To Tend the Awakened Heart By Michele Tae Upaya Chaplaincy Training Program 1
Abstract To Tend the Awakened Heart is to cultivate love and compassion through the practice of mindfulness. Buddhist teachings, together with recent research in neuroscience, indicate that mindfulness practice enhances our natural capacity for love and compassion. Training the mind to become aware of our presence in the moment provides mental, emotional, and physical benefits. As part of my learning project for Upaya s Chaplaincy Training, I designed and conducted two workshops that trained participants in methods for cultivating mindfulness. The first workshop, Cultivating a Mindful Life, occurred over a six-week period and combined mindfulness instruction and practice with small group discussion. Participants were drawn from the general public and their comments indicated that they developed a felt sense of the present moment and that this promoted greater calm and clarity in their daily lives. The second workshop, Yoga and Mindfulness, was developed for yoga teachers. The half-day program included the practice of Focused-Awareness and Open-Monitoring styles of meditation interspersed with yoga movements. The data collected through written evaluations revealed that all participants found the combination of yoga and mindfulness to be beneficial and some found that it fostered greater integration of body and mind. The results of the evaluations from these two workshops along with other related evidence suggest that the practice of mindfulness can cultivate our natural capacity for love and compassion and thereby awakens our own tender hearts. 2
Introduction One of the many gifts of being human is our natural capacity for love and compassion. His Holiness the Dalai Lama tells us that our basic human instinct to seek happiness is evidence of our fundamentally compassionate nature (Lama, 2002). To Tend the Awakened Heart is to cultivate love and compassion through the practice of mindfulness. When we are mindful we become conscious of the feelings and sensations that arise as our lives unfold. This can reveal our perceptions that may then be examined and changed, leading to greater physical, emotional and mental well-being (Siegel, 2007). Over the past two years I designed and conducted two public workshops on mindfulness practice. In the first workshop, entitled Cultivating a Mindful Life, I introduced Buddhist meditation practice and ways to apply it to daily life. In Yoga and Mindfulness, the second workshop, I explored the integration of mindfulness practice with yoga postures. The methods used in the workshops were based on my experience and the shared wisdom of my many teachers. The workshops combined theory with actual practice to give participants an opportunity for a direct experience of the benefits of mindfulness. Overview of Mindfulness Practices The practice of mindfulness is synonymous with the practice of meditation. Mindfulness is a simple yet not easy discipline that requires time, energy, and attention. When we are mindful we are aware of the activity of the mind and when the mind wanders, we return our attention to the body and breath. Mindfulness is an activity that we participate in with our full attention yet without any sense of trying to attain anything (Hagen, 2007). The workshops I offered acquainted participants with mindfulness practices that stem from the Buddhist meditation tradition. The following sections describe the mindfulness practices presented in the workshops. 3
Sitting meditation. Sitting meditation is the practice of mindfulness while seated either on a chair or on a cushion; it is usually silent. The posture is upright with the shoulders and neck relaxed and the back straight but not rigid. The hands are relaxed in the lap or held in any one of a number of traditional hand positions. The eyes can be gently open or closed. The awareness focuses on the body and breath, with a simple noting of the activities of the mind; again and again the awareness is returned to the present moment the here and now. Walking meditation. During this practice we remain mindful of each step as we walk slowly with full awareness of the surface beneath the feet, as well as our surroundings. The body and mind are relaxed and there is an awareness of the breath with each step. Walking meditation can be done inside or outdoors. Walking meditation is often practiced together with sitting meditation to allow the legs to stretch. Awareness of the breath. The breath is the object of attention during mindfulness practice. The breath is easily accessible and is unique to each individual and while it is easy to control, it can also be left to function on its own. The breath interacts with the self and the outer world and is personal while being highly dependent on outer conditions. By bringing our conscious awareness over and over again to the breath, we soften the line between our subjective experience and the outside world. This leads us to a deepening of our meditative awareness (Hagen, 2007). Gathas. A gatha is a short verse that is recited either during formal meditation practice or during daily activities to foster mindfulness (Hanh, 1990). A gatha can be recited silently or voiced aloud. Yoga asana. Yoga scholar Salvatore Zambito defines yoga as a technical term that refers primarily to a transcendent state of consciousness Samadhi, and secondarily to the 4
