An Introduction to Mindfulness

Original Editor - Merinda Rodseth

Top Contributors - Merinda Rodseth, Tarina van der Stockt, Kim Jackson, Jess Bell and Olajumoke Ogunleye  

Origin

Mindfulness originated from ancient eastern and Buddhist philosophy and dates back around 2500 years. (Kabat-Zin 2003, Zenner 2014, Analayo 2019). The concept of mindfulness was introduced to the western world by Jon Kabat-Zinn (Bernstein 2019). Kabat-Zinn first encountered mindfulness through practicing with Zen Buddhist meditation teachers Philip Kapleau and Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn Haengwon. He had further extensive training with teachers from various Buddhist traditions as well as Soto and Rinzai Zen traditions, Chögyam Trungpa’s “Meditation in Action, Thich Nhat Hanh’s “The Miracle of Mindfulness”, and the yogic traditions (Bernstein 2019, Sun 2014). Kabat-Zinn secularised historical Buddhist mindfulness principles by untangling them from the cultural, religious, and ideological factors associated with Buddhism and orienting them to the “Western mind” and culture, leading to the development of the first formalised mindfulness-based intervention (MBI), called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) (Kabat-Zinn 2003, Dunning 2019, Bernstein 2019, Analayo 2019).

Definition of Mindfulness

Mindfulness can be defined as :

• “The awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment.” (Jon Kabat-Zinin 2003)
• “Intentionally directing attention to present moment experiences with an attitude of curiosity and acceptance” (Dunning 2019)
• “Mindful awareness is fundamentally a way of being - a way of inhabiting our bodies, our minds, our moment-to-moment experience… it is a way of relating to all experience - positive, negative, and neutral - in an open, receptive way...it simply knows and accepts what is here now” (Shapiro 2017)
• “... a process of regulating attention in order to bring a quality of non-elaborative awareness to current experience and a quality of relating to one’s experience within an orientation of curiosity, experiential openness, and acceptance” (Bishop 2004)

Simply put, mindfulness is the ability to know what is going on in your head at any given moment without getting carried away by it (Shrey talk).

Mindfulness Practice

Mindful awareness can be fostered through both “formal” and “informal” mindfulness practice (Birtwell 2019).

Formal Mindfulness Practice

Involves a more formally structured, traditional mindfulness practice - when a practitioner intentionally sets aside time to perform mindfulness practices such as sitting meditation, breathing, body scan, mindful movement and visualization (Birtwell 2019). It often involves placing yourself in a specific body position for a period of time to specifically practice moment-to-moment non-judgemental awareness (Gardner-Nix 2009).

Informal mindfulness practice

Involves incorporating mindfulness into day-to-day life and everyday routines by creating mindful moments and bringing mindful awareness to everyday activities such as walking, dishwashing, housekeeping, eating and talking to others (Birtwell 2019, Hanley 2015). It is essentially “turning off the autopilot mode of living” and training your attention to return to the present moment with whichever activity you are busy with, in order to do it in a more focused and attentive way (Shrey talk, Germer 2005). Informal mindfulness practice allows every aspect of your day to become part of your meditation practice in order to become more open-heartedly present in the moment while being less reactive and judgemental in the ongoing activities of daily life (Gardner-Nix 2009).

Key Elements of Mindfulness Practice

1. Observing - just noticing, open monitoring (beginner’s mind)(Shapiro 2017), letting everything come to you and just noticing, for example observing breath (Shrey talk). “Noticing/attending to internal and external experiences” (Iani 2018).
2. Labeling - simply mentally noting, naming and describing what you are experiencing without phrasing it in a positive or negative way - for example sensations of breath, sounds around you, thoughts or what you just did or need to do, emotions, pain. (Iani 2018, Shrey talk)
3. Non-judgement - non-reactance and ultimate acceptance. “Taking a non-evaluative stance towards thoughts and feelings (non-judgement), allowing them to come and go without getting caught up in or carried away by them (non-reactivity)” (Iani 2018)

Mindfully circulating through these three steps is what will bring about the benefits of mindfulness - calmness, stillness, resilience. Each time your mind wanders to a thought or emotion while you are meditating, gently guide your attention back to these three steps - to just breathing, noticing your breath, labeling and accepting it without judgement (Shray talk).

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