THE VALUE OF MINDFULNESS

 
WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?  HOW IS IT USEFUL? & HOW CAN WE ACHIEVE IT?
 
For me... "Mindfulness" is the ability to be able to be aware of and present with our conscious selves, subconscious thought patterns, and the variety of experiences we have throughout the day. 
 
All of which... without the necessity of getting caught in any thought patterns, emotions, or subconscious triggers that may arise from our immediate environment or conscious thoughts. 
 
The benefits come with the intention of understanding why these thoughts and sensations occur, learning to stay grounded through them, and not to allow them to throw us off our internal center of stability. 
 
It can be very beneficial to be able to stay conscious of triggered thoughts, feelings, and emotions to allow us to understand where they may stem from and learn how to process them through-out our experience.  Without an emotional reaction or interpretation, we can then learn to let them pass once we have gained our insights from them.
  
I would not say that it is "good -or- bad" to still respond to any stimulations that may arise in our environment.  I am suggesting here that it can be more beneficial to "Respond" from a grounded space of action / insight... than to "Re-act" from an emotional space that may or may not be necessary from the experience or environment.
 
Usually our thoughts & emotions stem from a memory or future projection; taking the triggered thought further into the past or projecting it into a perceived future. This process keeps the conscious mind engaged in past or future thinking and distracted from the present moment.  We can only truly "Live" and respond to life effectively in the present moment.
 
The greatest benefits come when we are able to consciously understand what we learn from our new insights of awareness, maintain the state of grounded presence we embody from our practice, and to embrace the new insights of self awareness we gain to subtly create new habits in our subconscious patterns.  In one way or another, these subconscious habits dictate almost the entirety of our lives and this is the most sustainable way to change our internal and external Reality.
 
Take "Breathing Mediations" for example.  The foundation of one breathing practice is to sit and simply count our breaths. 1... in breath... 2... out breath... 3... in breath... etc. until we get to 10 and then start the count again.  By doing this practice, the objective is to be able to allow the conscious and subconscious chatter to come and pass as to not allow the thoughts to distract us from our count by focusing on our breathing (-or- environment in daily life) then to let the breath go.
 
This can be a very useful practice to embody the habit of allowing thoughts in the present moment to come and flow without having to attach an emotional response to them or pay to much conscious attention to our thoughts by focusing on our breath. This can have a profound effect on our lives when we begin to notice how many choices and ways we have available to respond to life, in each moment, from a grounded space of mind in every situation and experience in our lives.
 
Within my own life... I have learned that most of the time when we are distracted by the thought patterns that are stimulated from our environment, we miss out on a lot of information and insights that are available to us that we simply do not hear and-or see.  We tend to get stuck in the perpetual cycle in our psyche and completely miss many opportunities to understand what is really happening in front of us, what is being said, and how there are many ways available to respond that would create the outcomes we desire in that moment.
 
I have found, once we are open and learn to listen to what verbally is being said in front of us when we become triggered by a subconscious / emotional response, once there is a trigger, there is also a lesson and closure that follows it... if we can stay present and grounded to hear it.  This can become a very valuable tool towards accumulating more Self-Awareness that we may miss when we are stuck in the emotional response that we are waiting to express.  As well as a very useful technique to avoid any unnecessary conflict that we may stimulate from our miss-understandings.

 

HERE ARE A FEW PRACTICES THAT YOU CAN PREFORM TO BECOME MORE GROUNDED, PRESENT, AND AWARE IN ANY ENVIRONMENT. 

* CANDLE GAZING- This can be a very fun and useful meditation practice for learning pure observation techniques and it will open our optical awareness to broaden the vision of what we are aware of in our immediate environment.

     In Zen practice... there is a concept of "Soft Awareness" that this application could be represented by.  It is when we have the ability to keep our focus on any particular object, thought, or person and still be present and aware of our environment around us without the need to pull our attention to any stimulants or other movements outside of what we are currently paying attention to.

     As you may imagine... the practice consists of being in a seated posture (Lotus, sitting in a chair, or kneeling) and simply watching a candle burn in front of you.  There are a few different ways of approaching this practice. 

