Is acceptance under-valued in mindfulness practice?

In my book Light Mind I described acceptance as the heart of mindfulness. Yet I find this is the aspect of mindfulness practice which I am most likely to ignore - so perhaps the question at the top applies to me and not to others.

I have been reading lately about acceptance of anger. On Twitter, Buddhist life coach Sunada Takagi posted a link to Nancy Baker's article on anger on the tricycle blog. In the article she talks about the need to discover  "my own particular version of anger."

Later Ms Baker quotes Thich Nhat Han: "Treat your anger with the utmost respect and tenderness, for it is no other than yourself. Do not suppress it—simply be aware of it. Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed. When you are aware that you are angry, your anger is transformed...Mindfully dealing with anger is like taking the hand of a little brother."

Ms Baker adds: "Perhaps the most important reason for getting to know our anger is that anger is actually a precious energy that becomes anger only when it is caught up in complex egoic patterns."

I could go on quoting from her article but I recommend you read it yourself.

Depression and getting stuck

People with depression get stuck in thoughts about negative events according to a report in Psychological Science. The findings suggest to me that mindfulness, by preventing "stuckness" can help in warding off depression caused by dwelling on  events. Read about the report here on Science Daily.

Breathing with Sharon Salzberg

"Deliberately take three or four deep breaths, feeling the air as it enters your nostrils, fills your chest and abdomen, and flows out again. Then let your breathing settle into its natural rhythm, without forcing or controlling it. Just feel your breath as it happens, without trying to change it or improve it. You’re breathing anyway. All you have to do is feel it."


If  you' re into mindfulness of breathing, this article by Sharon Salzberg on the tricycle.com blog is for you. While you're there, take a look around the Tricycle website ... it's full of good things as is the Tricyle magazine on which the website is based.

9 Mindfulness Rituals

These 9 mindfulness rituals are from the zenhabits blog. Read below or click here to go to the website.

"Smile, breathe and go slowly." - Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Buddhist monk

Post written by Leo Babauta.

Are you simply moving through your day, without fully living?

I did this for many years. It was as if life were just passing by, and I was waiting for something to happen. I always felt like I was preparing for something later.

But today isn't preparation for tomorrow. Today's the main event.

Fully live today by being mindful. I realize this is easier said than done — mindfulness is a habit that's not easily picked up. And so I've decided to share with you some of my favorite mindfulness rituals to help you appreciate every moment.

You don't need to do all of these, but give a few of them a try to see if they make your day better.

Mindfulness Rituals

Ritual isn't about doing a routine mindlessly. It's a way of building something good into your life, so that you don't forget what's important. Done mindfully, a ritual can remind you to be conscious. Done mindlessly, a ritual is meaningless.

Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Sit in the morning. When you wake up, in the quiet of the morning, perhaps as your coffee is brewing, get a small cushion and sit on the floor. I will often use this opportunity to stretch, as I am very inflexible. I feel every muscle in my body, and it is like I am slowly awakening to the day. I'll also just sit, and focus on my breathing going in and out. I'm an absolute beginner when it comes to meditation, but this always starts my day right.

2. Brush your teeth. I assume we all brush our teeth, but often we do it while thinking of other things. Try fully concentrating on the action of brushing, on each stroke of each tooth, going from one side of the mouth to the other. You end up doing a better job, and it helps you realize how much we do on autopilot.

3. Eat mindfully. Turn off the TV, put away the computer and mobile devices, even put away the book or newspaper. If you eat with any of these things (most people do), eating without them will seem boring. And yet, unless you do this, you are not truly appreciating your food. I like eating my oats (with nuts and berries — see my diet) mindfully, paying attention to each bite. It makes the food taste better, and I eat slowly and with gratefulness.

4. Wash your bowl. When you're done eating, wash your dish immediately. Do it while paying full attention to your washing, to the water and suds. Read more.

