As has been discussed in previous lessons, mindfulness is the opposite of being on “auto-pilot”. Where someone in Doing Mode may walk through a park planning what they want to eat for lunch or ruminating on something embarrassing they said at work that day, someone practicing mindfulness (in Being Mode) may walk through a park, noticing the smell of the freshly cut grass and the sound of the birds chirping in the trees. Which mode do you imagine may lead to depression and anxiety?
Living on auto-pilot puts us at risk to get stuck in painful moments of the past or future. When we are out of touch with the present, life can take on a gray, dim quality because we do not notice its intricacies. Most of the time, the present moment is relatively safe and pain-free. If we just existed in the present, without judging it, we would arguably be content most of the time. So why don’t we all just go around soaking up every moment? Because we’re not wired to do that. We naturally focus on the negative, plan for the future, rehearse memories of the past, and stay in Doing Mode. Mindfulness is a skill that can be honed over time through practice and neural growth in order to change this way of being in the world. A nice way to start taking steps toward mindfulness is through one of our favorite pastimes: eating.
Mindfully Eating a Raisin
In order to do this experiment, you will need a few raisins or some other food that you like. Get yourself settled in a quiet place where no one will disturb you for about 10 minutes. Follow along with these instructions:
Pick up a raisin and hold it in your hand. Examine it closely as if it was from an alien world and you had never seen it before. Notice its color, shape, and how the light is touching it. Is it glossy or dull? Allow yourself to be curious about it, maybe turning it over to inspect all its sides.
If you notice yourself having any thoughts while doing this experiment, simply label the thoughts as “thinking” place that thought on your brain’s conveyor belt, and allow it to get carried away. It’s ok if this happens quite a bit, that’s perfectly normal. The important thing is to gently and compassionately nudge your focus back into alignment with the raisin in your hand.
And now, shift your focus to how the raisin feels. Is it heavy or light? Sticky or smooth? Does it give when you pinch it? Notice how it feels to roll around in your hand. Whatever your experience is, bring your awareness fully to directly observing that phenomenon.
Whenever you’re ready, bring the raisin up to your nose and notice what it smells like. Is there any aroma? Allow your experience to be what it is without trying to change it in any way.
Next, allow the raisin to be in your mouth but do not chew it. Notice any changes happening in your mouth. Bring awareness to the feeling of the ridges of the raisin as it moves across your tongue and the roof of your mouth.
Whenever you’re ready, begin to slowly bite down on the raisin. Very slowly, start to chew it. Notice any taste sensations and any impulses to chew it faster. Feel the toughness of the skin and the softness of the inside of the raisin.
Notice yourself wanting to swallow, and whenever you’re ready, go ahead and swallow it with intention. Sense the raisin moving down through the throat to the stomach.
Take a minute or so to reflect on this process. What did you notice? What feelings were you aware of? How did this differ from your typical experience eating food? Where did your mind go during the raisin exercise? Did you intend for it to go there? If not, that’s ok.
Why do you think this exercise was relevant to the present topic? Mindful eating shows us how greatly we can change our experience just by shifting the quality and focus of our attention. When automatic thoughts arise, we can steer our ship back toward the present moment by intentionally focusing on our five senses. Being aware of ourselves and our present experience can be very helpful for many reasons. We can detect warning signs that we need to slow down, engage in self-care, rest, or do any number of activities. Mindfulness helps you have your finger on the pulse of a variety of your needs and experiences. Also, increasing your understanding of your needs helps you communicate your needs to others more effectively.
Daily Practice
As best you can (and as much as it feels reasonable to do so) consider practicing the following mindfulness activities six out of the seven days in the coming week.
Body Scan
Body scans are powerful exercises that can help you strengthen your ability to direct, sustain, and shift attention. These are all important executive functioning skills to have in life for numerous occasions (e.g. babysitting your children/grandchildren, communicating with loved ones, and cooking a complex meal). Body scans can take anywhere from 30 seconds to an hour.
Follow the link for a guided body scan and related article by the well-respected Dr. Mark Bertin https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3-1-RkV8UaCa2hKSE9UV1pFQkE/view?usp=sharing.
After doing the body scan, consider keeping a journal or notebook and filling it with observations related to this daily exercise. Consider writing what thoughts arose, how your body felt, what emotions you observed, and any other pertinent details. This could be a good way to track any symptoms or illnesses you may be experiencing.
Remember, the purpose of body scan isn’t to change anything. It’s simply to check in with your body to see what is going on. Mindfulness is strengthening your mental muscles involved in nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment. If you notice pain or discomfort, try to just allow it to be there. Maybe say “yes” to it or just acknowledge its presence in a nurturing tone. You may choose to shift your attention between painful and pain-free parts of your body if your pain is overwhelming. This is your choice.
