Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World

by Williams, Mark

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  Mindful Movement meditation5

  Preparation

  Stand in bare feet or socks with your feet about hip-width apart and more or less parallel to each other. The back is straight but not stiff. The head is balanced and the shoulders relaxed, with your hands down by your sides.

  Remember that it’s very important to be gentle with yourself as you do these stretches. Look after yourself during the movement, letting the wisdom of your body decide what is OK for you: how far to go with any stretch and how long to hold it.

  If you have a physical problem with your back or any other part of the body, then do consult your physician or physiotherapist before embarking on even these simple stretches. But whether you have a problem or not, see this practice as a chance to cultivate awareness of the body in even the smallest movement—it’s not a competition with yourself or anyone else.

  As you’re standing, notice the contact between your feet and the floor. Perhaps unlock the knees slightly. See how this feels. Raising arms

  Then, on an in-breath, slowly and mindfully raise your arms out to the sides until they are parallel to the floor. On another in-breath continue to raise them, slowly and mindfully, until your hands are above your head, with the palms turned toward each other. Stretch upward, feet firmly grounded on the floor, as you breathe. Stretch up for a few breaths, but stay within your limits.

  When you are ready, slowly—very slowly—on an out-breath, begin the journey back, allowing the arms to come down. Breath by breath, really tune in to the changing sensations as the arms move, perhaps feeling clothes moving on the surface of the skin. Feel the changing landscape of sensations from the muscles in the arms, until your arms come back to rest, hanging from the shoulders.

  If your eyes have been open, perhaps close them gently at this point, to help you focus attention on the sensations throughout the body as you stand here. Be aware of the aftereffects of doing this stretch and of the movements of the breath in the body. Picking fruit

  Opening your eyes, stretch your right arm up, as if you were picking fruit from a tree that is just out of reach. Looking up, beyond the fingers, bring your full awareness to the sensations throughout the body and to what the breath does as you stretch. Perhaps allow the left heel to come off the floor as you stretch. Feel the stretch right through your body.

  Now allow the heel to come back to the floor, and begin to lower the hand. Follow the fingers with your eyes if you choose, noticing what colors and shapes your eyes drink in as they follow your hand down.

  Then move your face to the center, letting the eyes close for a few moments as you tune into the aftereffects of this stretch, along with sensations of the breath moving in the body.

  Now open your eyes again. Stretch up to “pick fruit” with your left hand, allowing the right heel to come off the floor to help the stretch. Once again, see if you can notice what parts of the body are involved in this stretch. Note where the edges are, becoming aware and then letting go of even the slightest tendency to push beyond your limits.

  Allow the heel to come back to the floor and the arm to return slowly to your side. Follow it all the way with your eyes, noticing what the eyes drink in as they follow the fingers down. Then, when the arm has come to rest, allow the face to come back to center. Let the eyes close. Tune in to the aftereffects of doing this stretch. Bending sideways

  Now, on an out-breath, put your hands on your hips, allowing the head and shoulders to bend over to the left very slowly and mindfully, with the hips moving a little to the right. Bending sideways, the body forms a curve that extends from the feet through the hips and torso. Breathe in this position.

  Remember that it’s not important how much you bend, it’s the quality of attention you bring to even small movements—or even to standing still if you choose to do that instead.

  On an in-breath, return to standing unpright. Remain here for a moment. Then, on an out-breath, slowly bend over in the opposite direction. On an in-breath, return to standing upright, letting your arms rest by your sides. What aftereffects of this stretch are you aware of as you stand here? Shoulder rolls

  Finally, try some shoulder rolls. First, raise the shoulders toward the ears as far as they will go. Then, allow them to move backward, moving the shoulder blades toward each other. Letting the shoulders drop down completely, squeeze them together in front of the body, as if you were trying to touch them together.

  Now combine these movements in a smooth rolling motion: up, back, down and forward. Letting the breath determine the speed of rotation, breathe in for half the movement and out for the other half. At a certain point, change so the shoulders move in the other direction. Standing in stillness

  and now return to stillness, standing straight. Become aware of any and all sensations: the aftereffects of doing these stretches, and the sensations of the breath moving freely in and out of the body.

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  Mindful Movement can have widely varying effects on different people. Some find it comforting; others find it releases pent-up concerns about their body. Ariel found the stretches were a great comfort to her. “In the previous meditation, my mind was all over the place, but I found it so much easier to concentrate when I was moving,” she said.

  Marge also found it easier at first, but then found that she was trying too hard. “At one point, I realized that I was gritting my teeth and had a huge frown on my face as I stretched up for that darned fruit!”

