Mindfulness And 'noting Practice'

[hummm_mabbe]

Hello

Just thought I would share this as i know a fair few folks use mindfulness. Its something to add if you dont use it already!

I read some info on a research study using MRI scans to see what brain areas 'light up' and all that. Apparently they found that when a person 'labels' a feeling, it causes the emotional control parts of the brain to switch on, and the emotional arousal parts to tone down. So if you were feeling angry or afraid, the idea is that following mindful attention, labeling - "this is anger / fear" will actually tone down that emotional response because of the way it recruits different brain regions.

This is also a formal practice in buddhism and mindfulness meditation, where you first bring full, accepting attention to the feeling, but then 'note' or label sensations. In sitting practices it can be used with any sensation - such as pain, itching and so on, but for the purposes of most folk here I am guessing it will be used for things like anxiety, anger and so on.

As ever, its something that increases with practice, and needs to be used in lots of situations for it to have an impact right across your life, but I thought I would just flag this up for all the mindfulness users out there that fancy it and might not have heard of it.

Ross

[Villan]

wow... evidence to back up what i have kinda found out myself re acknowledgement of emotions...

please keep posting what you find out... always interested...

thanks rossy xxx

[walker]

interesting

and

i understood it

[Lily-Bee]

Thanks! I can personally really use that,I hope others too.

Lilly

[Tinkerbell.]

Thank you Ross i understood it too.

Tinkerbell xx

[Silverwolf]

C-O-O-L!

Ross you do do a hell of a lot of reading!!

Many thanks for sharing,- I will try this -anything to reduce the intensity of emotions.

:masked: :masked:

[sanctuary]

I hope you don;t mind me sharing something i wrote down earlier:

I have previously lacked the belief that I can be in control of my own mind, emotions, behaviour and thought because I have literally 'lost my mind' on so many occassions. After some time of psycotherapy, I have been able to reflect on alot of my memories.. now onto dbt...

Emptying my mind, a previously impossible task, anyway, emptying the mind, mindfulness and the middle way is the way to understanding anything for me when im lost or confused in my own body because apparently 'your emotions are your guide'....Feeling the pain, identifyying the emotion, recognition, validation then eventually mastery and control...

I am experiencing alot of pain from flashbacks now that I am more 'open to receiving' wisdom and theory of mind.... but these flashbacks are not facts, but rather, my interpretation of surpressed memories that I have been to afraid to confront with any mind, let alone a wise mind. I can look back on something, an event that has happened and practice the principles of mindfulness rewiring my recollection of the event. Know what i mean?

This is all new to me but I am srprised more than anything how many different emotions I fail to identify in a day let alone those events in my life where I have been in chaos with my head spinning off in all directions! Phew! Thank god for a wise mind........ it has eluded me before now.

[hummm_mabbe]

Glad it was helpful to folks

Sanct - yes I had that too. When you really start to get into it, the amount of stuff that was literally unconscious and unavailable to you is shocking. And the thing is the process just carries right on and evolves, applying itself to more situations and feelings.

I feel like I have a good handle on emotions that arise just within myself - memories, internal triggers and so on. Where I struggle is when another person is involved - which makes sense as i am still to really 'get out there', a bit isolated, and apply it on a daily basis face-to-face. However its starting to kick in in little ways, such as talking to a checkout assistant or on-street when I have those mini "what the hell are you looking at" type feelings. As you say, its like you are more able to say "these are just feelings, just sensations" and so let them go.

For me the best way of grounding myself when triggered is to 'lock on' to the sensation of the breath at the tip of my nose. Its like an 'inclusive' awareness in thats the focus, but it also 'swells' to include the uncomfortable sensations as well. Like you hold them both in awareness until the discomfort reduces.

[sanctuary]

I often wonder if me needing more and more to be able to do this is going to clash with me getting on with life in a normal way. Unlike you ross, I am out and about and see people often not good for me, and this meditation becomes a problem... almost as if I were to say "excuse me while I go and lie down in a darkened room and concentrate on my breathing.." I really do think with all the shit I've got to rewire I might well go into isolation again... it looks like another long dark winter in reflection for me then... only this time last year I couldn't understand it all.... at least now I have a fair idea what it's all about.

practice makes perfect xxx

[hummm_mabbe]

Hi Sanct

It is difficult when you have things that feel extremely pressing, and its an added frustration that you need to start with the small and work up. Perhaps it seems like I am saying this should all somehow be simple and easy - I dont think that at all, and maybe if you have pressing difficult situations to face, then mindfulness is not the thing for you right now, because it does not help you right away. Those difficult people are going to be the ones at the top of a difficulty list for you. Its about changing a habit, and as with any habit, it will assert itself at first whether you want it to or not.

