tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59231754764079531442024-03-14T08:21:31.932-07:00Mindful discipline and integration in daily living....Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.comBlogger156125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-15247089256844185522018-08-03T21:16:00.000-07:002018-08-03T21:18:24.153-07:00Mindful Gardening<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Nature is our mother. Because we live cut off from her, we get sick.
Some of us live in boxes called apartments, very high above the ground.
Around us are only cement, metal, and hard things like that. Our fingers
do not have a chance to touch the soil; we don’t grow lettuce anymore.
Because we are so distant from our Mother Earth, we become sick. That is
why we need to go out from time to time and be in nature. It is very
important. We and our children should be in touch again with Mother
Earth. In many cities, we cannot see trees—the color green is entirely
absent from our view." - Vietnamese Zen teacher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanh">Thich Nhat
Hanh</a>, <i><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=J7m8p1ngZKwC&printsec=frontcover">Peace is Every Step</a></i> (1992), p106.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"If you want to be happy for an hour, get drunk; If you want to be happy
for three days, get married; If you want to be happy forever, make a
garden." -- Chinese Proverb. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." - <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cicero"><i>Cicero</i></a>, To Varro, in Ad Familiares IX, 4.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCNuAYjZ6qLpfswJcEjCmSZ1WOC5VMs9ZTyKo_gXznoXWhj_5VKn4Ftpm9YwVeARZYTv_UMcr-lyI2F5_Ufcsejf87teu2LDY90PmS2kIDuqR3a3_GA3_SGksWY96Wd7zbIK00N7rHXyc/s1600/1514365395_b6cefd74-e60a-45aa-988f-1550756617ed_636x357.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="636" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCNuAYjZ6qLpfswJcEjCmSZ1WOC5VMs9ZTyKo_gXznoXWhj_5VKn4Ftpm9YwVeARZYTv_UMcr-lyI2F5_Ufcsejf87teu2LDY90PmS2kIDuqR3a3_GA3_SGksWY96Wd7zbIK00N7rHXyc/s320/1514365395_b6cefd74-e60a-45aa-988f-1550756617ed_636x357.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Professor Mark Williams of the <a href="https://oxfordmindfulness.org/">Oxford Mindfulness Centre</a>, states in <i><a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Mindfulness.html?id=fReoFW9tLxAC&redir_esc=y">Mindfulness: A practical guide to peace in a frantic world</a></i> (2011), p246:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"How long should you meditate for? The practice itself will teach
you. Recall that meditation was first developed when humans lived in and
off the fields. Indeed, one of the words that we translate into English
as ‘meditation’ actually means ‘cultivation’ in the original Pali
language. It originally referred to cultivation of crops in the fields
and flowers in the garden. So how long should the cultivation of the
mindfulness garden take each day? It is best to go into the garden and
see for yourself. Sometimes ten minutes in the garden of meditation
practice will be needful, but you may find, once there, that your
cultivation will slip effortlessly into twenty or thirty minutes. There
is no minimum or maximum time. Clock time is different from meditation
time. You could simply experiment with what feels right and with
whatever gives you the best chance to renew and nourish yourself. Every
minute counts. Most people find that it is most helpful to
combine some regular (every day) formal practice with mindfulness in the
world. There is something about the ‘everyday-ness’ of the practice
that is important. By every day we mean that a majority of days each
week will find you taking yourself away to be by yourself for a period,
no matter how short."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mindfulness: <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mindfulness-Diverse-Perspectives-Meaning-Applications/dp/B00DO8PAOG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1533355501&sr=8-2&keywords=diverse+perspectives+mindfulness">Mindfulness: Diverse Perspectives on its Meaning, Origins and Applications</a></i> (2013) adds, p66:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Mental
training in general, and the development of mindfulness and wisdom in
particular, will optimize the functioning of the mind, and will
culminate in its transformation such that unwholesome states can no
longer occur at all and the mind will become entirely liberated from its
suffering. The process unfolds something like the classical image of
the lotus, whose roots are in the mud, growing through the water and
ultimately opening its petals to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the sky."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thus, caring for plants every day - caring for life, becomes a great living metaphor for our own mindfulness practice, and the plants that we nurture are a reflection of our practice. <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mindfulness-The-Art-Urban-Living/dp/1908005777#reader_1908005777">Mindfulness & The Art of Urban Living: Discovering The Good Life in The City</a> </i>(2013), therefore states, p31:</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"With our own
garden, however small, we can stop and meditate on these things. Without
photosynthesis, without the growth of plants, without a source of food,
we humans wouldn't be here - our appearance on the planet was totally
dependent on having something to eat." </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And, p30: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"A garden of
any size, whether urban or country, offers wonderful opportunities for
mindfulness training, bringing our awareness to focus on the present
moment, becoming more conscious of where we are in the here-and-now,
while helping us to remember we are part of the organic web of life that
wraps the planet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The
growth of plants - the simple unfurling of a leaf or the blossoming of a
flower - is a mystery we too easily take for granted. It has been
happening on the planet for well over a hundred million years, aeons of
time before we were around to stop and take notice." </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Professor Mark Williams also agrees, in <i><a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BV_YAAAAQBAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions">Mindfulness: A practical guide to peace in a frantic world</a></i> (2011), p183:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Nurturing a
plant, or sowing some seeds, are among those very simple things in life
that can have a surprisingly big benefit. It might even save your life.
In the late 1970s, Harvard University psychologist Ellen Langer and her
team conducted a now classic series of experiments in which they asked a
group of elderly people in a care home to look after a plant in their
room. They were told it was their responsibility to water it and make
sure it received enough food and light. At the same time, another group
of elderly people had a plant placed in their room, but were told ‘not
to worry about it’. The nurses would look after it for them. The
researchers then measured the levels of happiness in the two groups of
people and found, to their surprise, that those asked actively to look
after a plant were noticeably happier and healthier. They lived longer
too. Just the act of caring for another living thing had markedly
improved their life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So
this week, why not sow some seeds or buy or borrow a plant from a
friend? If you plant seeds, why not sow those that bees can feed off?
There’s something mesmerising about bees at work. Alternatively, why not
sow the seeds of a plant you can later eat, such as tomatoes, lettuce
or spring onions? As you sow the seeds, feel their texture and that of
the soil. Is there any tension in your body, perhaps localised in your
neck and shoulders? As you sprinkle the soil over the seeds, watch how
it falls through your fingers. Now do it at half speed. Does it feel any
different? What does the soil smell like? Does it have a deep, earthy
aroma or the slightly acidic smell of sandy soil? When you water the
seeds or the young plants, pay close attention to the way the light
glints off the droplets. Why not spend a little time finding out more
about the plants you’ll be nurturing?" </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And this is because we need to find a balance in our lives between encountering positive and negative forces, as Vietnamese
Zen teacher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanh">Thich Nhat
Hanh</a> writes in his book, <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rysSUOfO2psC&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:6nwv0fsBk_EC&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oAtbUfbBNITZ0QWzs4CoCw&ved=0CDYQuwUwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false"><i>Anger - Wisdom for Cooling the Flames</i> </a>(2001), p95-96:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"If you listen too much to the suffering, the anger of other people, you will be affected. You will be in touch only with suffering, and you won’t have the opportunity to be in touch with other, positive elements. This will destroy your balance. Therefore, in your daily life, you have to practice so that you can be in touch with elements that do not constantly express suffering: the sky, the birds, the trees, the flowers, children—whatever is refreshing, healing, and nourishing in us and around us."</span></blockquote>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thus, a garden becomes the most reliable source of peace a person can bring into their lives </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- no matter indoor or outdoor, small or large - </span>as stated in <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mindfulness-The-Art-Urban-Living/dp/1908005777#reader_1908005777">Mindfulness & The Art of Urban Living: Discovering The Good Life in The City</a></i> (2013), p25:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Nothing should
deter us from enjoying what we might think of as rural pursuits when
living in the city. The tiniest space can be used for growing flowers
and shrubs or for cultivating vegetables." </span></blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-68263399865511471362014-08-28T19:58:00.001-07:002014-08-28T19:58:37.201-07:00New Website - DaoscapeThis blog is becoming less active since the author has gained a qualification to teach Western secular mindfulness and has created a new website containing information and articles here: <a href="http://www.daoscape.com/">Daoscape.com</a>.<br />
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<br />Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-27121736178173819432014-07-07T05:42:00.000-07:002014-07-07T05:42:08.710-07:00Daily Mail News: Stressed at work? Meditating really does work - and you'll see a difference in just three days, say researchersOn 4th July 2014, The Daily Mail online posted an article in the <i>Science</i> section titled: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2681138/Stressed-work-Meditating-really-does-work-youll-difference-three-days-say-researchers.html">Stressed at work? Meditating really does work - and you'll see a difference in just three days, say researchers</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Meditating can have an almost instant effect on reducing stress, researchers have found. <br />
[...]<br />
For the study, Creswell and his research team had 66 healthy individuals aged 18-30 years old participate in a three-day experiment. Some participants went through a brief mindfulness meditation training program; for 25 minutes for three consecutive days, the individuals were given breathing exercises to help them monitor their breath and pay attention to their present moment experiences. Published in the journal 'Psychoneuroendocrinology,' the study investigates how mindfulness meditation affects people's ability to be resilient under stress. <br />
[...] <br />
Each individual reported their stress levels in response to stressful speech and math performance stress tasks, and provided saliva samples for measurement of cortisol, commonly referred to as the stress hormone. The participants who received the brief mindfulness meditation training reported reduced stress perceptions to the speech and math tasks, indicating that the mindfulness meditation fostered psychological stress resilience. More interestingly, on the biological side, the mindfulness meditation participants showed greater cortisol reactivity. <br />
[...] <br />
'When you initially learn mindfulness mediation practices, you have to cognitively work at it — especially during a stressful task,' said Creswell. 'And, these active cognitive efforts may result in the task feeling less stressful, but they may also have physiological costs with higher cortisol production." Creswell's group is now testing the possibility that mindfulness can become more automatic and easy to use with long-term mindfulness meditation training, which may result in reduced cortisol reactivity."</blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-64002373893137105062014-06-28T04:32:00.003-07:002014-06-28T04:34:20.743-07:00TIME: 25 Minutes of This Will Get Rid of Your StressOn 27th June 2014, <b>TIME</b> online published an article in the <i>Health > Mental Health/Psychology</i> section titled: <a href="http://time.com/2933893/25-minutes-of-this-will-get-rid-of-your-stress/">25 Minutes of This Will Get Rid of Your Stress</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University investigated how effective mindfulness meditation can be in countering the body’s stress response.<br />
[...]<br />
They randomly assigned 66 volunteers to either participate in mindful
meditation for 25 minutes for three days, or go through a cognitive
training program in which they learned how to analyze poetry passages.
