In my first article about Mindfulness in the Midweek a fortnight ago I spoke of one of my favourite definitions of mindfulness:
"Mindfulness ... is the continuous practice of touching life deeply".
I went on to say that mindfulness is actually natural to every human being and invited us to consider how
all young children dwell in the present with great vitality.
And yet, as our lives gather the complexity of "growing up" you will have no doubt noticed the tendency for our minds to be overly busy, rarely actually in the present, usually pre-occupied by the past or the future. If you pause to become aware of the content of this busyness you will probably find that a large percentage of the time we are occupied with trying to bring "our world under control": in our work, with our spouses, our children and perhaps most intensively with ourselves!
What an exhausting and stressful busyness (business) this becomes!
Or perhaps you are still living with the unexamined "core belief" that: "If only I can get all the ducks lined up, THEN I will be happy". We all have our unique compilations of what those "lined up ducks" will look like: some common themes are to do with our own body size and shape; the amount of income we have; whether a certain person respects us; when we find that special partner; when the partner we have learns how to love us as we want them to; when we've paid off that loan; found the house of our dreams etc. I'm not suggesting that there is never a place for working towards goals that are meaningful to us, or growing our talents and our lives in a direction that is best fitted to our unique beings. However, I am inviting you to consider that if we make our happiness dependent on outer conditions, then our happiness will always be at best fragile, because conditions are always changing. Life is a deeply unpredictable affair, always was and always will be! Can we give ourselves fully to life, (touch life deeply) just as it is, knowing that we absolutely can't control outer events?
And here lies perhaps the greatest paradox: when we cease trying to manipulate life to give us what we want, and rather listen to how life is inviting us to respond, then life becomes an abundantly generous process. How does paying attention in the present moment have so much power to unlock this possible way of being with life?
There are many different ways of answering this: In terms of neuroscience, regular mindfulness practice "appears to shrink the brain's 'fight or flight' centre, the amygdala. This primal region of the brain, associated with fear and emotion, is involved in the initiation of the body's response to stress. As the amygdala shrinks, the pre-frontal cortex - associated with higher order brain functions such as awareness, concentration and decision-making - becomes thicker. The 'functional connectivity' between these regions - ie, how often they are activated together - also changes. The connection between the amygdala and the rest of the brain gets weaker, while the connections between areas associated with attention, concentration, empathy (and many other attributes of 'higher' consciousness) get stronger".*
Another way of saying this could be that it grows us away from our reptilian brain and evolves us to towards our fuller humanity.
I delight in contemplating this: the sages from thousands of years ago understood that certain practices grew our innate wisdom and harmonious functioning; and neuroscience in the 21st century is discovering the scientific basis for it. Yet, how life evolved us with this capacity for full humanity in harmony with the whole of life; as opposed to a fearful primate, grasping for our own individual interests: now THAT remains a mystery that fills me with wonder and gratitude.
* /blog/2015/2/18/scientific-american-what-does-mindfulness-meditation-do-to-your-brain-by-tom-ireland/
Annie Chapman is a certified Yoga teacher and massage therapist with a daily meditation practice.
She has been living in Whanganui for a year, working for Balance NZ and now Balance Whanganui.
This month she starts a 4 week Introduction to Mindfulness & Meditation as a trainer for "Mindfulness Works".
¦For bookings and a description of the course: go to http://mindfulnessworks.co.nz/an-introduction-to-mindfulness-meditation-4-week-course-whanganui/ or for more info: email anniechapman@actrix.co.nz
Annie Chapman
In my first article about Mindfulness in the Midweek a fortnight ago I spoke of one of my favourite definitions of mindfulness:
"Mindfulness ... is the continuous practice of touching life deeply".
I went on to say that mindfulness is actually natural to every human being and invited us to consider how
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