Breathing, Yoga , Mindfulness

I have been attempting to get back to some old practices that I discovered in my latter years of school in an attempt to live a more mindful and enlightened life. I'm not sure how familiar anyone is with Mindfulness or how many of you have an interest in yoga or meditation, but I have found some peace in these practices over the years and would like to share them with you in hopes that maybe they will help you as well. Below are seven of the Mindfulness principles that deal with our attitudes towards thoughts and feelings. If anyone has an interest or if these ideas strike a chord with you and you'd like to know more about meditation, yoga, or Mindfulness I'd be happy to share some books, podcasts, and cds you could check out for guidance. Note: Mindfulness is not a religious practice, but rather a healthy way of life that promotes a positive mind and loving heart. It is conducive to all other philosophies based in love and wellness.

Nonjudging: To do this requires that you become aware of the constant stream of judging and reacting to inner and outer experiences that we are normally caught up in and learn to step back from it.

Patience: Intentionally reminding ourselves that there is no need to be impatient with ourselves because we find the mind judging all of the time, or because we are tense or agitated or worried, or because we have been practicing mindfulness for some time and nothing positive seems to have happened.

A Beginner's Mind: To see the richness of the present moment (afterall, where else does life occur?), we need to cultivate what has been called "beginner's mind"--a mind that is willing to see everthing as if for the first time. No moment is the same as any other. Each is unique and contains unique possibilities. Beginner's Mind reminds us of this simple truth.

Trust: Developing a basic trust in yourself and your feelings is an integral part of meditation training. This will be particularly useful in the yoga practice. When practicing yoga, it is important to honor your feelings and listen to when your body tells you to stop or to back off in a particular stretch. If you don't listen, you might injure yourself.

Nonstriving: Almost everthing we do we do for a purpose, to get something or somewhere. But, in meditation, this attitude can be a real obstacle. Ultimately, meditating is non-doing. It has no goal other than for you to be yourself. In the meditative domain, the best way to achieve your goals is to back off from striving for results and, instead, to start focusing carefully on seeing and accepting things as they are, moment to moment.

Acceptance: Acceptance means seeing things as they actually are in the present. If you have a headache, accept that you have a headache. If you are in pain, emotionally or physically, accept that you are in pain. Acceptance does not mean that you have to like everything or that you have to take a passive attitude. It does not mean that you are satisfied with things as they are. Acceptance, as we are speaking of it simply means that you have a willingness to see things as they are. In meditation practice, we cultivate acceptance by taking each moment as it comes and being with it fully, as it is. We try not to impose our ideas about what we should be feeling or thinking or seeing on our experience, but be receptive and open to whatever we are feeling, thinking, or seeing and to accept it because it is here right now.

Letting Go: In meditation practice we intentionally put aside the tendency to elevate some aspects of our experience and to reject others--prolonging pleasant thoughts or feelings and trying to get rid of the unpleasant. Instead, we just let our experience be what it is and practice observing it from moment to moment.