Mindfulness & Meditation - a personal account

We hear a lot in the news lately about meditation and mindfulness. Meditation has gone mainstream, and mindfulness is the hot topic of the decade. These are relatively recent developments considering how long meditation has been around. Meditation dates back at least seven thousand years (Ross, 2016). We find valuable resources in the texts of old and from the volume of experience that Eastern yogis put into cataloguing the development of mental and spiritual exercises, disciplines, and practices.

Because of meditation's association with Eastern religions, most Westerners were not able to share in the many benefits of meditation and mindfulness until the twentieth century.

Part of the reason for this is because of a culture of widespread exclusivity. I did not realize until recently that my Catholic training included meditation in that meditation consists of focused awareness. From a view of inclusivity, we can see meditation as a form of spiritual practice, much like prayer, that is common to all the religions and also something regularly engaged in by members of Indigenous cultures.

Although there are exceptions, meditation was not taken seriously and not practiced by many in the United States until the 1960s. In 1959, the spiritual teacher, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, came to the United States on a world tour from India. He acquired a large following among the 'Hippie Generation' (Ross, 2016), and began establishing Transcendental Meditation (TM) which is still practiced worldwide today. My uncle, Harve', was a follower and practiced TM daily until he passed away. I tried to emulate him many times over the years, but I did not know how to quiet the mind.

Research on meditation proved fruitful in 1967 when the research of Dr. Herbert Benson indicated a person in a meditative state had lower oxygen consumption, lower heartrates, and increases in certain brainwaves (Ross, 2016). Since that time research on meditation has continued to be more than fruitful establishing some amazing results that have prompted members of the secular community (including myself) to start working with and exploring meditation and mindfulness. In this post, I will depict my evolving experience, understanding, and practice of meditation. I will also show that while somewhat similar meditation and mindfulness are not the same thing. Mindfulness is a form of meditation. Meditation is an overall umbrella term like spiritual practice. It is spiritual practice that meets several requirements. More on this to come.

My introduction to meditation was purely academic. Somewhere out in the margins was a private college. John F. Kennedy University in Pleasant Hill, CA offered a graduate program in Consciousness and Transformative Studies (CNS). This was my dream program. It is now offered through National University. The CNS program offers many experientially based classes. This in what education should include. Through this program, I have been able to create a meditation and practice regiment that completely turned my life around. Where I was negative and cynical, I am now loving and accepting.

It took a great deal of persuasion, prompting, and resolve to get me going. When I got going, I managed to sit still for three minutes a day, everyday, at the same time. When I got going my meditation practice increased in strength and length. It began to grow on its own with no effort and very little resolve. Once I found it, I found a life long friend.

The first time I read the word ‘mindfulness’ was in my first semester Emotional Intelligence course. In his phenomenal The Developing Mind, Dan Siegel defines ‘mindfulness’ referencing Kabat-Zinn. In the book, it states,

Though the specific scientific definitions of mindfulness vary, we can state here the general perspective that being mindful involves a way of paying attention, on purpose, to present experience as it emerges moment by moment without being swept up by judgements. This is the opposite of being on ‘automatic pilot’ or being ‘mindless’ in our actions (Siegel, 2008, pp. 43-44).

At that time, I did not know that “mindfulness” is often used interchangeably and often confused with “meditation.” Kabat-Zinn considers mindfulness to be a form of meditation. He defines

meditation as any way in which we engage in (1) systematically regulating our attention and energy (2) thereby influencing and possibly transforming the quality of our experience (3) in the service of realizing the full range of our humanity and of (4) our relationships to others and the world (Kabat-Zinn, 2012, p. 1).

From the start of the program, I knew mindfulness was one thing we aimed to achieve. The more I learn about mindfulness and meditation thru experience, reading, and practice, the more they grows and the more it seems there is to learn. I have retrained my entire bodily experiential existence to enable myself to connect, contact, communicate and embody divine sacred holy healing energies. As exciting and rewarding as pockets of growth may be, there are also many moments of counting and wondering why? Those are the challenging moments we must endure to be enabled to participate in the Divine. In Buddha’s Brain, Hanson and Mendius, write,

Overtime, equanimity deepens into a profound inner stillness that is a defining characteristic of contemplative absorption…. It also becomes increasingly interwoven into daily life, bringing great benefit. If you can break the link between feeling tones and craving—if you can be with the pleasant without chasing after it, with the unpleasant without resisting it, and with the neutral without ignoring it—then you have cut the chain of suffering, at least for a time. And that is an incredible blessing and freedom (Hanson & Mendius, 2009, pp. 113-114).

