Is mindfulness really a panacea to cure all our ills? Explore the meaning, history, and potential benefits of mindfulness meditation, as well as its challenges and drawbacks. Then enjoy a short introductory mindfulness meditation practice!

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In this episode, I discuss:

• 01:30 - History
• 04:10 - Science / Evidence
• 07:10 - Limitations
• 10:35 - Putting it into practice.
• 12:45 - A short mindfulness meditation practice.

Episode transcript:
"...today's musings are about mindfulness, mindfulness meditation. What it is, what it isn't, is it really the panacea that the media would like us to believe that it is? Where it comes from, what works, what doesn't? And then a little bit about if it does feel like it's the right practice for you, how to bring a little bit more mindfulness into your life and start to reap some of those benefits.

Mindfulness at its simplest is being fully present in the moment. It is cultivating an intentional awareness of sensations that are happening in and around us, acknowledging those sensations, thoughts, feelings, and doing so without judgment.

So I want to touch briefly on the history of mindfulness meditation first. And as you may suspect, it has been with us for a very, very long time. We don't know exactly how long. The first written references to it are from about 1500 BCE in the Hindu scriptures known as the Vedas. And then about a thousand years later, with the life of the Buddha, we see many, many more writings about this concept of mindfulness meditation as a central component on your path to enlightenment. And then from there, from Buddhism, it spread throughout Asia and made its way into many other places, countries, and spiritual practices. And then we have to fast forward quite a bit again, getting all the way to the 19th century, and that's when it really starts to enter Western awareness a bit more. So that's mostly coming through translations of some of those Buddhist texts and some of the older texts from scholars and missionaries, and then making its way back into Western culture there, but it doesn't really, really take off until about the mid-20th century. And then as part of the countercultural movement and this deep interest in philosophies from various parts of the world, including many places in Asia, we see this development particularly in Zen Buddhism really, really explode. And then when we get to the late 70s, John Kabat-Zinn creates this type of mindfulness called MBSR, mindfulness-based stress reduction. And he starts to really rigorously study the practice of mindfulness and how it affects people, affects their cognition, affects their health. And then again, we really see another explosion and interest in this practice. And it really continues today in a lot of ways.

Now that we have so much access to media and social media and online courses and free YouTube videos, we really see a lot of many different types, many different backgrounds, many different approaches to mindfulness accessible to us for low or no cost.

And as many people observe the benefits that it has in their lives, in their relationships, on their health, we really see this popularity continue to grow and expand.

So there is a lot of anecdotal evidence. We hear a lot of people talk about how it works for them. But what does the science say?

This is a particular area of interest for me because I am so curious about the brain, about the nervous system, about neuroscience and what we can now observe with our modern technology about what some of these practices actually do for us.

So one of the most fascinating things is that because now we have imaging techniques where we can actually look at people's brains, we can look at different parts of their brains and the growth in their brains before a period of regular mindfulness meditation and after a period of regular mindfulness meditation. And what we see is that if we get folks doing mindfulness practices really regularly in the long term, we do actually expand our little thinking brains. So we get expansion or growth in both the gray matter, which is sort of the actual thinking stuff, if you will, and then the white matter, which is all the connections between those parts of the brain that are actually doing the cognition. And the places where we see the most growth, the most development is around areas of things like memory, learning and cognition, and then also emotional regulation and self-regulation.

Then outside of those MRI scans, showing us the actual physical changes in the brain, there are other kinds of health and well-being that are supported by these practices. So we tend to see enhanced focus, concentration, ability to pay attention in people who do this regularly. We also see more resilience, more ability to adapt, to deal with life stressors, reduction in things like anxiety.

And then there are some physical health benefits as well. In addition to increased mind-body awareness and simply being more in tune to problems that may arise, we also overall see a reduction in blood pressure for people who regularly meditate, a reduction in overall inflammation, and then also a boost to the immune system.

So that is really wonderful. Mindfulness does a lot of incredible things. We see it in the science, we see it anecdotally. But is it really the panacea that the internet and social media would like to have us believe?

It is heavily, heavily marketed right now. And what are the limitations?

I would say the first thing to note is that it is a practice, and it really takes a lot of commitment. A lot of what we seem to be trained on in this culture is that quick fix. So how short is this meditation program and how much can I get out of it? But we really see the benefits of meditation with a really regular, really long-term practice. And so that first barrier is going to be putting in the time and putting in the commitment to get to the point where you actually start to see some of those benefits.