The people who meditated reported less stress, and even showed that they
were better at coping with stress compared to those who relied on their
behavior training.<br />
[...]<br />
The new <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306453014000584" target="_blank" title="study">study</a>, published in the journal <i>Psychoneuroendocrinology</i>, is not the first to show the positive effects of mediation [sic]." </blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-43391100121870092142014-06-26T22:39:00.001-07:002014-06-26T22:39:12.502-07:00The Guardian: Mindful eating? How to get more from your mealsOn 23rd June 2014, <b>The Guardian</b> online published an article in the <i>Life & Style>Live Better</i> section titled: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jun/23/mindful-eating-how-to-get-more-from-your-meals">Mindful eating? How to get more from your meals</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...mindful eating, the newest offshoot from meditation folks <a href="http://www.getsomeheadspace.com/">Headspace</a>,
the wildly popular secular app created by Andy Puddicombe, a witty
ex-Buddhist monk, and his business partner, Rich Pierson. It’s an online
course, split into three levels (each is 10 days long requiring around
10 minutes a day) to be done whenever you feel like it, wherever is
convenient.<br />
[...]<br />
The approach is less about calorie counting, more about increasing your
awareness of what you are eating. In other words, eat cake, just think
about what you’re eating and why you’re eating it.<br />
[...]<br />
The idea is to listen to the app before you cook and adapt your
behaviour accordingly by approaching food in a focused way, thinking
about the ingredients, where they come from, how they smell, then
examining how they taste, how they move on your tongue. It sounds overly
holistic but in practice, pretty sensible. The first few days are
tough. Before meals, mindful eaters are asked to rate how hungry they
are. I mentally note my level of "mind chatter" (distraction) and how I
feel, out of 10. After I’ve eaten I ask myself the same questions." </blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-18211648548679050352014-06-26T22:16:00.002-07:002014-06-26T22:16:51.442-07:00ABC News: Happy snap your way to inner calmOn 20th June 2014, <b>ABC News</b> published an article online in the <i>Health & Wellbeing>Features</i> section titled: <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/health/features/stories/2014/06/20/4029083.htm">Happy snap your way to inner calm</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"In 2012, Johnstone created <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiCrniLQGYc" target="_blank">"I had a black dog"</a>,
a whimsical five-minute video about depression, for the World Health
Organisation. He has also written and illustrated books about
depression, meditation and the practice of mindfulness, which he
describes as "being more aware of what you're doing and [being] more
present".<br />
<br />
Johnstone now works as creative director at the mental
health organisation Black Dog Institute and says mindfulness played a
key part in his recovery from depression. (For more about the growing
body of evidence that mindfulness can be helpful in managing mental
illnesses, see <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/health/thepulse/stories/2012/10/30/3621905.htm" target="_blank">Meditation: the healing force of a quiet mind.</a>)<br />
[...]<br />
...a mobile phone camera is the perfect tool for an "eyes-wide-open"
meditation on the go. And the beauty of using your phone camera is you
probably have it with you all the time. (Just make sure you switch it to
aeroplane mode first so you're not distracted by texts, tweets and the
like, he says.)<br />
[...] <br />
"A camera in your hands is the reminder to consciously slow
everything down from your breath, to your walk, to your thoughts... To
take photographs, we have to stop, look around, focus and capture. It
brings our awareness to what's going on [here and now]."<br />
When we
do this, we start to realise we're often surrounded by "beautiful light,
beautiful shapes, beautiful colours. But all too often, we just pass
them by".<br />
[...]<br />
"It doesn't matter what the photograph is, the important thing is the process."" </blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-20396920920718895642014-06-26T22:00:00.001-07:002014-06-26T22:03:01.224-07:00BBC News: Game of Thrones star Flynn meditation lessons for pupilsOn 15th June 2014, <b>BBC News</b> online posted an article in the <i>UK>Wales</i> section titled: <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-27844324">Game of Thrones star Flynn meditation lessons for pupils</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"GCSE students at Ysgol Dewi Sant are taking an eight-week course in relaxation and meditation to reduce exam stress.<br />
Actor Flynn, who lives in the county, visited the school to talk to students.<br />
Head teacher David Hayes said it was helping pupils concentrate in lessons, and focus on their exams.<br />
[...]<br />
Head teacher David Haynes said he has been impressed with the results:
"The impact has been outstanding in terms of stress relief,
concentration for lessons, and the wider world of performing on stage
and sports activities.<br />
[...]<br />
In some parts of Wales free courses have been set up by the NHS and a
parliamentary committee has begun examining whether it could improve
outcomes in a variety of public policy areas including business and
education."</blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-48207983202485599552014-06-04T18:41:00.003-07:002014-06-04T18:44:30.008-07:00The Guardian - Mindfulness: 'I was just more chilled afterwards'On 4th June 2014, <b>The Guardian</b> online published an article containing contributions from Labour MP David Lammy in the <i>Life & style > Live Better: Health and Wellbeing</i> section titled: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jun/04/health-wellbeing-challenge-mindfulness-david-lammy">Mindfulness: 'I was just more chilled afterwards'</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Finding 10 minutes a day to practice it was among Dr Laura Marshall-Andrews's key recommendations for boosting health and wellbeing. As David explains below, he was keen to learn more about mindfulness and how it would benefit him. [...]</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It's really good to be self-aware. I like the state of being self-aware,
it's interesting when you start to look at your own habits. I've had
friends and family getting in touch about the challenge. One friend, a
lawyer, rang me up and was laughing and picking my brains about what he
should be doing." </blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-90546092665059698582014-06-04T18:10:00.002-07:002014-06-04T18:48:27.446-07:00The Guardian: Mindfulness, purpose and the quest for productive employeesOn 3rd June 2014, <b>The Guardian</b> online published an article in the <i>Professional > Guardian Sustainable Business</i> section titled: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/mindfulness-satisfaction-productivity-google-boa">Mindfulness, purpose and the quest for productive employees</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"In addition to Google's various lauded - and often lampooned - perks,
which include everything from on-site massage therapists to a fleet of
bikes for employees to use at will, the tech company routinely offers
employees workshops in skills to boost their wellbeing and productivity,
ranging from yoga to the popular "search inside yourself" class (now
also a book), which teaches mindfulness. <br />
<br />
Google
may have blazed the trail when it comes to employee satisfaction, but
it has been joined by legions of tech companies in the last year,
particularly in Silicon Valley and the UK, which currently find
themselves in the middle of another dot-com style talent war. <br />
"In
tight labor markets like California, you really do have to be good at
this to retain talent," says Jane Dutton, PhD, professor of business
administration and psychology at University of Michigan. "It was more
trendy before and I think it's now real economic imperatives, but there
are multiple imperatives, it's not just about retention and the
attraction of talent."<br />
Within the positive organizational
universe, the experts tend to divide into two camps: those who feel that
employee happiness hinges largely on a sense of purpose, and those who
feel that relationships are the secret sauce. Dutton falls into the
latter camp. "Having positive relationships at work is seen as a major
predictor of employee engagement, and that's a major driver of customer
engagement," she says. <br />
When it comes to cultivating health and
well-being among workers, Dutton says that the most important
consideration is community. "Meaning or purpose is part of it, but I
would bet on positive relationships," she explains. "Evidence on the
almost instantaneous effect of positive human connections on people's
bodies convinces me that if I had to choose whether my workplace had
purpose or positive connections, I'd bet on connections.""</blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-56682613373411422672014-06-03T03:15:00.001-07:002014-06-03T03:15:50.695-07:00The Guardian: How two minutes of mindfulness can calm a class and boost attainmentOn 3rd June 2014, <b>The Guardian</b> online posted an article in the<i> Professional > Teacher Network </i>section titled: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/jun/03/mindfulness-class-students-education">How two minutes of mindfulness can calm a class and boost attainment</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Caroline Woods teaches year one and two at <a href="http://www.dharmaschool.co.uk/" title="Dharma primary school">The Dharma primary school</a>
in Brighton and starts her class every day with a few minutes of silent
mindfulness practice. She says getting the children to sit still and in
silence isn't the struggle you might imagine. Students actually look
forward to a time when all they have to do is stop, be calm and listen.<br />
Although <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/teaching" title="More from the Guardian on Teaching">teaching</a>
at the school is based on Buddhist values, Woods insists the practice
is not about religion or philosophy, it's about gaining control of your
negative thoughts and emotions. These skills not only help young people
cope with academic stress, but also enable them to deal better with the
pains of growing up and day-to-day pressures of life outside the school
gates.<br />
"The whole process of mindfulness has the knock-on
effect of making people more receptive and open," Woods explains. "What
we are trying to do is help them become more aware of themselves in a
non-judgemental way. By the time the students leave in year six, they
have an emotional intelligence and a set of skills that really equip
them to cope with everyday life."<br />
[...]<br />
...take a very short pause in the middle of whatever you're doing. This can
be done at school by inviting students to stop what they are doing,
close their eyes and recognise what is happening in their mind and body