  This often happens during the stretches. This is why the instructions urge you not only to focus on the physical sensations created by the movements, but also to notice how you are relating to these sensations. Marge was trying too hard to stretch beyond her body’s capability. Her gritted teeth and frown were a sign of aversion—that she was over-doing it, and something in her didn’t like it. It is amazing how the face makes a frown in these situations, as if the furrowed brow would magically help the hand to stretch! “A moment later,” Marge said, “I realized what I was doing, and smiled at myself. My body eased up and felt more fluent somehow.”

  Jac’s experience was rather different from Marge’s. He found himself afraid to move into any slight discomfort that a stretch might bring, backing off quickly from any sense of intensity. “I injured my back at work a few years ago, and although I got the all-clear from the doctor, I have been afraid of overdoing it since then. So when you said to stretch up, I was looking out for any sign of strain, and when I started to feel a little bit, I came down again quickly.”

  Jac’s experience is important. Meditation and yoga teachers always emphasize being very gentle with the body. But it is possible that Jac’s accident has made him overcautious. Here, the instructions are to find and explore the edges near the end of a stretch. There is a “soft edge” where the body begins to feel some intensity. Then there is a “hard edge” where the body has reached the limit of what is possible for it at that moment.6 The invitation is to stay a little longer near to the “soft edge,” finding the middle ground between trying too hard and being afraid to stretch at all, exploring what is happening in the body, maintaining a gentle, warm-hearted awareness that directly senses the muscles and joints being worked as you stretch.

  As the stretches unfold, you may feel a range of sensations, from the profoundly soothing to the uncomfortable. These sensations provide an important anchor for the mind. See if you can explore them with full awareness. You might notice that some parts of the body are extremely tight through years of accumulated stresses and worries. Some muscles will feel like solid balls of tension. This may be particularly noticeable in the neck and shoulders. You might be surprised to discover that the body is physically incapable of fully carrying out some stretches that might have been possible some time ago. But this is now, not then. Rather than judging such limits, see if you can explore and accept them. They are, after all, providing the raw material for you to expand your awareness, and teaching you about your limits, and how you can relate to them m
ore skillfully.

  Can you stretch without striving?

  If you can learn this from the practice, you may find that you can apply it in your daily life as well. Gradually, you may come to see the sensations for what they are—sensations—without ignoring them or driving them away, noticing any judgments that arise. The stretches offer the chance to see how unfamiliar sensations can trigger unsettling thoughts and feelings. You might notice such feelings bubbling up as grumpiness, anger, sadness, fear or just a gentle wistfulness. See if it’s possible to note these feelings without becoming enmeshed in them, then escort your attention back to the sensations of stretching or the aftereffects of any stretch.

  By intentionally embracing any slight discomfort that arises—both physical and mental—you are offering yourself goodwill and compassion. You are also weakening the tendency to avoid mind and body states that you don’t like. So you don’t end up overdoing things. Many people say that, in time, initial discomfort ebbs away and is replaced by soothing, almost therapeutic, sensations.

  Breath and Body meditation

  Week One of the program introduced a short Breath meditation. Here, in Week Three, we return to the Breath and Body, suggesting that you practice it immediately after the Mindful Movement. Many people report that sitting with the mindfulness of Breath and Body after stretching feels very different from sitting without any preparation. Here is a chance to see if this is true for you.

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  Breath and Body meditation7

  Sit comfortably on a stool, a cushion or a chair. If sitting on a chair, allow the top of the spine to come away from the back of the chair so that your spine can be self-supporting, and your back, neck and head are in line, erect but not stiff. The shoulders can be dropped and relaxed, so that your posture embodies a sense of dignity, of taking a stand, of being awake.

  Let your eyes close if that feels comfortable to you, or simply lower your gaze. For a few moments, notice the sensations of your whole body sitting here.

  When you are ready, focus your attention on your breathing. Focus on wherever you feel the breath moving most distinctly in and out of your body. This may be the tip of the nose, the chest or down in the abdomen as it rises on the in-breath and falls away on the out-breath. Notice the sensations of each in-breath and each out-breath. Tune in to each breath, noticing its unique qualities. Is it long or short, shallow or deep, rough or smooth?

  Remember that there is no right way to feel. Just notice each breath coming in, just as it is, and each breath going out, just as it is. There’s no need to control the breath in any way. Allow it to breathe itself.

  From time to time, you may notice that the mind wanders to worries, concerns, plans, daydreams, unfinished business. When this happens, simply acknowledge that this is what minds do. It’s not a problem, not a mistake. Take this opportunity to notice that you have already woken up. You are aware of the mind-wandering. And this is what the practice is about: seeing the patterns that take us away from the present moment. So when you notice the mind has wandered, take a few moments to notice where it went. Then, gently bring the attention back to the breath. Allow the breath to anchor you in the present moment.

