Meditation & mindfulness

FOR HEALTH & WELLBEING

All that we are, is the result of all that we have thought.

Buddha.

Hit pause and get your chill on.

A course in meditation and mindfulness practice for young transgender people.

OVERVIEW Client
Face Value / Blueprint 22.

Contacts
Amanda Baker / Veronica Carver.

Duration
1 hour per week x 8 weeks.

Start date
Monday 14 January 2013.

Goal
To teach awareness of the benets of meditation and mindfulness, and how to develop a daily practice of meditation and mindfulness, to the young people of Face Value / Blueprint 22. In particular, how it can contribute to your wellbeing, at work, and in daily life, and how you can incorporate it into our daily lives. To teach a basic set of practical tools that young people can use to cope with the stresses and strains of every day life. To create a new baseline for happier living.

Silences : http://silenc.es / hello@silenc.es

Hit pause and get your chill on participants will learn 4 meditation techniques, and 4 mindfulness techniques, including pause button techniques, all versatile enough that they will be able to use them whenever and wherever they should need.

Session 04
If you have a problem, and it can be solved, then why worry? If you have a problem and it cant be solved, then why worry?
Shantideva, 8th Century Buddhist Scholar Introduction. So far, we have learned and practiced 4 meditation tools, the bodyscan meditation, counting the breath meditation, tea meditation, and the pause button meditation, all of which we can use in our everyday lives. Tonight we will continue our practice of tea meditation, pause button meditation, and again, going deeper with our counting the breath meditation. Tea. Introduction. Serve tea, and introduce students to the mindfulness of tea, with a simple tea meditation. 5 mins. Meditation 01. Mindfulness of tea meditation. 10 mins. Questions. Any questions from last week? 10 mins. Meditation 02. The pause button. A micro meditation to use any time. 5 mins. Inspirational talk. What were doing this week. Emotional stress, anxiety and depression. Following on from our exploration of breathing meditation, we are going to continue our practice this week, going a little deeper with this powerful and eective tool from our meditation toolkit. This evening, we will be looking at emotional stress, anxiety and depression, and how we can use meditation and mindfulness to prevent, and relieve it. 10 mins. Meditation 03. Seated breathing meditation, counting the breath. An ancient Zen Buddhist meditation technique. 20 mins. How to practice. How to practice this week. This weeks assignment and how to time your meditations. Any questions? 5 mins. Assignment for this week. 30 minutes a day practice counting the breath meditation and record your experience in your meditation diary. Continue your sitting meditation with counting your breath. Take some time for walking meditation (see the course notes on the Silences website for guidance on how to do this), even a few minutes. See how it feels and record your experience. In addition each day note down in your meditation diary at least one or a few pleasurable experiences you have each day. Resources. Where to nd further resources. http://silenc.es/fv/

Silences : http://silenc.es / hello@silenc.es

Tea meditation.

The future is not even here yet. Plan for it, but do not waste your time worrying about it.
Thich Nhat Hanh

Meditationcan be the act offocusingon something as seemingly simple as a cup of tea. Thich Nhat Hanhhas a practice oftea meditation, where you pick up your tea, breathe it in, and bring your mind back to your body. By doing this he says youbecome fully present in the here and now. He says: I don't think of the past anymore, I don't think of the future anymore, I'm free from the past, from the future, and there is a real encounter between me and the tea. Here is a simple method you can practice around your cup of tea, at any time of day. Drink it, mindfully, using the following mindful tea drinking exercise fromThich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen Master and mindfulness expert. Drink your teaslowlyandreverently,as if it is the axison which the world earth revolves. Slowly, evenly,withoutrushing toward the future. Live theactual moment. Onlythis moment is life. You must be completely awake in the present to enjoy the tea. Only in the awareness of the present, can your hands feel the pleasant warmth of the cup. Only in the present, can you savor the aroma, taste the sweetness, appreciate the delicacy. If you are ruminating about the past, or worrying about the future, you will completely miss the experience of enjoying the cup of tea. You will look down at the cup, and the tea will be gone. Life is like that. If you are not fully present, you will look around and it will be gone. Silences : http://silenc.es / hello@silenc.es

You will have missed the feel, the aroma, the delicacy and beauty of life. It will seem to be speeding past you. The past is nished. Learn from it and let it go. The future is not even here yet. Plan for it, but do not waste your time worrying about it. Worrying is worthless. When you stop ruminating about what has already happened, when you stop worrying about what might never happen, then you will be in the present moment. Then you will begin to experience joy in life.

