INTERRUPTER: Stop and Smell the Roses
No, really. 1) Locate a flower in field of vision. 2) Stop.
3) Lean in and sniff. Wow.
Your Stories
Monday, March 12 2012
When did you first start practicing mindfulness and why were you motivated to do so?
In 1994 Jon Kabat-Zinn’s, Wherever You Go There You Are, was recommended by The Institute of Noetic Sciences. Intrigued by the title and out of curiosity I bought it and worked through it. Since that time I have tinkered on and off with mindfulness practice. My most consistent efforts have been through yoga. It was not until I began my Naropa University Contemplative Education Master’s degree in 2008 that I began to consistently practice.
Did you take a class? If so, what sort of a class did you take?
I self-explored for many years then found myself immersed at Naropa. Each Naropa faculty brought a unique perspective to awareness, mindfulness, presence and meditation. Naropa is where I began to understand and experience mindfulness.
Mindfulness is something that is hard to teach—it must be experienced.
How has mindfulness made a difference in your life?
I am more aware of many aspects of my environment, my reactions, others and myself around me. I can feel and sense emotions rising and can better look at them with curiosity and choice rather than with unaware engagement. This is not all the time of course, but more often than before. Even when I do find myself reacting, rather than responding, I am aware of it and can look at the situation more nonjudgmentally rather than beat myself up.
I also allow “stuck times” to have their space too. I used to feel anxious, restless or bored when I couldn’t figure out what to do next or how to fill empty time to be productive. Mindfulness has helped me honor all feelings not just the ones I judge as “good.”
What do you do for your livelihood (e.g., homemaker, teacher, firefighter) and does your practice of mindfulness affect that?
posted by Mindful readers..., 3:51 pm
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Thursday, February 9 2012
When did you first start practicing mindfulness and why were you motivated to do so?
I would say I first informally started practicing mindfulness when I was very young. My family has a lake home in Minnesota, where we would spend the weekends together. At our lake home, we do not have a telephone, television, computer, or much technical connection to others, etc. As a result, our days were spent mindfully cooking, eating together, walking in the woods, swimming in the lake, sitting, observing the world/nature around us.
When I think in my mind's eye of my favorite place in the world...it is here. I recognize that it is not necessarily a place as such for anyone who comes to visit. I have come to believe it is because of the years spent at the lake, it is a place of emotional and physical attachment enriched with mindful existence connected to my family.
Therefore what brought me to MARC (Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA) was a natural or organic walk.... I worked for the geneticist who is one of the founders of MARC. We connected on our conscious intention to be "mindful" of living in an environment that has created a certain level of anxiety within each of us that did not "sit well." So I guess I sought out a different way in which to formally as well as informally "sit" in life differently... more mindfully... and as an adult who cannot run off to the lake home every weekend.
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posted by Mindful readers..., 3:48 pm
Tuesday, January 24 2012
When did you first start practicing mindfulness and why were you motivated to do so?
Jon Kabat-Zinn's book, Wherever You Go There You Are was my introduction to mindfulness and it inspired me to learn more about what it is and further develop my practice.
Did you take a class? If so, what sort of class did you take?
I later took a class called Awakening Mindfulness at my local yoga studio and it helped deepen my understanding of mindfulness.
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posted by Mindful readers..., 12:57 pm
Friday, January 13 2012
When did you first start practicing mindfulness and why were you motivated to do so?
Spring of 2007. My oncologist thought that it would be beneficial.
Did you take a class? If so, what sort of a class did you take?
Yes. It was an eight-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA.
How has mindfulness made a difference in your life?
It smooths out, or controls, the side effects of my cancer therapies (depression, stress, anxiety, body pain, etc.). It allows me to live in the moment. It allows me to "do," rather than "react." It improved my relationship with others.
posted by Mindful readers..., 3:19 pm
Thursday, January 5 2012
When did you first start practicing mindfulness and why were you motivated to do so?
I first became interested in mindfulness in 2002 while trekking in the Himalayas and reading a book by Thich Nhat Hanh called Being Peace. When I returned to the States after my 16 month trip in Asia, I quickly got sucked back into the craziness of graduate school and thoughts of mindfulness faded.
This all changed when I became pregnant. I knew that I needed to become more centered and peaceful in order to be the parent I hoped to be (not to mention the wife I wanted to be). I was always rushing around, stressed out, thinking about the future, worried about the past and I wanted to change so that I could be fully present and calm with my daughter once she was born.
Did you take a class? If so, what sort of a class did you take?
A midwife I was studying with for my Nurse Practitioner certificate recommended a Mindful Birth and Parenting course to her patients eager to have a natural childbirth. I looked this class up online and was excited about the depth of the course, the commitment to daily meditation, and the ability to share the experience with my husband.
posted by Mindful readers..., 4:02 pm
In this blog, practitioners share their experiences of practicing mindfulness, awareness, and compassion. To share your mindfulness experiences, click here to see the short questionnaire, and then email your answers to us at profiles@mindful.org.
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