Holistic Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation
By Goodpal, 1st Mar 2011 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutHealthMind & SpiritMental Health
Mindfulness meditation is popularly known as Vipassana meditation. It is a simple technique that anyone can learn and practice. It requires no particular belief or faith; anyone of any faith can practice and derive the set of benefits mentioned in this article. It is a terrific way to develop a wholesome mind and to be happy and peaceful.
- Mindfulness Meditation
- 1. Being Non Judgmental
- 2. Letting go
- 3. Acceptance
- 4. Patience
- 5. Mental Clarity
- 6. Compassion
- Read Further
Mindfulness Meditation
“Miracle is not to walk on water. Miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
The art of mindfulness is the gift of Buddha to the mankind 2500 years ago. Mindfulness is the English word trying to indicate the meaning of “Sati”, a word from the Pali language, spoken by the Buddha. Other words pointing to the sense of “Sati” are attention, awareness, conscious awareness, presence of mind, present centeredness, etc. However, the only way to comprehend the real meaning of mindfulness is to practice mindfulness meditation.
It is Sati or mindfulness that provided the foundation for the practice of Vipassana meditation that transformed an ordinary human, Price Siddharth Gautam, into a Buddha – an absolutely pure and enlightened being. The word “Buddha” is not the name of a person; it describes anyone who is 100% pure at heart and achieving this purity is achieving enlightenment. So the practice of mindfulness has actively existed throughout the centuries among the true disciples of Budhha, although the West began taking interest in it only in recent decades after seeing its potential in psychotherapies.
Mindfulness is the non-judgmental awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. When practiced in the form of Vipassana meditation it leads to development of insight – the reason, why Vipassana meditation is also called insight meditation. Here “insight” means experiential understanding of one’s own being.
The practice of mindfulness, say through Vipassana meditation, helps develop into a truly wholesome being and develops the following mental qualities leading to inner peace and happiness.
If you are not familiar with the idea of mindfulness, please read Mindfulness – Described in 12 Ways for Beginners
1. Being Non Judgmental
Mindfulness involves becoming an impartial witness (an observer) of the ever-flowing stream of experience – inner as well as outer – and of the ways you habitually react to everything. You train not to get involved in what is going on. This mental attitude of a witness helps correct the usual, and almost automatic, habit of labeling every experience. If there is pleasant feeling associated with an experience it is labeled good and if unpleasant, bad. All this labeling comes from the past learning, memories and experiences. When you train not to label you automatically keep the influence of past away.
Mind has a tendency to lean towards learned habitual patterns – some of which may be counterproductive or limiting. The practice of mindfulness involves becoming aware of the process of experiencing as it is happening right now, and it is done from the attitude of non-judgmental exploration. Hence it is ideal for discovering conditioned patterns. This gives you freedom and space to adjust your conditioned behavior and attitudes. The practice of mindfulness is truly unique in helping you break bad habits because you learn the art of “letting go”.
Think about it:
You are not a judge appointed by some divine order, so why don’t you stop judging everybody – including yourself!
2. Letting go
An essential element of the practice of mindfulness is non-attachment – you merely watch your thoughts, feelings and situations. You try not to connect to them whether through liking or through disliking. Normally you try to hold on to certain pleasant feelings and want to get rid of those that are unpleasant. But when you train mindfully to stay detached, you let every perception – thoughts, feelings or emotions – pass. So the art of letting go is built into the practice of mindfulness – you don’t have to make any extra effort to let go of things that you always wanted to but could not. Mindfulness does it all almost effortlessly.
Training in mindfulness makes the meaning of “letting go” very explicit – the only thing you actually want to “let go” is your conditioned tendency to hold on to the pleasant and avoid the unpleasant. With further practice you also begin to see how this tendency perpetuates your difficulties. Learning how to drop your mental load is a wonderful quality. Read a beautiful story here: A Tale of Two Monks.
Think about it:
A weak mind wants to cling to everything – either through liking or through disliking.