There is also a big difference between sitting meditation, and the more on-the-go mindfulness. Its possible to meditate whilst in full conversation, and to bring mindfulness to any moment, but it takes a lot of practice. Eventually it becomes automatic and effortless. You can train it with little things, like mindful washing up, showering or walking - anything in fact. As long as you are bringing awareness to an activity. At first you need the sitting meditation because it helps you to train the capacity to focus - gradually you can apply it without needing to sit. Maybe see sitting as like the easy slope in a ski resort - you start there for a while, and then when you have more balance, you go to a green run, then a blue, then .. black

Ross

[sanctuary]

it's a beautiful thing to behold though I have to say 'noting' the sadness behind my anger, locating the gut wrenching feeling to another time, another location, another memory and rewiring that memory now to one of sadness for the little me... then later I guess I can rewire the memory again and make it one of wise mind knowing.....

Just listening to my body clench up and tell me STOP... relax, breathe, think about the feeling, the emotion..... and the pain disappears... remarkable!! xxx

[Miko]

When I acquired a body of knowledge about my functioning, it helped my generalised self-acceptance a lot.

But I am still unable to apply it to myself. When I try to handle specifics in my life, I go into panic mode. Is that solely because I am attempting all by myself? If so, there would be too much intensity and not enough objectivity.

[hummm_mabbe]

When I acquired a body of knowledge about my functioning, it helped my generalised self-acceptance a lot.

But I am still unable to apply it to myself. When I try to handle specifics in my life, I go into panic mode. Is that solely because I am attempting all by myself? If so, there would be too much intensity and not enough objectivity.

Hi there

I think thats shows a tremendous amount of self awareness to be honest, and its good you can ask that question of yourself.

I think this is something that comes down to the 'nature of the process of change'. Not many self help books, and even therapies, talk that much about the actual experiecne of change - the steps you go through, and what its like to actually go through them. Of the books Ive read that do, and some of the views of the meditative traditions, it seems that there is very much a path or series of steps involved.

For example, simple 'knowing' rarely leads to change - you may be aware you do something, or react a certain way, but that is not enough to lead to change. Itsa necessary step, so its not a waste of time - but other things have to happen to take those next steps. There seems to be an important step of 'emotionally knowing' something, which is extremely hard to put in words. For example, when someone asks you a question, like "where is the toilet". Just before you answer, you 'sense' what you are going to say - in your body, as well as your mind. In the same way, the things you might know about yourself intellectually, you also have to somehow connect with in this very BODILY way. You are able to see the elements of the past, or familiar difficult patterns, arising but you experience them in a new way. That seems to come as you spend more time simply being aware of emotion as it arises, and being open to experience. So you actually have to live out that 'panic mode' over and again, slowly bringing awareness into the picture, until some wordless 'gut' feeling clicks into place. At this stage it becomes about doing something different. Its emotional knowing versus intellectual knowing.

In meditation, there are levels of awareness too. I dont know if you have seen the "10 ox herding pictures", but it talks about the path of meditation as an allegory of finding and taming a bull. I think the 5th or 6th picture shows the man has found the bull, but needs to keep applying 'the rope' to keep the bull in the right direction. This means he has some awareness, but his emotions still pull away from him - and so the path at this stage is about continued effort. In meditation, this means using concentration and meditation as that effort.

There's an intersting site about a similar idea HERE if you like to read.

THIS is a link to the ox-herding pictures.

So I guess what I am trying to say is, you arent doing anything wrong at all - it may be that you are just at a certain stage in your recovery, albeit one that feels frustrating (take a look at picture 4 in the second link above )

Ross

[catsmother21]

Hi Ross

I used mindfulness and acknowledging how I was feeling when I woke up at 4am this morning. Usually, when I wake up I get up and go down stairs. However, last night I thought this is ridiculous - I need more sleep. So I had a quick glass of water and went back to bed, fell asleep and woke up at 8am this morning!!!!!

So thanks for posting this, it is very helpful. xxx

[hummm_mabbe]

Hi Ross

I used mindfulness and acknowledging how I was feeling when I woke up at 4am this morning. Usually, when I wake up I get up and go down stairs. However, last night I thought this is ridiculous - I need more sleep. So I had a quick glass of water and went back to bed, fell asleep and woke up at 8am this morning!!!!!

So thanks for posting this, it is very helpful. xxx

Thats great! So glad it helped :)

[Miko]

Ross,

The site

http://www.biology-online.org/articles/science_well-being_integrated_approach/stages_path_well-being.html

contains a bewildering range of links, and I wouldn't know in what order to follow them.

Is there a list of topics covered on each page so that I can get an overview of the progression & interrelation of ideas?