practices that facilitate this awareness, including asana (Zambito, 1992). In essence yoga is synonymous with mindfulness and the postures or asana are only one of the many modes of yogic practice (Vishnu-devananda, 1988). The current English language understanding of yoga defines it simply as a system of exercises for creating physical well-being (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2010). Our language is woefully insufficient to fully explain the subtleties of yoga but it is clear that the domain of yoga extends well beyond the practice of asana. It is useful to note that the word asana comes from the Sanskrit root, aas, which means to sit, and also to be present and to persevere, all qualities that yoga and mindfulness share (Zambito, 1992). Workshop on Cultivating a Mindful Life Methods Workshop Participants The participants for Cultivating a Mindful Life came from the Boise, Idaho community. The workshop was sponsored by the Barefoot Yoga Studio of Boise, with a suggested fee of $25. After the room rental was paid, the remaining monies were donated to a local Buddhist sangha. Twenty-five persons attended the full six-week class. The majority of students were new to meditation practice. Participants were introduced to basic mindfulness practice including both sitting and walking meditation, as well as the use of gathas. They were referred to two texts: Thich Nhat Hanh s, Breathe You Are Alive, and Meditation Now or Never by Steve Hagen. Hagen s book was offered as a primer on meditation practice and was a handbook for those who were entirely new to meditation practice. Hanh s text is a description and commentary of the Anapanasati Sutra as translated from the Chinese. Anapana is the Sanskrit word for breath. Sati is the Sanskrit word for mindfulness. Sutra is the Sanskrit word for discourse. Hence in English 5
this is known as the Discourse on the Mindfulness, or Full Awareness, of Breathing (Hanh, 1996). I have practiced with the Anapanasati Sutra personally for over fifteen years. I am familiar with the structure of the sutra and the commentaries by Thich Nhat Hanh and others, including Larry Rosenberg and Thanassaro Bikkhu. I attended retreats where this sutra was used as a meditative focus, and have offered this sutra as a practice for members of my local Buddhist community. Based on my experience, this sutra provides a structure for beginning students to develop a conscious awareness of being in the present moment. Workshop Structure The six-week class was structured to include sitting and walking meditation, small group discussions and a presentation on practices for working with the mind and body. Both silent meditations and guided meditations were offered, as well as the use of short gathas as a contemplative focus. The gathas presented in the class were based on the exercises contained in the Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing; however they were not in all cases taken directly from the sutra. Rather they were chosen phrases that lead practitioners to new ways to consider both their internal awareness as well as their sense of what it means to be alive. The gathas are included in the description of each class. Week one. In the first class I presented an overview of the mindfulness practices to be included in the six-week workshop, and instruction on the practice of sitting and walking meditation. The suggested texts were introduced along with a list of the practice gathas. I reviewed the importance of good posture, including instruction on an upright spine with a relaxed body. I worked individually with persons who had difficulty with their posture, either because they were unable to sit comfortably or felt a sense that their breath was restricted. People 6
sat in chairs or on cushions, or used a wall for support. A good meditation posture is alert but relaxed, facilitating awareness of the breath. The guidance on working with posture and breath was carried forward into walking meditation. Participants formed a circle in the center of the room, and were instructed to walk clockwise, slowly, with their awareness on the sole of the foot and its contact with the floor. Walking meditation is a community practice. Participants were instructed to remain aware of their place in the circle, so as not to disturb the practice of others. During the sitting meditation I offered the following gatha as general support for mindfulness practice: Breathing in, I know I am breathing in; breathing out, I know I am breathing out. I explained that a gatha is meant to be recited in conjunction with the bodily sensation of the inhalation and exhalation. With subsequent breaths the gatha can be simplified using only the words: In, Out. This was followed by approximately three to five minutes of silence while the participants worked with the gatha and their breath. I encouraged the participants to view these exercises as a personal experiment rather than a skill they could master. They were told to let go of their thoughts when they arose, and to return their full attention to their breath. I instructed them to simply notice how the breath and the mind behave, while remaining relaxed with an attitude of curiosity. I included the reminder to breathe naturally, without any effort or conscious control by the mind. Releasing any control over the breath is essential to fully relaxing and freeing the mind (Fahri, 1996). A natural breath is normally irregular with a deep breath sometimes followed by a shallow breath. In my experience, this unevenness of breath is common for beginning meditators and normally becomes smoother and more regular with continued practice. Week two. In this week of the workshop I emphasized relaxing with the awareness of the body. The first four gathas from the Full Awareness of Breathing exercises encourage an 7
awareness of the body that is intimate and real, creating harmony and ease in the body and connecting the body and mind (Hanh, 1996). After participants settled into a relaxed and upright posture, I asked them to bring their attention to their breath and to remain aware of this sensation as they recited the following gathas: (a) Breathing in, I am aware of a long breath; breathing out, I am aware of a long breath. (b) Breathing in, I am aware of a short breath; breathing out, I am aware of a short breath. (c) Breathing in, I am aware of my whole body; breathing out, I am aware of my whole body. (d) Breathing in, I calm my whole body; breathing out, I calm my whole body. These preliminary exercises use the breath as the object of awareness and the mind as the subject. This reveals the interconnectedness of mind and breath and how they influence each other. In bringing our attention to the whole body, we develop a sense of full body awareness that fosters calmness and relaxation (Hanh, 1996). Following this meditation participants formed small groups of approximately four people and discussed their personal experience with the practice. Week three. During this week we explored working with the mind by developing awareness of thoughts. Participants continued to use the gathas from the prior week to establish awareness of the body and breath. The following gatha was added for the group to contemplate: Breathing in, I concentrate on a mental formation that is present; breathing out, I look deeply at this mental formation. The Sanskrit term for mental formation is chitta (mind) samskara (formation). In Buddhism, formation is a technical term that refers to anything that is made (formed) of something else. In other words, the thought I am angry may refer to physical sensations that 8
