Week 02 Objectives
Recognize that mindfulness of the body as critical to the overall practice of mindfulness;
Define bare attention and know how it's cultivated;
Define interoceptive awareness;
Interpret what is gained when we know our bodies through interoceptive awareness;
Identify the major health benefits associated with mindfulness; and
Directly experience mindful awareness of the body.
1.2. LIVING FROM THE NECK UP
Sometimes what we rationally know is not aligned with how we instinctively feel. Provide an example from your own life where you prioritized your rational mind at the expense of your intuition. How did the situation turn out and what might have been different if you had trusted your gut?
Rational knowledge is knowledge gained through the power of reason or arrived at by logical argument. It is evidence in search of a conclusion. By contrast, intuitive knowledge is knowledge based in subjective judgment or gut feeling rather than on scientific learning, inference, observation, conscious reasoning, or experience.
Considering these definitions, I suspect that I prioritize my rational mind over my intuition. In terms of my love life, my rational mind often keeps myself guarded when it comes to opportunities for romantic connection. Tonight, I came across the profile of a woman I went to high school with on social media. We are not connected on the site, but I remember a note she wrote to me when we were in grade nine or ten, expressing her affection for me. And I ignored it. I’d been bullied a lot and I wasn’t certain as to whether she was being authentic in her desire to know me better.
This also happened with a crush I had, who I had asked to a high school dance in grade eight. She had turned me down, not because she didn’t want to go, but because her parents weren’t allowing her to go. Later, she approached me before the winter break in grade ten, asking how a girl like her might contact a guy like me. In short, she was asking me for my number. But I found a way to evade the question and flee.
Again, this was a case of my rational mind jumping to the conclusion that these two young women wanted to hurt me, even though I know in my gut that they wouldn’t have done that in any way. Had I trusted my gut, I may have found the courage to communicate more authentically with both girls and I could have dated one, or both, at some point during my high school experience.
Ultimately, I never had communication with either girl, we all graduated and moved on with life. Both are now married with kids of their own and I’m single, in many ways still suffering from the irrational fears I have about being hurt. My gut tells me that they are irrational, as they leave me empty and alone, but my mind justifies the fears with a plethora of excuses about why I shouldn’t trust anyone. My last relationship ended in August 2014, and since that time there was only one time that someone showed a deep and genuine interest in me again, but it triggered a flight response in me, and I once again skirted this woman’s questions about what I saw in our connection, and because of my insecurities, she pulled away. It’s something I know I need to work on.
"It only takes a reminder to breathe, a moment to be still and just like that something in me settles, softens, and makes space for imperfection. The harsh voice of judgement drops to a whisper and I remember again that life isn't a relay race; that we will all cross the finish line; that waking up to life is a what we were born for. As many times as I forget, catch myself charging forward without even knowing where I’m going, that many times I can make the choice to stop, to breathe, and be, and walk slowly into the mystery." ~Danna Faulds
1.5. YOUR BRAIN ON MEDITATION
Select at least one article to read from the Week Two Resources associated with this module. Share one thing from the article that stood out to you. This can include a major takeaway, something you feel incredulous about, or the central thesis of the article.
In Alvin Powell’s April 9, 2018 Harvard Gazette article, WHEN SCIENCE MEETS MINDFULNESS, Powell notes how more than 16 million Americans reported struggling with major depressive disorder in 2014. Powell also noted that they do not always respond positively to available treatments such as anti-depressant medication‘s and talk-therapy, resulting in the need for alternative treatments. Powell also describes how the rise in mindfulness as one such alternative treatment has led to over two hundred scientific studies being conducted on the benefits of mindfulness between 2013-15 alone. Powell notes that some studies weren’t the best but several were well designed and well run, highlighting benefits for depressed patients that were equivalent to and on par with more traditional treatments such as antidepressant medications. Powell also highlights however that a lot of work is left to be done: for example, there isn’t one single definition for mindfulness that is standard across the scientific community. I’m addition, Powell talks about how there are approaches across different mindfulness programs that differ from one another, all of which require more scientific study.
The June 20, 2018 Harvard Gazette article, MINDFULNESS MEDITATION AND RELAXATION RESPONSE AFFECT BRAIN DIFFERENTLY, discussed how a study by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital found that a body scan as performed under the guidance of either Herbert Benson‘s Relaxation Response, or Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), each had unique and beneficial impacts on participants involved in the scans over an eight week period. Commenting on the study, University of Toronto psychologist Norman Fab described how these results will help people make choices about which mindfulness approach would be best suited to address their needs.
The October 15, 2019 Harvard Gazette article, LEARNING NOT TO FEAR, explored a study by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers who found that mindfulness meditation might allow participants in an eight week MBSR program to adapt and respond to stimuli (known as a ‘safety memory’) which helps participants to reduce fear based responses by recovering from the negative impacts associated with fearful and anxiety producing memories. The article also noted that the study’s hypotheses required further testing, as its participants were otherwise healthy individuals who weren’t suffering from fear based anxiety. Further caution in the reliability of the outcomes was further expressed in the fact that the same conclusions appeared with both the main focus group as well the study’s control group.
