Why practice mindfulness?

[FeeHutch]

Hello everyone
I am working on a piece about Mindfulness to post on http://www.dailywaffle.co.uk/ which is a site I write for now and again.

I'd like to write a piece briefly outlining what mindfulness is and what people experience/get out of their practice. I wondered if any of you would like to contribute a comment about you practice, why you started perhaps or how you find mindfulness influences your life. Perhaps you would like to dispel a myth or preconception you or others may have about mindfulness?

The piece will include a link to the forum and I will (user)name check everyone who contributes. We have a great community growing here and I want to get the word out there as much as possible and hopefully encourage more new members so that we can continue to learn from each other.

Thanks!

[Gareth]

I started practising because I got Ill. It caused me a massive amount of stress and anxiety. I just read somewhere that meditating was good for stress relief. I picked up 'Wherever You Go, There You Are' by Jon Kabat-Zinn,and the rest is history. Mindfulness has drawn me in ever since I read the word for the first time. It has been so life changing that it is akin to a religious experience for me. The more that I practised the more peaceful that I got, and I like being peaceful.

[FeeHutch]

Thank you so much Gareth, that is a wonderfully personal and concise quote.

I hope more people will feel able to contribute their thought too.

[tiarajazzie]

I practice mindfulness due to my generalized anxiety disorder. It was never brought to my attention until a doctor and a family of mine suggested that I practice such to help me level my stress. Upon doing some research about it, I realized how scattered and rattled of a person I was. I also realized that I am constantly on auto-pilot. Little things that I thought were normal now seems to be contributors of my anxiety, such as, not paying full attention to what I am doing at the moment, thinking too far ahead, living in the past, just not living at the moment. As far as I am concerned, mindfulness has slowly brought some clarity in my thinking and definitely organizing my thoughts more. What I mean by organizing is to give certain thoughts attention and letting go of the ones needed be.

This is the quote that seem to remind me always to be mindful: "If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present."

[Medway Tai Chi]

I've practiced various martial arts and meditations since I was 6 years old, and the number 1 thing I have found is that, whatever it is you are practicing, it must integrate fully with your existing life; neither taking over your life nor being squashed out by it.
Ritualistic training, where you 'set the scene' with music, candles/incense, and "change" yourself to someone else for the duration of the training: this cannot work! From 10 until 12 you train, and after that, you're the other guy... Out of a 24 hour day, you're doing 2 hours of training, and 22 hours of anti-training.
My goal is to bring meditation out of the studios, where it is like bird with it's wings clipped, and put it to work 'on the ground level' - I want to show people HOW to take their peaceful sitting and apply that throughout their lives.

[FeeHutch]

Brilliant guys.
If anyone else wants to contribute their thoughts I am not planning on submitting the post for a couple more days.
I will add a link when the post goes up too.

[rara]

Hmmm, I guess I needed a release from everything! I used to be really angry, irrational and have bad anxiety but wanted a way out. I was always jealous of that other guy that could just not let things get to him...so I found the way to BE him.

[FeeHutch]

Rara that is a really good quote for the end of the piece thank you!

[One Aware]

Hi FeeHutch:

I started practicing as therapy for recurring bouts of generalized anxiety and depression. I was also on meds for these. A hospital near where I live was offering a 10 week MBCBT program and was covered by Canadian mediacare so I got a referral from my Doc and joined the waiting list to take the program. I didn't have to wait long and took the program. That was a little over 4 years ago. I have continued my practice daily ever since completing the program. For the first 3 years I had the recurring bouts of anxiety and depression even though I meditated and even though I was on meds. It seems I couldn't get through 1 full year without at least one recurrence (sometimes more than one). I even stopped meditating for several weeks a couple of times, but just as we return to the breath after the mind has wandered, I started to meditate again after each time I stopped.

In the fourth year I started to notice positive changes in how I felt, how I looked at the world and how I moved through the world. I still take my meds but I am now well over a year since my last recurrence of anxiety and depression and I feel wonderful. I still meditate daily to this day and plan to keep meditating for the rest of my life. The meditation has taught me a better existence and I continue to learn every day.

BTW:

The program I attended is still being run at the hospital and others in Canada. The program is very popular , with a long waiting list now even though it runs consecutively all year round.

[FeeHutch]

Thank you for that One Aware and I love your signature