What Does It Mean To Be Mindfully Aware?

What Does It Mean To Be Mindfully Aware?

Now that the apologies are made, and I have made an agreement with myself to be forgiving of my mistakes and weaknesses, what comes next?

I need a better understanding of what Kathryn Byrnes (2012) calls mindful awareness.  I first turned towards research papers for connections to education, thinking that I would arrive at an understanding through professional applications.  There was a lot of information, but most of it was given as background to why a particular research focus was chosen.  I quickly realized that I needed a more grassroots approach.  I turned to the internet and a Google search of "mindful awareness".  

I found myself in the realm of on-line magazines and self-help blogs.  There I discovered the following recurring words and phrases:  centered, whole being, meditation, spiritual, Yoga, change, transformation, calming, breathing, and being in the moment. I became a little concerned that this path of inquiry might take me into the realm of Eastern Philosophy and a great deal of reading before I could begin.  

Just as I was becoming frustrated with the amount of material available and the task of weeding through it for a way to begin I found a Website called Mindful: Taking Time for What Matters 

In an article titled 5 Steps to Mindfulness meditation master Thich Nhat Hanh is quoted: “Breathing in, I know that I am breathing in.” The article describes mindfulness as stopping in the present to appreciate what is happening right now.  It encourages the reader to examine the environment, conversation, activity, and relationships that are taking place at the moment.  The article offers the following steps to initiate mindfulness:

1. Mindful Breathing:  As you breathe in  you name the in take of breath as your "in-breath".  As you breathe out you name the exhalation as your "out-breath".  This focuses your mind on the act of breathing and allows it to recognize the importance and reality of simply breathing.
2. Concentration:  As you are mindful of each breath in and out, you focus on the flow of the breath into the lungs and through the body.  As you follow the path of the breath in and out, you are developing concentration that is centered in the moment.
3. Awareness of your body:  In this exercise, as you breathe in you say "I am aware of my body."  As you breathe out, you repeat "I am aware of my body."  The goal behind this exercise is to join the body and the mind in the same moment.  Your focus is on the actions and reactions of the body as each breath is drawn in and exhaled.
4. Releasing Tension:  This exercise begins with recognizing that there is tension in the body and then using the breathing exercises to allow the tension to be released.
5. Walking Meditation:  Like Mindful Breathing, walking meditation connects the mind with the body.  The idea is to become of each step as a miracle and a joy.  Rather than hurry through the walk, focus on each footfall and experience the miracle of your body as each bone, muscle, tendon and nerve work together to make the motion possible.  

These are steps that I have already begun to use.  As I write this post, I am trying to be mindful of my breathing when I stop to think.  The amazing thing?  When I began to write, I was tense and fretting over the amount of work still to do before the course ends.  As I began to breathe and recognize the in and out of each breath, I realized a smile had crept across my face.  You will see by the time of the post that this piece was written after a full day of teaching, an evening of reading and research, but yet, there is a smile on my face, and even at this hour, I am enjoying the process of learning.

As I think about how this can be used practically in my teaching day, I see it as a means to truly connect with my students.  As I rush from room to room (teaching off a cart), I often find myself asking student to wait until next time to share a last bit of information.  I am hoping that by applying mindful breathing, I will slow myself down and give myself, and my students, time to create a moment of peaceful contemplation at the end of each lesson.

I offer the following website as a place to get more information on making mindfulness practical in daily life. The Huffington Post Healthy Living 

Check out the video on the home page.

The following videos give an introduction to mindfulness.  The second video presents the meditation master, Thich Nhat Hanh, speaking on what it is to be mindfully aware.