include rapid heart rate and intensity of emotion. The thought results from the physical and/or emotional sensations but is not the sensation itself (Hanh, 1998). To look deeply is another term that has specific meaning in Buddhist practice. To look deeply is to practice clear seeing or discernment so as to develop insight. Thich Nhat Hanh explains that when we look deeply we seek to understand the many causes and conditions that have brought about a situation (Ibid). If we realize that we are angry, when we look deeply we open our awareness to discern the true cause of our anger. A full week was devoted to this one exercise for two reasons: to help develop the participants ability to work with their thoughts and to cultivate a felt sense of calming the mind. I asked participants to use this gatha during their daily sitting meditation and also informally, such as when they first awoke in the morning or when they were waiting at a traffic signal. When they noticed the presence of a thought, I asked them to consciously bring their attention to their body, to relax and then notice what feelings arose as they looked deeply at their thoughts. Week four. This week we focused on becoming aware of psychological or emotional wounds and continued the work of calming the mind. We practiced with the following contemplations: (a) Breathing in, I know I have the opportunity to be mindful. Breathing out, I feel happy to have the opportunity to be mindful. (b) Breathing in, I embrace my feelings; breathing out, I calm my feelings. We also reviewed the gatha that was the subject of the previous week s contemplation and then practiced with: Breathing in, I am aware of right mindfulness; breathing out, this makes me happy. I explained that Right Mindfulness is one of the elements of the Eight-fold Path that is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths and is fundamental to the Buddha s teachings. The First Noble Truth is that suffering exists; the Second Noble Truth is that suffering always has a cause; the 9
Third Noble Truth is that there is cessation of suffering; and the Fourth Noble Truth is the eightfold path that leads to the end of suffering. The Eight-fold Path consists of Right View, Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Diligence, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration (Hanh, 1998). With the foundation of calming the mind, contemplating these four exercises helped participants to recognize emotional wounds that may be embodied as physical pain, resentment or anger. Participants were asked to practice looking deeply in order to recognize and acknowledge the feelings and thoughts that arise, while remaining aware of their breath and their ability to relax the body. During the small group discussion, participants shared their experience with this practice. Week five. In the fifth week I introduced the Buddhist view on impermanence and discussed ways to awaken to the present moment. Again new gathas were added that presented the idea of no birth, no death : Breathing in, I observe the coming and going of the wave; breathing out, I contemplate the no-coming and no-going of the water. I explained that this particular gatha refers to a familiar teaching of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh that uses the analogy of the wave and water to illustrate the Buddha s teaching on impermanence and non-self (1998). Our individual self arises and passes away like a wave on the ocean; yet our essential nature is like water, and though the wave appears and disappears, the water remains (Hanh, 1998). I asked participants next to consider caring for and liberating the mind using the following gathas: (a) Breathing in, I open my mind to look deeply at my fear; breathing out, there is liberation from fear. (b) Breathing in, I observe a flower; breathing out, I contemplate the impermanence of the flower. (c) Breathing in, I look deeply at the object of my desire; 10
breathing out, I see the disappearance of my desire. Finally, participants were asked to consider looking deeply in order to discern their true nature: (a) Breathing in, I let go of the idea that this body is me; breathing out, I am not caught in this body. (b) Breathing in, I let go of the idea that I did not exist before I was born; breathing out, I let go of the idea that I will not exist after I die. Week six. In the final class I asked participants to submit written questions, which I collected and grouped by topic. Several participants asked whether there are ways to determine if the practice is being done correctly. In response, I reminded them that the practice asks us to let go of any judgment and enjoy being present in each moment. There were also questions concerning how to develop the motivation to practice. I recommended being gentle when beginning a mindfulness practice, emphasizing that there is no hurry and no goal. I noted that if the practice makes one a happier person, it is worth pursuing. There were questions about how my personal practice developed, which I shared along with the recommendation to attend weekend or week-long retreats with a qualified teacher. Workshop Results The progressive nature of the workshop encouraged participants to lengthen their meditations as new gathas were added each week. By the end of the workshop some participants reported daily practices of thirty minutes or more. Participant comments indicated that the practices fostered mental and physical relaxation, and that the gathas helped develop more substantial self awareness. When practicing mindfulness at work and at home, individuals were able to maintain mental calm and clarity. Several participants commented that the practices helped them to reduce their physical pain and emotional anxiety. The texts used in this class 11
