MINDFULNESS - A VITAL PIECE OF THE PUZZLE

The more involved I get with my own mindfulness practice and the work that I am fortunate to be doing at A Mindfulness Life Center, the more I am experiencing some trepidation and judgement from people in my life.  Where does this resistance and judgement come from?
I have had people ask me, "Is Mindfulness a cult?" or "What is it that I am seeking in a Buddha based practice"?  I have listened as people have shared with me some of the overwhelming stress in their lives, while telling me that they desperately need something like a mindfulness class but just don't have time.  I have not really understood where the resistance or the judgement have been coming from but I have felt a longing to somehow help people better understand exactly what mindfulness is.  Mindfulness is really quite simply, paying attention. You can be laying on a mat in a quiet yoga studio, you can be folding laundry, driving in rush hour traffic, reading the bible, cooking dinner and be doing all of those things mindfully, if you are fully present in each moment.

While my daily practice involves time where I intentionally draw away from noise and activity so that I can reach a deeper state of relaxation, while still remaining fully conscious, the real challenge and benefits come when I take that mindset out into my daily life.  I like to think of it as a muscle that I am training.  Each time I practice Mindfulness, I am training my mind to be at peace. The more that I practice, the quicker my mind remembers this natural state and the easier it becomes to go back to that place.

Mindfulness is practiced by men, women and children from all walks of life, all ages, all different faiths, and all different life experiences.  Today I had the pleasure of talking with a young firefighter, a professional athlete trainer, several working men and women, several stay at home moms, several retired men and women who had one thing in common.  They were all attending a mindfulness class with a desire to create more peace in their lives.  I have no idea what their religious beliefs are and it makes no difference.  Mindfulness is not a religion based practice.  It is not a "cult" or anything trying to convert anyone from or to anything.  It is true that yoga and some forms of meditation come from the Buddhist culture just as all things originate from someplace.  While mindfulness can be practiced during yoga and meditation, mindfulness is not the practice of Buddhism.  Mindfulness is not meant to replace anything but I believe it is a vital piece of the puzzle in our lives as we strive to create more harmony, peace, and balance.

Sometimes It Is In The Darkness That We Find The Light

My first MS episode began Christmas night close to twelve years ago. It started as just a terrible headache that I attributed to the hectic Christmas season entertaining family, staying up late to prepare Christmas for our small children. and just plain and simple running myself a bit ragged.  However,  the following morning, I woke to an unusual sensation in my eyes. To move my eyes was excruciating.  My husband assured me it was an optical migraine, which he had suffered from before.   As the day passed by my vision began to fade and I knew that something was not at all right with this situation.  A trip to urgent care resulted in being told to take sinus medicine, which didn’t make sense to me at all.  I was not a doctor but I knew that I wasn’t congested,  I was loosing my vision!  By the end of that day, I had lost all vision in one eye and the other was fading fast.  The rest of the story is a long and tedious one but in the end I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a potentially debilitating disease of the central nervous system. My immune system was attacking the myelin sheath protecting my optic nerves. Over the next six months my vision slowly returned.  I was left with color blindness and the loss of peripheral vision in one eye but despite some remaining blurriness, I was fortunate to regain my vision. There is much that I will be sharing in the future about what I have learned living with this chronic health condition and the ways that it has been an enormous blessing in my life, despite some of the challenges along the way.  For today, I wish to share with you the gift that temporarily loosing my eyesight gave to me. I hope to share with you about how I believe the darkness can teach us what we need to know.

Whether it is a literal darkness we are in or we are going through a dark time in our lives, we can ask the darkness to teach us what we need to know.  It can guide us if we allow it to and it can be a great teacher. 

As frightened as I was, I knew that I needed to allow the darkness to teach me whatever it was I was meant to learn from this experience.  I knew that this was not happening to harm me but rather to guide me. During the dark times in our lives, we can choose to hide in fear and to keep ourselves so busy that we don’t have to feel anything. We also have another option and that is to walk straight into the pain, challenge, or fear.  We can go inward and if we can just sit still with things, profound changes can occur. 

For me, during this time in my life, when my vision left me for those six months, I chose to give up being in control.  I was frightened and I had a lot of bumps along the way but I allowed the darkness and the fear to be my teachers.  I learned to say “no” out of necessity and to give myself permission to no longer live my life trying to be some version, that I had created in my own mind, of what it was to be the perfect mom, wife, daughter, and friend. I could quite simply do the best that I could do and honor that. I could love myself despite my flaws and in fact, at times, because of them.

I have learned things in the dark that I never would have learned in the light, things that have changed my life in the most profound and remarkable ways.  The extent to which I learn to live in the darkness, I also learn to experience the light with all of its magical brilliance. So I can determine that I need darkness as much as I need light.

SO Simple Though Not Easy

I had the pleasure of beginning my day this morning by taking a Yoga Nidra class at The Mindfulness Life Center with a uniquely gifted teacher and beautiful group of men and women.  For those of you who may not know what Yoga Nidra is, it is a set of deep relaxation techniques that can lead you to a meditative state allowing the body to reach the deepest possible states of relaxation while still maintaining full consciousness.
After a few poses to loosen up the body in preparation for the practice, you are instructed to get as comfortable as possible as quickly as possible using whatever props you prefer.  I am quite serious about my comfort so I waste no time getting all cozy in my blankets, with bolster pillow to support my legs, pillow to cradle my head, eye pillow to soothe my eyelids, a few adjustments and I am ready to go! From that point on, the only instructions are to stay as still as possible and to remain awake.  No two sessions are exactly alike but the principles are the same in that we are guided to deeper and deeper states of relaxation using a variety of methods.  The hour passes by much too quickly and before I know it I am being led back to the present slowly and gently by the calming words of my instructor.
As I slowly come back into the room, I find my way to a seated position basking in the deep peace I have just experienced marveling at how something so simple can bring about such profound changes.  Often this is a time for sharing with one another about how the meditation went for each of us.  I look forward to this portion of the experience as much as the heavenly time laying motionless on my back because I am constantly learning ways to carry this experience out of the studio and into my daily life.  Today I heard my most favorite quote when the man to my right, still foggy from his hour of bliss, gently whispered,  "It just feels SO good. Thats all. Plain and simple".  He was so right! Plain and simple.....Mindfulness is so simple though not always easy.
When we allow ourselves to release and let go, we return to who we are at the core and we are then able to get a taste of the inner peacefulness that is always there.  The more that I practice mindfulness and tap into this inner beauty, experiencing just how good it feels, the more I want to be in that state throughout my days.  The challenge is to take what I practice in the safety of the center out into the world and still be able to harness that feeling no matter what is happening around me.
Who out there doesn't want to experience more peace in their daily lives?  "It just feels SO good.  That's all.  Plain and Simple".

Welcome to A Journey Through Mindfulness

Welcome to my new blog A Journey Through Mindfulness.  My name is Jennifer and I am excited to share bits and pieces of my own personal journey with living life mindfully with intention and awareness.  I will also be sharing posts about living with a chronic health condition and the many things that I have learned over the years which have allowed me to manage a condition, that can at times be challenging, in ways that have left me empowered and grateful for the lessons I find it teaching me along the way.
My own personal journey with Mindfulness came years ago while reading Jon Kabot Zinn's book Full Catastrophe Living after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  It has been a remarkable life altering journey of growth, exploration, and healing.  Now as a member and employee at a Mindfulness Life Center and someone who has always loved to write, I have decided to share some of my journey with those of you who will be interested in reading.
I welcome feedback from any of you interested in sharing as I hope to learn from you through this process of my own personal sharing.
Namaste!