Mindfulness off the cushion

nakazcid

Sometime ago, I posted about my difficulty maintaining a consistent meditation practice. One poster mentioned a book by one practitioner who wrote about ways to cultivate mindfulness without meditation. Since the site's layout has changed since I last used it, I can't seem to find my old posts and read the response. If anyone can suggest similar reading, or tell me how to find old posts, I'd appreciate it.

Sabre

Not wanting to offend or anything, but if you really want to practice mindfulness you will have to practice meditation. We've all struggled with maintaining it now and then, but it's worth it.

With metta!

Cloud

One way Ajahn Chah taught was to keep awareness of the breath during your daily activities. In this way you remain mindful, with just this simple awareness being maintained. I've never heard of anything more simple.

zenff

I click on your name: click on discussions; and I get the list.

Maybe this one is the thread you were referring to?
http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/5861/household-chores-as-practice#latest

nakazcid

Thanks, zenff. The thread I was referring to was this one:

http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/7143/practice-slipping-away#latest

To quote from bodhiactivity (not sure if he or she is still an active member):

There is a book by Amy Schmidt called "Dipa Ma : The Life and Legacy of a Buddhist Master". How this female house-holder managed to reached deep realisation by practising even in her daily chores... and taught many other householders to do so... it may inspire your practice.

DairyLama

Sometime ago, I posted about my difficulty maintaining a consistent meditation practice. One poster mentioned a book by one practitioner who wrote about ways to cultivate mindfulness without meditation. Since the site's layout has changed since I last used it, I can't seem to find my old posts and read the response. If anyone can suggest similar reading, or tell me how to find old posts, I'd appreciate it.

You might find it helpful to investigate the 4 foundations of mindfulness, ie body, feeling, mind-state and mental objects. It could give you a framework for things to pay attention to. I often use bodily sensation.

federica

.......How this female house-holder managed to reached deep realisation by practising even in her daily chores... and taught many other householders to do so... it may inspire your practice.

Exactly.
Meditation does not mean you have to sit and be still.
Meditation can be carried out even while doing household chores.
Thich Naht Hahn teaches this.

Kangaroo

This is a wonderful little gem from Thich Naht Hahn.
http://www.amazon.com/Present-Moment-Wonderful-Mindfulness-Verses/dp/1888375612/ref=sr_1_48?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345397493&sr=1-48&keywords=thich+nhat+hanh

From Amazon's book description, "these charming short verses were collected to help children and adults practice mindfulness throughout the day. The verses, or gathas, are designed to make everyday activities — such as washing the dishes, driving the car, or turning on the television — opportunities to return to a state of mindfulness."

nakazcid

Thanks for the additional posts. To further elaborate, I began Buddhist practice because I didn't like myself at all. Meditation, particularly metta bhavana, was a huge help dealing with self-loathing. Now that I seem to have moved past most of that, it's been hard to generate the motivation to pursue practice further. Trying to cultivate mindfulness throughout the day seems like a good way to start.

Sabre

I see where you are coming from. But what I think the thing is, mindfulness off the cushion is quite difficult without mindfulness on the cushion. It's like trying to jump far without a run up. It's in the sitting where you really create the impulse for the rest of the day. Not to say that everyday mindfulness isn't useful, it is. But it is never a replacement for sitting meditation.

With metta!

DairyLama

One way Ajahn Chah taught was to keep awareness of the breath during your daily activities.

This particular approach doesn't work for me, I find it distracting - maybe because I associate paying attention to the breath with sitting meditation?

Cloud

@PedanticPorpoise, I dunno, why are you asking me? I found it distracting at first, difficult to "attend" to the breath all the time, but just kept going back to it until it became more natural (it took time)... maybe practice is all you need. Perhaps try it when you don't really need to do much in the way of worldly tasks, and then build your way up to doing more and more.

jessie70

There is a fun book called "How to Tame a Wild Elephant, and other adventures in mindfullness" by Jan Chozen Bays. It is very accessible and useable collection of about 50 different mindfulness exercises. The exercises are simple things to try to get your mind in the moment. They are not suggested to be tried all at once, she suggests trying one or two each week. Exercises are simple, such as taking 3 deep breaths before the phone rings, trying to use your non-dominant hand, etc.
I suggest it as just another entry point for mindfulness "off the cushion", a practical, light-hearted approach :-)

Sabre

"such as taking 3 deep breaths before the phone rings"

Wow, that would be a really cool practice to be able to do!
Kidding, I know what you mean and yes, such practices can be quite helpful indeed.

DairyLama

I found it distracting at first, difficult to "attend" to the breath all the time, but just kept going back to it until it became more natural (it took time)... maybe practice is all you need.

I still don't get the point of this technique though - if one is continuously paying attention to the breath then presumably there is less attention "available" for everything else that is occuring in the present moment, including the other frames of reference?

DairyLama

Here are some suggestions we came up with on another forum:

1. Placing attention on the breath at regular intervals;
2. Placing attention on bodily sensation or posture at regular intervals;
3. Mental labelling or noting;
4. Using slogans eg "be mindful";
5. Using trigger points eg walking through a door.

nakazcid

I haven't tracked down any of the above books, but I am taking baby steps in this direction. During the drive into work, instead of letting my attention wander and daydreaming I'm trying to focus outwards, and regarding the other cars, the road, the weather, the trees, etc. No radio either, just silence (well, road noise.) Nature can be quite lovely, even in urban areas. It already seems to be helping improve my mood and concentration, at least for the first couple of hours of work.