5. Drink tea. There's something ancient about the tea ceremony — and when you drink tea as a mindfulness ritual, you're connecting with millions of others who have done so over the centuries. Make your own tea ceremony — prepare the tea carefully and mindfully, pour it slowly, sip it with thoughtfulness. See if you can set aside one time each day to do this, and it will transform your day.

6. Walk slowly. I like to take breaks from work, and go outside for a little walk. Walk slowly, each step a practice in awareness. Pay attention to your breathing, to everything around you, to the sounds and light and texture of objects.

7. Read in silence. Find a quiet time (mornings or evenings are great for me), and a quiet spot, and read a good novel. Have no television or computers on nearby, and just immerse yourself in the world of the novel. It might seem contradictory to let your mind move from the present into the time of the novel, but it's a great practice in focus. Also, I love a good novel more than almost anything else.

8. Look at someone gratefully. Each day, find someone you care about. Instead of just seeing what you always see, really look at the person. Try not to do it creepily. See this person for the miracle that she is, and be grateful for her existence. If you're feeling generous, tell that person how thankful you are for her.

9. Work with focus. Start your workday by choosing one task that will make a big difference in your work, and clearing everything else away. Just do that one task, and don't switch to other tasks. Single-tasking is a great way to find focus. Increase your Monk Mind.

These rituals aren't the only time you should be mindful, but they're great reminders. Today, try a few of them to fully live and fully appreciate this wonderful day.

Three dimensions to the therapeutic use of mindfulness

There are three dimensions to the use mindfulness with clients or patients: your own practice, teaching and being informed by your learning.

Practicing mindfulness yourself is essential. This practice may be formal - mindfulness of breathing, for example - informal (returning again and again to the awareness of mindfulness during the day) or a combination of both. It is only through practicing mindfulness yourself that you will experience the potential and, indeed, limits of this approach in therapy.

Teaching involves explaining principles of mindfulness or of the thinking behind it to the client. Teaching also involves giving the client simple mindfulness techniques to use. The brief mindfulness exercise at the top of this blog is an example of such a technique.

Finally, your use of mindfulness is informed by your learning and that learning is derived from practice and from theory. Reading blogs like this one is a help. So is knowing something about Buddhist psychology. So is reading my book - ok, and other people's books too!

Mindfulness help counsellors engage with clients

From PsychCentral: Virginia Tech University is using a progressive method to help train students to be emotionally present during therapy sessions.

The university is integrating mindfulness meditation into its Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) program curriculum.

According to Eric McCollum, professor of human development at the university, “Mindfulness meditation helps students improve their ability to be emotionally present in therapy sessions with clients. It helps beginners, who can sometimes feel overwhelmed, stop focusing on themselves and think more about others.”

To continue reading, go here to PsychCentral.com

Meditation offers benefits for patients and nurses

From nurse.com: Meditation — long considered by many the province of Buddhists and New Age gurus — is gaining new respect among neurologists, psychiatrists and others who study the brain. An increasing volume of scientific study is not only showing that meditation helps reduce stress, but is offering some physiological clues about why it might be beneficial to the body and brain.

Meditation has been studied for 20 years, but in the past five to 10 years the focus of that research has gone beyond the idea that meditation makes a person feel better to scientific measurement of physiological changes, says Susan Bauer-Wu, RN, PhD, FAAN, a cancer researcher and associate professor of nursing at Emory University in Atlanta.

Recent studies of mindfulness meditation have shown evidence it may bolster the immune system and slow the progression of disease in patients with HIV/AIDS, improve blood pressure and reduce psychological distress in young adults, improve the emotional well-being and mental health of breast cancer patients, and be as effective as medications in treating insomnia.

To continue reading, go here to nurse.com

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Using mindfulness with schoolchildren

An elementary school at Oakland, California, has introduced a 5-week mindfulness programme for students with the help of a mindfulness coach. The programme seems to have improved discipline and self-esteem but some teachers remain sceptical.

Go here for a report entitled In the classroom, a new focus on quieting the mind, by insightflorida.org. The link opens a pdf file.

