Mindfulness on Radio 4 Today Programme
This morning The Today Programme on Radio 4 ran an interesting segment on mindfulness and whether it can be scientifically proven to be good for your health. Culture correspondent David Sillitoe visited the London School of Economics and King’s College to analyse the effect of mindfulness on pain relief and discover if the root to a happier new year is, for a few minutes each day, silence. You can listen again on http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9671000/9671158.stm
This is something that Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, would certainly agree with. His classic work in the area, The Miracle of Mindfulness, was first published in 1975 and continues to be a popular bestseller today. Within this book he declares:
“Mindfulness frees us of forgetfulness and dispersion and makes it possible to live fully each minute of life. Mindfulness enables us to live.”
For anyone inspired by the Today Programme to try mindful meditation, Thich Nhat Hanh recommends learning how to control your breathing as the path to mindfulness:
“You should know how to breathe to maintain mindfulness, as breathing is a natural and extremely effective tool which can prevent dispersion. Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again.
Breathe in lightly a fairly long breath, conscious of the fact that you are inhaling a deep breath. Now breathe out all the breath in your lungs, remaining conscious the whole time of the exhalation. The Sutra of Mindfulness teaches the method to take hold of one’s breath in the following manner: ‘Be ever mindful you breathe in and mindful you breathe out. Breathing in a long breath, you know, “I am breathing in a long breath.” Breathing out a long breath, you know, “I am breathing out a long breath.” Breathing in a short breath, you know, “I am breathing in a short breath.” Breathing out a short breath, you know, “I am breathing out a short breath.”
“Experiencing a whole breath-body, I shall breathe in,” this you train yourself. “Experiencing the whole breath-body, I shall breathe out”, thus you train yourself. “Calming the activity of the breath-body, I shall breathe in,” thus you train yourself. “Calming the activity of the breath-body, I shall breathe out”, thus you train yourself.”
