5-Minute Mindfulness (2 page)

9. For you, being alone is:

A. An opportunity to create

B. An opportunity to reflect

C. Boring

D. Heaven

10. Most nights you eat:

A. Whatever you can cobble together

B. Take-out in front of the TV

C. Dinner with family and/or friends

D. Clean food

11. When you are upset, you:

A. Know you’ll figure it out eventually

B. Mull it over on your own

C. Talk it over with your best friend

D. Do something fun to help you forget about it

12. When people close to you are upset, you:

A. Insist they tell you all about it right away

B. Leave them alone until they want to talk about it

C. Try to cheer them up

D. Avoid them until they get over it

13. The quality you most admire in yourself is:

A. Intuition

B. Intelligence

C. Productivity

D. Imagination

If you checked mostly As, then you are:

THE SEER

You are intuitive when evaluating something new, first visualizing your involvement before making any decisions. Impressions and dreams are meaningful in the process, and you often pay attention to your hunches. The Seer has strong auditory senses and does well with chant, prayer, and sound support in a mindfulness practice. Seers make rapid progress in the early stages of meditation but falter once the visual images become stale. To receive maximum health benefit from meditation, Seers should stretch their capacities by meditating on silence and the ineffable.

If you checked mostly Bs, then you are:

THE THINKER

You are analytical when presented with new information; an idea has to make sense before you agree to it. You employ a methodical approach when learning a skill and prefer to go by a checklist when performing tasks. The Thinker has a well-developed tactile sense, depending on the sense of touch to balance analytical processes. This ability works well with a mindfulness practice that employs physical conditioning and sequential development of the body’s powers. The self-discipline required for slow, deep breathing—which yields immediate physiological responses in meditation—will come easily to Thinkers, but they will have a harder time cultivating feelings of universal goodwill necessary to bring meditation to full fruition.

If you checked mostly Cs, then you are:

THE EXECUTOR

You don’t like to waste time or energy with nonessentials; getting the job done is what satisfies you the most. Teamwork and feedback are important, and you are not derailed by interferences or delays. The Executor is visually oriented and does well with systems that use images, icons, and symbols. To receive maximum stress reduction from meditation, Executors will need to learn to tolerate ambiguity and openendedness. On the plus side, Executors have a strong ability to stay on task, which makes establishing a practice relatively easy.

If you checked mostly Ds, then you are:

THE FEELER

You enjoy being insulated from the outside world and treasure your own time and space. You will consider new activities if they don’t require great adjustments to your lifestyle, and you will seek a few opinions before going ahead. The Feeler has cultivated a gustatory approach to living, appreciating the sensate side of life. A system that includes full-sense involvement, such as ritual meditation, will satisfy this type. The propensity for solitude will make Feelers natural meditators, but, for maximum well-being, Feelers should coax themselves toward spiritual community to sustain themselves over the long haul.

Note: This is just a general guide. Many of us are a combination of these types, and you may relate to some qualities from every type. To get the most from your practice, you should be prepared to explore whatever mindfulness tools and techniques resonate with you regardless of type.

GOOD TO THE CORE

Mindfulness at the core of life infuses every act with meaning and richness. It doesn’t have to be a separate “special” event that takes us away from our responsibilities or leisure. Rather, it’s an ongoing process that is part of everything we do and everything we are. You’ll get as much from your mindfulness practice as you give it, more so if you articulate your intentions. Here are some intentions that might resonate with you:

FREEDOM FROM STRESS

Life is full of stressful conditions, whether you are at work, on vacation, or just doing nothing. Mindfulness can increase your awareness of when and where you’re feeling stress. Once you are mindful of what triggers your stress response, you can use mindfulness practices (such as yoga and meditation) to minimize its effect on you.

A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

Mindfulness doesn’t mean you will avoid powerful emotions—positive or negative. When you cultivate mindfulness, you learn to observe your life and your emotions without attaching negative or positive judgments to them. You begin to see yourself and your life just as it is as it unfolds. From that place of nonjudgmental awareness, you develop a positive attitude because what’s happening in your life isn’t good or bad: It just
is
. And, there’s beauty to be found in the present moment.

SUCCESS AT WHAT YOU DO

Whether you are an artist, parent, spouse, or technician, there is always room for improvement. Mindfulness can help you focus your attention on what you are doing and hone your skills to higher levels. And, just as mindfulness is a continuing process, so is “becoming better.”

ENLIGHTENMENT

Who doesn’t want to attain enlightenment? As you go through life, your light becomes brighter when the inner life is developed in unison with the outer life. This is the subtle balance that mindfulness helps us maintain.

As we prepare to explore this process and to experience the positive effects of mindfulness on mind, body, and spirit, let’s begin by setting an intention for the journey on which we are about to embark.

Mindfulness Now: Set Your Intention

Think of the one aspect of your life that would most benefit from a more mindful approach.

For example, do you wish you had more patience when dealing with your kids?

Would your health improve if you were more aware of your physical body and took better care of it? Is your job such a source of stress you’d be better off finding a new one?