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Mindfulness for the Nursing Profession

From Exquisitemind's Blog: “Today’s healthcare environment is turbulent, rapidly presenting nurses with stimuli, interruptions, and competing priorities. The stakes of success are extraordinarily high; nurses in all roles must cope successfully with numerous demands to make timely, accurate decisions affecting human lives.” (Pipe et al., 2009)

Nursing professionals face enormous challenges. The work is difficult and demands full presence, energy, and commitment. Stress is a pervasive fact of the profession, and it affects institutions and individuals, and even the caring relationship itself. Stress can impair the health care provider’s ability to observe, to listen, and to understand the patient. To practice safely, healthfully, and with compassion, nurses need to effectively manage stress. Taken to an extreme, when acute stress becomes chronic, impairments can be seen in immune system and cognitive functioning. One research group rang a note of caution that “unfortunately, breakdowns in attention raise the risk of serious consequences such as symptom recognition, medication errors, and patient safety issues” (Pipe et al. 2009).

Mindfulness is a proven strategy that can help nurses to cope with the demands of their work and their lives (Baer 2003; Carmody et al., 2009; Grossman, 2004; Ludwig & Kabat-Zinn, 2008). Of the hundreds of clinical studies conducted on mindfulness-based interventions, 75% of them have been conducted in the past five years pointing to the mindfulness revolution sweeping health care.

To read the rest of this article go to Exquisite Mind's Blog.

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It’s midnight: Do you know where your mind is?

From the Vermont Digger: “I think, therefore I am”……worried, perplexed, agitated, confused, preoccupied…..and just plain stressed-out and unhappy. Forget Descartes: You may not know your own mind literally; and that’s the problem.

“Don’t worry, be happy” just won’t cut it!

“Yes, I admit I’ve got a thinking problem….” goes the country song.

If only there were AA for the mind—12 steps to end over-thinking, obsessing and self-preoccupation–over-thought and overwrought. But let’s face it, there’s a lot to be anxious, depressed, angry and concerned about here in 2010, with jobs, (if we have one), finances, relationships, health and the vicissitudes of life in general.

It may not be our lives but our minds that are driving us crazy, according to an ancient Buddhist practice called mindfulness, which examines how our minds work and how they can contribute to our misery.

To remedy the stress and emotional distress of mindless living, we may need to just stop living life as emotional automatons—going through the motions emotionally. “Having a great time, wish I were here,” writes Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic and Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at University of Massachusetts Medical School, in his book, “Coming to Our Senses.” It’s the “can’t remember driving the last 20 miles” school of living.

To read the rest of this article go to the Vermont Digger.

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Doctors using mindfulness to beat burnout

Doctors use mindfulness to beat burnout and to gain other side-effect benefits such as boosting empathy with patients according to this post on the Mindful Coaching blog.

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Introducing clients to mindfulness

As with any therapeutic tool, the issues of appropriateness and timing are crucial in introducing clients to mindfulness. It is very appropriate to introduce mindfulness to a client who is constantly buffeted by his or her own thoughts. On the other hand a mindfulness exercise may seem inappropriate as an intervention for a client who is trying to decide whether or not to take a promotion.

Similarly, it may or may not be right to introduce a mindfulness practice during the first session. The too early introduction of techniques can leave a client feeling unheard and unless the client feels heard the counselling is unlikely to work.

So you, as a mental health professional, must make a judgment as to whether, when and how to introduce mindfulness.

How to do it? I generally have a sheet on the table with a basic mindfulness exercise (the one at the top of this blog) and information on a couple of other practices. Then I might say something like, "I have an exercise here that many clients find helpful and that I use myself. Maybe you might like to try it out."

Then I briefly explain what mindfulness is and introduce them to the basic exercise. I point out that it can be done in 40 seconds or 40 minutes depending on their preference. I suggest they run through it on getting up in the morning, at odd intervals during the day and when they wake up in bed at night. Sometimes we both do the exercise together.

