As mindfulness meditation grows in popularity, more people are beginning to realize that meditation is not what they thought.  Actually, I was one of those people. In April-June 2010, I completed introductory meditation courses with the Boston Shambhala Center and the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program, with The Center of Mindfulness affiliated with UMass Medical School in Worcester, MA. Since that time I have had a regular sitting practice.  While I still see myself as a beginner, I have noticed significant changes in how I see and relate to my own thoughts, feelings, and life experiences as well as other people and  the world. Thus, I see tremendous value in starting and maintaining mindfulness meditation as a path to more conscious living and leading.

The primary difference I have noticed since starting the practice is the mental space it has given me, which has allowed me to start (notice, I stated, start—smile) responding to situations in a more constructive manner. I readily admit to being a self-help book connoisseur. I am also a lay student of psychology. Prior to starting my sitting practice, intellectually, I was able talk about “moments of awareness” and the “gap” or space between stimulus and response where one has the freedom to choose. However, the gap eluded me, and I frequently (particularly in difficult situations) reacted out of habitual patterns such as defensiveness even though I deeply desired to respond in a more constructive way.

As evidence by a plethora of magazine articles, news stories, blog essays, and books on the topic, there is a growing interest in the West in mindfulness meditation practices frequently associated with Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Vipassana (or Insight) meditation, and Zen Buddhist meditation. This growing interest is not surprising given the mounting research findings indicating extensive beneficial effects of mindfulness meditation on mental health and well-being, physical health, self-regulation and interpersonal behavior.

As highlighted in the expanding body of mindfulness literature (including my doctorate research),  through the process of intentionally focusing nonjudgmental awareness on the contents of mind, the mindfulness (meditation) practitioner begins to strengthen ‘the observing self’. By cultivating the capacity to witness emotional states, practitioners begin freeing themselves from habitual patterns in a way that enhances self-regulation and fosters conscious living. My life experience and research affirms this conclusion which is what the Eastern traditions (and some Western contemplative traditions) have been teaching for over 2,000 years.

Meditation…. it is not what you think! If you are tired of living out the same old tired scripts, then I invite you to choose to live more consciously by starting a mindfulness meditation practice. Before you start, I highly encourage you to get instruction from a trained and seasoned mindfulness meditation instructor. The technique is simple; however, if not executed properly you might as well be surfing the Internet.

(Revised and reposted from former Paradigms 4 Progress blog May 2016)