Click here to watch a video, where Thich Nhat Hanh does tea meditation with Oprah Winfrey.

Silences : http://silenc.es / hello@silenc.es

Pause button meditation.

Let your meditation practice be a sanctuary. Harshada Wagner

Perhaps you nd yourself seeking a moment of peace in the midst of the motorway of life? Or you want to improve the quality of your daily meditations? Maybe youre stressed out, under pressure, or in a dicult situation, and you need to take stock. Maybe you usually reach for a cigarette, a drink, rescue remedy, a tranquilliser, or perhaps something else. Whatever it is, you wont always have it with you. This simple practice is one you will always have with you, you wont be searching your pockets, cursing the lack of your usual prop. Its a very good trick to have up your sleeve. Let me share a basic meditators tool with you, one you can use any place, any time. As leading spiritual teacher and author Sharon Salzberg says

Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; you can use it anywhere, anytime, unobtrusively.
Micro meditation is a form of mindfulness practice. Its a way to hit pause, refresh, clear cache, revitalising your mind and freshening up your day. Its like going to the wash room and picking yourself up with a splash of cold water. Set aside a minute for yourself, mentally dropping whatever youre doing. Dont wait for the perfect moment, there wont be a better one. 1. Stop whatever youre doing. 2. Shut your eyes. 3. Focus on your breath. 4. Mindfully take three rounds of in and out breaths. 5. Gently open your eyes and resume what you were doing. Youve just created your sanctuary, one you can return to any time you wish. When you return to activity, youll nd yourself more able to focus, with a better perspective on things. Use this micro meditation any time you need to hit the pause button. Perhaps when you are at work, with family, friends, or just in the streets or at the shops. If you dont have time, then you can even make this meditation shorter, a single in and out breath. Even if youre feeling stressed out of your mind, and youre running late for work, you can only improve things by hitting the pause button for a single in and out breath.

Silences : http://silenc.es / hello@silenc.es

Seated meditation practice, counting the breath.

This week were going to continue our meditation practice, but instead of moving our mindfulness our awareness through the body, were going to practice keeping our attention on one object of meditation, the breath. Also this time were going to begin exploring sitting meditation. First, we settle the body in uprightness. A quality of uprightness and balance in your body will create a corresponding mental state. Let's start rst with your legs. We want to create a triangular base to give you a sense of stability. If you are sitting on a chair, and I recommend starting with a chair, have your knees separated and your feet at on the oor. If your back is weak in any way, you can use the chair back for support, or you may nd you can maintain uprightness without it. Either way, adjust your position so that your body is as upright as you can manage. If you wish, you can also kneel with your knees wide and a little separated with some kind of a support under your tail. Or, you can sit cross-legged, with a cushion to lift your sitting bones. In this case, you create the stable quality, the triangular quality by having both knees resting down. Whichever posture you choose, take a few moments to become really aware of the grounded feeling. Now have your hands in your lap, swaying your body side-to-side, forwards and backwards, to help you settle into your true, balanced uprightness. Let your shoulders relax, have your neck long, your head balanced weightlessly. Let your eyes rest down on the oor in front of you, or you can allow your eyes to close. Have your mouth closed, and your tongue resting on your roof of your mouth, with your tongue broad. Allow your whole body to relax. Breathing gently through your nose, become aware of the rising and sinking of the natural breath in your belly. As you become aware of your breath, you can start mentally counting your breath. Inbreath, one. Out-breath, two. Feeling in your belly. In-breath, three. Outbreath, four. And so on, up to ten - when you can start again at one. Very simple. Just counting. Just breathing. Any thoughts, feelings, memories, anything at all can arise and pass - but you just stay with the breathing in your belly. Anytime you get distracted and lose counting, lose your breath, just starting again, counting in-breath one, out-breath two. As your mind becomes more focussed and concentrated, naturally you'll nd your breath becomes more light and gentle. As your breath becomes more light and gentle, your body becomes more and more relaxed, and comfortable. Very simple. Just breathing, counting, relaxing. You may nd this meditation becomes more and more pleasant, more and more pleasurable as you nd yourself coming into a state of restful clarity. That's good. If you have many thoughts or feelings arising, or if things are very quiet, your meditation is equally valuable. Silences : http://silenc.es / hello@silenc.es