  If the mind wanders many times, bring it back just as many times, beginning over and over and over again with the next in-breath or the next out-breath. See each in-breath as a new beginning, and each out-breath as a letting go, a letting be. Now carry on this work by yourself in silence for a few minutes, checking in from time to time to see where your mind is, and checking in with your posture sometimes, to see if it is as you intended it to be.

  When you are ready, deliberately expand the focus of your awareness to the whole body, as if your whole body is breathing now. As well as the sensations of breathing, you also may become aware of all the other sensations that are present in your body as you sit here: from the contact with the chair or stool or cushion, to sensations on the surface of the skin and inside the body. Hold the whole body in awareness now. Become aware of the space that your body takes up, and the space around the body.

  It’s not unusual when sitting for a while in this way for intense sensations to arise in your body: sensations of discomfort, stress or tension. If this happens, you have a choice about how to respond. You could intentionally shift your posture, noticing the intention to move, the movement itself and any aftereffects of the movement. Or you could choose not to move, but to stay still and bring your awareness right to the area of intensity, perhaps inviting the breath to “breathe into” that region of the body, exploring what sensations are here in this moment. See if you can notice what is in the bundle of sensations. What is changing from moment to moment, and what is staying the same? There is no need to try to make anything different from how you find it. Simply explore, with openness and curiosity: What is this? And then, if the sensations stop pulling for your attention, return the focus back to the body as a whole, sitting here, breathing, moment by moment.

  As you sit in silence, aware of the whole body, check in with your mind and body from time to time. Notice any distractions or restlessness that tends to pull you away from your intention to be fully present in each moment.

  And if you become aware of distractions, notice also how you are reacting to them. Notice any frustration or irritation, any physical sensations of contraction or tension. Cradle any and all of these sensations in a larger, more compassionate awareness.

  Remind yourself that the deepest stillness and peace does not arise because the world is still or the mind is quiet. Stillness is nourished when we allow the world, the mind and the body to be just as they are for now, moment by moment, and breath by breath.

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  Dealing patiently with the wandering mind

  Thoughts are often more prone to wandering during “sitting practices” like the Breath and Body meditation. It can be deeply frustrating. After two or three weeks of practice, you might feel that you should be seeing some progress, and yet you may feel that you are still incapable of controlling the mind. If it’s any consolation, people with many years of experience still feel this way.

  And the reason is simple: the aim of meditation is not to control the mind any more than it is to clear it. These are happy by-products of meditation, not the aims. If your aim is to clear the mind, you will end up in a wrestling match with a very skillful opponent. Mindfulness is a far wiser approach than that. It’s like a microscope that reveals the deepest patterns of the mind. And when you begin to see the mind in action, you also start to sense when your thoughts are running away with themselves.

  When intense sensations arise, you notice how “pain” is created out of discomfort through the thoughts you have about it and especially your thoughts about how long it’s going to last. The mere act of observing your thoughts soothes them by holding them gently in a larger space. They tend to diffuse. Your frantic mind becomes still, not because all thought has disappeared, but because you are allowing them to be just as they are. At least for this moment. Your practice, day by day, allows you to remind yourself continuously of this—because it’s such an easy thing to forget.

  This reminding, re-Mind-ing, is awareness.

  The Three-Minute Breathing Space meditation

  One of the great ironies of mindful awareness is that it often seems to evaporate just when you need it the most. When you’re becoming increasingly burned out, you tend to forget just how useful it can be for dealing with the feelings of being overwhelmed by the world’s seemingly relentless demands. When you’re becoming angry, it’s difficult to remember why you should remain calm. And when you’re anxious or stressed, you feel far too rushed to squeeze in a twenty-minute meditation. When you’re under pressure, the last thing your mind wishes to be is mindful—tired, old thinking habits are infinitely more seductive.

  The Three-Minute Breathing Space8 was created to deal with such situations. It’s a mini meditation that acts as a bridge between the longer, formal meditations and the demands of everyda
y life. Many people say that it’s the most important practice they learn during the whole mindfulness course. And although it’s the easiest and quickest to do, remembering to do it is the biggest challenge.

  Its impact is twofold: first and foremost, it’s a meditation that’s used to punctuate the day, so that you can more easily maintain a compassionate and mindful stance, whatever comes your way. In essence, it dissolves negative thought patterns before they gain control over your life—often before you’re even aware of them. Secondly, it’s an emergency meditation that allows you to see clearly what is arising from moment to moment when you feel under pressure. It allows you to pause when your thoughts threaten to spiral out of control, by helping you to regain a compassionate sense of perspective and to ground yourself in the present moment.