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37. Mindfulness & the Body 11/29/03
The Body is the temple of the Lord; God is installed there, whether or not the
owner of the body recognizes it.
Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 3 pg. 150
Some notes from Full Catastrophe Living. by
Dr.
Jon Kabat Zinn
Dr. Jon Kabat Zinn a Master teacher of mindfulness training has pioneered this practice at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Through his research, he has demonstrated the effectiveness of Mindfulness meditation in helping people cope with problems such as anxiety, chronic pain, cancer and hypertension
Most people enter into Dr. Zinn’s training because they are suffering physically. In this context he is able to help people face and live with their pain or illness. Physical suffering is very direct and demands our attention. This is something very tangible that we hope we can correct, Handling physical problems like chronic pain and illness with mindfulness is about as up to date as we can get with working with our body. Today Dr. Zinn does train others, who are healthy, in the dynamics of working with others and delivering mindfulness practice.
In
reading passage after passage about the body and how to deal with the many
symptoms and problems that can arise in the body I appreciate how accurate Dr.
Zinn instructions are. For examining our pain as well as handling symptoms that
arise in most of us at one time or another his book is excellent.
At the same time, I see potentials for also illuminating many of the problems discussed. Cures, if I may use this word, could be said to be, the successful application of information that produces positive results. As information becomes more refined it is just a matter of how soon do chronic problems reduce and ideally go away.
An interesting dilemma also arises in my mind about the motivation of an individual who is suffering and will try anything to reduce or cure a particular problem. Dr. Zinn is able to introduce mindfulness practice as a long-term benefit to the individuals receiving this training. This impacts other areas of their lives which is fortuitous for these individuals who might not otherwise take up a meditative practice.
The dilemma is, would these same individuals take up a meditative practice if they worked out the physical problem by other means? With regards to working with alignment which uses breathing as a necessary tool to set up and release problems of the body, I would say that the informal aspects of mindfulness practice are definitely established and some of the formal aspects of mindfulness will become a factor while keeping the body aligned and healthy.
However if the primary emphasis is on living and dealing with pain and chronic problems, then from my perspective, I see room for a lot of improvement. The gains people have from Dr. Zinn's program are impressive as Outcomes are studied over periods of years. While “Ninety-three percent said that they continued to practice the meditation in one form or another at some level. Almost everybody reported still using awareness of their breathing during the day, and other informal mindfulness practices.” A very strong showing for informal as well as a formal practice. There is a percentage reduction in the formal practices after 3 to four years. However, the over all work and experience people have is quite impressive.
Below are some excerpts from the book and comments where I feel it would be
useful in terms of advancing our information about conscious breathing and
alignment. Many passages are useful for everybody as a way of examining what is
going on with this or that tick, itch, and twinge of pain or soreness. A common
sense way of getting in touch with our precious body.
Pg. 61
“Mindful sitting is different from ordinary sitting in the same way that mindful breathing is different from ordinary breathing. The difference, of course, is your awareness.”
“In sitting, “It helps a lot to adopt an erect and dignified posture, with your
head, neck, and back aligned vertically. This allows the breath to flow most
easily. It is also the physical counterpart of the inner attitudes of
self-reliance, self-acceptance, and alert attention that we are cultivating.”
See
sitting position.
Suggestions for physical alignment
(hh) When we understand our physical alignment, both of the ideas expressed above on sitting mindfully are self-explanatory.
If our breathing is shallow or our breathing is not understood as an element of alignment then the ordinary sitting position can be a struggle or something that feels posed and artificial.
Thus working with the breath to expand open the upper body and have the muscles and skeleton naturally aligned, assists in the sitting meditation practice of mindfulness. It then helps us to be able to maintain the positions we take for meditation for long periods of time with out effort.
Thich Nhat Hanh, talks of having awareness of breath all the time no matter what position we are in or what we are doing. Again this can be with out effort when we have the whole package of understanding the use of breathing for natural physical alignment and how that relates with contemplation. It could be said that mindfulness then comes as a natural process of being aware, rather then something we put on for a half-hour or more. In the beginning setting up Formal Mindfulness is wonderful for awaking and training the mind. This speeds up the process of becoming fully awake.