All you do is stay with the breathing in your belly. You may nd as your mind naturally becomes more and more settled that it's ne for you to just count your out-breaths. Out-breath, one.. Out-breath, two. And so on. All the way up to ten, and then beginning again at one. Just if that's good for you. Or if at any point you feel more distracted, more like you need a stronger anchor for your awareness, then at any time you can go back to counting your in- and outbreaths. Whatever is good for you. Counting your in- and out-breaths up to ten, or counting just your out-breaths, following the breathing in your belly. That's right. And sometimes by this point in your meditation things can go really quite deep. So when it's time for you to nish your meditation, it's important to give yourself a little time. Gently, becoming aware of the edges of your body. Gently, swaying your body side to side. Coming back, that's right. Very good, and now you're ready to come up into standing, moving on. Very good, that's right. When you do this meditation practice, whether with the audio recording, or alone, in silence, from memory, take your time, allowing 25 minutes for your session. Feedback. Brief group discussion on the practice. Good points? Any diculties?

Walking meditation.
Weve explored meditation in stillness and also began exploring walking meditation. Its important to be aware of the possibility of meditation in action and walking meditation is a nice way into this. The Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh writes I like to walk alone on country paths, rice plants and wild grasses on both sides, putting each foot down on the earth in mindfulness, knowing that I walk on the wondrous earth. In such moments, existence is a miraculous and mysterious reality. People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we dont even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black curious eyes of a child-our own two eyes. All is a miracle. The practice is very simple, just clasp your hands in front of your body. Have your body upright and yet relaxed. Walk slowly, maintaining your awareness of your breath, continuing to count your breath. Its very simple.

Silences : http://silenc.es / hello@silenc.es

Talk
Welcome back! Emotional stress, anxiety and depression. We looked last time at mindfulness and meditation with respect to physical pain. Now were going to look at the emotional level. There are many more types of pain with a whole range of labels here guilt, lack of condence, remorse, worry, grief, humiliation, despair. All of these varieties of emotional pain may colour our experience, sometimes for long stretches of our lives. And as with the physical pain, there is no way were going to get through even the happiest life without at least some emotional pain. So its important to learn how to deal with it. The key to working with emotional pain is found in the acronym AA awareness and acceptance. When were willing to be aware and accept emotional pain, things can begin to heal and change. Often we may have habits of avoidance or suppression so it takes courage and commitment to try something radically new. Its important to realise that we cant deal with any pain in the abstract, only by being as present as we can in the moment when it arises and in the aftermath. And in doing this gentle, compassionate work, its important to be patient with ourselves. Its natural to have a strong tendency to avoid coming face to face with our emotional pain. Sometimes we might even have a fear that our pain is really endless and bottomless. So gentleness and compassion all round is whats called for. In this gentle investigation, we can think of our pain as a messenger trying to tell us something. When we really get the message, the hurting stops. One insight that can help in the developing of a new relationship with our suering is oered by the great Zen Master Obaku. He says, that which sees suering is not itself suering. This clear and fearless eye is actually something we all possess and over time we can become more aware of it as a factor in our lives. Nobody wants pain, and for many people, the emotional wounds they carry are far more damaging than anything physical. But if we skilfully approach our suering with compassionate awareness, not only does the pain begin to transform, but we can develop a fuller insight into who we really are. In some ways, our emotional pain responses are part of the animal level of our being. This animal level doesnt want to hurt, doesnt want to feel threatened. Suppose you are in a room with a scared and injured animal. How would you treat it? I suspect, rather than chasing it around the room, trying to catch it and x it, and rather than just walking out of the room, leaving the animal to its own devices, we might just sit down patiently and be quiet and present. In time the animal will gain condence, calm down and come and make friends with us thats the sort of attitude that will help with emotional pain. The principal barrier to mindfulness of emotional pain is the unwillingness to see things as they really are. We want so much for things to be dierent. But no amount of wishing is going to make things change, and this unwillingness is a source of suering in itself. That being the case, all we have to do is be AA, aware and accepting of the feelings of unwillingness. Now its important to realise that the Buddha taught four foundations of mindfulness mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of sensations, mindfulness of the mind and Silences : http://silenc.es / hello@silenc.es