right now. Then focus on the breath and really feel a sense of contact
with the floor. It can take just two minutes, but once done, students
are often ready to carry on in a much calmer way.<br />
[...]<br />
Any mindfulness programme in school must, however, start with the
teachers. Former teacher Claire Kelly is operations director for the <a href="http://mindfulnessinschools.org/" title="Mindfulness in Schools">Mindfulness in Schools</a>
project which offers training and resources for teachers. She says it
is vital the teacher embodies the practice if the students are to follow
suit.<br />
"If you are not living the mindfulness principles
yourself, the kids will know, they will be very cynical and you will
probably put them off," she says. "Likewise, if you teach them a lovely
mindfulness lesson and then go out and kick the photocopier in the
corridor, they will notice."<br />
[...]<br />
"You are giving them a toolkit. Whether they use those skills is up to
them, but the chances are they will draw on them at some stage."" </blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-69692854105707860072014-06-03T03:07:00.000-07:002014-06-03T03:07:07.806-07:00Reuters: Aerobics for the brain? Fitness experts praise mindfulness meditationOn 2nd June 2014 <b>Reuters</b> posted an article titled: <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/02/us-fitness-meditation-idUSKBN0ED1DZ20140602">Aerobics for the brain? Fitness experts praise mindfulness meditation</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Fitness experts
call it bicep curls for the brain and aerobics for the mind. Whatever
the name, athletes and gym addicts are discovering how mindfulness
meditation can enliven a workout routine and invigorate a sports
performance. <span id="articleText"><span class="focusParagraph">
</span><span id="midArticle_1"></span></span><br />
They say that
mindfulness meditation, which focuses on the present moment to clear the
mind, can help an exerciser overcome boredom and an athlete zero in on
the task at hand.<br />
<span id="midArticle_2"></span>“Mindfulness
meditation is a hot topic actively studied in sports medicine,” said
Gregory Chertok, a sports psychology consultant with the American
College of Sports Medicine.<br />
<span id="articleText"></span><br />
The art of living in the present
moment is a critical skill in sports, Chertok said, because all
performance occurs in the present and lamenting past failures can lead
to muscle tension, anxiety and mental chatter that impairs
concentration.<br />
<span id="midArticle_4"></span>He said recent research indicated that meditation improves attention and sharpens impulse control.<br />
<span id="midArticle_5"></span>One
2014 study published in the Psychological Science journal showed that
15 minutes of focused-breathing meditation may help athletes and
exercisers make smarter choices. <br />
<span id="midArticle_6"></span>“Among
the factors that prevent people from exercising is fear of boredom,”
said Chertok, who advises clients to use the many meditation apps that
are available. “I know a lot of athletes do,” he said.<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<span id="articleText">“If you think you have no time to meditate, how much time do you spend worrying?” she said.</span><span id="articleText">"</span><span id="articleText"> </span><br />
</blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-1693826414797711032014-05-27T19:38:00.003-07:002014-05-27T19:38:56.956-07:00The Daily Mail: Take the stress out of family lifeOn 27th May 2014, The Daily Mail online newspaper published an article as part of a series in the <i>Femail>Femail home</i> section titled: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2640035/Take-stress-family-life-Toddler-tantrums-Teenage-moods-Clashes-grandchildren-Dont-despair-Heres-make-home-anxiety-free-zone.html">Take the stress out of family life</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...this major series shows you how you can conquer stress using mindfulness... Yesterday, we taught you ingenious ways to stay calm at work. Here, in part three, we reveal how mindfulness can de-stress your family life, too...<br />
[...]<br />
Psychotherapist Padraig O’Morain, author of the new book Mindfulness On The Go, says: ‘When it comes to parenting, mindfulness on the go is the gold standard. Maintaining an attitude of mindfulness is immensely valuable in dealing with the demands of parenting.’ The benefits can be huge, as O’Morain explains: ‘If your attention vanishes into the business of parenting, you stand a good chance of ending the day in a state of physical and mental exhaustion. ‘However, if you remain mindful as much as you can, you could meet the same demands and end the day in much better shape.'" </blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-771425420716950652014-05-19T03:20:00.000-07:002014-05-19T04:15:27.430-07:00YiQuan: Holding the Tiger and Push hands<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.geocities.ws/rtaracks/Yao4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" class="decoded shrinkToFit" src="http://www.geocities.ws/rtaracks/Yao4.jpg" height="299" title="" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">YiQuan Master Yao Chengguang performing 'Holding the Tiger' posture.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
At the beginning of May 2014 I attended another YiQuan Academy residential intensive for 8 days.<br />
<br />
I began practicing a new posture called 'Holding the Tiger' which further opens the hips. The visualisation involves imagining one is holding a tiger that wants to get away.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-kxk_0c1TJoJblqoV7B76_LhL4CI1dXNIjkjuKCZOHIv_NQxFUx7STUCJInLdSeurgoBjgFqo1dtrLRyPUfrJulELgaGStuq99R1T3PW9uDVU40mIEtLWUrK2Tber6n2kxts3ENlmAi8/s1600/T+Holding+Tiger1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-kxk_0c1TJoJblqoV7B76_LhL4CI1dXNIjkjuKCZOHIv_NQxFUx7STUCJInLdSeurgoBjgFqo1dtrLRyPUfrJulELgaGStuq99R1T3PW9uDVU40mIEtLWUrK2Tber6n2kxts3ENlmAi8/s1600/T+Holding+Tiger1.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The author in the 'Holding the Tiger' YiQuan posture.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I also began practicing single arm push-hands - the same as shown in this video of the Yao brothers:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-11288793933340867922014-05-18T19:38:00.003-07:002014-05-18T19:38:55.319-07:00Guardian News - Google's head of mindfulness: 'goodness is good for business'On 14th May 2014, <b>The Guardian</b> online posted an article in the <i>Professional>Guardian Sustainable Business</i> section titled: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/google-meditation-mindfulness-technology">Google's head of mindfulness: 'goodness is good for business'</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...he hopes that one day, his role will become commonplace. A growing awareness of the importance of our emotional fitness, he says, is mirroring the same journey of acceptance that physical exercise took in the last century. And he believes that scientific evidence of the benefits of the Buddhist practice of mindfulness will be instrumental into catapulting it into the very heart of the business world.<br />
[...]<br />
"If you are a company leader who says employees should be encouraged to exercise, nobody looks at you funny," Tan says. "The same thing is happening to meditation and mindfulness, because now that it's become scientific, it has been demystified. It's going to be seen as fitness for the mind."<br />
[...]<br />
But what has all this got to do with the cutthroat world of business?<br />
<br />
Tan says that mindfulness opens the doorway to loving kindness, which is at the heart of business success.<br />
<br />
"In
many situations, goodness is good for business," he says. "If you, as
the boss, are nice to your employees, they are happy, they treat their
customers well, the customers are happy to spend more money, so
everybody wins.<br />
<br />
"Also if you treat everybody with kindness,
they'll like you even if they don't really know why. And if they like
you, they want to help you succeed. So it's good for your soul and it's
good for your career."<br />
But if that is so obvious, why is it so
difficult for companies to practice altruism? Tan points to the fixation
with the short-term which rewards those managers who drive profits at
any cost, even if it eventually leads to a loss of talent and
productivity.<br />
<br />
He suggests the other main reason is that employees
often fall into the psychological trap of engaging in destructive
behaviour by acting out their unconscious judgments.<br />
<br />
"If you don't
have the foundation of peace, joy and kindness it is very hard, day to
day, to always do the right thing," he says. "If somebody says something
negative, your first thought is 'that guy is an asshole' and you want
to defeat that guy. So it takes a certain amount of practice to say
'Wait a minute, that guy's just doing his job. He's a good person and so
I have to work with him by understanding why he's doing that, and then
help him succeed.'"<br />
[...]<br />
For those who worry that mindfulness takes years to have any impact, Tan
insists that it can create a measurable change in 100 minutes. For
those who want a more fundamental impact that can change their lives,
this can be achieved in 52 hours, although Tan says there are
innumerable depths that mindfulness can help you to uncover.<br />
[...]<br />
So far, around 2,000 Google employees have been through its Search
Inside Yourself mindfulness course, the most popular of the company's
training programmes. Tan says research on long-term impacts hasn't yet
been done, and he has only anecdotal evidence of the program's success.<br />
<br />
But
the main barrier to expanding the programme is a lack of experienced
trainers, whom Tan insists need to have completed at least 2,000 hours
of meditation practice. That's because "when you're in front of a class,
they don't remember what you say, they don't remember what you do; what
they remember is how they feel, and that comes from how the trainer
personifies the practice, even if they just sit there and say nothing."<br />
[...]<br />
"I always align the qualities of peace, joy, compassion with success
and profits," he says. "It's starting from where people want to start
and helping people succeed in the way they want to succeed.<br />
<br />
"And I
would say that if you want to try it, you're free to try it and if you
don't try it and Joe does, Joe's going to make more money than you and
you're free to come and try this any other time."<br />
[...]<br />
"The current view of practice has been you have to work so hard to gain
these states," he says. "I would like in my lifetime to reframe the
whole practice, not as a sacrifice but as a doorway, as a path along
which every step is joyful. If I can do that, then the practice becomes
far more accessible, and then I can die."</blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-49832596729531885792014-05-18T19:28:00.002-07:002014-05-18T19:39:37.804-07:00New York Times Blog: Exercising the Mind to Treat Attention DeficitsOn 12th May 2014, <b>The</b> <b>New York Times</b> posted a blog article in the <i>Well>Mind</i> section titled: <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/exercising-the-mind-to-treat-attention-deficits/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0">Exercising the Mind to Treat Attention Deficits</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="story-body-text">