In the process of our coursework, I have embraced the various psycho-spiritual practices that have been offered for emotional and spiritual healing and have found them to be very helpful. Most of these practices involve some sort of awareness, transformation, embodiment, and meditation or mindfulness.

My first major prolonged experience with meditation was in the course Psycho-Spiritual Development and Integral Meditation. In this course we were provided meditation materials from one of Ken Wilber’s groups. I recorded these meditations on a digital voice recorder. I listened to the meditations with earphones and progressed through developmental psychologies levels of consciousness as guided meditations and it worked very well for me. I experienced for the first-time concepts and experiences of openminded spacious awareness, witness consciousness, and daily experience. Also, by using Wilber’s books and materials and recording meditations and various writings, I had many peak experiences, initially. It was great and provided the encouragement to continue working with meditation. Among Wilber’s books whose passages I recorded for meditation were Integral Psychology (Wilber, 2000), The Eye of Spirit (Wilber, 2001), and Integral Life Practice(Wilber, Patten, Leonard, & Morelli, 2008). This was a good beginning but it was not a full embodied meditation experience as I was still primarily “in my head.” I had not yet dropped down into my heart and integrated that, nor had I experienced full body consciousness or embodiment.

When I started the CNS program, I was suffering from untreated chronic pain. In my second year, I began working with the Logan Center for Wellness and Pain Management. Deep breathing, meditation, and yoga were highly recommended components of my pain management program that I was having trouble instantiating. Integral Life Spiritual Practice is the course that taught me the importance of a committed daily practice, how to get one established, and what is essential for continuity. Initially, keeping a log book is a very effective measure. The book Integral Life Practice stresses the initial importance of making a commitment and creating time and space for meditation. It also teaches,

What is essential is not extended periods of sitting, but a living, growing, deepening, participatory relationship with Spirit. Engage it through contemplation, communion, and meditation. Refresh your practice regularly. Continually rediscover a living dynamic relationship with Spirit during all your periods of meditation, short or long, and let this deepening engagement with Spirit inform your whole life (Wilber, Patten, Leonard, & Morelli, 2008, p 235).

I find this to be important otherwise meditation can become mundane if you are not working with a teacher or guide. By the completion of the course Integral Life Spiritual Practice, I had a weekly routine of “The 3-Body Workout” (Wilber, Patten, Leonard, & Morelli, 2008, p. 136) eventually adding a three-minute formal counting meditation. These sessions have grown into two mild yogic workouts per day followed by thirty to forty-five minutes of formal meditation. As a result of this I am noticing deep healing taking place.

The course which helped me stabilize a daily routine of yoga and formal meditation was Body Consciousness/Body Wisdom. During this course all my previous teachings seemed to come together and I began to experience clarity. When you experience life mainly in your head, you may be suffering from a mind/body disconnect. If you are, there is so much in life you are missing out on. In this course I learned to experience a much deeper embodiment, learned a formal meditation posture (The Seven Gestures), and was introduced to Kum Nye. I connected deeply with Kum Nye and discovered that I feel many bodily, directional, and spiritual energies. When I finish in the CNS program, I am hoping to be able to explore the art of Kum Nye more deeply.

Kum Nye is also called Tibetan Yoga and “is part of the lineage of spiritual and medical theories and practices which links Tibetan with Indian and Chinese medicine” (Tulku, 1978, p. xi). The “Seven Gestures” is the foundation of many of the yogic practices. It is the classic position of crossed legs, back straight, and head slightly bowed. I use this as a foundation for my meditation practice. My practice mostly consists of concentrating on counting while keeping my mind clear. I do a six-in/six-out count of pranayama breathing and go anywhere from 110 to 150 breaths. I have achieved a trance state four times while working on breathwork, but I do not like doing breathwork alone. I also engage in body scans, guided meditations, and the loving/kindness meditation.

