It’s All In The Mind
In the 1970s, the cognitive psychologist Ellen Langer noticed the biological, psychological and attitudinal impact of envisioning on elderly people. By envisioning themselves as younger versions of themselves, they often began to feel, and even think, like they had actually become younger. This included neuro-muscular performance, hypertension, blood sugar and memory. The mind, Langer realized, could have a strong effect on the body. That realization led her to devote herself to the study of mindfulness as a heightened state of involvement and wakefulness.
But mindfulness is more than feeling alert and focused. That responsive alertness you may get even when stressed, fearful or simply caffeinated ! Mindfulness is a state of ‘conscious awareness’ in which the individual is implicitly aware of the context and content of information.
There are different approaches to mindfulness. It has been studied by cognitive scientists purely in an experimental setting. In the West, it has also been a part of the spiritual discovery of the East, particularly in the form of its Buddhist practice. No matter what the reason and approach, we can be sure that even a brief mindfulness practice—typically, a meditation that focusses on a particular aspect of the present moment, like your breath, your body, or a particular sensation—has a substantial, positive effect on mental well-being and memory. It strengthens neural structures that are tied to heightened attention and focus, and strengthens connectivity linked to self-monitoring and control.
I know this from personal experience. I have learned and practiced mindfulness meditation for the past half a decade. I have helped myself and then used the learning to help numerous persons. I have worked with people with mental and physical illnesses. I have worked with people who needed anchoring and perspective. I have seen how mindfulness gave people a reason to live and live well. In my observation, high-stress seekers tend to benefit the most in the short term. In this way, it’s no different from overweight people and exercise. Sustaining the gains is the most challenging part.
The essential staple of mindfulness learning is to focus on ones breath in a thoughtless state.
Mindfulness training improves emotional equilibrium and enables people to better handle distractions. For hundreds of millions around the world, mindfulness is imbibed as a part of religious , socio-cultural norm. It’s a way of life. It was so in ancient India. But even for those who see mindfulness only as a wellness regime, it is still relevant and true in the immediate sense of being helpful and therapeutic. It allows you to roam inside of your being. It gives penetrating insights into your thoughts and cravings. It chains your monkey mind and calms it to a level that you feel better about being alive.
The highest insight the Buddha had was that people suffer because the things they crave for are subject to decay. Our lust and desire is for things that inevitably change and rot. Hence our desires are never fulfilled. We also love ourselves in an objectified way. We ride our own self and whip it in a race with no finish line. Therefore, we collapse, emotionally and physically. The good news is that we can change this. Simply by sitting and breathing. Yes, via mindfulness meditation, we can begin to disengage from the normal run of desires and disappointments, and come to grasp that the self is –in fact- an illusion. That self which is suffering from all these needs, anxieties and dissonance can be helped only by becoming less selfish and more selfless.
In the West, in the middle of the last century Japanese meditative practices were given a lot of prominence because the Americans had a lot of exposure to Japan. Zen (from the Sanskrit dhyan) caught the intellectual imagination be it “Zen and the Art of Archery” or the masterly “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” For the larger world, the American spiritual renaissance often got confused with the larger, more prevalent, hippie culture. However, American researchers and practitioners kept the agenda alive in the West.
What is appealing about mindfulness is that it seems tailor-made to address the issues of the modern times. All that we are burdened with -stress, competitive urgency, material want, lifestyle disease, mental trauma, loneliness, and alienation –can be helped, resolved or cured via mindfulness. Mindfulness builds perspective. It allows you to face the demons inside and the challenges outside. It can be incorporated as a way of life. You can accompany a mindfulness healer, trainer or guru. You can choose to do it alone. Pursuing mindfulness, you can just sit there and do something significant.
Instead of there being a single, consistent, individual self, with mindfulness practice, we start to realise and accept that the ‘fixed self’ is an illusion. Our wants and desires reinforce the illusion. When I say ‘I’ am eating an orange, I don’t focus on the inner person but on the desire for the orange alone.
Mindfulness makes us see the ad-hoc nature of our illusion of being. Are we not the same person at 55 years of age that we are at 15 years old ? Biologically, we are not. But neither are we so emotionally. Yet, our identification is with the same person. We can realize this transience through meditation. Mindfulness is not some highway to heavenly status. It is a exercise for self-exploration. It helps us put our machine in neutral gear. It allows us to see things clearly and prevents us from being misled by feelings. The deliberate search for emptiness settles the mind. No fire can fall on dry ground and burn. It needs dry leaves. Those inflammable materials are our reactions.
How to start ? Simply sit and breathe for twenty-five minutes. Realise the pitifully small time we typically spend ‘in the moment’. After enough practice, you will see that the mindfulness is helping at a level of conscious intention as well as reflexive instinct.
Dissatisfaction with our circumstances, the frustration of our ambitions, and the ache of the unachieved is like regretting that a cloud is passing by in the sky. It has no real relevance except to our bondage.
You too can realise this through mindfulness meditation. Just find a quiet corner to just sit and breathe.
About the author -
(Tanushree Choudhary Singh, a marketing and communications professional, has devoted herself to the learning, dissemination and practise of mindfulness meditation and other alternate therapy and wellness systems)