No matter what we are doing, when we are aware of the body and breath in motion there are many elements of dignity and gracefulness present.
Pg. 55
“When we surveyed several hundred patients who had been out of the stress reduction program for a number of years and asked them what the single most important thing they got out of the program was, the majority said, “The breathing.”
(hh) I assume from this survey that people would also stay with the breathing practices they learn by working with the breath to bring about alignment. Over the years there have been many who I may see after 10 or fifteen years and they usually volunteer something to the effect that there is a very strong tendency to continue working with the breathing they learned. I have always felt that when you couple up breathing and its common sense use with alignment, it becomes as a natural activity. In this respect you have the informal side of mindfulness.
Pg. 56 “
“In addition you will discover that it is possible to direct your breath with great precision to various parts of your body in such a way that it will penetrate and soothe regions that are injured or in pain, at the same time that it calms and stabilizes the mind.”
“When we are mindful of our breathing, it helps us to calm the body and the mind. Then we are able to be aware of our thoughts and feelings with a greater degree of calmness and with a more discerning eye.”
Pg. 57
“ There are two major ways of practicing mindfulness of breathing. One involves the formal discipline…The second way of practicing using the breath is to be mindful of it from time to time during the day, or even all day long, wherever you are and whatever you are doing. In this way the thread of meditative awareness, including the physical relaxation, the emotional calm and the insight that come with it, is woven into every aspect of your daily life…The formal and informal practices using the breath complement and enrich one another. It is best to let them work together. Of course, the second way takes no time at all, just remembering.”
Pg. 282 listening to the body
“When we look at a symptom with the full power of mindfulness, whether it is muscle tension, rapid heartbeats, shortness of breath, fever, or pain, it gives you much more of a chance to remember to honor your body and listen to the messages it is trying to give you. When we fail to honor these messages, either through denial or by an inflated and self-involved preoccupation with symptoms, we can sometimes create serious dilemmas for ourselves.”
(hh) For many, symptoms have alarm bells going off, because of the constant flow of warnings in the media about this and that symptom. The nightly news usually has a doctor on board to give us advice whichfor the most part says; doctors know your body better then you. In this respect the creation of “serious dilemmas” can occur from external information that says “the body is not user friendly".
One dilemma that many people have is constipation. Not a subject for the nightly news, other then to sell Exlax. Many deal with constipation as a common problem and don’t see that it is symptomatic of holding the stomach muscles still as well as holding or having a subtle squeezing of the anal muscles. In sitting, lower body expansion with breath while relaxing what feels like areas that are holding, Is a way of addressing this immediately.
I have found that many people will also hold the waistline just above the hips because of image issues. Allowing the whole waist to expand fully, almost like a balloon, will release some held areas around the lower body. Sitting and working with this, to me, is appropriate to all that we are doing while sitting.
Pg. 284 Acute vs. Chronic pain
“Medicine manages acute pain far better than it does chronic pain. The underlying cause of an acute pain can usually be identified rapidly and treated, resulting in elimination of the pain, but sometimes pain persists and does not respond well to the most common remedies for pain, namely drugs and surgery. And its cause may not be well defined. If it lasts more than six months or keeps coming back over extended periods of time, then a pain problem that started out as acute is said to have become chronic.”
(hh) I would say that Medicine manages acute pain, when it is informed and ethical. We do have to be careful of who we choose to handle an acute pain. because of ignorance it could become chronic with improper diagnostics by a doctor. Dr Zinn points out that acute pain, which comes on, is a signal that we need pay attention to. It is a way for the body to let us know that something needs inspection, such as appendicitis. At the same time it seems people do have different interpretations of what is acute.
A story that sticks in my craw is of an old farmer as hearty as one can get at 84. He was having stomach pains and went to a local hospital in a small town of maybe 3,000 population. They proceeded to reduce, cut away a portion of the abdominal muscles. He now walks at 92 years of age seriously bent over! Darn!
