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Mindfulness Matters

Some time ago, m good friend and colleague, Dr. Sam Standard, lectured in both my Health Psychology course and Introduction to Clinical Psychology course at UVM. We heard about his dissertation research conducted while obtaining his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at Stanford. Forgiveness has been an underappreciated yet critical variable in health and self-perception. His…

As those of you who have read my book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 MEtaphors for Mindfulness, already know, I am quite fond of Star Trek (Original Series and Next Generation) and have plumbed these episodes for metaphors. Star Trek episodes are morality plays and the writers, especially for STNG, demonstrated a familarity with…

In Zen Women: Beyond Tea Ladies, Iron Maidens and Macho Masters Grace Schireson tells the untold story of women in Zen. The unfortunate truth is that the history of Buddhism is not one of gender equality. While the Buddha did finally relent after persistent pressure from his aunt Prajapati to admit women into the Sangha against…

You will find the poet Rainer Maria Rilke showing up on mindfulness teaching poetry lists. Here is his poem, “Buddha in Glory” Center of all centers, core of cores, almond self-enclosed and growing sweet — all this universe, to the furthest stars and beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit.   Now you feel how…

Robert Frost warned, “Unless you are at home in the metaphor, unless you have had your proper poetical education in the metaphor, you are not safe anywhere.” And it’s not just poetic metaphors; metaphors are everywhere in our language in our concepts and many of these come from our physical bodies and the way our…

Thich Nhat Hanh warns, “If we continue to live as we have been living, consuming without a thought of the future, destroying our forests and emitting greenhouse gases, then devastating climate change in inevitable. Much of our ecosystem will be destroyed. Seal levels will rise and coastal cities will be inundated, forcing hundreds of millions…

Another distraction that might arise is feelings of impatience, restlessness, or boredom. Typically, this happens when the mind projects itself into the future or tries to make this practice into something other than this simple looking at the breath. You can acknowledge these feelings, without buying into their stories. They are concepts and hold no…

Why pay attention to breathing? Well, you could pay attention to whatever you like, but breathing confers certain advantages over other objects of attention. First, the breath is always with you and always available to you as an object of attention. You can’t forget to bring it with you; you don’t need any special props…

To get started with mindfulness practice, just start where you are. Posture is important and is secondary to the cultivation of awareness. If you can sit cross-legged on the floor this will provide a stable posture for practice. But if you can’t and need to sit in a chair there is no problem with that.…
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