mindfulness of mind objects. Now the important thing about these four foundations of mindfulness is that any one of them will do the job for us. What this means in practice is you can simply be aware of whats happening in your body and not get involved in the mental storyline and you will be able to resolve the suering. Its often much easier to practice mindfulness of the body than it is to practice mindfulness of the mind. And mindfulness of the body is just as eective. Whenever possible take a little time when youre suering from emotional stress. Do your very best to be present, to be mindful of the actual feelings, whether on an embodied, a sensation or even possibly a mental level. In this place do you very best to be aware of the actual situation or problem youre dealing with. The more you can be aware that the situation and your reaction to it are actually two dierent things, the more you can see your way to taking practical steps to dealing with the situation. The more you can build the strength and clarity to be able to be present and aware of your emotions in this way, the more you can do exactly the same with others. You can become genuinely helpful when those around you are having diculties. One particularly dicult spectrum of emotional problems occurs amongst those in the fear spectrum. This can range from mild anxiety to full-blown panic attacks. Almost universally, people are in denial about the amount of fear they carry around. We become afraid about fear itself. But when we deny it or suppress it, the fear tends to come out in other ways, both in symptoms of illhealth and in less than optimal behaviours. We deal with fear, just as we deal with all other emotional stress. We do our very best to be present with it, neither suppressing it nor acting upon it. To reformulate what we said before that which is truly aware of fear is not itself afraid. When we do this were not afraid of fear, we can recognise fear for what it is. We can recognise that fear might even be an appropriate reaction to the situation we nd ourself in. But just because fear is arising doesnt mean we cant look at the situation and respond to it appropriately. Some fears, particularly in the anxiety area, dont necessarily have an obvious cause. In this case we just face the anxiety with a friendly curious gentle attitude and see what happens. Again as we mentioned before this awareness itself has a transformative quality over time. For some people, exposure to stress over long periods can lead to depression. There can even be a loss of the ability to function normally. Joy and enthusiasm disappear from life. Feelings of pointlessness and worthlessness can predominate. The path of mindfulness and meditation has been very eective in helping with depression. We practice with it as mentioned before, by simply coming face to face with the moment-to-moment reality of our symptoms. We dont try to change or avoid anything. In doing this, things start to change. We start to see that our depression is not us. Our gentle awareness gradually peels o the layers of feeling and things begin to change. Lets look at a couple of pieces of research. ScienceDaily (Aug. 5, 2009) reported Twenty minutes per day of guided workplace meditation and yoga combined with six weekly group sessions can lower feelings of stress by more than 10 percent and improve sleep quality in sedentary oce employees, a pilot study suggests. The results of the pilot study are published in a recent issue of the journal Health Education & Behavior.

