The Art of Mindfulness - Did You Really Eat That Apple?

A group of Marines preparing for deployment to Iraq were given mindfulness training – learning to deliberately stay in the moment without judgment or emotion – for eight weeks. They learned skills they could use to manage stress, regulate symptoms in their body and mind after a stressful experience, increase their psychological resilience, and improve their performance—making it particularly relevant to their lives.

It was found that the training improved their working memory and their skill to regulate emotions, and the more time the Marines spent practicing the mindfulness exercises, the more their mood, problem-solving abilities, and emotional control improved.

With mindfulness you learn to respond, rather than react -- and that makes a big difference.

"A mental state achieved by focusing one‘s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations."
- Online Oxford Dictionary

"Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way or maintaining the awareness on purpose, in the present moment," according to the book, Wherever You Go, There You Are, by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Mindfulness is Buddha's gift to humanity, which Western medicine has now begun to recognize as a powerful tool for dealing with stress, illness and other medical or psychological conditions. Many psychotherapists around the world have applied Mindfulness, treating various psychological conditions such as PTSD, depression and even personality disorders.

Rather than dwelling in the past or the future, mindfulness is learning to live in the present moment in a less reactive and less judgmental manner. In the present, you have the power to make changes to the situations affecting you. Nothing can be done in the future or past because you don’t live there!

In simplest terms, if you eat an apple mindfully you really ate that apple -- here and now!

Though the US Arny has many physical fitness programs in place, it lacked a proper mental fitness program. It is, however, now moving towards developing better stress coping methods.

Mental fitness is similar to physical fitness. Like lifting weights or running, a daily routine of mindfulness help strengthen coping mechanisms, making it easier to spot and respond to negative emotions before they get stronger. Just as physical exercises change the body, mental training affects changes in the neural structures and cognitive functioning.

By training in mindfulness you learn to observe your thoughts and feelings, this changes your habit of being embroiled in them. Now your thoughts and feelings begin to lose control on you and you find yourself rather free to respond as you would like to, rather than just reacting robotically.

With mindfulness, you can choose to see and accept things as they are and then work to improve the situation if possible. It teaches you to act right “here and now” as opposed to daydreaming for a fictional future or thinking about past incidences.

Next time you bump into someone and say "Oops!!", be sure to really say "Oops" -- mindfully!

The central theme of mindfulness practice is that when you eat an apple, you are really eating that apple. You actually tasted its juice and relished every bite to the last bit, with complete presence of mental alertness. And if you are talking to your friend, you are really talking to him paying attention to every word – spoken or heard. It might appear silly at the first glance – why put so much stress on a simple things? But that’s precisely the point!

Eating an apple or talking is an ordinary and simple reality. You are firmly established in the present moment, conscious of your presence, and conscious of your thoughts and actions. There’s no way you can be tossed around aimlessly like a log here and there on the waves.

In practical terms, mindfulness is an attitude – a way of being. You do not necessarily have to sit in some particular posture or close your eyes to practice it. You can adopt this attitude anytime anywhere - in fact, all the time. You can do it while driving to work, eating your lunch, or traveling in a bus. You can even practice it walking in a busy supermarket! Yes, just be aware (mindful) of yourself, people and the noise around you – without liking or disliking anything.

Even if you train in this limited way, you will have done wonders to your sense of mental balance or equanimity. This is how you train yourself to keep your inner poise in the midst of noise and turbulence. Thoughts and feelings lose strength when you don’t get involved with them.

Next time you go for a walk, check if you are really walking -- there and then!

Mindfulness is a very practical tool that can and must be applied in real life. Practicing these three steps will not only help improve the quality of your conscious awareness, but it will also show you a new way of living:

• Sit with complete attention to every thing around you. Intensify your alertness as if you may be asked to do anything any moment. Pay attention to every noise reaching your ears, every thing you see or feel: the hot or cold atmosphere, the humidity or dryness around you.
• Now turn your attention inwards and find out how are you feeling and what are you thinking. Are you angry, restless, anxious, worried, tense, tired, or sleepy? Whatever it is, acknowledge it and be attentive maintaining a certain philosophical distance. Check if you are mentally alert and in the present moment.
• You will have to learn to catch yourself lost in thinking and resume being mindful. You will also have to stop yourself from analyzing, evaluating or judging. Each time you catch yourself away from the present moment you are developing in mindfulness.

With practice you will acquire a new way of living – and a new way of being. You will now respond rather than react. You will also discover that the controlling strength of your thoughts and the accompanying emotions is gradually decreasing over time.

Next time you eat an apple, make sure to really eat that apple as never before!

Mindfulness exposes you to an ever-deepening mental silence that is pregnant with far bigger possibilities. It automatically brings corrections to every aspect of your behavior, thus enhancing the quality of living. Mindfulness truly put you in charge of your life. Learning this wonderful skill will be a life long asset.

The Technique of Mindfulness: Your Best Friend

Mindfulness: Let There be LIFE in Your Life

You might be surprise to hear, it has also transformed the lives of unfortunate people in the prisons around the world. Read: Meditation in Prisons: A Silent Escape to Freedom.