“There are no long-term, lasting benefits from taking A.D.H.D. medications,” said <a href="http://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=3011" target="_blank" title="Faculty profile.">James M. Swanson</a>,
a psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, and an author
of the study. “But mindfulness seems to be training the same areas of
the brain that have reduced activity in A.D.H.D.”</div>
<div class="story-body-text">
<br /></div>
<div class="story-body-text">
“That’s why mindfulness might be so important,” he added. “It seems to get at the causes.”</div>
<div class="story-body-text">
[...]</div>
<div class="story-body-text">
According to <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1388245713012285" target="_blank" title="Article abstract.">a recent report</a>
in Clinical Neurophysiology, adults with A.D.D. were shown to benefit
from mindfulness training combined with cognitive therapy; their
improvements in mental performance were comparable to those achieved by
subjects taking medications.</div>
<div class="story-body-text">
<br /></div>
<div class="story-body-text">
The training led to a decline in impulsive
errors, a problem typical of A.D.D., while the cognitive therapy helped
them be less self-judgmental about mistakes or distractedness.</div>
<div class="story-body-text">
[...]</div>
<div class="story-body-text">
Stephen Hinshaw, a specialist in
developmental psychopathology at the University of California, Berkeley,
said the time was ripe to explore the utility of nondrug interventions
like mindfulness.</div>
<div class="story-body-text">
Dr. Swanson agreed. “I was a skeptic until I saw the data,” he said, “and the findings are promising.”"</div>
</blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-50354425048676654602014-05-12T07:36:00.003-07:002014-06-04T18:45:07.877-07:00The Guardian News: Politicians joined by Ruby Wax as parliament pauses for meditationOn 7th May 2014, <b>The Guardian</b> online posted an article in the <i>News>Society>Mental health</i> section, titled: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/may/07/politicians-ruby-wax-parliament-mindfulness-meditation">Politicians joined by Ruby Wax as parliament pauses for meditation</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Sceptical MPs have joked it is becoming "a cult in parliament", but
mindfulness meditation stepped into the political mainstream on
Wednesday when MPs and peers gathered at Westminster, closed their eyes
and went silent for a minute.<br />
<br />
Joined by the comedian <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/ruby-wax" title="More from the Guardian on Ruby Wax">Ruby Wax</a>, now the poster girl for the benefits of mindfulness to overcome <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/mental-health" title="More from the Guardian on Mental health">mental health</a>
problems, politicians including former ministers Lord Haworth and Jim
Fitzpatrick straightened their spines and focused on their breath at the
launch of an all party group to explore the potential for mindfulness
in health, education, criminal justice.<br />
[...] <br />
It was just a taste of what 95 MPs, peers and parliament staff have
already experienced on mindfulness meditation courses inside parliament.
The practice – based on Buddhist meditation but updated for secular
users – is catching on across a stressed-out Britain.<br />
[...]<br />
Its popularity has spawned more than 800 courses nationwide and a
Headspace meditation app with 50,000 paying users. The most popular
guide book is selling 2,000 copies a week and mindfulness based
cognitive therapy is now recommended by the NHS to prevent relapses into
depression. Now politicians are falling back on it too.<br />
<br />
Lord
Andrew Stone told the meeting he used it to steady himself after he
became "scared" when he was dispatched to Cairo for meetings with
Egypt's military leadership earlier this year.<br />
"I didn't know how
to cope," he said. "But these practices made a massive difference. I was
talking to some pretty serious people there, but I was being
compassionate to all sides."<br />
<br />
Co-chair of the group, Tracey Crouch
MP, one of only a small number of MPs to publicly admit using
anti-depressants, revealed mindfulness practice had helped her come off
the drugs.<br />
"I have given much better speeches in the House since I
started mindfulness," she said. "We genuinely can turn the UK into a
mindful nation."<br />
[...]<br />
But there are concerns. "There is still no quality control and there
is no standards people need to stick to to deliver this important
therapy," said Dr Florian Ruths, clinical lead for mindfulness at the
Maudsely hospital. "I worry that quite vulnerable people with quite
serious problems might being going to courses led by people who aren't
aware of the consequences."<br />
<br />
Nevertheless it was the testimony of a
group of school children, thousands of whom have been exposed to the
practice in the last few years, that most moved the politicians."</blockquote>
<br />
<br />Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-56996831003420189192014-05-07T22:16:00.001-07:002014-05-07T22:16:16.658-07:00Daily Mail News: Forget Greed is Good... now Mindfulness is City's mantra: Growing number of financiers finding solace in form of stress reliefThe Daily Mail online published an article on 5th May 2014 in the <i>News home</i> sectioned titled: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2621065/Forget-Greed-Good-Mindfulness-Citys-mantra-Growing-number-financiers-finding-solace-form-stress-relief.html">Forget Greed is Good... now Mindfulness is City's mantra: Growing number of financiers finding solace in form of stress relief</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"A so-called ‘quiet revolution’ is gripping the City of London – with soaring numbers of fast-paced financiers finding solace in ‘mindfulness’.<br />
[...]<br />
The CFA Institute for investment professionals is said to be considering launching a meditation programme, while KPMG, Goldman Sachs and Unilever have promoted mindfulness in wellbeing seminars. The Bank of England has also run meditation ‘taster’ sessions attended by dozens of staff as part of a series of ‘Working Lives’ seminars. <br />
<br />
Other firms are said to be reluctant to publicise their meditation initiatives for fear of being perceived as ‘new age’. But Sally Boyle, a human resources director at Goldman Sachs, said: ‘In years to come we’ll be talking about mindfulness as we talk about exercise now.’ Professor Stephen Palmer, founder and director of the Centre for Stress Management in London, believes the credit crunch has prompted business executives to look for an outlet for anxiety. He said: ‘We can blame Lehman Brothers. When people have their worlds turned upside down like that, it offers a chance to reflect on life and ask “What am I doing?”' "</blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-47906679181185876692014-05-07T22:05:00.002-07:002014-05-07T22:05:20.865-07:00Guardian News: Why we will come to see mindfulness as mandatoryOn 5th May 2014 <b>The Guardian</b> online published an article in the <i>Comment is free</i> section titled: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/06/mindfulness-hospitals-schools">Why we will come to see mindfulness as mandatory</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Once a poorly understood New Age fad, it has moved from the margins to the mainstream. Nothing demonstrates that better than the launch of an all-party parliamentary group on mindfulness on Wednesday.<br />
[...]<br />
...increasingly, academics such as Willem Kuyken, a psychologist at Exeter University, are asking whether, if mindfulness can work for depression and pain, anyone else might benefit? What role could it play in schools, and could it help our national epidemic of mental ill health in adolescents? The analogy that Kabat-Zinn uses is with jogging. In the 1960s when he started running, people thought him a bit odd. Now on a Sunday morning parks and streets are full of people pounding away. The take-up rate for mindfulness, Kabat-Zinn says, is much sharper than for jogging. In another decade, one can imagine that it will be widely accepted and understood as a valuable way to look after your mental health. Just as physical exercise is vital to a desk-bound workforce, so mindfulness will come to be seen as vital for dealing with the complexity of our information-rich lives.<br />
[...]<br />
Another risk is that it becomes the privilege of the stressed middle classes who can afford the courses. Some of the most inspiring work is being done by people like Gary Heads in County Durham who is working with unemployed people. Or the project in Cardiff which taught the single mum who recently stood in front of a gathering of Welsh Assembly members to describe movingly how mindfulness had helped her to be a better parent, as well as to find the confidence for public speaking. The point is that, diligently practised, it very quietly and slowly revolutionises lives in multiple ways – sometimes small, sometimes big. And when you start noticing that process of change – both in yourself and in others – it is quite simply astonishing."</blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-22300483841823009222014-04-22T20:47:00.002-07:002014-04-22T21:56:48.998-07:00Reasons to Smile while Practicing Mindfulness<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...just sit, just breathe, and if you feel like it, allow yourself to smile inwardly." Mindfulness teacher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Kabat-Zinn">Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn</a>, <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[32].[1][3][1]{comment10151480728648926_10151481157923926}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[32].[1][3][1]{comment10151480728648926_10151481157923926}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[32].[1][3][1]{comment10151480728648926_10151481157923926}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Full-Catastrophe-Living-mindfulness-meditation/dp/0749915854/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349531885&sr=1-1">Full
Catastrophe Living</a></i> (2005)</span></span></span>, p436.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Smile to your whole body as you breathe in, and send your love and compassion to your whole body as you breathe out. Feel all the cells in your whole body smiling joyfully with you." - Vietnamese
Zen teacher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanh">Thich Nhat
Hanh</a>, <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rysSUOfO2psC&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:6nwv0fsBk_EC&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oAtbUfbBNITZ0QWzs4CoCw&ved=0CDYQuwUwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false"><i>Anger - Wisdom for Cooling the Flames</i> </a>(2001), p226-227</blockquote>
