Be Mindful, Be Happy...by Scott Francis

Be mindful, Be happy

“ There is a most wonderful way to
help living beings
overcome grief and
sorrow, end pain
and anxiety, and
realize the highest
happiness. That way
is the establishment
of mindfulness.”
--- The Buddha ---

Why do we hear so much about mindfulness and what does it mean for our yoga practice?
No matter what situation you find yourself in, it is possible that someone will refer to this word and the practice of being mindful. There are all kinds of books on the subject; mindful eating, sports, writing, intimacy, yoga, meditation, dating, walking, leadership programs, dance programs, etc. Basically, any activity you do can be influenced by the practices of mindfulness. The effort, energy and insights we have on our mats allow us to bring the practice of mindfulness to everything in our lives. The situations and activities vary greatly, but the practice of mindfulness is universal.

Author and Dharma teacher James Baraz asks and answers…..What is mindfulness and why is it so essential to our growth, peace, awakening?
“Mindfulness is commonly described as “ nonjudgmental awareness” and refers to a specific practice of consciously paying attention to what is happening in the mind and body in the moment without judging it, without getting tangled up in a commentary about the experience, without wishing it were different. The ability to pay mindful attention depends upon awareness or consciousness. As long as we’re alive, awareness is happening. It’s an automatic process, but as mindfulness reveals, we can also direct it. This is the essence of the practice of training your mind.

Mindfulness focuses on the process of our experience --- the fact that we’re seeing, hearing, sensing, feeling an emotion, or thinking a thought. This keeps us from getting lost in the “stories” or the content of our thoughts, or our reactions to what we’re experiencing.”

Why is mindfulness so powerful and where is it in our yoga and meditation practice? Every time you step on your mat or sit on your cushion you are cultivating the practice of mindfulness consciously and unconsciously. Our yoga practice is filled with a beautiful array of touchstones that cultivate and evolve our mindfulness. The simple practice of touching your feet or hands together and letting your mind attune to the oneness of connectivity is focusing, settling and listening. The practice of holding a strong pose until we meet new places of sensation and emotion develops a much deeper mindfulness of body and spirit. This process naturally helps us move through our contractedness into opening and a natural state of “being in our bodies” and “being in the world”. Standing in mountain pose with a relaxed upright presence, balanced breath, open heart, and fixed gaze allows us access to a balanced state of mindfulness, not pulling and pushing front/back, left/right, up/down but settled, still, at ease and calm. Trying a new, challenging pose can take us out of our comfort zone expanding us into new territories of shakiness, fear, and imbalance. By simply noting those energies for what they are; shakiness, fear, imbalance, we remove the stories that hold us back and grow, with delight into new realms of energy, creativity, power and presence. Mastering a pose on your mat, with mindfulness can translate into mastering activities in your life that might otherwise seem daunting, challenging and unobtainable. Mastering a pose without mindfulness can lead to ego inflation, separation and more me, me, me energy, but mindfulness simply connects us to the raw knowing of energy, motivation, wisdom, compassion, freedom and joy.

Another amazing facet to mindfulness is that our individual practice gets a mindfulness boost when we are in the presence of a group of people who are inclining themselves toward a collective mindfulness. Like-mindedness can deepen, evolve, renew and reconnect us with our own mindfulness presence. The practice of listening to our breath and listening to others’ breath cultivates an expansive, receptive, openness that can deeply influence the way we listen and receive others during our daily interactions. One of the most powerful aspects of practicing and flowing with the energy of the group is becoming mindful of finding our own center while we’re connected with the movement of others. Every interaction in our life is an act of finding the balance of one’s own center and flowing with others. Mindfulness can provide us with the wisdom and insight into this balance point. I like to imagine, when I am practicing with others, I’m tethered to a super conduit of mindfulness that supports, sustains and develops my own mindfulness practice. Yoga practice offers the opportunity to intentionally infuse yourself with openness and be inspired by the openness of others.

The Buddhist teachings talk about the 7 factors of enlightenment; Mindfulness, Investigation, Energy, Joy, Relaxation, Concentration, and Equanimity. Take note that mindfulness is the first factor on the list. It means to be aware and mindful in all activities and movement both physically and mentally. All 7 of these factors are inherently fused into our yoga practice, which over time can bring the qualities to the forefront of our way of being.
One of the beauties of the 7 factors of enlightenment is that each factor stands on it own, but also is inherently influencing and affecting the other factors. Focused gaze, attention to breath, connection to core, collective dynamic sequencing are all facets of our practice that are inherently cultivating concentration and concentration helps in developing mindfulness. When we are more mindful we tend to be more relaxed and relaxation naturally influences our quality of equanimity. Equanimity means to be able to face life in all it’s vicissitudes with calm of mind and tranquility, without disturbances. When there are no disturbances, energy is heightened and flows with ease and we rest in the Joy of feeling connected, with ourselves, with others and with what is most important and fulfilling to us. You could put any one of these words in the center and it would ripple out into a chain reaction cultivating the other factors. In our yoga practice there is a lot of learning: learning all the different poses, their alignments, benefits, actions, sequencing, etc. This is a very important aspect of practice, but not the most powerful. The most powerful aspect of our practice is the awakening into mindfulness and the wholesome states of existence that flow out of a mindful presence. Without mindfulness our practice can become dry, flat, deflated.
Dharma teacher Diana Winston puts it this way: “ I’d like to propose that mindfulness --- true blue mindfulness --- is the open heart. Sure, the purist can define mindfulness as “paying attention to the present moment with an open and curious stance,” but that definition can be staid, sort of dull, and inadvertently can take the heart out of a practice, which is, in truth, all heart.” Diana encourages students to be mindful of the entire spectrum of experience as a means to mindfulness with an open heart. “ You open and open, you attend and attend, you say yes, again and again, and then over time, the mindfully opened heart is more and more just who you are.”
The other day in class Dawn Jansen (a teacher at Be Luminous) reminded us that many teachers consider final rest, Savasana the most essential part of our practice. Why might that be? I would pose that at this place in our practice we are resting in the factors of enlightenment, which have been facilitated through a deep opening of body and a settling of mind into body. This settling and union suspends us in a state of deep concentration, relaxation, equanimity, energy, joy, mindfulness and investigation (curiosity) all of which opens the doorway to inner happiness.
Renowned teacher Thich Nhat Hanh answers the question….Why is mindfulness the key to happiness?
“Mindfulness brings concentration. Concentration liberates you from your ignorance, your anger, your craving. When you are free from your afflictions, happiness becomes possible. How can you be happy when you are overloaded with anger, ignorance, and craving? That is why the insight that can liberate you from these afflictions is the key to happiness. There are many conditions of happiness that are present, but people don’t recognize them because they are not mindful.
When body and mind are together, you are fully present. You are fully alive and you can touch the wonders of life that are available in the here and now. So you practice not only with your mind but with your body. Body and mind should be experienced as one thing, not two. On that ground, you see that everything you are looking for is already there. Whether it is enlightenment, nirvana, liberation, Buddha, dharma, sangha, or happiness, it is right here. In fact, that is the only place, the only moment, where you can find these things.”
No matter how challenging our practice seems to be, no matter if we can perform a certain pretzel pose or not, no matter what challenges are occurring in our lives and the global life, we always have the opportunity to simplify our focus and connect to the here and now and in doing so we open to receiving the “lightness of being” that already resides within us.