Defining Mindfulness

"Again and Again, examine
Every aspect of your mental and physical activities.
In brief, that is the very way of observing mindfulness." 
Shantideva

Inspired by the Mindful in May campaign we will spend the month examining the Buddhist concept of mindfulness and how it relates to food and eating.

When I started to research the topic of mindfulness I was surprised to find that the term is so often used now that many books on the topic don't even define it, rather they assume we already know its meaning. Mindfulness has made it's way into mainstream psychology and medicine in large part due to the work of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and now it seems to be everywhere, including in treatment for eating disorders and addictions.

Mindfulness in the Buddhist context seems to be about being completely aware or paying full attention as in the worldly definition of the word, but the Buddhist concept also has another aspect. It includes not evaluating, discriminating or judging. It's being fully present without habitual reactions or observing without reacting.

Popular Buddhist teacher Sharon Salzberg explains further,
 
"To understand mindfulness, imagine yourself doing something very simple, something that doesn't arouse a compelling interest--like, say, eating an apple. You probably eat your apple not paying attention to how it smells, how it tastes, or how it feels in your hand. Because of the ways we're conditioned, we don't usually notice the quality of our attention. Done this way, eating the apple is not a fulfilling experience. So you blame the apple. You might think, if only I had a banana, I'd be happy. So you get a banana, but eat it the same way, and still there's not a lot of fulfillment. And then you think, if only I had a mango--and go to great expense and some difficulty getting a mango. But it's the same thing all over again. We don't pay attention to what we have or what we're doing. As a result, we seek more and more intensity of stimulation to try to rectify what seems unfulfilling."

In the same article, Salzberg also gives a personal illustration of mindfulness and eating,

" (An) example of how our conditioning shapes our experience comes from my time studying in Burma. One day at lunch, I bit down on a whole pepper and my mouth just caught fire. Soon after, I had an interview with my teacher, Sayadaw Upandita. I told him I didn't like the taste of chilies, and he said, "Well, we Burmese don't like the taste of chilis either, but we believe that the stinging sensation will clear the palate; that it's good for digestion and health. We went on to talk about what the natural property of the chili is and how it creates a physiological sensation of burning, which is a direct experience. But the next aspect of that reality is what we make of the experience. A cultural belief system can be part of the experience. So a Burmese person might bite down on a chili, feel the burning, and say, "Well, good." Whereas I was saying, "I've got to get out of this country! Maybe I can go to Thailand and get a salad!" 

"Another definition of mindfulness is a quality of awareness that does not add to its object, grasp at it, or push it away in aversion or delusion. If we perceive a pleasant sight or sound or sensation in body, we try to prolong it and keep it from ever changing. If a sensation is painful, we shove it away in anger, or strike out against an object we perceive as causing us pain. And if the experience is neutral, like eating that apple, or hearing a breath, we may space out or disconnect. It's in the moment of mindfulness, the moment of awareness, that you can connect to the object without adding to it, grasping it or pushing it away. "

Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and human rights activist who lives in exile in France first introduced me to the subject of Mindfulness with his fabulous books on the subject and he has recently published Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life He says that practicing mindfulness cultivates understanding, love, compassion, and joy and that the practice helps us to take care of and transform suffering in our lives and in our society. He visited Google headquarters for a half day of mindfulness teaching recently. Check out a short video of the event here. 

We will delve deeper into some of Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings soon and I will share some of my own experiences of trying to be mindful. Stay tuned for that and for a Buddhist perspective on chocolate cake with Venerable Robina Courtin ...I cant wait! 

Practice: (this one is borrowed from the Mindful in May campaign) Try setting a phone reminder a few times per day with the message "how are you feeling in this moment?" as a way of training yourself to take the time to notice what's going on, in your environment and in your mind. Another tactic is to do so every time the phone rings or every time you make a cup of tea. Pick something you do throughout the day and make it a reminder to pay attention. In order to learn to respond to the moment in a positive way, we first have to be aware of what's happening in the moment. Try it and let us know how it goes.

Metta,

Dharma Mama