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Seated mindfulness practice can be reduced to bathing one's body in awareness as one's whole body breathes while smiling inwardly. The Awareness, breath, and smiling filling every cell, with this whole process supporting itself moment after moment - the inward smile of one moment giving more reason to smile in the next - smiling because one's whole body is smiling - naturally, peacefully, wholesomely. This practice can be tricky to put in place, however - especially the inner smile part, since actively smiling can seem fake, forced, or diplomatic, so here are 6 methods of kindling the inner smile as part of mindfulness practice which can be used alone or together:<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1) Enjoying the relaxation of mindfulness meditation.</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The increased sensations of lightness from letting go of our physical tension after sitting in minduflness meditation for 5 minutes or more can bring us joy and we can smile because of this.</blockquote>
<br />
<b>2) It feels and looks nice to smile - it is a gift to our bodies and others around us.</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Smiling has been clinically proven to increase our health and make our perceptions more positive.</blockquote>
<br />
<b>3) Watching our automatic bodies - recognizing a deeper positive and wholesome dimension supporting our existence.</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The life process is taking care of us whether we consciously recognize it or not. Watching the breath continuing automatically gives us direct evdidence of this positive process operating within every cell of our being, and this can be a great source of joy, bringing a gentle smile to our faces.</blockquote>
<br />
<b>4) Sending gratitude to our cells and organs.</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Our breath and our hearts have been working to keep us alive over the years no matter what we have done. Smiling lovingly to our organs and cells reduces the physical tension within and around them and allows them to continue operating more efficiently and safely.</blockquote>
<br />
<b>5) Immersing ourselves in nature.</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Recognizing that we are natural and a seamless part of a greater natural world means that a flower, a bird's song, or even the waves of our breathing, can comfort us and make us smile in awe.</blockquote>
<br />
<b>6) Recognizing that we are consciously taking care of ourselves and deserve more inner peace.</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
After sitting in meditation for 10 minutes it is undeniable that we are looking after ourselves and that we love ourselves - otherwise we would have stopped doing it. The increased relaxation we are feeling from watching the breath is showing us that normally we have a lot of anxiety and fear - of 'tigers' we perceive on the outside or inside of us. We have been out in that wilderness like a panicking monkey most of our lives so it's time to return home to a safer place - to the inner peace which is our birthright - the joy which is the default natural experience of a human being. </blockquote>
<br />
The above methods can be summarized as 6 enjoyable activities which kindle our smile as follows:<br />
<ul>
<li>enjoy relaxing</li>
<li>enjoy feeling beautiful</li>
<li>enjoy the positive life process</li>
<li>enjoy feeling cared for</li>
<li>enjoy nature</li>
<li>enjoy caring</li>
</ul>
<br />
We can make a guided meditation from these activities to be used 5-10 mintues into a formal mindfulness meditation like this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Recognizing I am relaxing, I smile gently as I enjoy the feeling of becoming lighter.<br />
Being aware that my gentle smile is beautiful, I present my smile as a gift to all life in and around me.<br />
Understanding that the life process in and around me supports me, I smile with my whole body.<br />
Watching my reflexive breathing caring for me, I smile with gratitude to all my reflexively caring organs.<br />
Understanding that my body is a product of nature, I smile at the awesomeness of nature within me. <br />
Realising that my nature has brought me to this caring practice, I smile at my caring nature."</blockquote>
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Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-30308803957566810832014-04-15T09:23:00.000-07:002014-04-16T22:48:57.378-07:00Living Mindfully in an Urban 'Jungle'<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"We live immersed in a sea of information. The new technology has made this an information age. Are we not exposed to a steady "diet" of information, which we take in daily through newspapers, the radio, and television? Does it not influence our thoughts and feelings and shape our view of the world and even of ourselves much more than we are apt to admit? Does not information constitute, in and of itself, a major stressor in many ways?" - Mindfulness teacher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Kabat-Zinn">Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn</a>, <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[32].[1][3][1]{comment10151480728648926_10151481157923926}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[32].[1][3][1]{comment10151480728648926_10151481157923926}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[32].[1][3][1]{comment10151480728648926_10151481157923926}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Full-Catastrophe-Living-mindfulness-meditation/dp/0749915854/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349531885&sr=1-1">Full
Catastrophe Living</a></i> (2005), p</span></span></span>414.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"When we drive through a city, our eyes see so many billboards, and these images enter our consciousness. When we pick up a magazine, the articles and advertisements are food for our consciousness. Advertisements that stimulate our craving for possessions, sex, and food can be toxic. If after reading the newspaper, hearing the news, or being in a conversation, we feel anxious or worn out, we know we have been in contact with toxins." - Vietnamese Zen teacher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanh">Thich Nhat Hanh</a>, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Heart-Buddhas-Teaching-Transforming/dp/0767903692">The Heart of Buddha's Teaching</a> </i>(1999), p32.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...troubled by various delusions and defiling passions as dense and entangling as a jungle." - Japanese
'Soto Zen' Founder Master <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogen">Eihei
Dogen</a>,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><a href="http://www.shastaabbey.org/pdf/shoboAll.pdf">Shobogenzo</a></i> (Translated
by Hubert Nearman, 2007), p96. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The question for us, living today, is how to view the city, and we may be ambivalent in our opinions. Is it a concrete jungle; a place of pollution and pressure, sleazy theatre of the exhausting rat race and to be avoided at all costs? Perhaps we dream of living at the end of a lane in the country, or somewhere with trees and open fields, or on a remote island with only half a dozen neighbours. Alternatively, could the modern city be seen as a potential urban utopia - a place rich with possibilities for enlarging the human spirit?" - Buddhism teacher Adam Ford, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mindfulness-The-Art-Urban-Living/dp/1908005777"><i>Mindfulness & The Art of Urban Living: Discovering The Good Life in The City</i></a> (2013), p16-17. </blockquote>
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<br />
When we sit down to meditate, our busy thoughts can disturb and irritate us like annoying flies or howling monkeys. Our body can ache and itch as if we have been bitten by mosquitos, and we can feel hot and begin to sweat as if we have a fever. Where do these emotional and anxious reactions come from and why do they happen? Anxiety can easily be triggered by an intimdating person who sits next to us while we feel trapped on a bus, or by the
rude unchecked behaviour of someone else's kids, and these events can be carried with us from the 'urban jungles' in
which we live - carried in our minds and bodies, as we try
to resolve the trauma associated with them when we sit down in a more peaceful, less emotionally-engaging environment. In this way stressful experiences are practically unavoidable in a city and can colour our day for many hours following the event. <br />
<br />
Reacting emotionally to potential threats is only useful to us when we are trying to survive in environments which are particularly wild and unpredictable; where individuals lack necessary skills to manage the threats and need to instinctively fight, freeze, or flee, or urgently group together to support one another, as Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School <a href="http://www.mindfulness-solution.com/About%20the%20Author.html">Ronald D. Siegel</a> points out in his book <i><a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Mindfulness_Solution.html?id=JMdhMkRnsIUC">The Mindfulness Solution</a></i> (2010), p21:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"A human infant wouldn’t last more than a few minutes in the jungle or
on the savannah without a parent. Luckily, we have evolved powerful
emotional responses that prompt parents to take care of their kids and
prompt kids to seek care from their parents. Related feelings connect
sexual or romantic partners to one another. These emotions bind us
together in couples, extended families, tribes, and larger cultural
groups. They enable us to nurture and protect one another, dramatically
increasing our chances of survival." </blockquote>
However, this emotionally-driven survival instinct - on it's own, without deep reflection
and attention, will only perpetuate the stressful situations if we cannot overcome them with skill, because emotional
reactions colour our judgements with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_distortion">cognitive distortions </a>which
undermine our ultimate goal of seeing our situations clearly. Vietnamese Zen teacher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanh">Thich Nhat Hanh</a> says the following about this in his book <i><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=XK7WL3BmVzgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=understanding+our+mind&hl=en&sa=X&ei=EnCgUOXRJKjgiALi9YDoCw&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false">Understanding Our Mind</a></i> (2001) with reference to the Buddhist term '<i>manas</i>', p174:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Earlier, I mentioned the function of <i>manas</i> as our “survival instinct.” Because it is attached to the idea of self, it always acts to preserve the self. When we are sleeping and something startles us, that reaction is due to manas. When someone tries to hit us and we move to avoid the blow, that rapid self-protective response belongs to manas. Mind consciousness has not had enough time to consider the situation and set an action into motion, but manas behaves automatically, instinctively. This capacity of manas is akin to what biologists call the “primitive” brain, which functions solely in the interest of survival, of self-preservation. Whenever we are in any situation of great danger, manas works hard, persuading us to run or to do whatever is necessary to save our life. But because manas is blind, because its nature is obscured by delusion, it can often take us in the wrong direction. To describe the potentially self-destructive aspect of the “survival instinct,” modern psychology uses the image of a snake that has a mosquito on it. In order to get rid of the mosquito, the snake lies in the road so a car will drive over it—killing the mosquito but also the snake. Human beings also act like this. We want to punish someone, so we destroy ourselves in order to make the other person suffer. Manas is the force behind this kind of thinking." </blockquote>