Neuroscience and Mindfulness is the course that not only solidified my interest and concentration in meditation but also clearly distinguished it from mindfulness. The texts used for this course include Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness for Beginners: reclaiming the present moment—and your life (Kabat-Zinn, 2012). This book comes with a CD of guided meditations. What was new for me was changing the focus of the meditation exercise. I was already able to incorporate feelings and sensations into my meditations, but with Kabat-Zinn’s materials we changed our focus and were “being the knowing outside of time and underneath thought.” You cannot imagine the impact subtle changes of focus can have on the mind unless you experience it and pay attention (this is what insight is).

Mindfulness is a type of meditation in that we are regulating our attention and energy and looking to transform the quality of our experience (Kabat-Zinn, 2012, p. 1). While listening to the recorded material from Mindfulness for Beginners we explored five separate mindfulness exercises (meditations if you will). Through these exercises we began in the state of awareness and “knew” or focused on a raisin, our breathe, the body as a whole, the soundscape, sounds, thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and ultimately with no object as choiceless awareness. This state of mind is mindfulness. In Altered Traits, Goleman and Davidson provide us with an alternative definition of mindfulness. It states, “Another common meaning of mindfulness refers to a floating awareness that witnesses whatever happens in our experience without judging or otherwise reacting” (Goleman & Davidson, 2018, pp. 74-75). Once we are able to single out this awareness, we find that it is ever present and basic to who we really are. In Integral Life Practice it states,

“And yet, according to some sages, there is something in us that is always conscious—that is, literally conscious or aware at all times and through all states, waking, dreaming, sleeping. And that ever present awareness is Spirit in us. That underlying current of constant consciousness (or nondual awareness) is a direct and unbroken ray of pure Spirit itself. It is our connection with God or Goddess, our pipeline straight to source (Wilber, Patten, Leonard, & Morelli, 2008).

Meditation gives me not only the chance to contemplate the presence of a higher power but also a chance to sense sacred energies. Concentrating on feeling, sensations, and intuition is what meditation is all about. You may acquire a sense of felt truth or tacit truth.

I will continue my formal daily meditation sessions (because they fit my personality and lifestyle well), while working on instantiating mindfulness as my default stance. I am hoping to find a program or teacher to take my mindfulness explorations a little bit deeper. In the meanwhile, I will keep practicing, manufacturing joy, and performing walking meditations. I am grateful to have found the tools of mindfulness and meditation and do not want to go back to life without them. I also found that meditation and concentration practices help combat symptoms associated with mental illness. Meditation enhances concentration. I also found that I can objectify and step out of overwhelm. Meditation helps me strengthen my concentration and eases my anxiety and overwhelm.

As a coach I will highly encourage practices of meditation and mindfulness and hope more Westerners will be able to find relief from various afflictions. This is only a beginning. I have great hopes for and from the infiltration of mindfulness and meditative practices into the West. It seems to me there is a great healing taking place at this time. I like to think it is happening on all levels—quantum, individual, societal, planetary, cosmic, and universal. There is more to come and I am happy to be a part of it all. Most of all I am grateful for the transitions in myself and life and would like to continue healing spiritually. Mindfulness is a great place to be at this time in history. If you do not have a daily sitting practice, I hope you give it a try.

REFERENCES

Goleman, D., & Davidson, R. (2018). Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes

Your Mind, Brain, and Body. New York, NY: Penguin Random House, LLC

Hanson, R., & Mendius, R. (2009). Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness,

Love, and Wisdom. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2012). Mindfulness for Beginners: reclaiming the present moment and your life.

Boulder, CO: Sounds True, Inc.

Ross, A. (2012). “How Meditation Went Mainstream,” in Time. Retrieved from: https://time.com/424698.

Siegel, D. (2012). The Developing Mind. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Tulku, T. (1978). Kum Nye: Tibetan Yoga. Berkeley, CA: Dharma Publishing.

Wilber, K. (2000). Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology. Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publications.

Wilber, K. (2001). The Eye of Spirit. Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publications.

Wilber, K., Patten, T., Leonard, A., & Morelli, M. (2008). Integral Life Practice. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications.