Kabouterke wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2013 4:19 pm
Meditators are often just given the instructions "be mindful in daily life." But, as we all know, the vagueness of these instructions make being mindful in daily life sound deceptively easy. After five minutes, a number of obvious questions will arise in someone who is earnestly trying to be mindful: "...HOW?!...WHY?!... What's the point?" -- "What am I supposed to be mindful of... and what am I NOT supposed to be mindful of?" -- "What does 'being mindful' of something
actually mean, anyway?" Sometimes you'll come across publications that try to go a little further into detail, but you usually just get even more vague instructions, like "when washing the dishes, just wash the dishes" which makes doing the dishes sound like it should be some sort of intimate, sensual experience where enlightment is just ready to pop out of every little bubble of soap that floats up from the sink.
So, at the end of the day, the meditator is left with the task of being mindful and is left to his own devices. My intention with this thread is to create a forum where we can share what works for us, the practical bits of advice that are not often included in Buddhist publications or taught by teachers. Hopefully, we can help anyone else who is struggling to figure out what this mindfulness thing is all about and keep any newcomers from losing heart and giving up.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
My Technique
One technique that I recently created for myself is alternating between awareness of the four postures (sitting, standing, lying, walking) and switching back to being aware of the sensations that arise from the dominant activity that I am performing at that time. In
daily activities, I have only been noting the posture twice (standing...standing...) before switching to the dominant activity, which I also note twice (reaching...reaching...). I have noticed that this quick oscillation between posture and the dominant activity can 1. keep up with the pace of everyday life without making me move as slow as an elderly turtle; 2. works within the framework of the Satipatthana Sutta (mindfulness of body); 3. Stops me from stressing about the tiny details that go under the radar "Oh! I should have been more mindful of the sound of that gnat hitting the windshield! Why oh why isn't my mindfulness strong enough
?!?!!?" With this method, you quickly learn what the term "the most dominant action" means when you've only got a split second to choose; and 4. It acts as a natural reminder to stay mindful by not allowing any gaps in your mindfulness: when you limit yourself to two notes per posture/activity, a natural rhythm and momentum builds up that can help us maintain mindfulness with long-lasting objects that we normally easily lose mindfulness of: "Seeing cloud....Seeing cloud... Seeing....Cloud... Clo--- ....OH, ICE CREAM TRUCK!!!
"
So, let me give an example of what this little method looks like.
Example: Cooking
1. "(Posture)
Standing...standing...(dominant activity)
chopping...chopping...(Posture)
Standing...standing...(dominant activity)
chopping...chopping...(posture)
walking to fridge....walking to fridge....(dominant activity)
grabbing....grabbing...(Posture)
Standing....Standing....(Activity)
peeling....peeling...(posture)
standing....standing....(activity)
peeling....peeling...(posture)
standing....standing....(activity)
peeling....peeling...(posture)
walking....standing.....(dominant activity)
grabbing... putting in pot...(posture)
standing....standing....(dominant activity)
picking up spoon....stirring...(posture)
standing....standing....(dominant activity)
stirring...stirring...(posture)
standing....standing....(dominant activity)
stirring...stirring...etc.
A few notes:
1. For the music geeks out there, I've been noting at the rate of 60-70 beats per minute.
2. I don't say the objects in my head (carrot, pot, etc.), but I had to illustrate it somehow.
3. Also, your mindfulness should be energetic, bright and bouncy and should "jump" and cover all of the sensations in the legs (muscle tension, pressure from pushing up against counter with thighs) and the feet (pressure, heat, etc). Same with peeling: we obviously know what were doing, there's no need to remind ourselves that we're peeling a carrot.
4. You should not have any mental images or mental concepts of yourself doing the action. The mindfulness should be firmly connected to the sensation of the vibrations felt when peeling the carrot, the feeling of the little bits of cold juice that splash onto the skin, the feeling of your muscles pulling the peeler down, the resistance, etc.
4. For complex activities, (reading, studying, thinking) I've dropped the switching and the noting completely and simply focused on using "bare mindfulness" to wholeheartedly focus on the task at hand.
This little method just came to me one day, and I soon found out that doing this method meant the difference between being able to maintain mindfulness in little intermittent bursts of a few seconds to being able to do it for hours on end (with the occasional gap, of course... I'm human, after all.
). As my mindfulness and concentration develop, I can see how I might drop switching between the posture and the activity and just stay with one or the other, or start incorporating smaller details than I am currently incapable of being aware of. I could also start noting 3, 4, 5 times until my "bare mindfulness" is strong enough to stay with the object without the crutch of the mental noting.
Does anyone else have any "best practices" that you've developed? I hope this thread proves to be useful to us all!