10 Minutes a Day
In times of stress, confusion, uncertainty and doubt, a time-out would do some of the most well-adjusted people some real good. This time-out provides immediate benefits for the here and now; a focused sense of calming oneself, and a lowering of heart and respiratory rate. When we deliberately take time to rest our minds from thinking, we open it to new opportunities through a renewed sense of self-awareness.
When I was 14 years old, I decided to take martial arts to develop a stronger sense of discipline, as well as a more confident disposition to defend myself during high school. During training, we were required to take 5 minutes at the end of each class to sit quietly in the middle of the dojo to quiet our minds. Back then, I would focus on my breathing, go through a few form techniques in slow motion as a class review, and conduct some mental imagery of whatever came to mind that I felt was relaxing. I always left that dojo after every class feeling renewed, and refocused.
In the past few days, I have realized that I am always thinking about something! I mean, I never realized how mentally active of a person I was. I never truly rest. Even when vacationing, and sunbathing on the beach, I am thinking about something; many things. After taking this time to rest the mind, at first, I found it quite difficult to not think. I literally had to focus on not thinking about anything, and just relax into being. By day two, I noticed my attention would get drawn to any little noise I was able to pick up. So in attempt to side step this issue, I used ear plugs. Now, I had to deal with the sound of silence, and ten minutes is a very long time. At the end, I mostly felt relaxed, but tired. On the third day, I wore the ear plugs again. This time, I decided to keep a rhythmic relaxed breathing pattern going while focusing on the interconnectedness of my physical, mental and spiritual aspects. That is to say, I was simply being aware that they were all interconnected for the whole 10 minutes. I found that when I 'came to', I was hyper-aware of my environment, had a certain clarity of thought, and was very deliberate when engaging in conversation with my spouse, as well as my children.
After further research on the matter, I found that Siegel (2009) proposed there were nine functions that were products of mental processes during what he called mindful awareness; body regulation, attuned communication, emotional balance, fear extinction or fear modulation, response flexibility, insight, empathy, morality and intuition. It was obvious I was able to experience a number of these functions after my third session.
Experiencing this type of self modulation, I find great value in 'stealing' 10 minutes a day to reset myself, or even gain a 'leg up' under certain circumstances, such as just prior to a meeting, or an interview. The truth is, I find so much personal power that can be had through this practice, I would naturally want to share this with others, and will. I am just curious what my perception of these 10 minute opportunities will look like to me over time. How will I feel about it, and what will I gain? Practicing this mindfulness, directly places you in the awareness of now. If your time is spent focusing on the now, then anything that may have been considered stressful is no longer in your awareness, and therefore, in a way, no longer exists. The same goes for anything that you may deem stressful in the future. The moment of now can also provide you the opportunity to let go of any fears you may have previously been plagued with. Davis and Hayes (2011) state that more research is needed to better understand how the benefits of meditation practice accumulate over time.
References:
Davis, D. M., & Hayes, J. A. (2011). What are the benefits of mindfulness? A practice review of psychotherapy-related research. Psychotherapy (APA), 48(2), 198-208. DOI:10.1037/a0022062
Siegel, D. J. (2009). Mindfulness awareness, mindsight and neural integration. The humanistic psychologist, 37(2), 137-158. Http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08873260902892220
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