Barry Boyce, editor of Shambhala Sun has finally coined exactly what is happening in our culture today with his newest book, "The Mindfulness Revolution."
Since Jon Kabat-Zinn appeared on Bill Moyers in 1993, research on the applications of mindfulness has soared exponentially. His Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program has splintered off into Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for depressive relapse, Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) for addiction, MB-EAT for eating disorders and many more.
There is absolutely a revolution happening right now, and there likely couldn't be a more perfect time. Corporations across the country are becoming increasingly interested in the applications of mindfulness to the workplace: In March 2011, Google, Facebook, Intel, Twitter and many more took part in the Wisdom 2.0 conference, curious about how to integrate this into their work environments. I designed a 12-week mindfulness-at-work program that Aetna is offering through Emindful.com, and I currently have an iPhone application that is being used as the pilot for a 21-day mindfulness program. Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio is bringing mindfulness into politics. Phil Jackson brings it to the Lakers. Every day it seems that a new blog is created or a new book is launched on the topic.
In one chapter of "The Mindfulness Revolution," Norman Fischer, principal meditation teacher at Google's mindfulness program, gives us some practices to maintain mindfulness throughout the day:
Taking three conscious breaths -- just three! -- from time to time to interrupt your busy activity with a moment or two of calm awareness.
Keeping mindfulness slogan cards around your office or home to remind you to "Breathe" or "Pay Attention" or "Think Again."
Training yourself through repetition to apply a phrase like "Is that really true?" to develop the habit of questioning your assumptions before you run with them.
Whenever you get up to walk somewhere during the day, practiced mindful walking -- noticing your weight as it touches the ground with each swing of your leg and footfall.
Instituting the habit of starting your day by returning to your best intention, what you aspire to for yourself and others when you have a benevolent frame of mind.
Mindfulness is now being talked about as a catalyst for emotional intelligence, which has applications in politics, business, sports, education, health care and so many other places.
Go ahead: try one of these suggestions today. What would happen if you actually brought a bit more mindfulness into your life?
As always, please share your thoughts, stories and questions below. Your interaction provides a living wisdom for us all to benefit from.
This post is adapted from a piece on mindfulness and psychotherapy at Psychcentral.com. Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. is co-author of "A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook." You may also find him at www.elishagoldstein.com.
Follow Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Mindful_Living
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I have a copy of "The Mindfulness Revolution" and it features a wonderful array of settings and circumstances in which to try mindfulness practice. Thanks for writing about it, Elisha!
Toni Bernhard
http://www.howtobesick.com
Toni Bernhard
http://www.howtobesick.com
The body and mind have their own ability to learn and grow, and meditation only helps that process. What people grow into is their own choice. Employees might turn into better supervisors or even independent business people.
IMO, the reason that meditation is becoming more popular is because of the failure of western psychiatry and psychology to efficiently heal many mental issues. I think that we will see many improvements to health and our society from a wider practice of meditation and other energetic healing arts. Western medicine and investment money have a strong interest in seeing this benefit delayed or fail. I do not trust anyone who dismisses meditation and energy healing without trying it, and I am contented, at least at present, to leave such doubters to their own failings.
www.happierthanabillionaire.com
Kind of ironic that I moved to Thailand were there is no chance of having a mindfulness revolution. Perhaps, if First World influences have a revolutionary impact on the culture there could be a renaissance sometime in the future.
Oh yeah! Here's another way to break a cycle of mindlessness - What is it? How strong is it? How long did it last?
Funny, I thought the good old brainstem tended to do that without having to be told ... I can do without distracting little cards telling me what I should be doing or thinking at any given moment.
If we see mindfulness as the goal, we are shortchanging ourselves out of deeper more transformational states of being.
Like you said, three breaths and mindfulness is present. Now the inner adventure can really begin.
On the outer stroke we can enjoy the benefits (increased productivity, clarity, vitality, happiness, peace) in our daily life.
That's when the revolution really starts!
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As a someone who has practices mindfulness, I share your concern. I believe that it is helpful to embrace a mindfulness tradition that is combined with social action. There are many, including that of Thich Nhat Hanh who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by MLK Jr.
Maybe I'm just a purist and I should see this as a good development. But I don't know.
"Mindfulness" is becoming the new corporate and media buzzword for a thing that has nothing to do with attaining liberation. It has become twisted into a notion used to get more efficiency out of employees and a way for the ambitious to focus their minds in order to attain more money and material goods.
This has nothing to do with spirituality or what the Buddha taught.
Leave it to America to find a way to bastardize a 2,500 year old spiritual practice into a way to make more profit.
The point to me seems that the initial impulse towards mindfulness/awareness/attention matters not from whence it comes (it all comes from the same place, One Mind.) The point is for greater mindfulness manifest in the universe. The why and how come are not as important or powerful as the doing of the deed. As "a long time meditator" I'm sure you have crossed this path many times before. I believe you have the stuff to see this as a good development.
The question, then, is not whether mindfulness is a good thing, regardless of how it arises. Rather, the question is whether what is being sought here can legitimately be termed "mindfulness" in the first place.