Mindfulness

September 23 marked the beginning of autumn.  A favorite time of  year for me.  I look forward to the crisp mornings and evenings, the days shortening and the preparations for winter.  Spring and summer are filled with external activities while fall begins to beckon me inward to a quieter time.  I don't know if that is what happens for others, but certainly for me.  As an introvert I welcome quiet inward moments.  My friends and business partner Pam, suggests that extroverts enjoy inward moments too.
Each year I like to take a class or attend a retreat or some special event to further my own process of healing or health.  Last year I attended a wonderful writing workshop that was the impetus for this blog.
This year's "special event" is an 8 week course, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn.  The first class was yesterday.  We attend weekly classes but the bulk of the class happens on our own trying out and cultivating various forms of mindfulness.
I wanted to share the journey of these 8 weeks, my impressions, insights and the practices. Mindfulness has been around for centuries in the eastern cultures.  Jon Kabat-Zinn started documenting amazing health producing benefits from simple mindfulness practice back in the 70's. Since that time more and more research has been done and the results are nothing short of astounding.  In as little as 8 weeks of mindful meditation you can actually change your brain.  Thicken the areas that support calm, connection, creativity and diminish areas of stress, reactivity.  I have had a formal mindful practice for about 11 months now and I have loved the results.  Lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, improved sleep and less reactivity.  It was these kinds of results that made me think a class in this form of meditation might be a positive thing.
In my physical therapy and Rolfing practice I try to lead my clients into some form of body awareness.  Usually I start with the breath, where it is, where it isn't.  From there we move into heavy bones, tight tissues, sounds in the rooms,  feeling the support of the table beneath them.  People are often amazed at how relaxed they can feel and how easy it is to practice on their own.
That said this is what I got from yesterday's class.  A great big exhale that has lasted for hours now, a complete down regulation of my nervous system as I realized all i really had to do was listen, or breath, or tend to whatever was in front of me.....this is big stuff for an anxiety driven woman like me...
They asked us to say why we were attending the class.  I had to go first so had no time to prepare what I was going to say.  What came out surprised me.  I shared that I was still recovering from a divorce 5 years ago and that I just didn't feel like me yet.  That something was missing.  Later in the circle of 25 people someone remarked about integrating meditation into their life, and bingo I realized what I needed was to integrate me back into my life.  When we go through big life changes we often isolate from people and activities that before the crisis were routine and part of our daily life. After a crisis when we start to put the pieces together we have to find a way to reintegrate back into our life.  At least this seems to be the case for me.  So hopefully over the next 8 weeks I will recover what has felt missing and reintegrate my life.....