To me the question also arises how do we handle pain in such a way that it doesn’t become chronic? Also can we manage some acute pain even better then we are doing presently?
Pg.285,
“As a society we seem to have an aversion to pain, even to the thought of pain or discomfort. This is why we are so quick to reach for medicine as soon as we feel a headache coming on and why we shift posture as soon as a little muscle stiffness generates some discomfort. As you will see, this aversion to pain is an obstacle to learning how to live with chronic pain.”
Pg. 286
“It has been calculated that lower-back pain alone costs our society
approximately $30 billion per year in treatment and lost productivity…What is
more, the treatments for chronic pain conditions while infinitely better and
more sophisticated than they were even twenty years ago, are all too often only
partially successful.”
(hh) I am happy to report, from the experience of others who coach in alignment
and breathing, the successful outcomes are remarkable. Tom Mac Naught who worked
with me gave us this testimonial;
“I
cleared up a severe 20 year back problem in four sessions.
I have also learned how to keep my
back released.”
This is one story amongst many
where people have solved major 'chronic' problems in a brief period of time
using principles of alignment and expansive breathing as presented at the
American Yoga Foundation.
Pg. 287
“One problem with chronic pain conditions is that often it is not clear exactly what is causing the pain. Often doctors won’t be able to say with certainty why a person is experiencing pain. The diagnostic tests, such as X-rays and myelograms and CAT scans, frequently don’t show very much, even though the person is in a lot of pain.”
(hh) If we where to consider 'Contraction' or the decrease of internal space as as cause for discomfort and a host of physical problems then, 'Expansion' of our internal spaces and areas of pain can be helpful. This is often found in Yoga where breath is used along with stretches (asanas). Even machines that stretch the body can be helpful but, we need a way of maintaining the expansion on our own so the body structure is more open and aligned. As simple as this may sound, it works!
Pg. 349 On Handling Stress
“Crazy as it may sound, we are going to suggest that the antidote to time stress is intentional non-doing, and that non-doing is applicable whether you are suffering from not having “enough time” or suffering from having “to much time.”
Dr. Zinn says, “Inner peace exists outside of time.”
Chapters 26 through 32 deal with the many
forms of stress from Sleep, people, role playing, work, food and the world. This
is something that most of us are aware of, I’m sure, understanding how to manage
the daily stresses of life with what ever we have found to work is an ongoing
process for all of us. Being aware of our breathing, whether it is shallow or
full, and how we are positioning the body are basic informal ways that we can
bring our attention to the immediate.
*****
For more information on Dr. Jon Kabat Zinn see
Omega web-site.
For more information on Satipatthana method of vipassana meditation called
Mindfulness we can find much on the web.
The Master Mahasi Sayadaw, who has to his credit 67 volumes of Burmese
Buddhist literature, has promoted mindfulness in the east and written the
definitive works on mindfulness. Translated and presented by the Buddhist
Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka.
MIND SCIENCE by Charles T. Tart. A great book that shows how the pragmatic and scientifically-inclined among us can bring mindfulness into everyday life without religious baggage—and gain from its many health benefits. This book is available at the Enlightenment.com Store.
E. H Shattock, (Rear Admiral) wrote AN EXPERIMENT IN MINDFULNESS. N Y: Dutton (Satipatthana Method). This is a book about one mans experience with the formal practice in Burma.
Today the Meditation master Thich Nhat Hanh has brought the practice to the west and has many books on the subject. BREATHE! YOU ARE ALIVE is a highly recommended book
Thank you for reading.
Posted by harmonhathaway at November 29, 2003
Comments
Harmon wrote: "The dilemma is, would these same individuals take up a meditative practice if they worked out the physical problem by other means?"