In order to begin to deal with our potentially severely destructive emotions we need to understand the evolutionary history of the psychological mechanisms which can trigger them. Siegel illustrates our basic yet daunting situation in <i>The Mindfulness Solution</i> as follows, p21:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"So here we are: smart monkeys who are instinctually programmed to seek
pleasure and avoid pain, trying to enhance our rank in the troop, living
in a world in which illness, aging, and death, along with myriad
smaller disappointments, are unavoidable. On top of this we have the
capacity to imagine things going wrong all the time. It’s a wonder we
don’t find life <i>more</i> difficult than we do." </blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=phKget5ScdMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false">Mindfulness
for Dummies</a></i> (2010) highlights how constantly imagining things going wrong is perfect for survival in a jungle where ambushes from predators are always a strong possibility, p189-190:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The human brain is designed to remember things that go wrong rather
than right. This is a survival mechanism and ensures that you don’t make
the same mistake again and again, which may be life-threatening if you
live out in the jungle and need to remember to avoid the tigers." </blockquote>
In order to be more skillful and reduce the stress we must remove ourselves from the stressors - the jungle dangers - and then work with the origin of our warped judgements; our thoughts. Fearful thoughts can be actively countered with gratitude - to rebalance the perception of life being an overly negative fear-driven experience by emphasising gratitude for life acting in our interests where it can:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"If you don’t live in the jungle, focusing on
the negative is a problem. The antidote for the human brain’s tendency
to look for what’s going wrong is gratitude. And gratitude has been
found to be very effective." </blockquote>
However, even if we make a big effort to focus on the positive as we go about our business, there is still the advertising, imagery and symbolism present in a city flowing into our nervous systems, bypassing our conceptual filters - appealing to our basic instincts and triggering emotional reactions. It is impossible to avoid it, as mindfulness teacher Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn writes in <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[32].[1][3][1]{comment10151480728648926_10151481157923926}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[32].[1][3][1]{comment10151480728648926_10151481157923926}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[32].[1][3][1]{comment10151480728648926_10151481157923926}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]"><i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Full-Catastrophe-Living-mindfulness-meditation/dp/0749915854/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349531885&sr=1-1">Full
Catastrophe Living</a></i> (2005)</span></span></span>, p415:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...all the advertisements we are exposed to are taken in. You notice this when you meditate. You begin to see that your mind is full of all sorts of things that have crept into it from the news or from advertisements." </blockquote>
One way to avoid this 'sensory pollution', of course, is to not live in a city. This can be a powerful way of gaining some inner peace and emotional resilience, as Vietnamese Zen teacher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanh">Thich Nhat Hanh</a> writes in his book <i><a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=e2ocJlMM04IC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false">The Sun My Heart</a></i> (1988), p37-38:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"A beginning meditator may want to leave the city and go off to the countryside to help close those windows that would trouble his spirit if left open. There he or she can become one with the quiet forest, and rediscover and restore himself or herself, without being carried away by the chaos of "the outside world." The fresh and silent woods help you remain in awareness. When awareness is well-rooted, when you can maintain it without faltering, then you may wish to return to the city and remain there, less troubled. But before you reach this point, you must be very careful, nourishing your awareness moment by moment, choosing the surroundings and sustenance that assist you the most."</blockquote>
However, for those people who lack the time, resources, and teachers to be able to do such a thing, they remain trapped in the urban jungle and have to find other ways to cope - they have to resort to their private spaces, or if even those are lacking, their internal world as a last remaining bastion of personal influence and refuge. While remaining in those refuges, watching one's emotional reactions and becoming more attuned to the more subtle physical 'warning' sensations that precede them is an essential step. As Siegel states in <i>The Mindfulness Solutio</i>n, monitoring internal muscle tension is the key, p192:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...our evolutionary heritage sets us up for anxiety. Our
fight-or-flight system, so well suited to dealing with emergencies,
becomes stuck on “on” because of our nonstop thinking. You’ll recall
that one aspect of this arousal system involves muscle tension. We (and
other animals) tense the muscles in our body when we perceive danger,
preparing to fight, freeze, or flee. You may also recall that this
tensing occurs not only in response to external threats, such as the
tiger in the jungle, but also to internal threats—the tigers
within. This is Freud’s signal anxiety, the tension we feel when an
unwanted thought or emotion threatens to surface." </blockquote>
In order to become more sensitive to internal tension, however, one must find a way to bring more habitual calmness into one's life. This most often requires a peaceful meditation space where one feels safe and will not be disturbed - an oasis of tranquility within the urban jungle. Eventually, however, we can carry the peacefulness of this space within us wherever we go. Thich Nhat Hanh writes of this in <i>The Heart of Buddha's Teaching</i>, p27:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Calming allows us to rest, and resting is a precondition for healing. When animals in the forest get wounded, they find a place to lie down, and they rest completely for many days. They don't think about food or anything else. They just rest, and they get the healing they need. When we humans get sick, we just worry! We look for doctors and medicine, but we don't stop. Even when we go to the beach or the mountains for a vacation, we don't rest, and we come back more tired than before. We have to learn to rest. Lying down is not the only position for resting. During sitting or walking meditation, we can rest very well. Meditation does not have to be hard labor. Just allow your body and mind to rest like an animal in the forest. Don't struggle. There is no need to attain anything."</blockquote>
Taking shelter from a thunder storm, if even for a short time, is not cowardly but is often necessary and sensible, and similarly taking shelter from the potentially traumatizing 'social storms' whipped up by the pace and proximity of city life is apparently also necessary. Kabat-Zinn gives the following instructions using the imagery and conditions of a lake to guide meditators to a more peaceful place, in <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[32].[1][3][1]{comment10151480728648926_10151481157923926}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[32].[1][3][1]{comment10151480728648926_10151481157923926}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[32].[1][3][1]{comment10151480728648926_10151481157923926}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]"><i><i><a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Wherever_you_go_there_you_are.html?id=lkKYXGhFJbgC&redir_esc=y" target="_blank">Wherever You Go, There You Are</a></i> </i>(1994), p141:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Breathing with the lake image moment by moment, feeling its body as your body, allow your mind and your heart to be open and receptive, to reflect whatever comes near. Experience the moments of complete stillness when both reflection and water are completely clear, and other moments when the surface is disturbed, choppy, stirred up, reflections and depth lost for a time. Through it all, as you dwell in meditation, simply noting the play of the various energies of your own mind and heart, the fleeting thoughts and feelings, impulses and reactions which come and go as ripples and waves, noting their effects just as you observe the various changing energies at play on the lake: the wind, the waves, the light and shadow and reflections, the colors, the smells. Do your thoughts and feelings disturb the surface? Is that okay with you? Can you see a rippled or wavy surface as an intimate, essential aspect of being a lake, of having a surface? Can you identify not only with the surface but with the entire body of the water, so that you become the stillness below the surface as well, which at most experiences only gentle undulations, even when the surface is whipped to frothing?" </blockquote>
Over time, if allowed to, this disturbed body of water and any sediment caught up in it settles. Professor Mark Williams relates one MBSR's practitioner's experience of this in <i><a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Mindfulness.html?id=fReoFW9tLxAC&redir_esc=y">Mindfulness: A practical guide to peace in a frantic world</a></i> (2011) as follows, p86:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Seeing her mind as a lake, Hannah saw how often it had become disturbed by a passing storm. ‘Then,’ she said, ‘the water becomes murky and full of sediment. But if I am patient, I can see the weather changing. I can see the lake in all its beauty gradually becoming clear again. Not that this solves all my problems. I can still feel discouraged sometimes. But it helps if I see it as a process that I
repeat time after time. I can see the point of practising every day.’