(Breathe You Are Alive and Meditation Now or Never) provided information that answered many of the questions of those who were entirely unfamiliar with Buddhist terms and concepts. One of the participants provided the following written comment: I feel awake noticing my thoughts and feelings rather than trying to detach from them. I feel an intimacy with myself and a knowledge that I can go there each time I sit. [The class was] a wonderful balance of sitting and walking meditation, discussion of our process, creative techniques, and mindfulness in daily life. Similar comments were made by other participants. Workshop on Yoga and Mindfulness Methods Workshop Participants An invitation to the Yoga and Mindfulness workshop was sent to selected yoga asana teachers and experienced yoga students in the Boise community. Since I have practiced and taught yoga in Boise since 1989, I am familiar with this community. The class was attended by thirty-five people and was offered at no cost to participants. Participants included teachers with twenty-five to thirty years experience in teaching and others with as little as five years. There were also students who attended the workshop because they were interested in the mindfulness topic and who had little experience with yoga. For example, two individuals were social workers at a local high school who teach yoga asana as part of small group sessions they hold with students. At the conclusion of the workshop, participants were asked to complete an evaluation form before leaving. Two weeks following the workshop an email request with follow-up questions was sent to all participants. Fifteen participants responded to the follow-up evaluation. 12
Workshop Structure This workshop explored ways to combine mindfulness practice with teaching yoga asana. Four workshop objectives were identified: (1) to learn the benefits of training the mind through mindfulness, (2) to become aware of recent scientific research on the results of mindfulness practice, (3) to learn ways to incorporate mindfulness techniques into one s personal yoga practice, and (4) to learn ways to teach mindfulness techniques within the context of yoga. The structure of the class included an opening silent meditation followed by a presentation on the basic concepts for integrating yoga and mindfulness. The remainder of the class alternated segments of mindfulness training with segments of yoga movement. After each segment, participants met in groups of two or three to discuss their observations, after which selected individuals shared their experience with the entire group. During the opening presentation, I reminded participants that training the mind in concert with the body is required to integrate mindfulness with yoga. It is customary in yoga asana classes to work with the body as the primary focus, providing little or no instruction that relates to the mind. For this workshop, mindfulness was defined as the primary consideration with the body being secondary. Participants were encouraged to think outside the normal bounds of yoga as a physical discipline alone. I referenced Bruce Perry s recent work with the Healing Arts Project that treats trauma in children using yoga asana (Miranda, 1998) and also Bessel van der Kolk s work at the Trauma Center, Justice Resource Institute, where a training program in Yoga and the Traumatized Body is offered (Trauma Center, 2010). Participants were given two articles as handouts. Attention Regulation and Monitoring in Meditation defined Focused Awareness and Open Monitoring as two broad categories for grouping standard meditations for use in the study of meditative states and neuroscience (Lutz, 13
Slagter, Dunne & Davidson, 2008). Focused Awareness is described as a widespread style of Buddhist practice that involves sustaining selective attention moment by moment on a given object; to sustain this focus the practitioner must also constantly monitor the quality of attention (Ibid., p. 163). James Austin s article entitled Your Self, Your Brain, and Zen was also provided (2003). In the workshop I used the term referential meditation in place of Focused Awareness and the term non-referential in place of Open Monitoring. I determined that these alternative terms were easier to remember, especially for those who are entirely new to mindfulness practices. Segment one. The first segment consisted of a seated, guided meditation that asked participants to count their breaths. Counting the breath is an example of the referential style of meditation. I explained that this breath work differs from the yogic practice of pranayama in many important ways. Pranayama is the conscious prolongation of the inhalation, retention and exhalation of the breath (Iyengar, 1992). In contrast, in mindfulness practice the breath occurs naturally without any effort. Participants were asked to allow their breath to find its own rhythm and pace and to relax and release any mental control of the breath. The mind should observe the breath while tracking the sensation of the breath in the body and counting each breath. This approach fosters a more relaxed mind, which is essential to mindfulness practice. The counting method used is derived from the practice of Yoga Nidra, a technique for learning to relax consciously (Saraswati, 1998). In Yoga Nidra one comes into a state that is between sleeping and waking by focusing awareness on different body parts while keeping the body absolutely still. The instructions given for counting the breath were to count backwards from 27 to 1, saying the following words silently while observing the body: 27, belly rising (during 14
