I just returned from a week long workshop on mindfulness practices, offered through the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Center for Mindfulness at the Omega Institute (Rhinebeck, NY) and am now in the planning phase for how best to integrate what I learned on campus.
What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally (Kabat-Zinn). Why would anyone practice this? Over time, the practice of mindfulness has shown to help people reduce stress and increase their ability to focus and concentrate. Over the past year, I was able to share some of the broader practices of positive psychology, of which mindfulness was a part, with our York faculty and students in my college reading course. I saw the benefits for both groups, so I wanted to continue to deepen my understanding and practice.
In July 2016, I was able to attend a workshop called Intensive 5-Day Mindfulness Tools. The title was accurate – it was intensive. We spent five days from 6:00 am – 5:00 pm (with several days until 10:00 pm) learning numerous mindfulness practices for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), an approach introduced by Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 1970’s to help people learn to control stress.
It was an amazing week – very different from the experience last year at Berkeley, where we learned the theory and research behind many of the topics covered in positive psychology as they relate to school settings, with one topic being mindfulness. This year, the focus was on the practice of mindfulness itself.
We learned strategies for sitting meditation, walking meditation, mindful movement of multiple sorts including yoga, mindful eating, and mindful listening. One of my favorite explanations (there were many) was that by paying attention to thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations, we were learning to notice and “act skillfully” in the face of stress or other powerful stimuli. Rather than simply REacting to stress (which is what we most often do), we can become more aware of what’s happening first by identifying what our whole being is telling us at any given moment (body, emotions, and thoughts). By looking at the event objectively, we can then ACT skillfully and without judgment to reap better results.
The outstanding facilitators were Dr. Robert Smith, a doctor of osteopathy who explained the damage that happens to the body by its physiological response to stress, and Florence Meleo-Meyer, a practitioner and teacher of mindfulness at the Center for Mindfulness (U. Mass Medical School) for over 22 years. They skillfully led us through sessions of practice and debrief in which they taught us a tremendous amount about the topic and ourselves.
The benefits that I could share with the campus are two-fold: 1) to teach the MBSR practices to interested folks on campus – this has been a difficult year with many changes that are still unfolding – I believe that weekly meetings to learn MBSR techniques and practice together can provide an opportunity for people to better manage stress and find a supportive community of practice; and 2) mindfulness in teaching – incorporating different MBSR and other positive psychology approaches in the act of teaching to empower students to more successfully navigate the stressful years of college.
Look for workshops and weekly Mindful Monday sessions in which new approaches to mindful living will be explained and practiced.
UPDATE: We ended up meeting weekly through the semester and these are some of the practices that we completed:
Breathing – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thYoV-MCVs0
Body Scan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8oKWQiEWYs
Remember mindful Walking + pos/neg communication acts (identifying and remembering feelings and bodily sensations)
Lovingkindness http://www.mindfulselfcompassion.org/audio/LovingKindnessforBeginners.mp3 and http://www.mindfulselfcompassion.org/meditations_downloads.php for difficult people
Dr. Eric Lopez MARC – http://marc.ucla.edu/mpeg/Hammer080416.mp3Dr. Sukhdeep Gill led us in guided meditation on joy
Sitting in a restful pose, call to mind a time of happiness or joy and let yourself be fully present to that experience. Try to recall as many details as you can – sounds, sights, smells… Sit with the memory for some time, breathing comfortably. Then draw closer to the memory by imagining yourself in a theater watching the event unfold on the big screen. Soak in the happy feelings and sensory experiences, Gently come back to the present moment with several conscious breaths.