Hannah was discovering something profound: that none of us can control
what thoughts rampage through our minds, or the ‘weather’ they can
create. But we do have some control over how we relate to it."</blockquote>
Without actively practising tethering our flighty 'jungle' mind to our bodies (for example to our breath), however, we will not be able to remain in the peace of the present moment enough to settle like a calm lake. This is something American Zen teacher Jan Chozan Bays refers to in <i><a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/How_to_Train_A_Wild_Elephant.html?id=pSs2HfrqgfMC&redir_esc=y">How to Train A Wild Elephant: And Other Adventures in Mindfulnes</a></i> (2011), p14:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The Buddha pointed out that when a wild elephant is first captured
and led out of the jungle, it has to be tethered to a stake. In the case
of our mind, that stake takes the form of whatever we attend to in our mindfulness practice — for example, the breath, a mouthful of food, or our posture. We anchor the mind by returning it over and over to one thing. This calms the mind and rids it of distractions. A wild elephant has many wild habits. It runs away when humans approach. It attacks when frightened. Our mind is similar. When it senses danger, it runs away from the present. It might run to pleasant fantasies, to thoughts of future revenge, or just go numb. If it is frightened, it may attack other people in an angry outburst, or it may attack inwardly, in silent but corrosive self-criticism." </blockquote>
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Our urban jungles can often feed and encourage this "wild elephant mind" in us. We can be quick to follow the intoxicating perfume of a flower - our minds drawn off into fantasy realms, and in the body, twitchy irritation can manifest as if one were being bothered by persistent rainforest mosquitos or flies, p85:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...as soon as there is a small itch, the hands fly up to scratch it."</blockquote>
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If, while we meditate, we manage to catch ourselves and notice the habitual emotional or daydreaming responses, we have time to alter our behaviour and reframe the situation. Itches and any other discomfort can often be a psychosomatic echo of the busy urban jungle in which we as city dwellers are immersed most of the time. However, merely reframing our experience and applying a conceptual label is not enough - one must go beyond concepts and explore our sensations with full acceptance. In this vein, Jon Kabat-Zinn and Mark Williams advise to investigate any discomfort peacefully rather than react in any way, and therefore allow the possibity for deeper insight to occur, in <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Mindful-Way-Through-Depression/dp/1593851286" target="_blank">The Mindful Way Through Depression</a></i> (2007), p101-102:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"This distinction between thinking about the body and directly
experiencing the sensations in the body is critically important. Often
we see the body as if from a lofty citadel in the head. We look down on
the body (physically and metaphorically) and think "Oh, yes, there's a
bit of a pain there, a bit of an itch there-I must do something about
it." But there is a different possibility. We can learn to bring the
mind right into the body and inhabit the whole of it with awareness." </blockquote>
Jan Chozan Bays' relates something similar in <i>How to Train a Wild Elephant</i>, but beginning with physical posture, p86:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"When we relax our hands, the rest of the body and even the mind will
relax, too. Relaxing the hands is a way of quieting the mind. We also
found that when the hands are quiet in our lap, we can listen more
attentively."</blockquote>
Working with small irritations such as itches in this way can allow one to identify a process of acceptance and resilience which unfolds the more one practices. Kabat-Zinn and Williams relate a story illustrating this in <i>The Mindful Way Through Depression</i>, p149:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"After a day or two, the stings had stopped being painful but had become intensely itchy. Anthony had been
told emphatically not to scratch, but he could hardly bear it, so
strong was the itch. He decided to experiment with bringing his
awareness to the itching and discomfort, "breathing into it" to
investigate it more closely. He noticed that the itching was not just
one sensation but many. What's more, this bundle of sensations changed
from moment to moment, some of the sensations shifting rapidly, some
more slowly. Later, Anthony was able to apply the skills he had
developed in dealing with the physical discomfort of itching to
discomfort related more directly to emotion. When his body felt tense,
rather than getting fed up or trying to ignore it, he was now able to
stay inside the tension, breathing with it, moving up close to it, in
intimate contact with the various sensations associated with it. He
found that he was able to bring a greater sense of compassion toward his
body and a more accepting attitude toward himself."</blockquote>
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By regularly finding a peaceful environment to take such a step back from the urban jungle, and by tethering our wild elephant minds; thus allowing the itchy mosquito bites and suffocating feverishness of the mind and body to become less significant and even heal and fade away, we begin to experience our city life as less overwhelming. But this can only happen if we can stop the itching and scratching which keeps our 'jungle adventure' wounds open and unhealed. In this way mindfulness helps us to overcome anxiety regarding the inherent dangers in our environment - giving us more comfort and options, as Kabat-Zinn relates in <i>Wherever You Go, There You Are</i>, p73:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"A calmness develops with intensive concentration practice that has a
remarkably stable quality to it. It is steadfast, profound, hard to
disturb, no matter what comes up. It is a great gift to oneself to be
able periodically to cultivate samadhi over an extended period of time. This is most readily accomplished on long, silent meditation retreats, when one can withdraw from the world <i>a la</i> Thoreau for this very purpose." </blockquote>
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<img alt="" class="decoded" src="http://www.yanomami-hilfe.de/wp-content/gallery/projekte/1.jpg" height="259" title="" width="400" /> </div>
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<br />
The article began:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
" Being happier is not dependent on income, success or beauty — or so say the new gurus of self-help. Rather, the key to an improved life is, apparently, mindfulness: the state of conscious awareness that allows us to live “in the moment”, wreathed in positive self-acceptance. While “mindful” eating, sleeping and relaxation techniques have long been in fashion, mindful marriage — an area that may benefit most from its teachings — has been neglected. Which is strange given that, when we're bristling defensively or hissing abuse at our spouses, it's gentle benefits could prove life-changing."</blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-46851074748794721832014-04-13T20:14:00.002-07:002014-04-13T20:15:37.460-07:00Guardian News - There's no price tag on a clear mind: Intel to launch mindfulness programOn 8th April 2014, <b>The Guardian</b> online published an article in the <i>Professional>Guardian Sustainable Business </i>section titled: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/price-intel-mindfulness-program-employee">There's no price tag on a clear mind: Intel to launch mindfulness program</a>.<br />
<br />
Here is the main article text:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"At any given moment during the workweek, there's a high possibility
that employees at Silicon Valley tech companies are trying to disconnect
from the very same products they have developed. Whether it's via deep
breathing, meditation or a quiet moment to reflect, companies like
Google, Twitter and Medium encourage the use of mindfulness techniques
as a way to trade digital clutter and stress for greater clarity and
purpose. <br />
But away from the spotlight, one of the sector's oldest
companies is quietly making plans to expand its program to a greater
level than ever before. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
After two years of running an under-the-radar program at two locations in California and Oregon – initiated by a manager in its engineering department, no less – Intel is moving to make a nine-week mindfulness program available to its workforce of over 100,000 employees in 63 countries across the globe. "There's going to be a quantum leap," said Lindsay Van Driel, the Hillsboro, Oregon-based manager who co-founded Awake@Intel with Portland leadership consultant Anakha Coman. Using a train-the-trainer model, the program will be rolled out over the next six months to its first office locations. An employee is currently being trained in India, and others in China, Chile, Costa Rica and Ireland have expressed interest. Van Driel is adamant about making sure that Awake@Intel grows slowly so that the course is implemented in a way that stays true to its original intention. "The right teachers [who will all be employees] will have to emerge as leaders before we can offer it there," said Van Driel, who is also a certified meditation and yoga instructor. "It's not something that anyone can teach. It has to be lived and embodied." All sessions will be held with teachers and students in the same room. Though Van Driel did consult with Chade-Meng Tan, the Google engineer who co-wrote the company's Search Inside Yourself course on mindfulness and emotional intelligence with meditation teacher Mirabai Bush and San Francisco Zen Center priest Norman Fischer, she and Coman created a program that met the needs of a company mainly comprised of scientists and engineers, and one that cultivated the Intel values of innovation, candor, possibility thinking, risk taking and moving quickly and decisively. The curriculum was developed in three months. Before the first weekly session, each participant identifies what he or she is most interested in improving. During the first month, the class learns to quiet their minds. They set intentions and explore the components of emotional intelligence. For the last part of the course, participants are exposed to mindful listening, delve into Brené Brown's ideas on the influence that vulnerability has on innovation, then discuss Otto Scharmer's concept of collective mindfulness. Each week, participants share their experiences and insight utilizing what they've learned over the course of the past week – for example, talking about how they moved from compulsion to choice. "People get more authentically related to each other – beyond competency levels