inhalation), 27, belly falling (during exhalation), and so on down to one. The part of the body referenced during the breathing changed during each round of meditation. After the belly came the chest rising and falling, then the sensation of the breath in the throat, and finally the sensation of the breath at the nostrils. I guided the meditation with the sound of a bell at the end of each of the rounds and paused briefly before moving on. Segment two. The second segment was a series of yoga movements performed with mental focus on the breath and the sensation of the body. The first movement was a slow forward bend (uttanasana). The instruction was to stand with the feet comfortably apart, become aware of the breath, and slowly bend the knees and roll forward over the legs, take a few breaths and then slowly roll up and spread the arms wide, again focusing on the sensation of the breath in the whole body. This movement was repeated several times and then participants were asked to sit in a simple seated pose (virasana) and return to the awareness of the breath. Segment three. The third segment was another silent meditation with awareness of the breath in silence. This meditation was an example of the non-referential style where one aims to remain only in the monitoring state, attentive moment by moment to anything that occurs in the experience without focusing on an explicit object (Lutz et al, 2008, p. 164). Participants were asked to notice the spaciousness of the mind, and to embody the qualities of openness and acceptance. Segment four. The fourth segment was a slow series of linked poses or vinyasa. I instructed participants to practice a sequence of poses that began with child s pose (balasana) followed by downward dog (adho mukha svanasana) and then a return to child s pose. After repeating this sequence several times, I asked participants to return to a simple seated pose and to observe the mind. 15
Segment five. The fifth segment was another exploration of referential and nonreferential mindfulness practice. I asked participants to take a comfortable meditation posture and establish an awareness of the breath. I directed them then to become aware of the sounds they heard and the sensations they noticed while continuing to breathe, allowing the sound or sensation to become vivid in their awareness. Once the sound or feeling was clear, they were asked to notice if they had any emotional response and if so to label this response as positive, negative or neutral. Labeling thoughts is a way to cultivate the mind of the observer. This meditation period was approximately ten minutes long. Participants were then instructed to relax and return to a simple awareness of the breath and basically clear the mind. After three minutes, they were asked to simply allow the breath and mind to relax into openness, as if the breath rose and fell within vast space empty of any characteristics; this meditation continued for about five minutes. Segment six. The final movement segment alternated a standing mountain pose (tadasana) with a balancing tree pose (vrksasana); this sequence was repeated three times. I asked participants to then come into half moon pose (ardha chandrasana), to hold this pose for as long as was comfortable and then return to sitting and observe the mind. Workshop Results Participants in the workshop on Yoga and Mindfulness were surprised at the large turnout of teachers and students. The mood in the room was joyful as people who had not seen each other for some time came together. There were lively discussions during the initial segment of the workshop and spoken comments showed that most participants found value in using the counting in combination with focusing on different parts of the body and the breath. The discussion and comments from subsequent segments were also enthusiastic and positive. 16
Workshop evaluations. All participants completed the evaluation form at the end of the workshop. The evaluation results are grouped by question below. The full results from the evaluation forms are contained in Appendix One. Question One. Do you consider yourself a novice or experienced mindfulness practitioner? If you are an experienced practitioner, what is your estimated cumulative total of hours of practice? Sixteen of the thirty-five participants estimated their individual cumulative hours of meditation and yoga experience as ranging from a few hundred to five thousand. The remaining nineteen students ranked themselves as novices with little experience in meditation and with varying experience with yoga. That the group was so evenly split is surprising. This may be due to the presence of yoga students as well as individuals who have different levels of experience with teaching yoga. Question Two. Describe what you noticed when you combine mindfulness with your yoga practice. The participant responses fell into three general categories: Connecting, Feeling, and Sensing. The responses in the Connecting category indicated that adding mindfulness to the practice of yoga deepens the sense of being able to relax in the poses and complements the physicality and structure of a more traditional practice. There was a stronger sense of connection in the poses as a total experience. There was a new awareness of the breath within the poses, greater spaciousness, and less internal dialogue. When habits of body or mind surfaced, there was an ability to return to the moment and let go. There was an ability to suspend the judging mind and relax. The breath was experienced as a communication with all other parts of the body. There was validation of the sense that yoga and meditation really are one. 17
The responses in the Feeling category indicated that when combining yoga and meditation, participants had an enhanced feeling of quietness and calm while remaining centered, light, and expansive. The movements became slower and less controlled. There was a feeling of pleasure and joy. The spine and neck were able to relax more fully, allowing the head to feel loose. There was also a heightened sense of compassion for oneself and one s aches and pains. There was a feeling of ease, inner softness and peace. The responses in the Sensing category indicated that for these participants, the yoga poses were less about athleticism and the precise physical form and more about following the truth of the body and breath. There was an ability to listen to the body instead of the thoughts about how the body should be. There seemed to be a different mode of awareness of the body, as if there were a more tangible sense of relationship of the ground to the body. There was more awareness of when one moved without relating to the breath, more awareness that movement was an adjunct to the breath. This practice was about breath with movement as secondary and letting breath shape the pose, versus shaping the pose and using the breath to sustain it. Question Three. Describe what you noticed during seated mindfulness practice. What differences did you notice during non-referential and referential styles of meditation practice? In general those who were newer to meditation practice found the referential style easier and those with some practice acknowledged preferred the non-referential style. Of the twenty-three participants who commented on the non-referential meditation style, six of them found the practice difficult. These comments indicated difficulty calming the restless mind and that it was challenging to ignore my own body aches. The remaining seventeen participants who commented on the non-referential meditation style found the practice familiar, peaceful and spacious. 18
