In a world filled with anxiety, stress, and environmental and humanitarian disasters, people are looking for ways to cope. Many have turned to practices derived from ancient Eastern philosophies for guidance. They are among them mindfulnesswhich is associated with Meditation. Lucy Draper-Clark, researcher and its author The compassionate activistspoke to health and medicine editor Nadine Dreyer about looking inward and cultivating compassion, awareness and gratitude.
What does mindfulness really mean?
The original translation of the Pali word sati is “remembered”. It was about remembering your morals, the right way to behave at all times.
It shifts within the modern context and is usually translated as “I am conscious and aware of the present moment”.
The word I prefer to use is ‘awareness’.
A mindfulness practice would be one way to bring you back to the present. You would use your senses, your breath or your body as in a yoga practice.
To be attentive is to be present, to be open. You are not trapped in the past or the future.
And this helps you calm down because a lot of depression or depressing thoughts are connected to the past and things we regret.
A lot of anxiety is about the future.
Exists research in these particular trends. If people experience a lot of anxiety, it is often that their mind is in the future, worrying about what will happen next.
And the same thing for depression. The mind goes back into the past and enters ruminating cycles of things that have happened or that we did wrong or what we perceive as wrong.
The present moment frees you from these aspects. Your attention is focused precisely on what is here and now. Within it you can bring a sense of distinction.
My work ties it in as well compassion. So if the present moment is uncomfortable – experiencing a friend suffering or our own pain – bring compassion to it. I find that awareness and compassion go hand in hand.
How do we incorporate meditation into our daily lives?
Mindfulness is often achieved through meditation, a practice of sitting still and focusing the mind on sensations or breathing, but we can also remain mindful throughout the day.
I think the word “habit” is very good. To make your meditation as familiar a practice as brushing your teeth or showering. It’s mental health.
Making it a daily practice, at a specific time of day, helps people: it’s less negotiable. Once we start negotiating with ourselves – I should practice, I shouldn’t practice – we often default to less healthy habits like surfing the web or watching repetitive news.
In The compassionate activist I distinguish five categories of contemplative practices: calmness, insight, positive qualities, commitment, and shadow integration.
Soothing practices are what calm us down. For most people a deep belly breath can be like a switch that shifts them from chaos to calm. It can really help. Not all. If you’ve had asthma, if you’ve had trauma related to your breathing, then this isn’t always the best method to use.
Movement practices also help activate and then calm the body, which in turn calms the heart and mind. When the expressive movement (a form of dance) or yoga performed with a real conscious awareness of the body, they can be very helpful in preparing the mind for meditation.
How important are insight and self-awareness?
Insight practices help us understand our own habits. If you tend to be in a state of depression or anxiety, simply bringing your mind back to the present again and again can take you out of those tendencies. We often don’t think it’s that simple, but it’s amazing how much support we can give ourselves by coming back to the present moment. Of course, if we have experienced traumatic events, then these practices are best done alongside psychotherapy.
There are also practices for cultivating positive, pro-social qualities such as curiosity, wonder, compassion, joy, and gratitude, which are innate aspects of human existence.
The mind has a negativity bias. The brain likes to learn quickly, so it tends to learn from negative experiences, but we also have a lot of great experiences.
Training the mind to focus on caring gestures that people show us every day, even if it’s leaving it in traffic or someone making you a cup of tea, opens the mind to gratitude, appreciation and wonder.
Anger is often the result of fear. We go into fight and flight mode. Wound is the result of grief. So we don’t need to demonize any of our difficult feelings. We use them to collect information. What am I feeling right now? And what do I need?
We learn to look at our experience instead of being overwhelmed by it.
What is your advice for those who want to refocus their lives?
There is a great saying, that there are 84,000 Dharma doors. Dharma means truth. So 84,000 different ways to find the truth. Your truth.
But the reason this number is given is that apparently in the audience where the Buddha spoke, there were 84,000 people. So what he’s saying is: find your own way.
When do I feel satisfied? When do I feel comfortable? When do I feel joy? Use these positive feelings as a way to reassure yourself that you’re on the right track.
Tune into your own happiness, your own joy, your own contentment and ease, and let them guide you to the kind of practices that will bring you the most benefits at different stages of your life.