and their roles. So real ideas are heard and received, and people are much more generative together. The corporate mask that people put on when they walk through the door comes down," Coman said. Evaluation results have been notable among the 1,500 employees who have participated in 19 sessions to date. On average, participants responding to pre- and post- self-evaluation questionnaires report a two-point decrease (on a 10-point scale) in experiencing stress and feeling overwhelmed, a three-point increase in overall happiness and wellbeing, and a two-point increase in having new ideas and insights, mental clarity, creativity, the ability to focus, the quality of relationships at work and the level of engagement in meetings, projects and collaboration efforts. Since the program is voluntary, it seems that employees aspiring to be mindful would surely be derailed by colleagues. But there's still value, according to Coman. If one person can maintain presence in a conflict it won't escalate, and it can help others to stay calm, she said. How did a top tech company make the decision to invest in such a large program without a clear numerical return on investment? Van Driel said that she focused on presenting scientific studies showing the health benefits of meditation, as well as the effect of the program on workers' ability to relate better to each other and improve team performance. The company has not determined the amount of money it will put into the program at this time. "If we show people pages and pages of our feedback, there's nothing that anyone can say that takes away the validity of that experience," she said. "If I have an engineer that says 'I can solve a technical problem in two less weeks [after applying what was learned during the class]', you can monetize it anywhere."</blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-35937329815250652482014-03-30T21:28:00.002-07:002014-03-30T21:36:00.183-07:00Guardian News - Thich Nhat Hanh: is mindfulness being corrupted by business and finance?On 28th March 2014, <b>The Guardian</b> online published an article in the <i>Professional>Guardian Sustainable Business</i> section titled: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/thich-nhat-hanh-mindfulness-google-tech">Thich Nhat Hanh: is mindfulness being corrupted by business and finance?</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Thich Nhat Hanh, the 87-year-old Zen master considered by many to be
the father of mindfulness in the west, says as long as business leaders
practice "true" mindfulness, it does not matter if the original
intention is triggered by wanting to be more effective at work or to
make bigger profits. That is because the practice will fundamentally
change their perspective on life as it naturally opens hearts to greater
compassion and develops the desire to end the suffering of others.<br />
<br />
Sitting in a lotus position on the floor of his monastery at <a href="http://plumvillage.org/">Plum Village</a>
near Bordeaux, France, Thay tells the Guardian: "If you know how to
practice mindfulness you can generate peace and joy right here, right
now. And you'll appreciate that and it will change you. In the
beginning, you believe that if you cannot become number one, you cannot
be happy, but if you practice mindfulness you will readily release that
kind of idea. We need not fear that mindfulness might become only a
means and not an end because in mindfulness the means and the end are
the same thing. There is no way to happiness; happiness is the way."<br />
[...]<br />
"If you consider mindfulness as a means of having a lot of money,
then you have not touched its true purpose," he says. "It may look like
the practise of mindfulness but inside there's no peace, no joy, no
happiness produced. It's just an imitation. If you don't feel the energy
of brotherhood, of sisterhood, radiating from your work, that is not
mindfulness."<br />
<br />
As he puts it: "If you're happy, you cannot be a
victim of your happiness. But if you're successful, you can be a victim
of your success." <br />
[...]<br />
Thay was recently invited by the World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, whose favorite book is Thay's The Miracle of Mindfulness and who praises the Zen monk's practice for being "deeply passionate and compassionate toward those who are suffering," to the organization's Washington headquarters for an event that was hugely popular with staff.<br />
<br />
This did not prevent some senior colleagues, who were nervous about how such a visit would be seen to the outside world, from criticizing the move before the event. The Economist did, in fact, publish a critical article.<br />
<br />
But Kim remains resolute. He tells the Guardian he fended off criticism by pointing to multiple scientific studies showcasing the benefits of mindfulness.<br />
[...]<br />
He and a group of monastics spent a day at Google's headquarters,
spending time with the senior management as well as leading around 700
employees through mindfulness discussions and sitting and walking
meditation. So many staff wanted to take part that the company had to
open up two additional locations to live stream his lecture.<br />
[...]<br />
At the day-long retreat with the CEOs, Thay led a silent meditation
and offered a Zen tea ceremony before talking to the group of largely
billionaires about how important it is that they, as individuals, resist
being consumed by work at the expense of time with their families:
"Time is not money," he told them. "Time is life, time is love."<br />
Back
at his Plum Village monastery, near Bordeaux, Thay says of his trip:
"In all the visits, I told them they have to conduct business in such a
way that happiness should be possible for everyone in the company. What
is the use of having more money if you suffer more? They also should
understand that if they have a good aspiration, they become happier
because helping society to change gives life a meaning."<br />
The trip
was just the beginning, he adds. "I think we planted a number of seeds
and it will take time for the seeds to mature," he says. "If they begin
to practise mindfulness, they'll experience joy, happiness,
transformation, and they can fix for themselves another kind of
aspiration. Fame and power and money cannot really bring true happiness
compared to when you have a way of life that can take care of your body
and your feelings.""</blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-11519991670756552242014-03-23T07:31:00.000-07:002014-03-23T07:31:47.481-07:00Wall Street Journal: Westin Hotels Invites Travelers to Discover a World of Well-Being with Launch of Multi-Million Dollar Campaign On 20th March 2014, <b>The Wall Street Journal</b> online published an article titled: <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140320-903572.html">Westin Hotels Invites Travelers to Discover a World of Well-Being with Launch of Multi-Million Dollar Campaign</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Renowned as an industry innovator with a history of firsts in the
wellness space, Westin Hotels & Resorts today announced the global
launch of the Westin Well-being Movement, an ambitious $15 million
brand-wide campaign designed to enhance the well-being of guests and
associates around the world. The year-long initiative will introduce a
string of innovative partnerships and programs across Westin's six brand
pillars: Sleep Well, Eat Well, Move Well, Feel Well, Work Well and Play
Well.<br />
[...]<br />
The Westin Well-being Movement will launch globally with Headspace, a
leading force in the field of health and well-being. This first new
partnership of 2014 is aimed at helping guests "feel well." <br />
Headspace co-founder and meditation expert, Andy Puddicombe, will lead
the charge as the authority for the brand's "Feel Well" pillar and is
the first appointee to the Westin Well-being Council - a diverse
advisory board composed of renowned thought leaders, each of whom aligns
with a specific wellness brand pillar.<br />
[...]<br />
The new partnership with Headspace will encourage guests and
associates to look after the health of their minds, with simple guided
meditation exercises that help them smile more, listen more, worry less
and sleep better. <br />
Westin is the first hotel brand to launch a brand-wide mindfulness and
meditation program. The partnership with Headspace will provide guests
with customized content through a dedicated space on Westin.com,
including videos and audio files. Specifically curated for Westin
guests, the program is designed to address the needs of both leisure and
business travelers, pre and post-stay and including programs to help
guests get ready for their onward journey. Westin will also introduce
Headspace modules to help promote wellness in the workplace. <br />
"We are very excited to be the official launch partner for Westin's
Well-being Movement. The health benefits of practicing mindfulness are
widely recognised, and this partnership highlights Westin's commitment
to improving the well-being of their guests and associates," said Andy
Puddicombe, Co-Founder, Headspace. "We believe that the simple and easy
to learn mindfulness techniques we have developed at Headspace will help
both guests and associates alike lead happier and healthier lives." </blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5923175476407953144.post-81870788214012093042014-03-15T07:06:00.002-07:002014-03-15T07:07:29.036-07:00The Daily Mail: Always craving chocolate? MEDITATION could helpOn 14th March 2014, The Daily Mail online published an article in the <i>Health>Health home</i> section titled: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2581166/Always-craving-chocolate-MEDITATION-help-Study-shows-achieving-sense-detachment-reduces-cravings.html">Always craving chocolate? MEDITATION could help: Study shows achieving 'a sense of detachment' reduces cravings</a>.<br />
<br />
Here are some key quotes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"A study found that achieving 'a sense of detachment' through mindfulness mediation can reduce cravings. The Canadian researchers say identifying and distancing oneself from certain thoughts - without judging them - weakens chocolate cravings among people with a sweet tooth.<br />
<br />
‘There is now good evidence that mindfulness strategies generally work at managing food cravings, but we don't yet know what aspect of mindfulness and what mechanisms are responsible for these effects. This is what motivated this research,’ said lead study author Julien Lacaille, a psychologist at McGill University in Quebec.<br />
[...]<br />
‘They developed less intense cravings for chocolate because they now perceived it as generally less desirable,’ Mr Lacaille said. ‘Something we can all take away from this study is that we are not our thoughts and that we can take control over our thoughts in a relatively short period,’ added Patrick Williams, a postdoctoral researcher and psychologist at the University of Chicago who not involved in the study, told Reuters Health."</blockquote>
Biosattvahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01358650628323649229noreply@blogger.com0