Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Mark Williams, Danny Penman
Authors: Mark Williams, Danny Penman
Ads: Link
fingers—is by discovering it for yourself. Time and time and time again.
So how can you take the message of the raisin practice and apply it? You need to learn to start paying full attention; but resolving to do this, even if you think it is a good idea, may not be enough. You need to do two things. First, you need to find a way to train the mind to focus. This takes practice, and we’ll explain in a moment what this practice will entail. Secondly, you need to find ways of dissolving the habits that drive much of your routine behavior. We’ll come to that later too.
Mindfulness meditation of the body and breath
Every meditation tradition begins with daily practices that help to focus a scattered mind. The most common way to start is by focusing on a single object that is always with you: the movement of the breath in the body. Why the breath?
First, the breath is something that you probably take for granted despite the fact that you cannot live without it. You can live without food for weeks, without water for days, but you cannot survive without the nourishment that the breath provides for more than a few tens of seconds. The breath really is life.
Secondly, there is an important way in which the breath does not need
us
to make it happen. The breath breathes itself. If it was up to us to remember to breathe, we’d have forgotten long ago. So tuning into the breath can be an important antidote to the natural tendency toward believing that we have to be in control. Attending to the breath reminds us that at the core of our being, something is happening that depends very little on who we are or what we want to achieve.
Thirdly, the breath provides a natural, gently moving target to focus on in your meditation; it grounds you in the here and now. You cannot take a breath for five minutes ago, or for five minutes’ time. You can only take a breath for now.
Fourthly, the breath can be a sensitive monitor for your feelings. If you can sense more clearly when the breath is short or long, shallow or deep, rough or smooth, you can begin sensing your own internal weather patterns, and choose whether and how to take skillful action to look after yourself.
Finally, the breath provides an anchor for your attention, so that you can see more clearly when your mind has wandered, when it is bored or restless or when you are fearful or sad. During even the shortest meditation on the breath, you may become aware of how things are for you, and, returning to the breath, let go of the tendency to fix things right away. The breath opens up a different possibility, that of allowing life to live itself for a while, to see what wisdom emerges when you don’t rush in to “put things right.”
We suggest that you practice the meditation of the breath shown in the box on p. 83 for six out of the next seven days. The meditation takes just eight minutes and we recommend that you do it at least twice each day. You can do it sitting or lying, and feel free to experiment with whichever posture best supports your intention to stay awake for the period of the practice. You can also choose the times to do it. Many people find that the best times are in the morning and in the evening, but it’s entirely up to you when you carry it out. At first, you might find it difficult to make the time, but as we’ve said, meditation ultimately liberates more time than it uses.
It’s very important that you do make a commitment to yourself to carry out the meditation. It requires practice, but don’t forget that these meditations have been proven in numerous studies around the world to help people. They do, however, work most fully if you put in the required time each day. They may not appear to have instant benefits; you have to practice. And to embed these benefits, you need to commit yourself to completing the eight-week course. However, some people do report feeling more relaxed and happy almost from day
So how can you take the message of the raisin practice and apply it? You need to learn to start paying full attention; but resolving to do this, even if you think it is a good idea, may not be enough. You need to do two things. First, you need to find a way to train the mind to focus. This takes practice, and we’ll explain in a moment what this practice will entail. Secondly, you need to find ways of dissolving the habits that drive much of your routine behavior. We’ll come to that later too.
Mindfulness meditation of the body and breath
Every meditation tradition begins with daily practices that help to focus a scattered mind. The most common way to start is by focusing on a single object that is always with you: the movement of the breath in the body. Why the breath?
First, the breath is something that you probably take for granted despite the fact that you cannot live without it. You can live without food for weeks, without water for days, but you cannot survive without the nourishment that the breath provides for more than a few tens of seconds. The breath really is life.
Secondly, there is an important way in which the breath does not need
us
to make it happen. The breath breathes itself. If it was up to us to remember to breathe, we’d have forgotten long ago. So tuning into the breath can be an important antidote to the natural tendency toward believing that we have to be in control. Attending to the breath reminds us that at the core of our being, something is happening that depends very little on who we are or what we want to achieve.
Thirdly, the breath provides a natural, gently moving target to focus on in your meditation; it grounds you in the here and now. You cannot take a breath for five minutes ago, or for five minutes’ time. You can only take a breath for now.
Fourthly, the breath can be a sensitive monitor for your feelings. If you can sense more clearly when the breath is short or long, shallow or deep, rough or smooth, you can begin sensing your own internal weather patterns, and choose whether and how to take skillful action to look after yourself.
Finally, the breath provides an anchor for your attention, so that you can see more clearly when your mind has wandered, when it is bored or restless or when you are fearful or sad. During even the shortest meditation on the breath, you may become aware of how things are for you, and, returning to the breath, let go of the tendency to fix things right away. The breath opens up a different possibility, that of allowing life to live itself for a while, to see what wisdom emerges when you don’t rush in to “put things right.”
We suggest that you practice the meditation of the breath shown in the box on p. 83 for six out of the next seven days. The meditation takes just eight minutes and we recommend that you do it at least twice each day. You can do it sitting or lying, and feel free to experiment with whichever posture best supports your intention to stay awake for the period of the practice. You can also choose the times to do it. Many people find that the best times are in the morning and in the evening, but it’s entirely up to you when you carry it out. At first, you might find it difficult to make the time, but as we’ve said, meditation ultimately liberates more time than it uses.
It’s very important that you do make a commitment to yourself to carry out the meditation. It requires practice, but don’t forget that these meditations have been proven in numerous studies around the world to help people. They do, however, work most fully if you put in the required time each day. They may not appear to have instant benefits; you have to practice. And to embed these benefits, you need to commit yourself to completing the eight-week course. However, some people do report feeling more relaxed and happy almost from day
Similar Books
