A Note on Mindfulness

Mindfulness, when experienced, is not something you want to leave, but we inevitably and far too often, depart from it. The experience in and of itself, no matter how fleeting, creates desire. It can make the mundane and bland seem full and enriching. We crave more of it, but life happens and the next thing we know, days have gone by and stress has curtailed our waking life and we lose track.

For this reason, we won’t consider mindfulness to be a state of being, rather, let’s conceptualize it as a practice of being. In this way we practice it in the various areas that make up “being.” As we progress from one area of being, we try to apply it to other areas. Like an athlete who uses their well-defined muscles for more than just their sport. They simply can’t play their sport all the time, but they can profit from the benefits it provides across many activities. Just like the mindful hero can’t sit and listen to the birds all day, but he can benefit by taking his skills elsewhere.

Now they may be able to take their skills across many activities, but that doesn’t mean they are as proficient with all of these activities as they are with their main sport. This predicament is sometimes where people reach a state of helplessness with mindful practice. They toss up their hands and say, “I just can’t do this.” But, here’s the thing, yes you can, you just need to find the sport at which you can do it and use this to grow.

All we have to do is find your sport. When we find your sport, or the setting/technique where mindfulness works for you, we will zone in on it. We will practice it until your muscles get strong enough to take your mindful strength and apply it across your life, drawing new curtains where stress once clouded.

So let’s start simple. After you finish reading this paragraph, I want you to take the tip of your index finger (not finger nail) and slowly and softly scratch the back of your head. You will feel the hair scrape under your fingerprint. You will also hear it as it separates the follicles across the skull at the pressure of your finger pressing down. Now, can you tell me two other things that you feel happening?

1) ____________________

2) ____________________

These recognitions are mindful in nature. What we do here is take an experience and break it down into smaller stimulating components. Let’s try another, more familiar one:

Breathe in through your nose, slowly and deliberately. Listen to it as it vacuums up through your nose canal. Notice the relief as you breath back out. What are some other things you can notice about this experience?

How does the air feel? Is it hot? Is it cold?

How does the air taste?

Does the air have a smell?

Each of these components to the experience can be used as a focal point at which to begin the practice of mindfulness. Start with one, the one that captivates your mind easiest, and then you can begin adding the other components.

For me, I always liked to imagine how the air was cool on my nostrils. Cool coming in and warm going out. For some reason my mind was always able to handle this. Later, I started to be able to concentrate on the full range of breathing. But it took some practice just focusing on one part of it.

Maybe breathing or feeling your hair scratch isn’t your thing. Maybe you need more stimulation and more activity. If so, let’s try it with walking. In a moment, I want you to stand up and take the slowest steps you can possibly take and make a circle. After, I want you to write down everything you could possibly notice about the experience that had to do with walking. If other thoughts come in that aren’t about walking, slow your step and allow your brain the chance to catch up.

How does it feel? Any Aches? What about your toes, eyes, arms, legs, knees, fingers, wind? Was your mind on the circle, the shape, the balance, the slowness? Oh, there is so much to concentrate on. Make me a list of at least ten walking experiential things that you just experienced.

Now, pick one of those things and walk the circle again. This time, I want you to concentrate on one of the things from the list. When you come back around, I want you to congratulate yourself- you are now a pro mindful athlete. You have the skills you need to take this anywhere, with any and every activity. Some places will be harder, but with practice you will get stronger and better. Always come back and practice your sport.

Walking and breathing are something we often do, therefore it’s easy to tap into it during a stressful day. Scratching the back of the head is also easy, it can become a grounding activity when things get stressful. Try it. Think upon it.

In time you will be able to apply this to brushing your teeth, doing dishes, lifting weights, folding laundry, driving, drinking coffee. Really, you can take this with you anywhere.

Does this he-man look like he’s rushing?

For the purpose of the Integrity Endurance Program, we are going to try to hone in on mindful movement and mindful eating. These two things will help us excel in our nutrition programs and exercise programs. When we move deliberately through a workout, concentrating on each movement, we ultimately get a better and more enjoyable work out. Likewise, when we consciously slow down and mindfully eat we tend to enjoy our food more and find more satisfaction in it.

You may say, “but I have too many work outs I need to get through on my routine.” If this is your thinking, as it is with the many of us, including myself, with proclivity towards the American mentality of rush rush rush, then you need to try extra hard to slow down. Tell yourself when you get stressed that you aren’t going to be able to fit your bench press in that it is quality over quantity, every single time quality is going to be the winner over quantity. As your body gets stressed it stores fat and limits your ability to work out. So slow down, be mindful and try to enjoy yourself.

Love,

Mark