Mindfulness and Meditation It Starts with the Breath

1. Mindfulness and Meditation: It Starts with the Breath What is ancient and new? What involves something we do all the time and pay little or no attention to? What has become so mainstream that even Barbie is doing it? What is something everyone is talking about, but many can’t describe what it is? What helps with stress, physical pain, fear, anxiety and depression? Oh, clever you, you know it is mindfulness (you read the title, or did you?) There are lots of ways to describe and understand what mindfulness is and what it isn’t. The following is a definition of mindfulness from Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, who in conjunction with the University of Massachusetts Medical Center created a course called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR): “Mindfulness has to do above all with attention and awareness, which are universal human qualities. But in our society, we tend to take these capacities, for granted and don’t think to develop them systematically in the service of self-understanding and wisdom. Meditation is the process by which we go about deepening our attention and awareness, refining them, and putting the two to great practical use in our lives.”

2. There are plenty of ways to find meditation and mindfulness instruction. I can think of 10 different apps off the top of my head and have 5 of them on my phone. YouTube has thousands of guided meditations. These are all wonderful and helpful. Yet, if you are new to mindfulness and meditation, it can be overwhelming. How can we be mindful and calm when there are so many choices and voices looking to get you to the state of calm attention and awareness? This is where a structured meditation and mindfulness class can help. Learning mindfulness is deceptively easy. It can also feel complicated. There are a lot of misconceptions about mindfulness and meditation. The ongoing process of mindfulness takes practice. Through this practice one gains an increased sense of calm, control and awareness. Dr. Kabat-Zinn states, “awareness is more like a vessel which can hold and contain our thinking, helping us to see and know our thoughts as thoughts rather than getting caught up in them as reality.” Boiling mindfulness and meditation down to the bare bones they are about learning to paying attention without judgment. The easiest thing to focus on is our breath. We breathe every minute of every day automatically. People seldom pay attention to the breath unless something is wrong. Learning to pay attention to our breathing is the beginning of a gift to ourselves. This is the start of learning to be. I am excited to offer the opportunity for you to learn how to begin to have a profound sense of connection to yourself. In the upcoming class you will learn, experience and practice various types of meditation. Through instruction, discussion and practice we will help you start or deepen your connection with yourself and being.