Welcome to The Naked Brain blog . Our aim is to provide mindfulness teachings, news, and perspectives so that the wisdom of mindfulness practices is accessible to all. This first blog is an introduction to mindfulness and an overview of the four foundations of mindful experience.
What is Mindfulness?
There are many definitions that are helpful, including the definition provided by Jon Kabat - Zinn, founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. Kabat - Zinn defines mindfulness as “the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non - judgmentally.” I offer a definition based on Kabat - Zinn’s that may be helpful: Mindfulness is calm, clear, nonjudgmental, open - hearted awareness, in the present moment, which allows one to respond appropriately to the present situation.
Figure 1. Definition of Mindfulness
The invitation to mindfulness practice is an exercise in bottom up processing . We sense, feel, think , and learn from what is present. As a result, we achieve a quality of presence that acknowledges what is happening but is not entangled in it . Mindfulness practice helps us regulate our response to events or experience. Let’s explore the four foundations of mindful experience.
Figure 2. Four Foundations of Mindfulness
Mindfulness of the Body – The First Foundation of Experience
“Our bodies know that they belong; it is our minds that make our lives so homeless.” John O’Donohue
We receive information somatically through the body, which is ever present. The body receives information immediately and intimately. Information received through our senses includes seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and internal sensations of the physical body.
Try this: Take a moment to pause and feel the sensations in your hands and feet. Simply allow what’s happening, letting go of any notion of control. Notice the texture of the sensations. Try naming what you feel. This is being mindful of the body.
Being aware of not just your own body but the bodies of others is part of this experience. It also includes mindfulness of the environment.
Most of the time we are not aware of this vital information. Sensations in the body generally are subtle and/or neutral. We do not pay attention unless we feel discomfort (pain) or pleasure (having sex). Instead, we spend time in virtual reality – thinking about the past or planning for the future.
The problem with not paying attention to the body is that we miss out on clues that help us understand who we are or what we need. As a result, we become tone deaf to signals sent by the body. Casualties of this lack of attention includes self-care, care for others, and care for the planet.
Mindfulness of the body is awareness of the aliveness that’s right here - mindfulness of sensation and breath. This awareness allows us to touch what matters in our lives.
Everything we most value as human beings arises out of our capacity to be at home and awake in the body.
Mindfulness of Feelings and Emotions – Basis of How We Relate and the World
"At the constitutional level where we work, 90 percent of any decision is emotional. The rational part of us supplies the reasons for supporting our predilections." Justice William O. Douglas, U.S. Supreme Court
With the recent events surrounding the killings of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks at the hands of police officers, we are being called to look deeply at the pain around us and the cries for justice. And we cannot do that without first pausing and offering compassion to our own feelings. This moment gives us an opportunity to be with strong emotions and to explore our relationship with them.
Emotions determine a lot of what happens in human experience. Our mood dictates how we engage with family, friends, and colleagues. We also pick up feelings from other people. We resonate with one another.
We can even regulate each other’s heart rate just by the words we choose. Lisa Feldman Barrett, a pioneer in research on emotion, suggests that emotions are socially constructed concepts taught to us initially by our parents, and later by societal norms.
Feelings and emotions are what make us human. Being aware of feelings without being controlled by them is the essence of mindfulness. Pema Chodron notes, "It's very helpful to realize that the emotions we have, the negativity and positivity, are exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, and fully alive." By allowing ourselves to fully experience our emotions with kindness, we notice that emotions loosen their grip on us.
Mindfulness of Thoughts – Breaking the Trance
“My life has been filled with terrible misfortunes—most of which never happened.” Mark Twain
Mindfulness of the mind includes mindfulness of thoughts, beliefs, images, and structures that we use to understand the world.
Thoughts can be experienced as a trance, or a pattern that keep us small and separate, that tells us that we or others are not OK. The trance of thoughts is the primary driver of suffering in our culture.
When Henri Tajfel, a pioneer in the cognitive aspects of prejudice and social group identity theory, searched for a baseline reason for intergroup discrimination, he found none. What he discovered was profound: As a species, we are conditioned to classify groups as "we" and "they." Through his studies, Tajfel found that “once a person becomes a they, we will dismiss them, compete and discriminate against them even if there is no reason for it in terms of our own interest.” In other words, we humans are constantly noticing differences among us, and we use these differences to form group associations so that we can defeat the people who are not in our group.
The American biologist Robert Sapolsky notes that the human mind’s propensity for us-versus-them thinking runs deep. Numerous careful studies have shown that the brain makes such distinctions automatically and with mind-boggling speed. Sapolsky tells us that the cognitive structures that support us-versus-them are often present from infancy. “Infants prefer those who speak their parents’ language. They also respond more positively to—and have an easier time remembering—faces of people of their parents’ race. Infants can pick up such environmental influences at a very young age. Infants like what is familiar, and this often leads them to copy their parents’ ethnic and linguistic in-group categorizations. Likewise, three-year-olds tend to prefer people of their own race and gender.”
Sapolsky reports that the hormone oxytocin deepens fault lines. This hormone, known for strengthening social bonds among in-group members, makes us more aggressive towards outsiders. It is chilling to think that oxytocin played a part in police officer Garrett Rolfe’s shooting of Rayshard Brooks.
We all engage in us-versus-them thinking. It has existed in us for millions of years. The survival of our primitive ancestors depended on it. Today, it is the basis creating the “unreal others” with deadly consequences. Mindfulness practice can help make us aware of our own biases and judgements without susceptibility to them. Mindfulness of thoughts can be a powerful tool to help us wake up from the trance of violence in our society.
Mindfulness in Daily Life – Integration of Experience
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.” Viktor Frankl
Mindfulness in daily life is moment to moment awareness of the process of body, feelings and emotions, and thoughts. One remains established in this awareness.
To be mindful in daily life is to see the way that life operates without reactivity. This is the mindfulness that experiences life as it is with an invitation to choose to be free from suffering. At this level, we are always reminded that there's a possibility to be caught or to be free.
When we are mindful, we are aware of and hold ourselves 100 percent responsible for our inner state. We take responsibility for our own needs and shift from a cycle of blame and shame.
In closing, dear friends, please know that any moment of mindfulness, wherever we become present, is a moment of freedom.
May your hearts and minds awaken and be free.