Silences : http://silenc.es / hello@silenc.es

Participants attended one-hour weekly group meetings during lunch and practiced 20 minutes of meditation and yoga per day at their desks. After six weeks, program participants reported that they were more aware of external stressors, they felt less stressed by life events, and they fell asleep more easily than did a control group that did not experience the intervention. Because chronic stress is associated with chronic disease, I am focusing on how to reduce stress before it has a chance to contribute to disease, said Maryanna Klatt, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of clinical allied medicine at Ohio State University. Now for depression. The UK expert in this area is Dr. Mark Williams of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre. His group is engaged in actively promoting meditation and mindfulness combined with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for depression suerers. Lets look at some of the research into meditation and depression. A study, published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, showed that mindfulness and meditation proved as eective as maintenance anti-depressants in preventing a relapse and more eective in enhancing peoples' quality of life. The study also showed mindfulness and meditation to be as cost-eective as prescription drugs in helping people with a history of depression stay well in the longer-term. Funded by the British Medical Research Council (MRC), the study was led by Professor Willem Kuyken at the Mood Disorders Centre, University of Exeter, in collaboration with colleagues at the Centre for Economics of Mental Health (CEMH) at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, Peninsula Medical School, Devon Primary Care Trust and the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit. The randomized control trial involved 123 people from urban and rural locations who had suered repeat depressions and were referred to the trial by their doctors. The participants were split randomly into two groups. Half continued their on-going antidepressant drug treatment and the rest participated in a meditation course and were given the option of coming o anti-depressants. Over the 15 months after the trial, 47% of the group following the meditation and mindfulness course experienced a relapse compared with 60% of those continuing their normal treatment, including anti-depressant drugs. In addition, the group on the meditation and mindfulness program reported a higher quality of life, in terms of their overall enjoyment of daily living and physical well-being. Members of the study team from the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London also compared the cost of providing meditation programs with the cost of maintenance anti-depressant treatment. The ndings suggest that meditation and mindfulness provides a cost-eective alternative to anti-depressant drugs. Unlike most other psychological therapies, it can be taught in groups by a single therapist, and patients then continue to practice the skills they have learned at home by themselves. During the eight-week trial, groups of between eight and fteen people met with one therapist. They learned a range of meditation exercises that they could continue to practice on their own once the course ended. Many of the exercises were based on Buddhist meditation techniques and helped the individual take time to focus on the present, rather than dwelling on past events, or planning for future tasks. The exercises worked in a dierent way for each person, but many reported greater acceptance of, and more control over, negative thoughts and feelings.

Silences : http://silenc.es / hello@silenc.es

One nal point with this work. Its important to emphasize that dealing with emotional stress, fear and depression through mindfulness and meditation is a skill. It takes time and practice to develop. The more practice you build up in relatively good times, the better shape you will be when hard times come. So you can see, with a regular meditation and mindfulness practice we are in a much better position to deal with the inevitable pain that arises in life. Any questions? Assignment for this week. 30 minutes a day practice counting the breath meditation and record your experience in your meditation diary. Continue your sitting meditation with counting your breath. Take some time for walking meditation (see the course notes on the Silences website for guidance on how to do this), even a few minutes. See how it feels and record your experience. In addition each day note down in your meditation diary at least one or a few pleasurable experiences you have each day.

Who meditates? Some famous meditators for you : British Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg. Also, Foreign Secretary / Secretary of State, William Hague. Others include Clint Eastwood (for over 40 years!), the US Marines, members of the US congress. Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple, was a Zen Buddhist, and meditated from an early age in hist college days, until the day he died. The day he died, his nal three words were Wow, wow, wow In Zen, we regard our meditation as a great preparation not only for life, but for death too, as we can be certain it will come one day. I guess from those three words, that Steve Jobs was prepared Russell Brand, Richard Gere, along with many famous musicians, actors, and public guressearch and you will nd them. Then there are Al Gore, Madonna, Tina Turner, Will Smith, Paul McCartney, Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey, Sheryl Crow, Moby, I could go on and on and onthere are many more than you can imagine, these are just some examples. Learn to meditate, and you'll be in good company, some of the best!

Silences : http://silenc.es / hello@silenc.es