Introduction to Mindfulness: Week 4
Suggested Home Practice
Continue to use the chart of Everyday Mindfulness/Mindfulness Every Day (below)
Practice informal mindfulness and some formal mindfulness, and include movement
Notice challenges that come up as you deepen your practice over the week
5-10 minutes self-guided daily meditation: Consider the “R” in S.O.A.R.
S.O.A.R.
S: Slow down, Settle, Stabilize, Stillness, Space
O: Observe with curiosity, Openness
A: Allow, Acknowledge, Appreciate, Accept
R: Refresh, Restart, Rest
Five Common Challenges in Meditation Practice
Changing habits, especially deep-seated ones, is like trying to turn around a very heavy boat: it takes a lot of steady pressure, and there can be a lot of resistance at first. As we work on changing our habits in this mindfulness training, learning to recognize the different types of resistance can help us work skillfully with them rather than being defeated by them.
1. Aversion/Avoidance
When feelings/thoughts/body sensations arise that are unpleasant our habit is to want them go away. This is the experience of aversion–wanting something to go away or be different. This can be especially strong when we first start to become aware of all that is coming up in the mind and body each moment, or when we start to cut down on the number of cigarettes we are smoking.
2. Craving/Wanting
When feelings/thoughts/body sensations that arise are pleasant, our habit is to want to hold on to them or get more. This is the experience of “wanting.” It can be as subtle as wanting to feel relaxed, striving for some effect, or as extreme as an intense urge to smoke.
3. Restlessness/Agitation
This often comes up as a can’t-sit-still or agitated feeling in the body and mind. This can also be experienced as worry.
4. Fatigue/Tiredness
This might be physical drowsiness or mental sluggishness. It might be in the mind, the body or both.
5. Skeptical Doubt
Doubt might be experienced as a sense of personal doubt (“I can’t do this”) or doubt about these techniques and its utility (“How is this going to help me stop smoking?). It is an especially tricky challenge because it can come masquerading as wise advice and thus can be very convincing. It can stop us in our tracks and keep us from trying anything new.
Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
Portia Nelson
I.
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
II.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I still don't see it. I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
It isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
III.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it there, I still fall in.
It's habit. It's my fault.
I know where I am.
I get out immediately.
IV.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
V.
I walk down a different street.
© 1977 Portia Nelson, There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk: The Romance of Self-Discovery
