each in-breath last for a count of 5 and each out-breath for a count of seven.  A variation is to breathe in to a count of 7 and out to a count of 11. If you find that too much, use 5/7 instead.

You'll find a Mindfulness of Breathing audio at the link below:

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British parliamentarians recommend the promotion of mindfulness practice by government.

An all-party  group of Members of Parliament in Britain has issued a report urging the adoption of mindfulness practices in many areas of public life. The Mindful Nation UK report is based on evidence given to the group by various occupational bodies and by people involved in the promotion of mindfulness and also draws on international research.

The report recommends the promotion of mindfulness practices particularly in education, health, the workplace and the criminal justice system.

It includes case studies and references to research and would be particularly valuable if you're interested in promoting the value of mindfulness within particular settings such as a workplace.

Some main points from the report:

Health
The NHS should make Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy available to the 580,000 adults each year who will be at risk of recurrent depression.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence should review the evidence from mindfulness-based interventions in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome, cancer and chronic pain.

Education
The Department for Education should designate three teaching schools to pioneer mindfulness teaching.

Schools should be offered the opportunity to bid for a fund of £1 million a year to pay for training teachers and mindfulness.

Workplace
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills should work with employers to promote the use of mindfulness.

Government departments should encourage the development of mindfulness programs in the public sector.

Criminal justice system
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy should be offered for recurrent depression to the offender population.

The effect of mindfulness-based interventions among the U.K.'s offender populations should be researched.

You can get a PDF of the report at this link.

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Suspend the need to know

Much of the activity that goes on in our minds can be seen as an attempt to know what is going to happen or what might have happened. Suspending the 'need to know' for a while allows us to bring clear awareness to our experiences right now.

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Letting unpleasant emotions fade

To allow an unpleasant emotion to pass in its own time, move your attention from your thoughts and onto the physical sensation that accompanies the emotion.  The physical sensation will fade and the emotion will fade along with it, so long as you don't keep it alive with your thoughts.

The Daily Bell

Mindfulness is about the body as well as the mind

We live in an era in which we see the contents of the mind as more important than the state of the body. For that reason we can over-emphasise the "mind" in "mindfulness" by paying too much attention to our thoughts and to how we relate to them.

For instance, we often view habitual reactions as events in the mind, in other words as thoughts that we think over and over again. This is often true but another kind of habitual reaction happens without words. This is a purely physical response and these responses are happening all the time below our awareness.

Maybe you see an old neighbour who reprimanded you as a child and you tense up without realising it. Or you huddle up physically walking along the street in a light rain as if you were in a sandstorm in the Sahara, but you don't notice you're doing it. Or you lean physically away from your partner because you're annoyed with her but you're the last person to realise you are doing this.

This is why mindfulness of your physical self, for instance of your posture, can be such a rich source of information about what's going on in your life. Of course it can also help you to drop responses that used to make sense but don't any longer.

Mindfulness of the body is the first of the mindfulness practices recommended in The Four Foundations of Mindfulness, a set of instructions dating back about 2,000 years. That, I think, underlines the importance of the body as a focus of mindfulness.

How to do this? Mindfulness of breathing is the most popular way but you can also be mindful of the feeling of your feet against the soles of your shoes, of your posture, of walking, or of the sense of energy in your entire body. You may find that some of these work better, especially if you're agitated,  than mindfulness of breathing and it's well worth the effort to find out what's best for you.

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Better a moment of awareness than repeating old thoughts

Notice how the statements we make over and over to ourselves are usually just old opinions that don't really need repeating - better to come into silent awareness of this moment.

Daily Bell

Rest your mind in your feet

Bring your attention to the soles of your feet. Take a few moments to notice sensations there. Let your attention rest in the sensations. Try this next time you are angry or worried or someone is trying to put you under pressure.

Daily Bell

Acceptance: the door that doesn't shut properly

Returning to the moment with acceptance is the key mindfulness practice. Practice accepting details: the door that doesn't shut properly, the awkward computer program, the slow queue. Accept by not telling yourself over and over how unsatisfactory it all is - instead allow silence into your mind for a while.

Daily Bell

What was the 'now' is already a memory

To appreciate the importance of mindfulness, remember that "'Every situation is a passing memory.' We went for a walk this morning, but now it is a memory … Just a few moments ago, you were standing in the hall, and now it is a memory. But then it was so real."

Pema Chodron, Start where you are, quoted in The Daily Bell

Thoughts that are past their use-by date

Many of our thoughts are outworn and no longer deserve the degree of attention we give them. An example is repeating old resentments or regrets that you can do nothing about. Let these outworn thoughts go by practising awareness of whatever is really happening right here, right now, even if that is just your own breathing. 

~ Daily Bell

Troubling thoughts - are they true?

When a thought is troubling you, it can be helpful to ask: Is this thought really true? What is it costing me to believe this? How would it be if I didn't believe it? 

~ Daily Bell (based on The Work by Byron Katie.)

Mindfulness: More quiet awareness, less self-talk

Notice the distinction between talking to yourself ("Here's what I should have said," "How dare they," "I'm such an idiot") and awareness. Awareness doesn't make speeches: it's quiet. Try to spend more time in quiet awareness and less time talking to yourself.

~ Daily Bell