Practice mindfulness exercises -
transform your life
I am presenting in this article the technique of mindfulness
that will completely transform the way you live your life. If
practiced sincerely each moment that you live will come alive;
you will be in touch with the wonder and mystery of life as you
go about your day-to-day chores.
Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master,
describes these mindfulness exercises as being conscious of
each breath, each movement, and every thought and feeling,
everything that has any relation to ourselves. This is exactly
opposite to how almost all of us live our day-to-day lives. We
remain distracted caught up in memories of the past, or
dreaming or worrying about the future. We are never present in
the moment, in the Here and Now, which is the only place where
we can experience life, where we can truly live.
Thich Nhat Hanh's statement above carries an enormous depth
of meaning and I will be explaining the meaning and describing
how we can practice the same in future issues of this
newsletter. Do not underestimate the value of his advice. These
are techniques to grow spiritually and expand our
consciousness. But these methods, if sincerely practiced, will
lead to a reduction of our habit of taking excessive thought,
we will be able to put aside the mind with its
conceptualizations and truly experience life. Do not also be
discouraged if you find that mindfulness does not come easily
to you. You are attempting to reverse the habits of a lifetime
– perhaps even many lifetimes. It will not be easy. And this
difficulty is faced by all, since almost none of lead – or
attempt to lead – our lives in the Here and Now, mindfully.
Practicing these mindfulness
exercisesThese mindfulness exercises can be practiced as
we go about our daily chores. Consider the act of washing
dishes. We can wash dishes in two different ways. One is to
wash the dishes with the aim of getting clean dishes. This is
what most of us do in our work-a-day utilitarian world. The
other method is to wash dishes for the sake of washing dishes.
Using the first method we may wash dishes mechanically as it
is a simple chore. Our minds may be thinking of the cup of tea
that we are going to have afterwards or any one of a number of
different things. Washing dishes as though it is a nuisance
means that we are not washing dishes to wash the dishes. In
fact it means that we are not truly alive in the moment of
washing dishes. We are unable to appreciate and participate in
the miracle of life because our minds are otherwise occupied.
And this means that even after doing the dishes and while
drinking the tea we will be unable to drink the tea mindfully.
Again our minds will be thinking of a hundred different things
and we will not be one with the experience of drinking tea. We
are letting our lives slip away moment by moment and we are not
even aware of it.
The essence of these mindfulness
training exercisesPractice this method of washing dishes
for the sake of washing dishes as you go about your day-to-day
life. Be aware of your breath, the movement of your hands, the
sensation of touch as you hold each dish, the sensation of your
legs rooted in the ground as you stand. Observe your thought
without reacting using your breath to anchor yourself. This is
the way to truly live our lives, to participate in the mystery
of life.
The above is a short description of just one of the methods
of mindfulness described by Thich Nhat Hanh in his classic book
–
The Miracle of Mindfulness . Thich Nhat Hanh writes with
simplicity and with clarity and as you read his books you come
in contact with the thoughts of an awakened master.
I have been practicing these methods myself although not as
sincerely as I would wish. My experience is that while
practicing mindfulness exercises I am more centered and less
prone to anxiety, anger and other painful feelings. This is a
method of relaxation as you will be free of the pushes and
pulls of the ego while you are practicing mindfulness.
You will be interested to know that these simple mindfulness
meditations, if practiced by all, may save mankind and our
beautiful planet from self-destructing. This is the view of
enlightened masters like Eckhart Tolle and Thich Nhat Hanh. I
will be explaining this and more in future articles.
For more on this subject please visit this page and learn
more about
Mindfulness exercises
Achieving the thoughtless state or prolonging the gap
between thoughts is the goal of meditation. Learn more about
right views on this page on
The Noble 8 Fold Path
For al complete list and links to all the articles please
visit this page on
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