Of the thirty participants who commented on the referential meditation style, seven of them found the practice difficult. Those who found this practice difficult indicated that labeling their thoughts was distracting for them and required more effort, evoking a desire to do it right. The remaining twenty-three participants who commented on the referential meditation style found it easier than the non-referential. Their comments indicate that the mind was steadier when focused, and this allowed them to more effectively quiet their internal dialogue. It is interesting to note that novice yoga teachers and students found the referential practices easier to access and their comments suggested that the mind remained more focused with an object of attention. The more experienced yoga teachers and students were the opposite, finding the non-referential meditation less distracting and more able to induce relaxation and calm. One possible reason for this notable difference is the confidence that comes with more experience. This confidence can translate into greater comfort with less structure, the most significant distinction between referential and non-referential styles of meditative practice. Question four. Define what practical applications you see for combining yoga and meditation. All of the responses to this question found benefit in combining yoga with mindfulness practice. One participant commented, In the old days, yoga was mindfulness; they were not separate. The conscious combination of the two practices would benefit every yoga practitioner and every mindfulness practitioner by developing embodied awareness. Of the thirty-three responses, seven of them specifically mentioned how this combination created a greater integration between the body and mind. One of these participants responded, Letting yoga come from an inner place be yoga, not do yoga. Incorporating mindfulness into the practice gets rid of the mind games and makes the practice real, humble, informative work. Another similar comment was It s [mindfulness] very interwoven and enhances the experience 19
[of yoga], it brings you more into your body. Two comments mentioned that yoga combined with mindfulness can be beneficial for [addiction] recovery work with non-yoga practitioners. Two other comments said that this combination promotes health and well-being. Follow-up evaluations. Fifteen participants completed another evaluation form within thirty days following workshop. A summary of responses by question is provided below. Question one. Describe how mindfulness appeared in your life following the workshop. Seven of the respondents indicated they experienced more mindfulness in their yoga practice and also that mindfulness was present at other times during their day. Five participants made specific reference to how they benefited personally from the practice of counting the breath. Three of the fifteen respondents felt they had already incorporated mindfulness into their lives and their yoga teaching and did not find anything new to report. Two comments were of particular interest beyond the application to yoga: I used counting meditation with a couple of people in distress. In both cases, it was the perfect thing at just the right time. This comment was from a novice yoga practitioner who is also a social worker. Another comment from a participant who is also not a yoga teacher: I am a universitylevel teacher in a field that requires high awareness of psychosomatic experience. Your workshop especially your description of soft bellied human moments gave me another window on teaching students to open themselves to what s around them and more importantly, what s within them. Questions two. Describe any personal insights that arose from the material presented in the workshop. Responses to this question universally indicated a greater recognition of mindfulness in daily life. There were four responses that indicated a stronger awareness of the breath. Some of the other areas of insight included: greater confidence due to more calm, 20
awareness of the need to slow down when teaching yoga, ability to let go of old teachings and habits that are in the body, and awareness of how the breath changes in different situations. Question three. Describe how you see yourself incorporating this material over time. Six respondents indicated an intention to incorporate more mindfulness and meditation into their yoga teaching and daily life. One respondent expressed a desire to integrate mindfulness and yoga into her counseling practice. Another respondent said, I would like to share what I have learned doing yoga for twenty-five years, adding more and more mindfulness practice. It [yoga] has been lifesaving for me through two hip replacement surgeries, and as a stress-reducing/blood pressure therapy. One long-time yoga teacher felt that this reflective practice should be done in addition to a more active and challenging yoga practice. Discussion and Conclusions In the two workshops described above, mindfulness was presented as a method for experiencing conscious awareness with a quality of mind that encompasses both mental and physical states. The response of participants confirmed that practicing mindfulness during sitting meditation, walking meditation, or yoga resulted in a conscious awareness of being present in the moment and a heightened sense of inner peace. Whether during sitting meditation practice or engaged in the activities of their daily life, participants reported feelings of increased relaxation and calm. In my personal experience and in working with yoga students, I find it common to engage in either meditation or asana practice with a gaining attitude, a mind that is striving to perform. This striving causes the mind to become tense, resulting in a form of suffering. From the mindfulness perspective, this striving is attached to a preconceived future condition and naturally causes tension and stress in the body and mind (Siegel, 2007). 21
