(An abridged version of this post was published in a copy of an E-Mag OM RISE, downloadable at OM RISE)
What is
“Mindfulness”?
“To become different from what we are,
we must have some awareness of what we are.”
(Eric
Hoffer, in The Passionate State of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)
Aphorism 151, p. 93)
Mindfulness can be described as the psychological
process of one's attention to experiences occurring in the present moment
or it can more simply be described as ‘Awareness’,
‘Self-awareness’, ‘Self-Observation’ , ‘Atma-Darshan’ or ‘Externalization’
as practiced by different Yoga or Spiritual schools.
Here, it may be worthwhile to note that the
Sanskrit word ‘Adhyatma’, for which english word ‘Spirituality’
is used as a loose translation, actually means ‘Adhyaan’ of ‘Atma’
i.e.‘Study of Self’.
Mindfulness is a state of non-conceptual
awareness i.e. “bare attention” and not thinking. It does not get
involved with thought or concepts. It does not get hung up on ideas or opinions
or memories. It just looks. Mindfulness registers experiences, but it does not
compare them. It does not label them or categorize them. It just observes everything
as if it was occurring for the first time. It is not analysis that is based on
reflection and memory. It is, rather, the direct and immediate experiencing of
whatever is happening, without the medium of thought. It comes before thought
in the perceptual process.
“Mindfulness is present-moment awareness. It
takes place in the here and now. It is the observance of what is happening
right now, in the present. It stays forever in the present, perpetually on the
crest of the ongoing wave of passing time”
(Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain
English (2011), p. 134)
A mindful or self-aware state enables heightened
sensory perception, an awareness of surroundings & environment, of one’s actions
and words before spoken, and the mental processes behind the actions and even a perception of slower lapse of time.
With regular practice of Yoga, it is possible
to achieve a more or less permanent state of mindfulness. Observing
continuously of our bodily sensations, paying attention to the happenings
around us, understanding the sensory stimuli, breathing, detaching the mind
from the internal torrent of thoughts, emotions are certain ways to achieve
mindfulness.
A mindful state is not burdened by connecting
events around us like our memories, our past experiences, our conditioned
perceptions and it does not attach motives, and does not look at the events as opportunities
or threats ab initio.
Reaction & Response:
We all have an idea about the meaning of
phrases like “application of mind” and “mindless impulsive actions”.
Let’s see a simple example:
Imagine a fender bender accident on a Monday
when one is already late for an important meeting and behind deadlines as well.
Depending upon his as well as the other driver’s state of mind, this incident
may be more than likely to lead to a scuffle.
In
certain extreme cases this road rage can lead to homicide as well, which
obviously has happened in real life road rage events.
However, in a different state of mind of the
drivers, it may lead to an amicable settlement and, who knows, additionally
even to a long term friendship.
What caused the stark and extreme difference in
the outcomes of the situation?
Mindfulness!
The difference is that one is a ‘spontaneous
reaction’ while the other is a ‘mindful response’! While resorting
to verbal or physical violence in such a scenario would have been an automatic
reaction of a stress state of mind especially if compounded by panic, lack of
sleep etc, in the other case a mindful approach would have summed up the whole
scenario in a glance and selected the best response to the issue.
A mindful person or a person ‘present in the present’
not only observes his surrounding in much more detail, he or she also observes
his own emotions rising , thoughts forming and converting to an actionable
option.
Further he may also understand the particular
pattern of thoughts and may analyze the root of such pattern in his
personality, his own psychological profile and thereby improve his own
personality as a continuous process.
Mindfulness and Productivity/Creativity
The level of sensory observation in a mindful
state is so much on a different scale. We all know about the story of Newton
and the apple and the origin of Theory of gravitation. Had Newton, or for that
matter others, not observed falling things before? Or the instance of
Archimedes discovering the theory of buoyancy in a bathtub?
So what was different in this instance?
Perhaps, a state of mindfulness at the
particular instance.
Mindfulness and happiness
An internalized mind is vulnerable to being
trapped in its memories of the past and fears about the future. The mind when
without a task uses its own vast resources to create scenarios for itself and
replay memories again and again. An internalized mind therefore may suffer from
panic, depression and complexes.
An externalized mind, by observing its sensory stimuli,
observing its own thought process, observing its environment, environmental
inputs and its response to them is not only free from the complexes, but is active, involved and in a
happier and higher state of existence.
A man requested a master to take him as a
disciple and remedy his problem of depression, anxiety and stress. The master
took him and allotted him a simple task of boiling water for everyone, all day,
every day. The disciple found the repetitive and simple, boring task so taking
his stress at the breaking point of his sanity. However, but then, once he
started minutely observing the boiling water and found that observing the minute changes made him calmer.
Soon This act of pointed observation itself started relaxing him and lead him
to calmness through externalization.
Mindfulness and Perception of Time
“We argue that the emergence of the arrow of
time is directly related to the nature and properties of physical observer.”