Sometimes focusing on a painful part of the body can intensify the pain. These are important moments in your mindfulness practice. As best you can, try to just notice the pain as a sensation without letting yourself get lost in story about it (e.g. “Ah I hate this so much, this is just going to make everything worse and then I won’t be able to do anything the rest of the day, this stuff just doesn’t work for me”). Consider viewing the pain as a chemical message being sent from your nerves, to your spinal cord, up through your brain stem, and into your brain. The pain is not actually a physical entity. It’s more like a letter being delivered through a system of highways. It is helpful to open the letter and read it so you can respond to the letter (e.g. “you are touching a hot stove, please move your hand as soon as possible”), but you do not need to ruminate on how terrible that experience was or how awful it might be when it happens in the future. As natural as those responses are, they simply aren’t productive or helpful. But it’s ok for this response shift to be hard and clunky. If it only helps reduce your aversion to pain by 5-10% the first week and then only helps reduce your actual experience of the pain by 10-15% the first month, that’s still a risk-free step in the right direction. So try not to get discouraged. If/when you do get discouraged, talk about it with a classmate, friend, or teacher. I promise it is normal and sometimes just hearing that is all you need.
Bringing Awareness to Routine Activities
The moments in life when we truly need to be mindful occur sporadically throughout our day. Just as you wouldn’t only want to get good at practicing a sport (e.g. baseball) in your backyard, you don’t only want to get good at practicing mindfulness in your living room. The goal is to generalize your mindfulness skills to your encounters with everyday events so you can bring intentionality to them (e.g. responding compassionately rather than explosively to a frustrating co-worker).
Choose one activity that you do every day such as brushing your teeth, doing dishes, getting dressed, or listening to someone speak. Each day, try to bring your full awareness to this task. Try to pick just one activity and do it routinely, that will help you remember. If you choose showering for instance, each day pay attention to the smell of your shampoo, the temperature of the water on your skin, and the emotions that you feel during that period of time. To hold yourself accountable, consider making a little checklist for this activity and checking off each day that you perform it. Notice if the routine activity changes in any way once you start paying more attention to your experience of it. This can be a powerful tool in reminding you once daily to shift out of Doing Mode and into Being Mode.
Mindful Eating
Each day, see if it’s possible to eat one meal or part of one meal mindfully. That means, no TV, no newspaper, no talking, just focusing on what your five senses perceive when you are eating. This is really hard. We are so used to consuming media as a side dish to our food. So just test it out and see if you like it. Maybe even just five mindful bites will be as much as you choose to do. Again, if you want to create a checklist and mark off the days you had a mindful meal, go for it. Whatever supports you reaching your goals.
References
Teasdale, J., Williams, J, & Segal, Z. (2014). The mindful way workbook: An 8-week program to free yourself from depression and emotional distress. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Application: Effectiveness of Mindfulness for ADHD and Other Conditions
Hesslinger and colleagues (2002) performed a pilot study in Germany in which eight adults with ADHD were treated using Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), which features mindfulness and emotional regulation techniques. DBT provides people with tools to be aware of their tendency to go on autopilot and make different choices by increasing their self-regulation skills. As has been true in previously mentioned studies, a major limitation of this study is the small sample size (N=8) which reduces this study’s generalizability. Hesslinger and colleagues described the DBT intervention as focusing on the three “how” skills (taking a nonjudgmental stance, focusing on one thing at a time, and being effective) as well as the three “what” skills (observing, describing, and participating) (2002). Results revealed significant improvements in ADHD symptom severity, overall mental health, mental speed, and inhibitory executive functions including attention regulation.
References
Hesslinger, B., van Elst, L., Nyberg, E., Dykierek, P., Richter, H., Berner, M., & Ebert, D. (2002). Psychotherapy of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults: A pilot study using a structured skills training program. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 252(4), 177-184. doi 10.1007/s00406-002-0379-0
Mindful Cardio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8r62Khe1XY
offers a yoga-influenced 7.5 minute cardio/strengthening exercise
discusses self-acceptance
allows for modifications
Manage Stress by Listening to Your Body by Mark Bertin (brief article):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3-1-RkV8UaCa2hKSE9UV1pFQkE/view?usp=sharing
people with better body awareness tend to feel less stressed
noticing the body, pausing, and redirecting
catch the stress cycle early rather than letting it hijack you
contains a link to a Body Scan exercise that has audio and written instructions
Integrative Body-Mind Treatments (Powerpoint):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3-1-RkV8UaCWjdIRFBRclRQZGs/view?usp=sharing
recovery oriented system of care
CBT
mindfulness based relapse prevention
trauma sensitive yoga
body scan exercise video embedded
How to Be Fully Awake Instead of Living on Autopilot (article):
http://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-to-be-fully-awake-instead-of-living-on-autopilot/
Read this article and try one of the author’s 10 suggestions for living in the present