     One technique is a direct focused gaze where we focus our attention to the bottom of the flame and not allow the "dancing flame" blowing in different directions with the air movement to distract us. This practice is for strengthening our focused attention and being fully present with what we choose to lock our attention on.

     Another practice is taking a "Soft Focus" approach.... where we simply turn our awareness to the wholeness of the candle, allow it to dance around in the wind, and to be able to still keep a soft focus watching the entirety of the movement of the candle.  You may notice that your attention wants to watch the flame (you will notice it in eye movements) and follow the dancing of the top of the flame.  THIS IS NOT THE PRACTICE! 

     The objective is to keep a soft attention to the wholeness of the flame and not feel the need to shift our attention (react) to any stimulation at all.  There are many psychological benefits to this and a kind of new muscle memory this creates in our eyes (prominent Conscious Awareness) that you will begin to notice will be available.  As you evolve your practice, you will find your own ways of using it in your daily life.

     You may begin to see 2 different flames burning... like looking at our hands and "seeing double" using different visual techniques.  THIS IS ABSOLUTLY NORMAL.  What you are learning to do biologically speaking... is softening and relaxing the muscles in the eyes broadening their perspective. 

     This happens because the mind is not telling them to pay direct focused attention to any particular movements, which gives the eyes the rare opportunity to relax while we are in a conscious state.  It seams weird because it is not a normal visual experience, though very natural.  Our eyes do a more extreme version of this when we sleep and even more so in our R.E.M sleep state.  

 

* BREATHWORK MEDITATIONS- As previously touched upon above about Breathing techniques... an internal subconscious application can be applied to one of many different types of breathing exercises available. That being said, I would like to suggest that if you are interested in going further into breathing practices, to do your own research on this topic and the different functions / applications that different techniques embody as to taylor your own meditation practice to your own needs.

     The technique I would like to suggest for the internal application is what is known as "Blocked Breathing".  This technique implies taking a deep breath, breathing from the lower abdomen (stomach breathing) upwards through the lungs on a set internal second count.  (I personally use a 7 second count)

     Then, holding that breath for the same count as the in-breath.  While doing so... we can take a few seconds to do a kind of body scan envisioning a "rotating ball of energy" moving from one chakra to the next (chakra locations are in the center of the body, from lower pelvis to top of head). 

Then... to take roughly a few seconds to allow that ball of energy to rotate in those areas looking for any feelings ("good" or "bad") and envision the ball gathering them all up and being released through the out breath. The out breath will also be the same count as the in breaths and holds.  On the exhale hold... we can take an opportunity to sense within ourselves what it feels like having released these things and the potential sense of ease you may experience.

BREATH PRACTICE LAY OUT: 7 second count in breath... 7 second hold... 7 second out breath... 7 second empty air hold... 7 second in breath.

     One practice is to search primarily for negative feelings / thoughts as to release them with the out breath; to clear the subconscious from things that create fear, anxiety, or worry for you. You may find that with these sensations come thoughts patterns, memories, and different subconscious chatter that are attached to and are generated by those sensations. 

     Another application is to open yourself to the positive and negative thoughts that arise... as to do a kind of inventory of the body and start fresh after the practice.  This technique allows us to create the kind of mood we desire to resonate within ourselves throughout the day with a clear psyche and having no residual trapped emotions residing in our bodies. 

AS WITH EVERYTHING I PRESENT ON THIS WEBSITE... PLEASE FEEL FREE TO TAKE ALL OF THIS INFORMATION AS YOU WILL.

I would like to challenge you to research for yourself to find your own practices and techniques that work best for you. This is the only way that you too can find different habits that you too enjoy, benefit from the most through you own needs, and appreciate them enough to make them healthy habits that you will practice when needed.

 I CAN ONLY SUGGEST THESE THINGS FROM A PLACE OF EXPERIENCE AND WOULD SIMPLY LIKE TO SHARE MY EXPERIENCE WITH YOU.  

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