Mindfulness

Wikipedia says...

Quote :

Mindfulness is mental state, characterized by calm awareness of one's body functions, feelings, content of consciousness, or consciousness itself.

Does anyone practice mindfulness and if so what have your experiences with it been like?

I used to try to practice at least once a day but I've been too busy lately and frankly I just usually forget to.

IMO it is a worthwhile practice if you can find a way to do it that works for you.

i think i have felt this way but never really put a word to it. it wasn't a practice either...maybe i was just zoning out?

Yeah I used to do that all the time as a kid. We had a small swamp in the back yard and I used to spend hours looking in the water trying to catch fish, frogs, and polliwogs. At times I would be in such a deep state of concentration and awareness that it would feel like an out of body experience.

I go gor relaxing meditations myself. Even when I was doing Yoga, there was no sense of exerting myself. You can't stretch those tight muscles in an instant - you just move gently into a position and hold it, stretching slowly. Some people prefer a more exerting practice, but I'm going with my own flow.

The thing is, you've got to do your private meditation alone sometimes for many years before you can start meditating while doing other things. Just like your muscles gradually stretch and your body gradually heals - your spirit gradually expands.

I don't quite understand people who wish to sit alone in meditation for hours at a time.

I try mindfulness several times a day,usually when I am doing a task I dislike.It takes my mind off the fact that I dislike it!:-)LOL!

Ninah wrote:

The thing is, you've got to do your private meditation alone sometimes for many years before you can start meditating while doing other things. Just like your muscles gradually stretch and your body gradually heals - your spirit gradually expands.

I think people try too hard. IMO it's not really that hard to just focus on the present... at least for short stretches of time.

Yaakov wrote:

I try mindfulness several times a day,usually when I am doing a task I dislike.It takes my mind off the fact that I dislike it!:-)LOL!

Actually I do the same thing. Like the other day in the dentist chair. It doesn't seem to make much sense though. You'd think you'd want to be thinking of anything but the present in those situations.