an openhearted, kind awareness of the present moment

            Almost two months ago I started the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course at Duke Integrative Medicine.  Over the past year, I have worked with many wonderful health practitioners who have led me to a deeper my understanding of my own inner-workings.  As I gained insight into the connections between emotion, stress, trauma, psychological pain, and bodily pain, my therapist suggested I look into the mindfulness class.  At first, I wasn’t ready to commit to such an exploration, but after a few months went by, I took the plunge.  Mindfulness can be difficult because it goes against everything we have been taught or conditioned to believe.  Instead of pushing ourselves into a bigger and better future, mindfulness cultivates an openhearted, kind awareness of the present moment. 

            Duke’s MBSR class is based on a program created by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.  In 1972, he began conducting research on the mind-body interaction in healing, on clinical applications of mindfulness meditation practice for patience with chronic pain or stress-related disorders, and on the effects of MBSR on the brain and immune system. 

            Stress, especially prolonged periods of stress, can have devastating effects on the body such as elevated levels of glucose and insulin, a weakened immune system, increased blood pressure, and digestive disturbances.  Chronic stress depletes endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, which can result in more headaches, backaches, and arthritis pain.  If stress goes unmanaged, it is associated with increased illness and mortality.  However, through cultivating the “relaxation response,” as opposed to the flight or fight response, a person allows the body to discharge tension that has built up due to constant stress. 

            Scientific research continues to illuminate the benefits of mindfulness.  Studies have shown that mindfulness can affect the structure and neural patterns of the brain by increasing activity in the left prefrontal cortical region of the brain, where greater activity is associated with increased well being.  Also, mindfulness meditation has the potential to improve immune function and levels of cortisol in breast and prostate cancer outpatients. The eight-week MBSR course has been shown to halve the incidence of relapse in depression in those recovering from a depressive episode.  In addition, the class potentially may increase self-compassion and reduced stress in participating individuals.  Increasingly, mindfulness practices are being integrated into patient health plans.

            Before beginning any mindfulness practice, the “seven essential attitudes” must be understood.  First is non-judging, by which one is an impartial witness to the constant stream of judging and reacting to both inner and outer experiences.  The habits of judging and reacting separate us from directly experiencing each moment of our lives.  When judging arises, don’t judge the judging; just acknowledge that it is present.  Next is patience, allowing things to unfold on their own schedule.  Patience leads us to maintain a stronger connection with each moment as it unfolds.  Third is beginner’s mind—thinking that we understand the present moment keeps us from experiencing its beauty and richness.  To practice beginner’s mind is to experience each moment as if we are experiencing the world for the first time, like a child feeling her first drop of rain.

            Also, as you become more aware of your life, you must learn to trust yourself and your feelings in order to understand what it means to be yourself.  Next, it is important to cultivate a non-striving attitude, to pay attention to whatever happens without striving to change things.  If there is a sense of striving, then notice that it is there, without judging.  In order to achieve your meditative goals, you must paradoxically back away and focus on accepting things as they are.  Next, one must cultivate this acceptance, this willingness to see things exactly as they are in the present moment.  The last “essential attitude” is letting go, or letting be.  Often, we cling to beliefs about ourselves, others, and situations, which obscure the true essence of each moment.  Through mindfulness, we learn to stop focusing on these ideas and just let our experience be what it is.  By becoming aware of the attitudes of non-judging, patience, beginner’s mind, trust, non-striving, acceptance, and letting go, you may already find relief from daily stress.

            Living in such a fast-paced, egocentric society, I think everyone could benefit from Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction—if not to gain insight into their own being, then to reduce their stress and improve their health.  I believe that if everyone practiced mindfulness, the world would be a better, more tolerant and caring, place to be.