(From: “On decoherence in
quantum gravity”, Author: Podolsky, Dmitry and Lanza, Robert, Year: 2016,
Journal: Annalen der Physik, Volume:528 )
“Put
your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a
pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.”― Albert Einstein
For any individual,
time remains the most precious but an un-replenishable resource, exhausting
every second, mercilessly.
However, besides in
the circadian cycles, perception of time exists in our minds as well.
Which means that time moves as slow or as fast as we
perceive it to.
For example, imagine a 100 m sprint.
A casual watcher who is bored, daydreaming or talking
would almost fail to notice anything except the start or finish while an avid
watcher would watch the race, as it happens, but it would seem to him at a very
fast speed, too fast to watch all contestants. However, as for the sprinter,
for him the time slows down before the race starts, remains slow and becomes
slower as his chest touches the ribbon. The experience of these persons for the
same 10 seconds quite differs.
For the casual watcher, these 10 seconds did not exist at
all, for the avid watcher these were like 10 seconds and as for the sprinter,
the time almost took half a minute, as per his own perception.
In sports, many a
time a batsman, bowler, golf player or football player etc finds himself
watching the ball almost as in slow motion, as if frame by frame.
Remember, how
sometimes late in the night, when the clock seems to tick so loudly and at a
leisurely pace, even after the hours of the day have passed, like in a flash.
This is the capability of awareness. The higher the awareness, the slower is
the perception of time. Amphetamines and other stimulants have been used to
raise the wakefulness to this end.
Vice versa,
the more fragmented the focus, the lesser aware the mind, the faster is the
time.
So, the secret of the perception of time is mindfulness. By keeping our minds
lighter loaded, externalising our minds, we can improve our awareness and then
we can be far more efficient, productive and successful. Hours, days, months
and Life will all become longer in our own frame of reference resulting in
higher productivity success and thereby happiness.
Mindfulness through Yoga
Yoga Sutra by Patanjali (2nd BCE), the
first compilation of Philosophy of Ashtanga Yoga, has been treated as guidance
by almost all schools.
Sutra
35:(iv) of Yoga Sutra:
(The mind can
be made steady by …or…)
“Or by observing sense experience”
Viṣayavati
vā pravṛttirutpannā
manasaḥ
sthitinibandhani
(Viṣayavati :sensuous; vā: or; pravṛttih: functioning;
utpannā: arisen; manasaḥ: of the mind; sthiti: steadiness; nibandhani : which
binds)
Or else, the mind can be made steady by
bringing it into activity of sense experience. Here the mind is made to observe
itself in sense perception; that is, perception through the senses of seeing,
hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. By merging the mental consciousness
into these sense perceptions, the mind comes under control.
That is to say, the mental
consciousness can be merged into sound consciousness by repetition of mantras,
bhajan, kirtan, etc. A sophisticated person may not find this interesting, but
it is true that if one goes deep, one can control the mind by making it sound
conscious. This is a principle of Nada yoga. The mind can also be controlled by
making it form-conscious through Trataka, which is concentration on a
particular form, and similarly, in the case of touch-consciousness and
taste-consciousness. The former happens when the guru touches the disciple on
the head, and the latter is brought about by Khechari mudra. By concentrating
the mind on the tip of the nose, a subtle or psychic smell is experienced,
which can be utilized for controlling the mind. Taste consciousness is
developed by concentrating on the front part of the tongue. Colour visions are
developed by concentrating on the palate in khechari mudra. Psychic touch is
experienced by concentrating on the central part of the tongue. Psychic sound
is developed by concentrating on the root of the tongue. All these psychic
processes become the basis of self-control. When these psychic processes are
developed, the student starts concentrating on them. In due course his mind
transcends them and goes deeper. That is a state of complete mental control.
All this involves the action of the senses, the indriyas, in dharana and pratyahara.
(From: Four Chapters on
Freedom by Sw. Satyanand Sarawati, 2002)
Yogic Practices for Mindfulness
·
Pranayama
·
Breath awareness
·
Yogic exercise with awareness of body parts
Other techniques
Experience of ‘Strangeness’ improves the
mindfulness manifold. Strangeness is the experience of suddenly being within an
environment, totally new and strange to oneself.
This is the reason travelling to new and exotic
places is almost always an experience on a different level, providing much more
enthusiasm, interest, observation and boost to creativity.
When going through unknown areas and meeting strange
people, one is in a deeper awareness, can question, observe and think over
the same things, that he would miss entirely at his own home.
An example of this is that while we can notice all the
cobwebs and spiders, in detail, in the house of a host we are visiting, we do
not notice much larger ones in our own drawing room.
Travelling to new places, meeting new people of
different domains, changing interiors and exteriors of accommodation and
workplace, changing ones styling etc are techniques to improve mindfulness.
So, Friends as we have learnt that perhaps
Mindfulness is the best way to live a calmer, more productive life leading to
self realization, or in other words, Mindfullness is the way to live life.
“Life is a dance. Mindfulness is witnessing that
dance”
(Amit Ray, Mindfulness Living in the Moment - Living in the
Breath (2015)