Dear Harmon,
First of all, thank you for another fine article. I suppose we can consider it a
net gain when anyone chooses to take up meditation, regardless of the reason or
reasons. Meditation opens up new pathways for the mind and affords one the
opportunity to better interface with his soul. Certainly, people facing
uncontrolled pain face a special set of circumstances that most of us can only
imagine, and uncontrolled pain affects every aspect of one’s existence. People
in pain are often, although not always, willing to discard old paradigms and
embrace alternative healing techniques. Mindfulness training has been a time
honored method of meditation for eons and it seems particularly well suited for
many contemporary seekers.
Posted by: Solstice on December 1, 2003
Solstice, it is true Meditation or being contemplative evokes more kindness and honoring between us humans. Michel Murphy said in a recent interview “As you meditate you make more and more of this Royal Jelly.” So as we perform our different forms of “interfacing with our soul” there is a progression towards re-cognizing our original face. You and I share the current opportunity to sit and be for a period each day with the quite of the breath making a special kind of royal jelly. Namaste
Posted by: Harmon on December 1, 2003
Harmon this is very helpful; I am going to look for the book at the library. A couple of comments:
1)Pg. 57
“ There are two major ways of practicing mindfulness of breathing. One involves the formal discipline…The second way of practicing using the breath is to be mindful of it from time to time during the day, or even all day long, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.
The second way is, for me, actually more important, as well as more difficult. Difficult, because you have to be aware to remember to do it. Important, because otherwise the work gets concentrated into practice times, which are generally carried out under ideal situations, thus not really allowing for much direct application.
I'm glad he mentioned the two ways of doing it -- some meditation books do not.
2)Pg.285,
“As a society we seem to have an aversion to pain, even to the thought of pain or discomfort. This is why we are so quick to reach for medicine as soon as we feel a headache coming on and why we shift posture as soon as a little muscle stiffness generates some discomfort. As you will see, this aversion to pain is an obstacle to learning how to live with chronic pain.”
Is this our society, or is it just from the "wiring" we inherit from the animal kingdom? Laboratory animals will always choose the least painful of two alternatives. I would think we're the same, until we can each raise our consciousness enough to practice more choice in the matter.
That's just one thought. I'm willing to learn about other human cultures that have more functional ways of dealing with pain...I just don't know about them at this point.
The Charles Tart book sounds excellent too. . .
Thanks, Ruth
Posted by: Ruth on December 7, 2003
Hi Ruth
I link working with feeling alignment or becoming familiar with establishing alignment of the body to the informal practice of mindfulness. The position of sitting, as presented in previous web-logs, while working at the computer is a useful way of viewing being mindful of breathing.
We feel the body while sitting, and then we add some expansive breath. Some of the breath is retained to keep the upper body erect while the breath has the feeling of coming in and out without the body rising and falling with each breath. Once this pattern is comfortable and easy to maintain then our attention can be loose so we are aware of the body sitting, the typing we are doing and the thought process as it goes on and on. There is also available attention for what is going on around us. This is a relaxed use of attention as we are aware of the many things that are in the moment. In a sense the feeling of the breath moving in the body is the anchor that we can keep coming back to.
It could also be said that we are breathing and aware of this constant pattern plain and simple. If you want to call this doing informal mindfulness fine, I think the idea is of having our attention more available or focused to the immediate circumstance. I hope this takes some of the difficulty out of what to me is on going. The more we play with the breath and the body the more adept we become with these ideas. Charles Tart’s book is excellent for further discussions on the subject.
The subject of pain, honestly Ruth, could be extensively written about, I am looking at it from the point of view that basically physical pain is trying to tell us something. The more we understand our body's structure (alignment) the more likely we will be able to discern what that is.
Thank you for opening this vast subject to some further discussion. Peace.
“When people say they won’t believe in God until they see him, tell them you won’t believe they are in pain until you see the pain.” ~~~Sri Sai Baba~~~
Posted by: Harmon on December 7, 2003
Thanks for this comment explaining mindfulness whilst carrying on activities. It does make good sense to me. I will keep trying to remember to remember to do it. . .
Also I like the quote from Sri Sai Baba! Thanks, R
Posted by: Ruth on December 8, 2003
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