Mindfulness.com

Over the past 14 or 15 years and into the present, when I lead or facilitate support groups I begin with focus on one’s breath. From my early readings of Thich Nhat Hanh and practice of observing breath, I got a glimpse of: Present Moment, Beautiful Moment. Only a glimpse here and there as my thoughts flitter by…and then being aware of and letting go of my thought I’d return to Breathing In, I breathe in. Breathing out, I breathe out.

The Lotus Mud blog quoted from Thich Nhat Hanh regarding breathing :

“So I would propose a very simple practice to you, the practice of mindful breathing: "Breathing–I know that I am breathing in; breathing–I know that I am breathing out." If you do that with a little concentration, then you will be able to really be there, because in our daily life our mind and our body are rarely together. Our body might be there, but our mind is somewhere else. Maybe you are lost in regrets about the past, maybe in worries about the future, or else you are preoccupied with your plans, with anger or with jealousy. And so your mind is not really there with your body.”

“Between the mind and the body, there is something that can serve as a bridge. The moment you begin to practice mindful breathing, your body and your mind begin to come together with one another. It takes only 10 to 20 seconds to accomplish this miracle called oneness of body and mind. With mindful breathing, you can bring body and mind together in the present moment, and every one of us can do it, even a child. ”

Here are Thich Nhat Hanhs’s directions for mindful breathing:

"To practice mindful breathing, just observe the natural rhythm of the breath. Please do so without forcing it to be longer, deeper, or slower. With attention and a little time, your breath with deepen naturally on its own. Occasionally, your mind will wander off. Our practice is simply to take note of this distraction and to bring our attention gently back to our breath. If you like, you may use the sentences listed here to help you in focusing your attention. During the duration of several in and out breaths, follow your breath from beginning to end. Use the keywords at the end of each pair of sentences to help you maintain your awareness:

1. Breathing in, I am aware only of my in breath. Breathing out, I am aware only of my out breath…In, Out

You can practice mindful breathing in any situation: while sitting, lying down, standing, driving, or working. Breathing consciously will bring more awareness and concentration to whatever you are doing."

You can find a number of Thich Nhat Hanh’s books and audios here .

The following reflection was posted on the Daily Om, which I have subscribed to for several years. A wonderful way to start the day mindfully. They have a marvelous archive and a wonderful community who share their thoughts, reflections, and insights.

Entering into our own spirituality is a private journey. Each of us will be drawn to a different gateway to begin on our personal path to awakening to a greater experience of ourselves. Even though we may be taught certain philosophies or beliefs as children, we still need to find our own way of understanding and applying them in our lives. For those who are raised without a spiritual framework, they may not even know their process as a form of spirituality. But at some stage in their lives, whether in youth or adulthood, they are likely to recognize the resonance of their beliefs, the ring of truth in their philosophy, and their dedication to their chosen purpose.

Our inner guidance will lead us, so that we will be drawn to the right doorway for us–a doorway that only we can recognize by the way it makes us feel inside. It could be a picture of an angel or the gift of a crystal. We may meet someone special who shares their experiences with us in a way that we find intriguing. While visiting the home of an admired friend, we may notice a book or statue of a diety, and ask why they chose those tools. Or a word or phrase may catch our attention in a song, or a lecture. For some they may find their way by walking through the experience of illness before they begin the search for what will help them to truly heal, while others may seek physical improvement and stumble across yoga or meditation–only to find that it leads them to an unexpected place beyond the body.

As we awaken to ourselves and to life, we will become more attuned to what is right for us. The universe speaks to all of us through infinite channels, but we each have our own frequency. Others may share what worked for them, but only we can decide what truly makes us feel inspired, awakened, connected, fully conscious, aware and alive. Whatever our path, it is perfect and is meant especially for us

Reprinted with permission from DailyOM- Inspirational thoughts for a happy, healthy and fulfilling day. Register for free at www.dailyom.com

A dear friend and one of the people I champion as she has been a hero to me and to many whose lives she has touched…and at times saved. She shared a piece of the journey that is now part of her odyssey. For me the odyssey conveys that what I knew in the past will not be the response to take me where I have to go.

I was reminded vividly of the simplicity of these five precepts of service. They are about living life fully: awake, aware, and mindful.

Powerful if you remember to live the story created by these five precepts of service from an earlier blog:

The First Precept: Welcome Everything. Push Away Nothing.
The Second Precept: Bring Your Whole Self to the Experience.
The Third Precept: Don’t Wait.
The Fourth Precept: Find a Place of Rest in the Middle of Things.
The Fifth Precept: Cultivate Don’t-Know Mind.

Frank shares The Five Precepts of Service
Frank Ostaseski, Founder Metta Institute
© 2007 All rights reserved.
Any use or reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author.

A while back, I developed five precepts as companions on the journey of accompanying the dying. Perhaps they have relevance in other dimensions of life and can offer some inspiration and guidance. I think of these as five bottomless practices that can be continually explored and deepened. They are not linear and have no value as theories or concepts. To be understood and realized, they have to be lived into and communicated through action.

The First Precept: Welcome Everything. Push Away Nothing

In welcoming everything, we don’t have to like what’s arising. It’s actually not our job to approve or disapprove. It’s our task to trust, to listen, and to pay careful attention to the changing experience. At the deepest level, we are being asked to cultivate a kind of fearless receptivity.

