Self-Transformation: Mindfulness
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Unit: Self-transformation
Theme: Mindfulness
Introduction
Mindfulness is a meditational practice that allows us to
remain emotionally, psychologically and mentally healthy.
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Learning Objectives
- Understand the concept of mindfulness
- Explain how mindfulness relates to self-transformation
- Gain an awareness of the importance of mindfulness for Dance Movement Therapy
- Experience mindfulness by following
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Check In
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Main Lesson
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Working on gathering and organizing information for presentations.
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Concept Addressed:
Mindfulness:
It
is a way to maintain activity-dependent plasticity, mental health and
longevity, as well as a way to transform one's mental habits in a
positive way through meta-awareness. Meta-awareness is being aware of
where our attention is and where it is going at every moment.
Mindfulness acts as a wedge that opens up one's mind, providing insight into
the mental habits that arise over and over again. When practiced
regularly, mindfulness opens one's mind into wisdom, which is the direct
experience with one's mental habits. Mindfulness allows awareness and
wisdom to work together. allowing less time spent in selfing (a string of moment to moment experiences that can be broken down into perception, sensory awareness and evaluation).
This string of moments sustains one's self-conditioning and
self-perpetuating mental habits and dispositions that inform one's
awareness, reason why it is important to avoid it through mindfulness.
Mindfulness as Practice:
Mindfulness
is a very simple form of meditation that was little known in the West
until recently. It focuses on becoming aware of one’s incoming thoughts
and feelings and accepting them, but not attaching or reacting to them.
While, it sounds simple, it’s easier said than done. It’s something we
learn to master by doing it regularly. This is because we must learn how
to remove eight obstacles that come from our attitudes to be able to
“be mindful.”
Questions 1 & 2
1. Please summarize the main aspects of mindfulness.
2. Please, explain what mindfulness as practice entails?
1. Please summarize the main aspects of mindfulness.
2. Please, explain what mindfulness as practice entails?
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9 Attitudes
Mindfulness and heartfulness are the same. In eastern languages heart and mind are the same word.
mindfulness: moment to moment awareness
1. beginner's mind: a lovely orientation to bring to the present moment, always fresh, always new. Opposite to the mind of the expert, It has the virtue of looking at things as if it were the first time.
2. non-judging:
the awareness of bringing to the present moment non-judgmentally by
recognize it in relationship to our experience with discernment, clarity
and wisdom getting rid of the unhealthy habits of mind.
3. acceptance:
the act of recognizing that things are the way they are without forcing
them to be what they are not by applying the wisdom and the knowing
where to stand. This is a powerful attitude that creates healing.
4. letting go:
the opposite of clinging or grasping. It is reminding us that it is
possible to let go and push away those things we do not want as others
arise that we want. It is allowing things to be as they are. The breath
helps us to realize it, because every time we breath in, we have to let
go.
5. trust:
trusting the natural wisdom of the body and how beautiful supports
life. We trust that the airs comes in and out. We trust the metabolism
of the body in all its complexity. The more we bring trust to ourselves,
the more we can bring trust to our relationships, out environment. This
trust is developed with practice.
6. patience:
intentionally cultivating patience by recognizing that things unfold in
their own way. It is profoundly healing and restoring be not hurrying
or forcing things to happen. There is a sense of wisdom associated with
it.
7. non-striving:
allowing things to be as they are. Realizing that whatever is already
here is enough. It does not mean you wont get things done, it means
allowing things to be in their own time.
8.
gratitude: being alive should not be taken for granted. Bringing
gratitude to the present moment. All our organs are working. We take for
granted many things.
9. generosity: the power of giving yourself to life. Giving joy to others and enhancing interconnectedness.
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Mindful Movement
Mindful
movement is a serious of postures that are meant to allow the
practitioner to bring attention to body experience, bot in motion and
stillness. The work acknowledges the possible body limitations through
the postures one cannot achieve. Alternatively, we can imagine ourselves
in the posture.
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A Note to Remember
When practiced
regularly, mindfulness opens one's mind into wisdom, which is the direct
experience with one's mental habits.
"Our life is shaped by our mind. for we become what we think."
Dhammapada, Twin verses p. 101VI
Case Study
Video
Transforming the Self through Mindfulness
Question 3
Write your reflection about this presentation.
Summary
Here,
presents a case study on a group of women diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a
chronic pain disorder associated with widespread muscular tenderness,
chronic fatigue and other clinical symptoms. These patients had a high
level of anxiety and fear associated with their pain. When they were
given mindful training there was remarkable improvement of their
symptoms. What was the mechanism that made possible this clinical
improvement?
He
gave these patients a behavioral task, which was how they payed
attention to pain related words at the non-conscious perceptual level
and the more conscious level of processing. The words were shown to them
for 100 milliseconds. They did not have a lot of time for processing
the words consciously, but it could be observed whether or not they
looked towards or away from the words. At 500 milliseconds, they did
have time to process the words consciously and there could be observed
whether they got stuck, thinking and ruminating upon the words.
