In my last blog I discussed the benefits of mindfulness training. Some of you may be quite familiar with the practice of mindfulness. We are hearing more and more about it as it has been the focus of a number of research studies in the field of neuroscience. It has also become one of the new evidence-based forms of psychotherapy and is being combined with cognitive behavioral therapy to provide an even more effective and powerfully transformative form of treatment.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with mindfulness training, I would like to introduce you to it. There are various forms of mindfulness practice. I will share a brief introductory exercise that gives you a taste of it and share a few thoughts about it. We begin mindfulness training by learning to activate what is called “witness consciousness.” To get a sense of what this is, take a moment to experience the following exercise:
This exercise guides you to a heightened awareness of your sensory experience through focused attention on sights, sounds and sensations. The intense, focused awareness quiets the mind and accesses your larger consciousness. When the mind quiets, it rests in the present moment and invites stillness. This experience is very calming and peaceful. It also sets the stage for you to be more aware of your thoughts and feelings as they arise in consciousness so you can work with the ones that detract from your well-being and nurture those that enhance your well-being.
Read through the description. Then take a few moments to go back through the description and experience it.
Sit with your spine straight and your arms and legs uncrossed. Take a few nice, deep breaths and quiet your mind.
Become intensely aware of the sights around you. Notice the colors, shapes and textures of the objects around you in an increasingly focused way. See them as if for the first time.
While aware of the sights around you, also become aware of the sounds. Just listen to the sounds in your environment as if you have never really heard them before.
While aware of the sights and sounds, also become aware of bodily felt sensations. Feel your clothes where they touch your body, the coolness of the AC or the warmth of the sun on your skin. Really look, listen and feel the bodily felt sensations in this moment. After several minutes of doing this, observe how you are feeling.
In this short exercise you have just experienced your sense of sight, sound and touch, and you were aware of them as you were experiencing them. Who is the part of you that was aware of your experiences? It is “the Witness,” your capacity for awareness that transcends the conscious mind. As Richard Moss, M.D. explains in his book The Mandala of Being, “When we are aware of hunger…or anger, the aspect of us that is aware is not itself hungry… or angry. It is a higher consciousness that resides within us and is always there. This awareness has been called our true self and is the “being” in human being. It is the organizing field of intelligence at the center of our extraordinary capacity for awareness. This is the dimension of each of us that is always prior to, and that transcends whatever we are aware of.”
In activating the Witness, you open to a more spacious awareness. Mindfulness is the ability to activate the witness, and be aware of and step back from your own inner experience, whether it is thoughts, emotions, memories, images or bodily sensations. So often it is these barely conscious thoughts, images, etc. that create our “dis-ease” and compromise our well-being. When you can step back and observe them, rather than be hijacked and taken over by them, they have much less power over you. That’s freedom. Then you get to be in charge and choose how you want to respond, giving you much more say in how you feel.