Basic (Very) Mindfulness Meditation ‘Light Bites’
Mindfulness Meditation is everywhere, isn’t it?
Celebrities practice it (lots of them). It has 1000s (probably) of magazines, articles and books devoted to it, see for example ‘A Mindfulness Guide for Survival’ by Ruby Wax.
Just a few diverse examples of publications devoted to mindfulness, include mindful crafting, mindful cooking, mindful eating, mindful walking, mindful teenagers, mindful children, mindful breathing, mindful colouring, mindful surfing, mindfulness at work, mindful sport in general and of course, mindfulness for physical and emotional health and wellbeing.
Mindfulness is practiced in the workplace in many multinational corporations, in schools and in some healthcare environments. The BBC has a Mindfulness Hub for children and mindfulness for children also features on CBeebies.
The UK National Health Service (NHS) website has information on the potential value of mindfulness practice for mental health wellbeing.
Mindfulness Meditation might be everywhere, but it’s not new
Modern mindfulness meditation practices are often taught and practiced secularly. However, it has ancient traditions dating back some 2,500 years to eastern religion and philosophies particularly, but not exclusively Buddhism.
The current popularity of Mindfulness Meditation is generally attributed to the work and teachings of Jon Kabat-Zinn who founded the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme in 1979.
How is Mindfulness Meditation defined and what is it all about?
Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as, ‘…Awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.’
So, at its very simplest, it’s about spending some dedicated time on being completely focused on your current experience, in the moment that you are living it.
It is then (a) the opposite of rushing around doing things without thought or awareness and (b) not judging or dwelling on your thoughts about the past or the future or the present moment.
This means that you can incorporate being mindful into your everyday (safe) normal activity.
- You can be mindfully aware of your breath as it moves through your body.
- You can be mindfully aware when you are cleaning your teeth or eating your food or taking a walk or,
- Doing anything that allows you to deliberately pay attention to the experiences of your present moment and to do this without judging your thoughts or emotions.
The raisin experience of mindful eating
The ‘raisin meditation’ is a mindfulness exercise developed by Jon Kabat-Zin, which requires you to focus your mind, on the present moment, using your senses of sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste. This simple and enlightening (hopefully!) exercise incorporates some of the basic fundamentals of being ‘mindful.’
Get a raisin (one not a handful!) and put it down in front of you. Then look at it, really look at it as if you’ve never seen anything like it before. Imagine that you’re from a distant galaxy, far, far away, or something and this is your very first experience of a raisin. Notice all its tiny details, for example, what colour is it? Is it uniform or are there shades of colour? Is it smooth or textured, dull or shinny? What shape is it? Does it look like it will be heavy or light?
Pick the raisin up and bring your attention to its characteristics as it sits in your palm. Is it soft or hard? What does its texture feel like? Does its skin feel waxy or smooth? It is soft or hard? Does it feel different if your role it around in your fingers? Does it make any sound when you bring it towards your ear as you do this?
Bring the raisin close to your nose and notice if has any fragrance. If you do detect a fragrance is this strong or barely noticeable? Is it sweet, sour or neither?
Place the raisin in your mouth, without chewing for a moment and let your taste buds react. Does it have a strong or a soft flavour? What does its texture feel like in your mouth? What happens when you bite into the raisin and chew. Notice how this changes how it tastes and feels. Finally, when you have finished chewing the raisin, bring your awareness to its physical progress as it moves from your mouth, into your throat and beyond.
Research into the value of mindfulness for mental health and wellbeing
There has been a great deal of research on the potential value of mindfulness on positive mental health and wellbeing. The British NHS website has some information on this and a simple web search will provide a great deal more.
