This place exists everywhere for everyone at every moment, which is the present moment.There is in fact nowhere else to be. The past is a memory highlighted by the emotional charge whether positive or negative of the experience and at each retelling it changes and shifts according to the audience, the mood, indeed that very present moment. The future is speculation informed by the emotional charge of the past which in itself is a story…it is all a story…your story.
Interest in Mindfulness, a concept inherited from Buddhism, is now being utilised by psychologists as a secular technique to alleviate a variety of mental and physical conditions. In itself it is a small part of meditation techniques but a simple and useful part for those who have no wider interest in meditation. It has been adapted for the western mind.
The application of these techniques on an individual level is another story of course. Persuading anyone to change their behaviour is very difficult. Gentle steps and on going support is really the only effective way to intervene when symptoms are in crisis.
New findings have shown:
- A little over an hour of meditation training can dramatically reduce both the experience of pain and pain-related brain activation. (Zeidan, Journal of Neuroscience)
- Increases in mindfulness correlated with reductions in burnout and total mood disturbance, as well as increased stress resilience. (Krasner, JAMA).
- Participants who received mindfulness training showed a 42% decrease in the frequency and severity of primary IBS symptoms. (G. Andersson, Behavior Research and Therapy)
- Mindfulness meditation affects brain activity. Brain waves associated with integration increase during compassion meditation. When meditating, brain scans found increased activity in the following areas of the brain: insula, termporal pole/superior temporal gyrus, anterior cingulate, while the amygdala is less active. Overall, this is consistent with decreased arousal and an increased sense of well-being. (S. Lazar)
- Meditation improves attention. (Jha et al., 2007), (Slagter 2007), (Pagnoni & Cekic 2007), (Valentine & Sweet, 1999)
- You don’t have to be a seasoned meditator to see positive changes to your brain. New meditators who went through an 8-week meditation program saw changes in gray matter concentration in brain regions involved with learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and perspective taking. (Lazar, Psychiatry Research, 2011)
“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.”
Thich Nhat Hanh –Stepping into Freedom, monastic practice for monks
“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”
Thich Nhat Hanh –Peace is every step.
“Each place is the right place--the place where I now am can be a sacred space. ”
Ravi Ravindra The wisdom of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras
“. . . I feel we don’t really need scriptures. The entire life is an open book, a scripture. Read it. Learn while digging a pit or chopping some wood or cooking some food. If you can’t learn from your daily activities, how are you going to understand the scriptures? ”
Swami Satchananda The Yoga Sutras
“The heart surrenders everything to the moment. The mind judges and holds back.”
Ram Dass “Be Here Now”
“I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.”
Alan Watts “ Future, Past, Real”
Awareness: Ram Dass
Living in the present: Alan Watts
- Penny Moon
Speechmark author The Practical Well-Being Programme
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