He
found two main differences between those who were exposed to mindful
training and those who were not. Those who were untrained avoided those
pain related words at the non-conscious perceptual level. Those who were
trained in mindfulness looked towards the words suggesting that they
had less fear and avoidance related behavior towards their pain. The
untrained group also had the tendency tor ruminate at the later stages
of processing, where those trained in mindfulness were able to see the
word, let it go and complete the task more readily.
This
results demonstrate that mindful awareness has the ability to improve
our mental habits of attention at both the conscious and non-conscious
levels. The more one meditates, the more one activates these
brain regions (frontopolar cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula) . The more one meditates, the more protected these regions
are from age related atrophy. All human brains begin to shrink after age
20, but meditation protects them. One other region that decreases in activation is the posterior cingulate cortex, which is associated with self-reflection and ruminatination.
Activity
Experience a guided walking meditation using mindful walking by following the directions in the video below. Declutter The Mind is an app that will teach you how to
meditate, help you form the habit of a regular practice, and expand your
mind.
As you walk, pay attention to the sensations of the body. How do your feet feel? How do the other muscles of your body compensate for changes in balance? Note how your arms swing as you walk.
Become more aware of your surroundings, not just practically (I must avoid the puddle or mail the letter on the way), but with an open mind, enjoying the immediacy of the sights, sounds, and smells. Open up your senses.
Mindful Walking Meditation (20 Minute Guided Practice)
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Glossary
activity-dependent plasticity: This is the function by which the brain is continuously modified to the 150 trillion cell to cell synaptic connections that are made in response to one's own every day experiences.
mindful awareness: paying
attention in a way that is continually watchful and discerning for what
is arising and passing in our minds and in the external world.
Dhammapada: a collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form and one of the most widely read and best known Buddhist scriptures.
selfing:
a string of moment to moment processing sustaining our mental habits
and dispositions that are self-conditioning and self-perpetuating
through repetitions continually informing our sense of awareness,
calling our memories from the past to make predictions about the future.
moment: a process of perception, sensory awareness and evaluation
meta-awareness: mindfulness based skill of mental habits such as awareness of where our attention is and where is going at any moment.
awareness:
the access or wedge to open up our minds providing insights into the
mental habits that arise again and again, which is inserted deeply into
our minds. (Andrew Olendzki, Tricycle Magazine, 2005)
wisdom:
the direct experience with our mental habits. For instance, the sensory
awareness of one's body when being angry, which means the tightness,
the clenched fists, the impulse and readiness to act.
Fibromyalgia:
a chronic (long-lasting) disorder that causes pain and tenderness
throughout the body, as well as fatigue and trouble sleeping. Scientists
do not fully understand what causes it, but people with the disorder
have a heightened sensitivity to pain.
neuro-imaging-first-person-introspective-method:
a neuro-phenomenological approach to mapping the meditative mind to
identify the brain networks and systems of functioning that are
supporting mindfulness-based practices.
frontopolar cortex:
the most anterior part of the brain, right behind the forehead. It is
also the most highly evolved part of the brain responsible for
supporting meta-awareness.
dorsal anterior cingulate cortex: (dACC)
is an enigmatic structure located on the medial wall of the cerebral
cortex. It is associated with executive control, learning, adjustment,
economic choice, and self-control.
anterior insula: The anterior insula processes a person's sense of disgust both to smells and to the sight of contamination and mutilation
— even when just imagining the experience. This associates with a
mirror neuron-like link between external and internal experiences.
frontoparietal control network: the work of the frontopolar cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula, together, allow oneself to be aware of one's body sensations and to flexibly switch between internal mental processing and thinking of the outside world. The more one meditates, the more one activates these brain regions. The more one meditates, the more protected these regions are from age related atrophy. All human brains begin to shrink after age 20, but meditation protects them.
posterior-cingulate-cortex: The posterior cingulate cortex
(PCC) is the caudal part of the cingulate cortex, located posterior to the
anterior cingulate cortex. This is the upper part of the "limbic
lobe". The cingulate cortex is made up of an area around the midline of the
brain. Surrounding areas include the retrosplenial cortex and the precuneus. Cytoarchitectonically
the posterior cingulate cortex is associated with Brodmann areas 23 and 31. The
PCC forms a central node in the default mode network of the brain. It has been
shown to communicate with various brain networks simultaneously and is involved
in diverse functions. Along with the precuneus, the PCC has been implicated as
a neural substrate for human awareness in numerous studies of both the
anesthetized and vegetative (coma) states. Imaging studies indicate a prominent
role for the PCC in pain and episodic memory retrieval. Increased size of the
ventral PCC is related to a decline in working memory performance. The PCC has
also been strongly implicated as a key part of several intrinsic control
networks.
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Journaling
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Sources
Sutton, Jeremy (2020). Mindful Walking and Walking Meditation: A Restorative Practice. https://positivepsychology.com/mindful-walking/
Why mindfulness is gaining popularity in our frantic world. https://bia.ca/why-mindfulness-is-gaining-popularity-in-our-frantic-world/
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Students' Work
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