When I dance, I dance; when I sleep, I sleep; yes, and when I walk alone in a beautiful orchard, if my thoughts drift to far-off matters for some part of the time for some other part I lead them back again to the walk, the orchard, to the sweetness of this solitude, to myself. -Montaigne
Mindfulness can occur in many different ways. Mindfulness can be an awareness of the beauty of an orchard or a sunset, or an awareness of your thought processes during an extended meditation practice.
In the above quote, Montaigne is describing the practice of continually bringing himself back to the present moment during a dance, sleep and a walk in the orchard. When we are curious about how to do mindfulness or how to be mindful, a good place to start is with the present moment. What is going on in the present moment? One thing we all have in the present moment is our breath…therefore breath is the focus of many mindfulness meditation instructions. Our breath is always happening in the present moment (try bringing awareness to your breath…in….out…in…out) and is an ever-present anchor to bring us back to a mindful moment. Awareness of the breath is a wonderful tool to bring about mindfulness in informal practice (like a walk in the orchard) or formal meditation practice (sitting on a cushion).
There are other mindfulness tools available to us at all times and in the present moment. What about what’s going on in the present moment with our senses? What do we feel? What do we hear? What is going on in our body? Do we feel pain in our neck…our back? Do we feel warmth…coolness? If you are familiar with a body scan, this is the same idea.
We also have our senses of hearing available to bring us back to the present moment. What are we hearing? The hum of an air conditioner? The chirp of a bird? The sounds that are coming in our ears gives us opportunities to come back to mindfulness as well.
These are just a few ways to “do mindfulness” and “be mindful”. These strategies of following your breath and being attentive to your senses are always available. As I stated in the previous blog, mindfulness allows us to relate to our experience in a diffefrent way. This new way of relating to our experience creates an opportunity for greater awareness, more freedom and less suffering.
Are some people naturally mindful or is it learned?