Mindful | ||
classes qigong tai chi kung fu about us reviews a-z
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is about being present, being
here and now.
This may sound quite simple, but most people are distracted by their thoughts.
They are not present at all.
The value of being present cannot be over-stated.
Your body resides in the immediate. Your existence takes place in the immediate.
Although your thoughts may wander near and far, you are here.
Awareness
Awareness involves seeing, hearing and feeling.
Having awareness is good but it needs to be applied.
It is not enough to simply know, you must also be prepared to do.
Being mindful
Mindful conduct involves acting appropriately, in accord
with what is happening.
This requires a certain degree of flexibility, adaptation, openness and
awareness.
Being willing to change in relation to outside stimuli rests at the heart of
mindfulness.
Mindful behaviour
Mindful behaviour is considerate.
It is not phoney or contrived; it involves taking responsibility for your own
conduct and being sensitive to the consequences of your actions.
This is accomplished through intuition rather than planning or psychology.
Total immersion in the moment enables a person to act without thinking, to move
without hesitation and to choose without seeming to.
Open
To be mindful, your attention must cease to be directed upon yourself. It must
face outward and feel the nature of your relationship with everything else.
You move as one with those around you; there is no division between you and
another.
Shedding the insincerity
People are not so keen to shed all the rubbish they have accumulated. The image.
The reputation. The opinions. The viewpoint. The politics. The money. The
possessions.
However, the very things that we hide behind and cling to so desperately are the
very things that blind us from reality.
Misconceptions
Some people think that mindfulness means to have something going on in your
mind.
They misunderstand the term 'mindfulness' entirely, believing it to mean
thinking, worrying, extrapolating. This is the opposite of what mindfulness
means.
You don't empty the mind just to lobotomise
yourself; it's not mindlessness.
You empty it so that it can be refilled by what you're experiencing. It's empty
of the chatter, it's empty of the neurotic anxiety, it's empty of preconceived
notions, it's empty of opinions, it's empty of politics, it's empty of social
conventions, and if you empty your mind of all that, it's a cleansing process.
Then you can allow it to be filled by the true experience of what you're doing.
(Paul Gale)
Page
created 17 April 1996
Last updated
04 May 2023
▲