A panel on mindfulness, meditation, self-care and mental health

https://medium.com/thelist/how-not-to-have-a-meltdown-in-2015-mindfulness-meditation-mental-health-9dd4c83f3747

by pmcpinto • 11 years ago

44 14 11 years ago

I just got done meditating for an hour and 10 minutes, 50 then an alarm on my phone and then another 20. I don't need the alarm but it's nice to do timed meditations to get a sense for how long I've been spending on this. I have really been putting in the effort over the past week and have noticed a general improvement in my concentration and ability to avoid distracting thoughts. I originally tried to do this a few years ago off and on to reduce work related stress.

But this is not what I came to say. If you're the type that is compulsively looking at your phone checking websites and generally worrying about where your skills are at this is not conducted to being present in the here and now. You are worried about keeping up appearances being connected with others and generally looking to future oriented goals. I've gradually given most of these less and less emphasis due to a natural inclination towards being alone which suits my personality fine. For reducing stress, sure, anyone can benefit from meditation.

There is a further level of insight meditation, which is what I've been practicing and mindfulness is one of the foundations that leads to insights of value. Without mindfulness one will not know where they have been and what intentions lead to where they are now over the moment to moment progression through their day. This is the skillful goal; not bliss and not simply reducing stress.

Also you don't have to even sit to meditate. I was reclining, which made it much easier to discern my heartbeat. Next up walking meditation for about forty minutes. Left right left right...

drcomputer2• 11 years ago

I like to listen to my thoughts sometimes. I'm used to watching them flow with neutrality.

I play the piano for meditation.

A barrier can often come from asking the question "am I doing it right?"

Sometimes existing out of the moment is just as important as existing in it.

someone283733• 11 years ago

I want to have a midi keyboard for this purpose exactly. This spontaneous nature is another modality. For example I can dictate this message while spinning a pen with only the intention not to drop it and nothing further and yet I've become very skilled at it with no effort.

dinarebecca3• 11 years ago

Love. Thank you for sharing this.

dinarebecca3• 11 years ago

Love this. Thank you. This is why I started the path..esp after burning out after not being present for 7 years @ blip.tv.

tunesmith• 11 years ago

I feel like I haven't heard the word "mindfulness" (outside of the context of a schoolmarm telling a 19th-century child to be mindful of her work) until recently, but now it seems to be everywhere. Is this a clinical term or a new-age term?

someone283733• 11 years ago

It's an ancient concept. For an example of an actual practice look up noting in relation to this term.

diydsp• 11 years ago

One can probably credit a subset of hippies in the 1960s in the U.S. for traveling to India and bringing "Eastern" practices here to the (more or less) mainstream, including Buddhism and "Sati," which is the basis of mindfulness. I don't know enough about other countries to comment on how popular it may be in other places and how it go to be that way.

In their shotgun approach, some New Age practioners may incorporate mindfulness, but they haven't invented it...

In their urge to explain everything with the left brain :) academics and clinicians strive to explain mindfulness...

Anyway if you get the urge, it's a fun thing to learn and study. You'd probably find it beneficial/profitable, too.

It's delightful to me to learn how much of our behavior is stimulus-response and how much is choice. The concept of free will much more than a yes/no question--- it's much more like oil and water. it becomes binary if you never shake up the container, but once you do, you realize our choices and thoughts are a complex mixture of free will and reactionary behaviors :)

The habits are usually beneficial b/c they save time, but when they get in the way they can be reversed, by first becoming aware of them through mindfulness.

dinarebecca3• 11 years ago

Yes! Mental agility. A gorgeous thing.

stolio• 11 years ago

It's a buzzword, it gets thrown around a lot in spiritual circles. It's also an important part of Buddhism that sometimes gets confused as the only part.

The Theravadan tradition of Vipassana is sometimes called "mindfulness meditation" (it's also called "insight meditation") so there's a good chance when you hear the word it traces back to them.

If somebody's giving a teaching it has a fairly specific meaning but when people just toss it around they're essentially saying they're making an effort to pay attention to whatever's in front of them, or whatever their mind is doing, or just whatever's happening at that moment. You kind of have to pick up from context exactly what it means to the person using it.

clark-kent• 11 years ago

Yeah its a buzzword that describes a practice that has been going on for thousands of years. The term "mindfulness" may have been around for sometime, but I think we hear it more often these days because meditation is becoming more fashionable and trendy. In some circles, "mindfulness" is referred to as "presence", which is the term I prefer to use. Another good term for it is "stillness".

fractalcat• 11 years ago

The modern use of the word was spawned by a book by Thích Nhất Hạnh[0] called The Miracle of Mindfulness. It was then codified into clinical practice by (among others) Marsha Linehan, who incorporated the book's ideas (in combination with behavioural therapy) as dialectical behavioural therapy, which was the first evidence-based treatment for borderline personality disorder[1]. Since then it's been a prominent feature of popular psychology (and real psychology, though in a more restricted context).

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Nh%E1%BA%A5t_H%E1%B... [1]: Linehan M., Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder

dgelles• 11 years ago

Hi all. David Gelles here, I was delighted to moderate this panel with such lively, intelligent and Zen women. Happy to keep spreading the message in whatever way is helpful to people.

My book, Mindful Work, is coming out next month. More details here: www.davidgelles.com

You can preorder it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Work-Meditation-Changing-Busin...

All best,

David

A panel on mindfulness, meditation, self-care and mental health

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