The Power of Mindfulness

[Alura Noel]

Practicing mindfulness and meditation.

"To pause. To breathe. To settle down. To observe what's going on inside out and outside in." - Home Nguyen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99CRW-bD37Y

[loona wynd]

Mindfullness is something that I had to become very good at. It is a central theme to the therapy I was doing for so long and it made everything so much easier to deal with. Mindfullness is very much zen. Its not difficult to do it just really consists of focusing on one thing at a time.

[Alura Noel]

Mindfullness is very much zen. Its not difficult to do it just really consists of focusing on one thing at a time.

That's the simple beauty of it all. Being completely present in whatever activity that's been done. Like when eating a meal, don't have the TV on just eat. Look at the food and appercite the colors and shapes, textures. Smell all the aroma and savor each bite. Maybe even touch it and enjoy how it feels if it's finger foods (even if it's not). Think only about the food. Apperciate every bite.

That's how easy it is being mindful. Live in the present. Do each action, thinking of just what you're doing. Not what you plan on doing the next day or any inner babble of things that don't relate to what's happening in the Now.

[loona wynd]

Its so simple yet we live in a world today that tells us if we are not doing more than one thing at a time we aren't really be as productive with our time as we could be. Unfortunately our brains are not wired to really actually multi task. When we try to multi-task we actually end up doing none of the tasks very well. There are tricks to making it work when we have to (some jobs do require it like fast food service industry as well as a few other jobs). However in the end none of the jobs get done well or to the best of the ability of the individual.

[loona wynd]

That's how easy it is being mindful. Live in the present. Do each action, thinking of just what you're doing. Not what you plan on doing the next day or any inner babble of things that don't relate to what's happening in the Now.

The DBT therapy I was in basically had it written like this:

When you are walking walk.

If you are eating eat.

When you are worrying worry.

Put yourself into each action as its the only action you are doing.

If other thoughts and ideas come into your mind you acknowledge them but don't focus. You say ok yea thats a thought come back later and then just be in the moment sweeping.

Thats the core essence of mindfullness.

Another way to put it:

Zen isn't contemplating the universe while sweeping the floor. Zen is simply sweeping the floor. Mindfulness is that same thing.

The other idea and concept for emotions is sort of similar but no less effective. This idea is basically to feel each emotion and experience each emotion individually as a wave. The idea behind it is in stressful and highly emotional situations we often feel multiple emotions at any given time from frustration to anger to confusion, and the like.

Here you basically let one emotion come over you. If you feel anger you let yourself fully embody the anger. Think about what makes you angry at that moment. Let your whole body and mind fill up with it for a few moment to process it and then release it. Do the same with each emotion you feel. As you let each emotion wash over you individually as a wave you get a better understanding of everything going on and may be able to deal with the situation much better.

I have a few mindfulness exercises I can share in this thread if any one is interested. I know they work really well for me in managing emotions and thoughts that happen through out the day.

[Alura Noel]

Loona you have summed this up so beautifully. There are whole books about this subject when all it is trying to convey is what you have said so far.

Thank you for posting this. Would you be okay if I added this to my online BOS?

[loona wynd]

Loona you have summed this up so beautifully. There are whole books about this subject when all it is trying to convey is what you have said so far.

A total of about 4 years in a therapy which bases itself on mindfulness is a good way to drill the points into you about what it is and how important it is. As I said I've learned some really cool mindfulness meditations and techniques that DBT uses to teach the skill and the practice.

Thank you for posting this. Would you be okay if I added this to my online BOS?

Go right ahead. Like I said my understanding comes from a psychological background and a therapy practice. Its an effective practice though which works really well. The idea behind DBT therapy is to learn how to change your reactions to situations by learning to change thought patterns or identify thought patterns. Its making the connection between thoughts and actions.

[Alura Noel]

You'd probably like this other tedsx talk video that employed this method. I'll post it up when I am on the computer.

[loona wynd]

You'd probably like this other tedsx talk video that employed this method. I'll post it up when I am on the computer.