Here is the introduction on top of the sheet I give clients to take away:

"Mindfulness involves taking your attention away from the past and future and away from your imagination - and instead becoming aware of what is going on right now. You can do this as you go about your daily life. Notice with your senses: what you are seeing and hearing, that you are breathing, standing, walking or sitting or lying down, the feel of the air against your skin as you move along."

"Your mind will keep drifting out of the present so you need to keep bringing it back. It is bringing your mind back to the present that makes up the practice of mindfulness. Never criticise your mind for drifting away: just bring it back kindly and gently."

"Mindfulness has been used for thousands of years in the Buddhist tradition to improve people’s experience of life. It lowers anxiety and stress, provides an antidote to brooding (which can lead to, or maintain, depression). It also helps you to avoid endlessly repeating distressing or unhelpful thoughts, images and mental scenes. Exercises like those below have been used for centuries to help people practice mindfulness as they go about their daily life. The first two need only take a minute or so but will help you if you repeat them a few times a day."

Here are the three exercises as they appear on the sheet:

Awareness

From time to time, notice your breathing.

Notice your posture.

Notice the points of contact between your body and the chair, floor, ground.

Notice your clothes touching your body.

Notice sounds in the room; sounds outside the room; the furthest away sound you can hear.

Every time you drift into thinking, just return to noticing these sensations.

Mindfulness Cues

This involves using habitual behaviours to remind you to practice mindfulness. Choose one or two and then decide that when performing them you will maintain awareness of what you are doing, rather than daydreaming or getting caught up in fears or anxieties: Using the telephone ~ Going up or down stairs or steps ~ Using a computer mouse or keyboard ~ Tidying ~ Washing up ~ Showering.

Awareness of Breathing

As you go through your day, notice your breathing from time to time. All you need to do is notice your breathing: you don’t have to breathe in any special way. Are you breathing with your chest or your tummy (abdominal breathing is usually more relaxing)? As you breathe, can you feel movement in your diaphragm (between your ribs and your abdomen)? Can you feel the air entering and leaving your nostrils?

Mindful stillness

In stillness, you come to yourself. You claim your autonomy. I don't mean the drugged stillness of someone hypnotised by a TV. I mean an alert stillness as practiced in mindfulness.

You can practice stillness by sitting on a chair or a cushion and setting a period of time aside for this work. Or you can watch out for what might be called accidental opportunities for stillness. You might be sitting on a bus or a train, at your desk or in a waiting room and use this as an accidental opportunity to cultivate stillness.

In stillness you step out of the conversation in your head. You place your attention on the feeling of your body at rest. In particular I think it is helpful to notice your hands. Let your hands be still and just notice them. Notice their warmth. As you notice them, they will almost certainly become warmer. And notice your breathing. Notice your tummy, your diaphragm as you breathe. Through this noticing you cultivate stillness.

That is all you have to do. Stillness is so simple and yet many of us fail to benefit from it. In a busy world it is possible even to feel you are doing something subversive when you practice stillness. Perhaps the stillness police will to tap on your shoulder and issue you with a fine for failing to be busy enough!

Yes, stillness police exist - mostly inside our own heads. Our own anxieties, allowed to scamper around our minds like chattering monkeys, assure us that the world will end if we practice stillness in the middle of the day.

At times, we fall very naturally into stillness. People who are in love can be still with each other, look into each other's eyes for ages and find the whole experience very agreeable indeed. A parent can experience a wonderful sense of stillness holding a sleeping baby.

Even crowds can be still. Think of the crowd at a football match when a crucial penalty is about to be taken. You may have experienced stillness in the theatre or at a concert. So stillness is not a strange, esoteric thing. Stillness is your heritage. Claim it in mindfulness.

Practice: From time to time, notice opportunities for stillness. In particular notice the stillness in your hands. Step out of the conversation in your mind to practice stillness even if only for half a minute.

My book Light Mind - Mindfulness for Daily Living is published by Veritas. Click on "more details" to read a sample chapter. For monthly mindfulness exercises, email me at pomorainATgmx.com (replace the AT with @) and I will put you on the mailing list for my free newsletter.