This is a journey of continuous discovery in which we will always be entering new territory. We have no idea how it will turn out, and it takes courage and flexibility. We find a balance. The journey is a mystery we need to live into, opening, risking, and forgiving constantly.

The Second Precept: Bring Your Whole Self to the Experience.

In the process of healing others and ourselves we open to both our joy and fear. In the service of this healing we draw on our strength and helplessness, our wounds and passion to discover a meeting place with the other. Professional warmth doesn’t heal. It is not our expertise but the exploration of our own suffering that enables us to be of real assistance. That’s what allows us to touch another human being’s pain with compassion instead of with fear and pity. We have to invite it all in. We can’t travel with others in territory that we haven’t explored ourselves. It is the exploration of our own inner life that enables us to form an empathetic bridge to the other person.

The Third Precept: Don’t Wait.

Patience is different than waiting. When we wait, we are full of expectations. When we’re waiting, we miss what this moment has to offer. Worrying or strategizing about what the future holds for us, we miss the opportunities that are right in front of us. Waiting for the moment of death, we miss so many moments of living. Don’t wait. If there’s someone you love, tell him or her that you love them. Allow the precarious nature of this life to show you what’s most important then enter fully.

The Fourth Precept: Find a Place of Rest in the Middle of Things.

We often think of rest as something that will come when everything else is complete, like when we go on a holiday or when our work is done. We imagine that we can only find rest by changing the conditions of our life. But it is possible to discover rest right in the middle of chaos. It is experienced when we bring our full attention, without distraction, to this moment, to this activity. This place of rest is always available. We need only turn toward it. It’s an aspect of us that’s never sick, is not born, and does not die.

The Fifth Precept: Cultivate Don’t-Know Mind.

This describes a mind that’s open and receptive. A mind that’s not limited by agendas, roles and expectations. The great Zen teacher Suzuki Roshi, was fond of saying, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”

From this vantage point we realize that “not knowing is most intimate.” Understanding this we stay very close to the experience allowing the situation itself to inform our actions. We listen carefully to our own inner voice, sensing our urges, trusting our intuition. We learn to look with fresh eyes.

Here is a list of Workshops being offered and information about the End-Of-Life Care Practitioner Program

Thanks to friends like Dorothy Mitchell I am continually reminded about being mindful and staying in the present moment.

Each of us carries that child within us that pulls at our shirt sleeve or tugs at our pant leg letting us know that they are there and if we don’t listen well, it is so easy to slip over into mindlessness. Deep breathe. I put my arm around that my child within that needs attention because of its fear when it was overwhelmed or not enough for the world during those early years. “You’re okay. You’re safe. We can use your energy and we can play for this short time together as we move ahead and do what needs to be done.”

Did you ever notice that if you close one eye you can see your nose. And if you close the other you can see the other side of your nose. You can always see your nose, and yet when we look out we don’t see it. And in that short sentence, if you closed one eye and looked, whatever was on your mind was gone as you checked out to see that you can always see your nose.

They’re thoughts. Just thoughts. Here, hear. Then gone in the next thought.

Dorothy’s shared two thoughts with me today and a few others on her email list:

Normal is someone you don’t know very well!”

“The elders say, ‘We must let go of the shore. Push off into the middle of the river and keep our eyes open and our heads above the water.
See who is there with you and celebrate that this time in history we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth, the journey come to a halt. The time of lone wolf is over - gather yourselves. Banish the word ’struggle from your attitude and even from your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration for we are the ones we have been waiting for’.”

Googled “We must let go of the shore” and the quote is from the Hopi Elders’ Prophecy.

So it was a pleasant Sunday morning with Richard and Kevin doing an easy 4 or 5 mile run working on running form and style, a la Oz’s Running Form and Style, Nicholas Romanov’s Pose Method, and Danny Dreyer’s ChiRunning. Mixed in with Walking Meditation. Check out Charles MacInerney’s short summary on Walking Meditation. Or better yet, you can read Thich Nhat Hanh’s The Long Run Turns To Joy: A Guide To Walking Meditation. or his book: Walking Meditation, which contains a DVD and CD-ROM with it.

Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book Coming to Our Senses and the CD set of Jon reading an abridged version of Coming To Our Senses is a wonderful unfolding of Mindfulness. The talk by Jon speaking at Google is a good presentation for anyone to learn more about Mindfulness.

On a book tour for Coming To Our Senses when the book first came out here is another nice presentation of Jon speaking to an audience at UCSD Medical Center on Mindfulness:

\"Coming To Our Senses\"

Ellen Langer in her book Mindfulness says:

Mindfulness is creation of new categories,
openness to new information
and awareness of more than one perspective.

With that in mind, sometimes that openness is to new information that is old information that we forgot we knew in our search for new information.

This is shared from dear friend and elder Abe Walking Bear Sanchez

Hello Ozzie,

Always good to hear from you. How you doing?

My friend and mentor , Jack Brightnose first told me the story and then Don Coyhis from White Bison in Colorado Springs spoke of it and I’ve been telling it ever since.

Brightnose passed on some time ago but Coyhis is still around…a heck of a speaker and a good man . White Bison

Yes please tell the story.

Mitakuye Oyasin,

WalkingBear