3. Acceptance
With practice as you become more proficient in the art of letting go, you begin to discover the real “you” away from the make-believe image or persona. This lead to real peace inside you that helps you accept yourself as you are – with all your shortcomings and vulnerabilities. Previously you were denying or resisting certain realities of your being and as a result, you were wasting a lot of energy. Whenever you try to distort certain realities just to make yourself look better you create illusions that only entangle your mind. Lack of acceptance of reality leads to internal struggle – a perfect recipe for stress and tension.
Acceptance in true honesty is the first step towards change – it is also an integral part of healing and evolving. When there is healing there is change – for the better.
Think about it:
Can you really be someone other than who you actually are?
4. Patience
Patience is a form of wisdom to realize that things take their own time to unfold. Becoming impatient does not move things faster – only you become miserable and make yourself irritable to others. Mindfulness trains you to acknowledge and stay with the tendency of impatience and you will soon discover the futility of becoming a slave to your impatience. It will also help calm the agitated mind when you know that you can’t rush. If you have done everything you could do then why the impatience – result is bound to come.
“O time! Thou must untangle this, not I; It is too hard a knot for me to untie!” – Twelfth Night
Think about it:
The world does not revolve around your wishes. So do the best you can and let the fruits come when the time is ripe.
5. Mental Clarity
Practice of mindfulness trains you to stay with a sense of exploration as if you are seeing everything for the first time. You stay alert with the attitude “Let me see what come up next”. You view every thought or feeling with a sense of exploration and discovery without being biased by the past experiences, preconceptions or cluttered thinking.
It allows you to see issues, events and problems in new ways and as a result, many things get resolved on their own as you withdraw your emotional involvement.
Think about it:
How often have you wished to have a clear mind so that you could concentrate and do things reflecting your full abilities?
6. Compassion
Mindfulness invites you to embrace all your experience unfolding in the present moment, regardless of whether it is pleasant or unpleasant. Although challenging, it also relieves you from all that habitual analyzing and resolving as well as rationalizing and manipulating. Being in intimate contact with experience (as opposed to thinking about experience) by actually feeling the sensations as they manifest within the body, you develop a sense of gentle compassion and willingness to forebear all your internal distress, fear and anguishes.
Since you begin to accept yourself with all your shortcomings, you also become more accepting and tolerant towards others. Now you are more compassionate and less critical towards everyone.
Think about it:
Only a strong mind can be compassionate to its own vulnerabilities.
Read Further
Find out how mindfulness meditation is transforming the lives of prison inmates across the world.
Meditation in Prisons - A Silent Escape to Freedom
Impact of Meditation on Prison Inmates: 3 Soul Touching Documentaries
Comments
2nd Mar 2011 (#)
this is well written and something I need to learn, timely and congrats ont eh star page.
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2nd Mar 2011 (#)
Thanks for the comment. I would be really delighted if people are actually motivated to take time out and learn the art of Vipassana meditation. There is too much negativity in the world and the only way out is to learn to the mind clean and pure. Here is the link for those who actually want to jump on the band wagon:
http://www.dhamma.org/
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2nd Mar 2011 (#)
I heard about Vipassana earlier but have just read now and I find it very interesting.
"...more compassionate and less critical" is the essence I find in Vipassana!
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3rd Mar 2011 (#)
"The taste of the pudding lies in eating".
Please take time out and learn the art of mindfulness meditation and discover how you become more compassionate and less critical.
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3rd Mar 2011 (#)
Goodpal, I am very interested in this and I will start practicing this right away. I also want to commend you on taking a very complex subject and make it so clear for us to follow. Great writing my friend.
Congrats on the star page, it is well deserved. Thank you for sharing.:)
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7th Mar 2011 (#)
This article is excellently written, researched and actually calming to read. i have tried a little of this and intend to continue. It is very timely written as well.
Thanks for this wonderful article :D
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11th May 2011 (#)
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