[hummm_mabbe]

That link should take you right to the page in question - it starts with "There are three major stages of self-awareness along the path to well-being", and sums them up in the next few paragraphs. Dont know if your computer is taking you to the same page ... ?

If its too much to read then dont worry about it, just thought I would share

Ross

[canadianbumble]

Hi there, I'm not very accomplished at it but try in the night for example. I start to get worried so I say stop - worry then look to something else more rewarding. After my third nightmare of the night though I find this difficult. There was a really good progam here on TV last night explaining what happens to the brain during ocd or pstd how the brain then wires and strengthen itself to negative triggers. Unfortunately I couldn't watch it all because my two kids were around and there was alot of talk about suicide and scary stuff that I didn't want them to see. I have also found buddhist walking meditations helpful or even sitting ones, but I need to stick with it. The main problem when I'm feeling a bit bettter is that I don't make time for it anymore. Thanks for your posts they always make insightful reading even though my silly brain sometimes can't follow through. Anyways Ta Bumble. x

[Saharah Blue]

The main problem when I'm feeling a bit bettter is that I don't make time for it anymore. Thanks for your posts they always make insightful reading even though my silly brain sometimes can't follow through. Anyways Ta Bumble. x

Bumble,

I think the important thing I have learned about Mindfulness and Loving Kindness Meditation, is there is no right or wrong time to pick it up. It's like coming back to the breath, you just know this is where/how you refocus. Its okay to have a good day or week and not meditate, the objective isn't to be a monk, .

So picking it up when your feeling low is fine, the important thing is to keep returning to it. In a long term sense. I like this about meditation practice. Your practice is good, just as it is now, and it will be good just as it is, next week or year. Remember, the non judging mind.

Sah

[Miko]

That link should take you right to the page in question - it starts with "There are three major stages of self-awareness along the path to well-being", and sums them up in the next few paragraphs. Dont know if your computer is taking you to the same page ... ?

If its too much to read then dont worry about it, just thought I would share

Ross

It's more like it seemed too little, I was looking for the most direct follow on to the topic introduced.

[hummm_mabbe]

It's more like it seemed too little, I was looking for the most direct follow on to the topic introduced.

Oh well, sorry about that I thought maybe the concepts of pre-contemplation, contemplation and 'soulfulness' she describes would be useful to you, but I can see why they might not be. If you happen to find something that is more helpful, I would love to take a look

Ross

[Miko]

My browser gave me a better view that time and I have got the hang of the navigation for the article. I found the tables and suchlike gave me a clearer idea than the passage of text I first got.

Where do we get the 15 modules from?

[hummm_mabbe]

Hi Miko

I get the impression that his 15 modules are something that he is working on and probably delivers in his own practice, and so are not necessarily freely available. However, those stages of awareness are common to many forms of recovery and self-discovery. I think they represent a more general overall process that anyone in recovery from emotional difficulties might go through in one form or another, its just in that article the guy was promoting his own approach. Thats not to say you cant go through those stages via other means.

I think that you are already on that path though - earlier in the thread you said about having insight, but that you felt unable to turn that into doing or feeling differently. That was why I wanted to mention the recovery process - it is normal to go through the stage of knowing but being unable to change, and that is what the article covered when it talked about needing to continually apply mindfulness, but it being only partially successful and unsatisfying. Hopefully if you continue to apply what you are already doing, slowly you will progress along that path to a point where it changes something emotionally for you.

Ross

[Miko]

I've been concentrating on how my CNS works for me, often in information & sensory overload, and in the process become aware of & accepting of how things act on my senses. (From a scan it appears the brain portion to do with coordinating is rather on the small side. I also carry around with me a few other interesting phenomena relating to the senses.)

Due to my history of addiction I have started - rather slowly - on a spiritual-minded recovery programme. I am still near the beginning of that. I also have another spiritual tradition in parallel to that, which I am rejoining.

From the overview within the article I get the impression those principles are accessible in principle to people of any neurology type and any spirituality tradition. Some people will doubtless need medication and other support, like a box to stand on to reach something. Some wordings meant less to me and some re-wordings struck me as more clear.

On a good day I flatter myself I have reached stage 2, maybe foraying rarely and momentarily into stage 3, and probably reverting for a while to stage 1 sometimes.

In the coming months I may scan your old threads for descriptions of and/or links to materials that do the sort of job described here, to underpin my other spiritual explorations.

[hummm_mabbe]

Hi Miko

My own experience (and so what you are most likely to hear me talking about) comes from Buddhism and Schema Therapy, so sort of a blend of psychotherapy and spiritualism. I guess I would be a neurotypical though, so as you say there may be other things needed when applying it to the autism spectrum.

Ross