Whatever your intention, hold it in your mind for a moment. Close your eyes, and breathe deeply. Inhale, and breathe in what you need in your life. Exhale, and breathe out what no longer serves you.

For example:

Breathe in love; exhale loneliness.

Breathe in courage; exhale fear.

Breathe in patience; exhale irritability.

Continue for several more rounds of breath. After five minutes, repeat your intention, and open your eyes.

We are ready to begin.

“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”

—B
UDDHA

CHAPTER 2

STRESS RELIEF FOR YOUR BRAIN

“The mind is like a crazy monkey, which leaps about and never stays in one place.”

—C
HöGYAM
T
RUNGPA
R
INPOCHE

It’s 2:00 a.m. and you can’t sleep. Your mind keeps turning over and over:

I should never have said that to my mother.

My boss is going to kill me if I don’t finish that report by Friday.

I really need to change the oil in my car.

My love life is a joke.

I wonder if I should get that mole on my shoulder checked out.

We’re going to starve if I don’t pick up some groceries soon.

If I could just fall asleep within the next ten minutes, I’d get 4½ hours of sleep.

On and on it goes, that endless chatter in your head that you can never really switch off long enough to get a decent night’s sleep, much less stop and smell the roses. The Buddhists call it “monkey mind.” Taming the monkey mind means taming the stress in your life. It means cultivating mindfulness.

HOW STRESSED OUT IS TOO STRESSED OUT?

All of us have experienced some kind of stress, and many of us experience chronic stress every day of our lives. Some of us handle stress pretty well, even when it is extreme. Others are far less able to handle stress. What’s the difference? Some of it may be genetic; many researchers believe that people have an inherited level of stress tolerance. Some people can take a lot and still feel great and, in fact, do their best work under stress. Other people require very low-stress lives to productively function. But, whether you’re blessed with good stress genes or not so good, you can learn to reduce your stress level. And, it’s critical to your well-being that you do.

“Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath. Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important. Just lie down.”

—N
ATALIE
G
OLDBERG

Stress is a function of our human survival instinct. Our bodies are programmed to shift into high gear whenever we are faced with danger. If you should suddenly find yourself in a dangerous situation—you step in front of a speeding car, you lose your balance and teeter on the edge of a cliff, you call your boss a moron when he is standing right behind you—your body will react to this stress in a way designed to ensure your survival.

Here’s what happens:

1. Your cerebral cortex sends an alarm message to your hypothalamus, the part of your brain that releases the chemicals that create the stress response. Anything your brain
perceives
as stress will cause this effect, whether or not you are in any real danger.

2. Your hypothalamus releases chemicals that stimulate your sympathetic nervous system to prepare for danger.

3. Your nervous system reacts by raising your heart rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure. Everything gets “turned up.”

4. Your muscles tense, preparing for action. Blood moves away from the extremities and your digestive system into your muscles and brain. Blood sugars are mobilized to travel where they will be needed most.

5. Your senses get sharper. You can hear better, see better, smell better, taste better. Even your sense of touch becomes more sensitive.

Physiologist Walter B. Cannon coined the phrase “fight or flight” to describe these biochemical changes, which literally prepare you for the effort required to either confront or run from whatever is threatening you. Every time you feel stressed, the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol flood your bloodstream, giving you the boost of strength and energy you need to either subdue that lion if you think you can or run like the dickens.

Adrenaline increases your heart rate and your breathing rate and sends blood straight to your vital organs so they can work better, and cortisol flows through your body to keep the stress response going as long as the stress continues.

Techno Stress

Not many of us face down lions every day, but our modern life moves so quickly that keeping up is inherently stressful. Technology may allow us to do ten times more in a fraction of the time, but the stress associated with our multitasking, 24/7 lifestyle can negate whatever gains technology may bring us.

It’s a rush that can prove addictive. But, if you were to experience the constant release of adrenaline and cortisol every day, eventually that rush would grow tiresome, quite literally. Stress wipes us out, causing exhaustion, physical pain, a decrease in the ability to concentrate and remember, frustration, irritability, insomnia, and even violent episodes.

Too much stress does more than just overwhelm our system with too much adrenaline and cortisol; it interferes with the production of hormones that help us maintain balance and equanimity:

Serotonin
is the hormone that helps you get a good night’s sleep. Produced in the pineal gland, deep inside your brain, serotonin controls your body clock by converting into melatonin and then converting back into serotonin over the course of a twenty-four-hour day. This process regulates your energy, body temperature, and sleep cycle. The serotonin cycle synchronizes with the cycle of the sun, regulating itself according to exposure to daylight and darkness, which is why some people who are rarely exposed to the sun, such as those in northern climates, experience seasonal depression during the long, dark winter months—their serotonin production gets out of whack. Stress can throw it out of whack, too, and one result is the inability to sleep well. People under stress often experience a disturbed sleep cycle, manifesting itself as insomnia or an excessive need to sleep because the sleep isn’t productive.