An Astronaut in Your Inner Universe
People often ask how long one should meditate. That’s an important question (see below for a link to more information on that). Of equal importance is how you meditate. Not how you sit, whether your eyes or open or closed, how you breathe… but the attitudes that you bring to your practice. Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the long-standing, highly researched Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, outlines 7 key attitudes for mindful meditation in his seminal work on mindfulness, Full Catastrophe Living. To these seven, CMP adds an eighth - A Sense of Play.
To get a felt sense of these attitudes (listed below), when you are meditating it can be helpful to imagine yourself as an astronaut exploring your own personal universe, floating weightless in the midst of all its mystery and wonder. You are an impartial witness to all that you are experiencing. You know you can’t rush what’s unfolding in the cosmos, so you observe it patiently. You have a profound sense of the newness of the moment, and you meet it with openness. You are aware that you are having this experience, that it’s real and true. Taking in the vast expanse is the only goal, being present for it, letting this be the only destination in this moment. You accept what is before you as the reality of the moment and let go of needing to do anything with it; bearing witness is enough. And finally, you engage with the moment with a sense of play and exploration and curiosity.
Key Attitudinal Foundations for Practicing Mindfulness
Items 1-7 adapted from Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Full Catastrophe Living; Item 8 is a CMP core value.
1. Impartial Witness • Taking the stance of an impartial witness to your own experience. • Observing the constant stream of judging .. good / bad / neutral… not trying to stop it, just being aware of it • Accepting that what is happening right now is happening. • Bringing an attitude of kindness toward oneself.
2. Patience • Letting things unfold in their own time • A child may try to help a butterfly emerge by breaking open a chrysalis but chances are the butterfly won’t benefit from this help • Giving ourselves room to have these experiences-we’re having them regardless • There is just this moment.
3. Beginner’s Mind • Too often we let our thinking and our beliefs about what we ‘know’ stop us from seeing things as they really are. • Cultivating a mind that is willing to see everything as if for the first time. • Being receptive to new possibilities… not getting stuck in a rut of our own expertise. • Each moment is unique unto itself.
4. Trust • Believing in your own authority and intuition • Recognizing and honoring the authenticity of your own experience. • Taking responsibility for yourself
5. Non-Striving • Meditation has no goal other than for you to be yourself. • Paying attention to how you are right now – however that it is. Just watch. • Less is more. “Don’t do something- Just sit there.” • With regular practice, movement towards your goals will unfold by itself
6. Acceptance • Seeing things as they actually are in the present • Now is the only time we have for anything. You have to accept yourself as you are before you can really change.
7. Letting Go • Non attachment- we just watch • Notice the grasping and pushing-away mind • If we find it particularly difficult to let go of something because it has such a strong hold on our mind, we can direct our attention to what ‘holding’ feels like. Holding on is the opposite of letting go. Being willing to look at the ways we hold on shows a lot about its opposite. • You already know how to let go… Every night when we go to sleep we let go.
8. A Sense of Play • Engaging with a sense of lightness • Being willing to experiment and try new approaches • Not seeing the practice as “work” or a task to be checked off a list.
It can be helpful to bite off one of these at at time and chew on it for a while, inviting it into your practice and noticing what unfolds.
May you experience the magic of being an astronaut in you own inner universe,
Your CMP Family
P.S. By the way, if you’re curious about how long to meditate, we love the research that Dr. Amishi Jha has done on this topic. You can read more about it in her book, Peak Mind, (she narrates the audio book herself!) and you can see a talk she gave at the Pentagon here.
P.P.S. If you’re interested in taking a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course let us know! We’re considering offering one in the near future and we’d love to know who might be interested. It would likely take place over 8 weeks. There would be a fee to cover the costs, and scholarships would be available.
P.P.P.S. You might notice that we link to 3 booksellers when we mention books: Libro.fm (audio books), Bookshop.org (paper books), Thriftbooks.com (used books). These organizations either support local bookstores or recycle books by reselling them. Community is the first word in our name for a reason. We believe in the health benefits of being in community. Local shops play an essential role in bringing people together and keeping us connected, giving us a chance to bump into, smile and say hello to each other. We are also huge fans of local libraries for the very same reason. In fact, we got our start in local libraries (you can currently find us in Ferguson and Ridgefield Library!). So, please consider supporting your local libraries and bookshops.