One of my yoga teachers used the analogy of training a horse to illustrate training the body: if a horse is poorly trained, then the rider must use a whip to get the horse to turn; however if the horse is well trained, the rider can gently lay the reins on one side of the horse s neck and the horse will turn (Anonymous, 2010). This analogy suggests that less effort, less striving, is required when we become well trained. Often yoga students assume one who is well trained is one who can attain the ideal pose. My experience is that when poses are practiced with an attunement to the felt sense of the body, there is a qualitative shift that allows for an acceptance of the body as it is in the moment with a relaxed breath, resulting in a deeper experience of the pose. This very internal process is the essence of yoga asana. Yoga teacher Donna Fahri speaks of moving inside the breath and advises that yoga asana be accompanied by an intimacy with the breath. She asks us to bring joy into our practice of yoga and says, When we get hooked into striving we are somewhere else all the time (Fahri, 2000, p. 19). The experience of our inner life unfolds in the present moment and, as stated earlier, the practice of mindfulness fosters our ability to be fully present. The participant responses from the Yoga and Mindfulness workshop confirmed that combining yoga with mindfulness has profound results. Greater emphasis on awareness of the body and breath quiets the mind and deepens the ability of the body to assume the pose. This results in a sense of freedom that brings joy. An intentional focus on the present moment can release the tension that so often accompanies an approach to yoga that focuses on attaining a pose. The practice of yoga is often reduced to a test of physical strength, flexibility and stamina. Creating an intentional attunement with our inner experience, as mindfulness does, brings the practitioner back to the essence of yoga, a transcendent state where there is union of body, mind 22
and spirit (Zambito, 1992). Allowing yoga students to alternate brief periods of mindfulness with the practice of yoga poses is a skillful way to bring these two disciplines together. The results from each of the workshops confirm research that indicates awareness of the present moment opens us to an intimacy with our inner experience as well as with outer conditions. Mindfulness practice produces an awareness of our mental and emotional states, allowing us to recognize the feelings we hold and to fully empathize with the experience of others (Siegel, 2007). This opens us to a tender-heartedness that can enrich our relationship with all aspects of our lives. When we spend our time compulsively thinking, it is easy to feel disconnected from what we are doing. We can feel empty and numb as our attention is on our thoughts rather than on what we are doing (Siegel, 2007). In the words of one of the participants in the Yoga and Mindfulness workshop, our lives are not really lived. When we are mindful, we come into the present moment where we can begin to notice our habitual tendencies. The sensation of the breath is an experience of our bodies in the moment, a felt sense of the body rather than an idea in the mind. When we pay attention to the sensation of the breath in the body belly rising, belly falling -- our minds quite naturally become quiet and we can observe our internal state. In this way we are aware of whether we are happy or sad, angry or peaceful, tense or relaxed. This awareness allows us to examine our perceptions and potentially determine the cause of our mental and emotional state (Siegel, 2007). The methods used in the workshops described above introduced two practices that are familiar to students of the Buddha: calm abiding and insight. In the Pali language of ancient India these are, respectively, samatha and vipassana. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh has combined these two practices into a stepwise process: stopping, calming, resting and healing. 23
One of the ways this process can be used is to gradually deepen into self-awareness using the step-by-step progression from stopping, to calming, then to resting. The following set of gathas supports this process: (a) In, Out; (b) Deep, Slow; (c) Calm, Ease; and (d) Smile, Release (Hanh, 1990, p. 34). The practice unfolds in the following way: with the body still, the practitioner begins to observe the breath moving in and out of the body, simply noticing if the breath naturally deepens and slows. If the breath continues to be shallow, the practitioner stays with the inhalation and exhalation of the breath that is the focus of the first gatha. If the breath deepens and slows, this is observed using the next gatha in the sequence. The gradual progression of working with the breath that is supported by the first two gathas is very soothing and quite naturally can lead to a state of calm and ease, and is acknowledged with the next gatha in the sequence ( calm, ease ). At this point the practitioner has worked with stages one through three of the practice and the meditation may conclude by sensing the joy of the present moment and reciting the last gatha: smile, release. However, if the practitioner notices a sensation of tension or agitation, this sensation then becomes the object of attention. One way this can be done is for the individual to lie down and fold the arms over the chest and thoroughly relax while continuing to attend to the sensations in the body. This makes it easier to recognize, accept, and embrace the feelings that arise. The practice of looking deeply allows for an emergence of insight as to the cause and conditions from which the feelings arose. The gathas that were presented in the workshop on Cultivating a Mindful Life used this method of gradual progression from awareness of the body to awareness of the feelings, then to the mind, and finally to the objects of mind or thoughts. 24