1.7. Week 02 Quiz & Review
Bare attention teaches us how to pay attention to only one object at a time.
The ways in which mindfulness can support overall health include:
Decreased cortisol levels;
Greater behavior regulation, particularly around addiction and craving;
Supported emotional regulation;
Decreased blood pressure;
Reduced anxiety and stress;
Improved immune function; as well as
Sharpened focus and concentration.
Interoceptive awareness is the perception of sensations from inside the body.
There are several valuable benefits that come from directing attention to the body, several benefits from directing attention to the body. First, we are able to gain a stronger awareness about what we are feeling both emotionally and physically, and about where in our bodies we are feeling it. Specifically, it was also mentioned how it can:
Help us cultivate interoceptive and proprioceptive attention;
Helps keep us in the present moment (sensations in the body are always happening in real time);
Be centering/grounding when we're anxious;
Help us appreciate our bodies, no matter their limitations/abilities; as well as
Help us tune into and trust inner wisdom (intuition).
3.2. Share Resources: Week 2
Please share any additional resources you may have about mindfulness that relates to this week's material. When you do, don't just drop a file or a URL from an article, or video-- be sure to include why you posted what you shared and your thoughts about how you think it relates. Also, please keep in mind the discussion forum guidelines. Nothing demeaning or disrespectful!
Artifact 0x > Positive Revolution. “The Mindfulness Movie / MINDFULNESS Documentary Film 2020.” YouTube, 25 Jul 2020.
Paul Harrison, AIA, is an architect, author, consultant, filmmaker and speaker who specializes in the exploration of health prevention and mindfulness based stress reduction for corporations, small businesses, and individuals. Harrison is the author of books such as WHERE’S MY ZEN? and THE TEN PARADOXES: THE SCIENCE OF WHERE’S MY ZEN?, Harrison believes that mindfulness education and practice go hand in hand.
Harrison is the director and narrator of the 2014 feature film documentary THE MINDFULNESS MOVIE (69m) which explores the topic of mindfulness by threading together interviews with leading experts in the field of mindfulness (such as Rick Hanson and Jon Kabat-Zinn) with humorous skits (likely aimed at appealing to a younger audience) that involve the interaction of two individuals, one of whom is mindless, and the other who is mindful. Specifically, the documentary makes use of interviews and skits explore the answers to questions such as: WHAT IS MINDLESSNESS?, and WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?, and examines topics such as THE NEUROSCIENCE OF MINDFULNESS, THE JOURNEY TO MINDFULNESS, MINDFUL EATING, MINDFULNESS AND PTSD, as well as MINDFULNESS IN SCHOOLS (K-12).
The film suggests that mindlessness is a state of being people are in 90% of the time. It’s a mode people are in whenever they eat, drive, listen to the radio, read, use a smart device / phone, or watch TV. It’s how people usually feel whenever they are bored or pre-occupied with thoughts of the past or some problem of the future. It’s a state of being in which minds act like robots by simply reacting or responding to the world. Mindlessness involves seeing the world through filters instead of seeing things as they really are.
By contrast, mindfulness is a natural state of being which involves the sustained quality of being present. Or, in other words, or paying attention to present moment experience. It involves maintaining an open mind and a willingness to let go of old patterns which helps to cultivate a non-judgmental awareness of reality as it is, right now. Psychologist Dr Rick Hansen describes how: “The essence of mindfulness is to observe what’s there and what we bring that observation to, with the quality of being aware of our own awareness.” Mindfulness gives one the ability to control what you do based on what you feel.
In terms of the neuroscience of mindfulness, the film describes how people perceive reality through the filter of our minds, experience, and what we’ve been conditioned to see - which leaves us trapped in the neurobiology of our own brain. Every individual is wired differently, and every brain has a unique pattern of neutrons and connections that are both genetic and learned over time. The film also notes how these patterns become stuck over time, leaving people on a kind of auto-pilot which can lead to the development of addictive behaviour that provides some level of personal comfort for a certain period of time. Our actions and reactions become conditioned by our hopes, dreams, tensions, anxieties, motivations, desires, jealousy’s, prejudices, loves and hates, guilt, greed, fear, surprise, frustrations, and worries. Ultimately, the neuroscience of mindfulness suggests that our conditioned reactions can be changed by paying attention to the present moment, to develop adaptive reactivity that helps with stress, trauma, and addiction. In short, our brains are always open to change, as mindfulness changes for one’s relationship with your habit centre so it’s not in control. Mindfulness gets people out of reactive loops. Individuals can change mindless behaviour to mindful behaviour.
Raw footage from the mindfulness movie…
Artifact 0x - Rick Hansen. “Raw Footage From the Mindfulness Movie.” YouTube, 10 Apr 2013.