October 2011 – Page 6 – Mindfulbalance

Awareness is the refuge within

October 19, 2011October 20, 2011 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Awareness is your refuge:
Awareness of the changingness of feelings, of attitudes, of moods, of material change and emotional change: Stay with that, because it’s a refuge that is indestructible.
It’s not something that changes. It’s a refuge you can trust in.
This refuge is not something that you create. It’s not a creation. It’s not an ideal. It’s very practical and very simple, but easily overlooked or not noticed.
When you’re mindful, you’re beginning to notice,
it’s like this.

Ajahn Sumedho,

…..where peace comes dropping slow

October 18, 2011October 18, 2011 Karl Duffy1 Comment

Yeats’ father would read to him from Walden when he was a child. Later, when living in London he wrote this poem, wishing he could retire to the quietness of nature on an island he knew as a boy. Most of us do not have the luxury of a real island to go to, but we create our refuge within ourselves and take shelter there when the storms of the day get too strong. We allow the mind and the body to settle, even if only for a brief moment, and allow peace to drop slowly in.

I WILL arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

WB Yeats, The Lake Isle of Innisfree

The island within…..

October 18, 2011October 18, 2011 Karl Duffy1 Comment

Two posts today on creating a quiet space within – an island – to which we can retreat when things get frazzled or too hectic. This is our “hermitage”, where we can feel at home. To do this we can simple take a moment’s break from time to time, or use the breath as a way of centering or grounding when the events of the day speed up. Or simply by creating gaps, taking time before answering the phone, or pausing before taking the elevator.

You should go home to your hermitage; it is inside you. Close the doors, light the fire, and make it cozy again. That is what I call ‘taking refuge in the island of self.’ If you don’t go home to yourself, you continue to lose yourself. You destroy yourself and you destroy people around you, even if you have goodwill and want to do something to help. That is why the practice of going home to the island of self is so important. No one can take your true home away.

Thich Nhat Hahn, Peace Begins Here

New studies on the effects of Mindfulness meditation 1.

October 17, 2011May 17, 2012 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

An interesting study has been recently published on the effects of a Mind-Body approach – namely, mindfulness meditation – on Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). IBS is characterized by chronic pain in the abdomen, discomfort and a sense of bloating. Although the exact cause the complaint is still unknown, stress seems to be involved and there is no question but it dramatically affects the quality of the sufferer’s life. This study was a Randomized Controlled Trial involving 74 female IBS patients. They were split into two groups, both of which met for 8 weeks, including a half day retreat. For the 8 weeks one group did the Course in mindfulness meditation, and the other group followed an IBS support group programme.

Following the eight week intervention, the patients who attended the mindfulness meditation training reported a 26.4 % decline in the severity of their symptoms, compared to a 6.2% decline in the support group participants. At a three-month follow-up, the mindfulness meditation group’s reduction increased to 38.2%, while the support group reduction increased to 11.8 %. The researchers concluded that “mindfulness meditation has a substantial therapeutic effect on bowel symptom severity, improves health-related quality of life, and reduces distress”, with the beneficial effects persisting for at least 3 months after group training.

This study is another piece of evidence that mind-body therapies can be used as effective adjuncts to conventional medical treatment for a number of common clinical conditions, including, among others, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, headaches, insomnia, and chronic low back pain.

Gaylord, S., et.al., “Mindfulness Training Reduces the Severity of Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Women: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial” The American Journal of Gastroenterology, June 21, 2011.

Do not force things

October 17, 2011October 18, 2011 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

When there is sunshine, it just shines across the land and it doesn’t try to force the land to absorb its rays. The sun just shines. We too practice in a very non-violent, very loving way with our breathing. When you are sitting with a bent back you just recognise your back is bent and quite naturally your body adjusts itself to become a little straighter. There is no forcing. If you are agitated but you are mindful of this feeling of agitation you simply recognise, ‘I have irritation.’ You should not say, ‘Irritation is very bad, I have to get rid of my irritation.’ No, you just be aware of your irritation. If there is irritation you simply recognise you have irritation. You do not judge, you do not force, and you do not condemn them. You only look at your irritation with compassion. I go back to my body with non-violence, with care, with compassion.

When the sunshine falls on the vegetation, the vegetation itself becomes green. When your mindfulness is shining upon what is happening in you, then you do not need to force but you know right away and you smile with compassion to your irritation and then your irritation will disappear. You know that everything changes including your irritation. If you are aware then your irritation becomes weaker, but if you are not aware then the irritation can grow very fast turning into anger and stress, and other negative feelings. If you are aware, it will weaken naturally, because it is impermanent.

Thich Nhat Hahn

What are you waiting for?

October 17, 2011October 17, 2011 Karl DuffyLeave a comment

I only recently discovered this beautiful poem, on not living in the future, or waiting for some other moment to begin living fully. As Jon Kabat Zinn frequently says, nothing needs to be added to this moment to make it complete. And yet we often fall into the trap of thinking that sometime in the future, the conditions will come together, and we will start to fully live. As the poem says, there will be nothing in that future moment that is greater than now, than this day, when you stop reading this.