And then in that time and commitment, there's probably going to be some other discomforts as well. If we're newer to meditation, sometimes it's really just that first frustration of realizing how noisy your brain is. And if we have created this idea that meditation is supposed to be kind of sitting with your mind empty as opposed to acknowledging awareness of the present moment, then we're going to be really, really frustrated every time a thought comes up. So there's working through a little bit of that.

And then there might also be working through a little bit of physical discomfort as well. So if we think about some of the more traditional, what we may think of as traditional meditation postures, you know, seated on a little cushion on the floor, that might be really comfortable for someone's hips or someone's low back.

And then also some of us with certain nervous systems, brains, attentions, we just can't sit still for a really long time.

So there may be working through some of that. And I will do a whole episode later on sort of getting outside of this idea of just a seated meditation posture and what we may be able to do instead. Then there's some other physical concerns that may come up for some people. Focusing awareness on specific sensations in the body, depending on your history, memories, trauma, may actually create some discomfort and anxiety in itself. Focusing on the breath is the same way for some people. It actually makes them feel worse rather than better.

And there's some things around negative emotions that can come up as well. If we're sitting in this really present moment, trying to cultivate awareness of whatever's happening right now and whatever's happening right now in my life sucks, then I may actually find that that suck is a little bit exacerbated in the moment. There's a possibility that it could also bring other negative emotions to the surface that we're not experiencing in the present moment. As we are just sitting in that quiet stillness, we may feel other things come up. So there really are a lot of things that we can potentially work through, but I will say just overall, it's not for everybody.

And there are so many different types of meditation, and I will get to episodes on so many more options if mindfulness is not for you.

If you want to experiment, find out if mindfulness is for you, or you already know that it might be a good practice for you to start with, or if you're already doing it and you just want some tips on maybe how to bring it more into your life, I want to talk a little bit about putting it into practice.

So if you are newer to this practice, or like me, you have a short attention span, I would say start really, really accessible.

So keep it short, keep it simple, do a fully guided meditation, and then also fit it into a time in your existing schedule when it feels easy.

So where do you already have a space in your routine where you can pop in an extra three, four, five minutes and it's not going to kind of derail the rest of your day? And then get really comfy.

So again, I'm going to do a whole episode on other options, but just think about creating ease in your body so that you can easily focus more on sensations without thinking like, oh, my back hurts, oh, my back hurts the whole time, because that's not fun. Strive for consistency. So again, get that into your schedule. Try to do it regularly. And as you practice, as you move through, have gentleness, have grace, have compassion for yourself.

So thinking about that element of Maitri, loving kindness, how can you meet yourself, meet your mind, your thoughts, your breath, your body, with this sense of open, loving curiosity and accepting what is? And then after you've done a little bit of practice on the mat, so to speak, start to think about how you can take it off the mat. So as you are washing the dishes, rather than letting your mind wander to all the other million and fourteen things that you have to do, could you take a moment to really just be present, just notice the sensations of the water, of the towel, of the air around you on your skin, of the smells around you in your room. And you can also do the same thing with your interpersonal relationships. As you move into conversations with people, can you try to be a little more aware and intentional of those interactions and how you are approaching those around you.

I'd like to offer a short mindfulness meditation now to actually offer you a chance to practice. This will be a brief introduction, and I will do another longer offering for you a little later.

So for now, I'd like to invite you to get comfortable.

And if that's a seat for you, that's wonderful.

If that's lying down, also wonderful.

Or maybe you are walking slowly through a familiar space.

Start to think about how you might like to set yourself up, how you might like to sit, lie, or move.

And when you are ready, start by bringing a gentle awareness to the points where you are connected to the earth or to your surface.

Notice parts of your feet, legs, hips, glutes.

If you are seated or lying down, maybe softening the gaze or closing down the eyes.

And then I'd like you to bring an awareness to the sense of your breath.

No right or wrong here.

No expectation or judgment.

Get curious about the sensation of your inhale and the sensation of your exhale.

And when the mind reminds you of all the things you have to do later, that's okay.

Notice and come back to this curiosity about the sensation of each breath.

How deep is your inhale?

How complete is your exhale?

How fast or how slow are your inhale and exhale?

Is one longer or shorter?

What sort of movement comes with your inhale?

And what sort of movement comes with your exhale?

And for a moment, stay here, stay present to the sense of your breath.

Notice when your mind wanders, come back to the anchor of your breath.

Notice with gentle compassion, if the mind wandered.

Bring it back to noticing your breath in this moment.

Notice your body in this moment.

Maybe notice thoughts, emotions, or your nervous system.

If you're seated or lying down, start to blink or flutter eyes back toward fully open.

Find a little gentle movement in the body.

And as you get ready to move into the rest of your day, think about how you could carry a little more mindful awareness with you in all you do with everyone you meet..."