This stepwise process can also be applied to the practice of yoga. The same gathas can be used when one is holding a yoga pose. It should be noted that one of the common instructions for holding a yoga pose is to stay in the pose only as long as the breath remains smooth and even; if ragged breathing or mental agitation occurs, the practitioner is instructed to come out of the pose (Moyer, 2006). As a teacher, I often look at students eyes and when there is any sign of stress or agitation, I ask them to come out of the pose. With the application of mindfulness, the yoga practitioner can come into a pose and remain until the breath or mind signals that they should come out of the pose. Then they can look deeply at sensations in the body and mind and practice accepting and embracing what arose. The pose can then be taken again. This entering and leaving of a pose is a way to explore one s growing edge and goes well beyond the usual instruction to practice more diligently. Physical activity alone cannot develop the full potential of yoga in our lives. Rather this comes from an intimacy with the body and mind that allows us to look deeply and develop insight into our own nature. As stated earlier, the ancient and rich soil of India where yoga was born considers asana practice as a way to support the practice of mindfulness so as to realize the transcendent nature of the self (Zambito, 1992). These words can only point to the meaning they are intended to convey and in many ways diminish what is embodied in the original Sanskrit texts. To come to know our own nature is to be aware of the many habits of mind and body that form over time. Our survival as a species has depended on our ability to respond to unfamiliar conditions. Our brains are wired to learn by identifying similarities and differences and over time this develops filters that allow us to respond automatically when certain conditions are presented. These automatic responses inhibit our ability to have a direct experience of reality. The practice 25
of stopping calls us to the present moment where a direct experience is available. The quality of felt sense engages our senses in such a way that we can override our automatic filters (Siegel, 2007). Learning to stop our habit energy is a practice that begins in formal meditation and eventually is applied in daily life. The practice of stopping, when combined with calming, provides a tool for waking up in the present moment. Learning to stop when we are in the middle of a thought or an action can help to relieve suffering. By working with the practice of stopping, calming, resting and healing, we are able to observe our actions in such a way that we bear witness to what we are doing and saying. For instance, mindfulness can help us stop when we are speaking or acting from the habit energy of anger where revengeful words are intended to harm others. This is not an easy process. Habit energies are strong, and intense feelings and automatic reactions can carry us away. One of the comments from the Yoga and Mindfulness workshop included the insight that old habits of body and mind could be released when mindfulness was present. Mindfulness is the energy that allows us to recognize our habit energy and prevent it from dominating us (Hanh, 1998, p. 25). The process of stopping and calming leads to resting and healing. We come into the present moment where the tensions that are held in the body can be released and we have an opportunity to begin anew. Samatha and vipassana are ancient teachings of the Buddha that are over 2500 years old. Yet they bear a striking resemblance to more recent developments in working with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In Peter A. Levine s seminal work, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, is the recognition that as human beings, as organisms, we possess a felt sense of a very complex and interrelated set of characteristics that include our body, mind, primitive instincts, emotions, intellect and spirituality (Levine, 1997, p. 10). Levine details exercises for cultivating 26
felt sense and explains their effectiveness in healing trauma. His work is used in professional training programs for psychologists, psychotherapists and other health care professionals. This field has progressed extensively since Levine s book was published in 1997. Significant scientific research by neuroscientists into the functioning of the brain and emotions continues to suggest that mindfulness practice is beneficial (Siegel, 2007). As part of Upaya s Chaplaincy Training, students attended a workshop with Laurie Leitch, PhD, founder of the Trauma Resource Institute in Santa Fe, NM. This workshop provided an overview of the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM) developed by Laurie Leitch and Elaine Miller-Karas. The Trauma Resiliency Model re-stabilizes a highly activated nervous system by balancing trauma-oriented sensations with states that resource the body and the mind. Resources are the positive internal and external experiences in our lives, e.g. the people we love who inspire us, pets, places, spiritual beliefs, music, dance, art, etc. TRM connects us to our internal, external and somatic resources, reminding us of our own strength and resilience by assisting us to experience those qualities in our own bodies and participate in the moment more fully (Trauma Resource Institute, 2007). Training the mind to access the present moment enables one to establish the emotional and mental stability that can be a resource for oneself as well as for others. A recent experience illustrates this point. I was attending a wedding and shortly after the ceremony the mother of the bride fainted and fell to the floor. After she regained consciousness I sat next to her; she was frightened and agitated. I immediately dropped into a calm, relaxed state of mind (I stopped!) while remaining very aware of her condition. I held her hand and asked her to simply relax into the chair she was sitting on and to notice her breathing. After a few moments she became visibly more relaxed and calm and asked for a glass of water. Shortly after this I said to her, It was a 27