I didn't actually watch the first posted video. I will at some point though. I just thought I'd comment based on my experience with mindfulness.

I've also found a powerful meditation in a work of traditional witchcraft that sort of takes mindfulness to the extreme. Where you actually try to experience and sense all of your senses to the fullest at once.

[Alura Noel]

I've also found a powerful meditation in a work of traditional witchcraft that sort of takes mindfulness to the extreme. Where you actually try to experience and sense all of your senses to the fullest at once.

Alright, I'll wait on posting that second then.


What's the name of the meditation in that type traditional witchcraft?

[loona wynd]

I've also found a powerful meditation in a work of traditional witchcraft that sort of takes mindfulness to the extreme. Where you actually try to experience and sense all of your senses to the fullest at once.

Alright, I'll wait on posting that second then.

Go ahead and post it. I'll watch them back to back. I already started the first one but need to rewatch it. Something came up in the middle of the video so I missed most of it.

What's the name of the meditation in that type traditional witchcraft?

It's not a named meditation. At least not that I remember. Robin Artisson does not always name the meditations and exercises in his works. I can find it and post it though. I do have the book. I just need to reference it to post the outline.

The idea is that you start by focusing on one sense. I think that sense is sight. You focus on observing and noticing only what you can see at that moment. Then you add in sound, touch, etc till all of the senses are active. In this you are focusing only on the activated sense at a time and then the other activated senses.

The exercise is about creating full awareness of your soundings in all directions. The exercise is a little more complicated than what I outlined above, but the outline does give an idea at least of what is going on, and what you can expect to see in the meditation.

Are you still interested?

I have other simpler meditations and exercises that I can post in this thread to build up to that one if you would prefer. Its up to you. This is your thread. I leave the direction of my meditation and exercise posts in your hands.

[Alura Noel]

I'm interested.

Maybe you could start a new thread with the exercise if you'd like to share it.

[Seraphin]

Best advice I ever received, advice that comes to me again and again because I'm so thick-headed is this: "Keep it simple." Every time I start to feel disappointed with my spiritual progress, that phrase enter my mind, and when it comes to meditation, magick, spiritual and consciousnesses work -- what I think of as spiritual mindfulness -- it seems to be true that "less is more".

Things that I do on a regular basis, that can be done on auto pilot, like taking a shower, washing the dishes, eating midnight, snack, listening to punk music are opportunities for me to practice the first simple step in spiritual mindfulness: bringing myself to the present moment. I believe it became my antidote to delusion.

When I first joined a seminar teaching such a practice, I found out that Tibetans had a practice of making chelas or students do a very slow walking meditation in which they are asked to be aware of every movement their sole stepped on the ground. It must be done so in a slow motion that it should take five minutes for one foot to touch the floor. No one in the seminar could do it so the instructor allowed us to shorten each step to only one minute. It was still very difficult to accomplish since it involved complete mental focus, attention, inner awareness and patience.

I just cant imagine that I should walk soooooo slowly that it would take five minutes for my foot to land on the floor.

Not fully understanding the importance and benefits of such a practice, I quickly got out of the seminar and never to return. Now I know better. Most of us are not totally aware of what we are doing. We do things like we're soulless automatons.

Now I am practicing it, even in my simple ways. Taking a shower, for instance -- as I gather my toiletries I begin to bring my thoughts to the task at hand. Stepping through the door into the bathroom, I shed the past and the future along with my clothes; by the time I step into the shower, I'm completely in the moment, noting how the water feels on my skin, the scent of the liquid bath soap I used, the warmth on my shoulders. I get some of my best "aha" moments while I'm in the shower.

When I first turned my attention to exploring who, what and where I am as a spiritual and magickal being, one of the first objectives I set for myself was to find a way to incorporate spiritual and magickal awareness into my everyday consciousness and how spiritual mindfulness suddenly changes when my attention is drawn to the more earthly and secular aspects of life. Having made a habit of using rituals (daily routines) to bring myself to the present moment periodically throughout the day has done more for the stability of my spiritual and magickal connections than any other practice. It's a simple thing, and it works.