GETTING INVOLVED WITH MINDFULNESS

Staying in an environment exclusively reserved for the self leads towards an experience called mindfulness.

Residing in this environment are the present moments connected to what one is doing, cohering internally with one's own body and mind while keeping an absolute awareness of breath's inhale and exhale flow.

Mindfulness is the idea of being present within yourself at the moment while the world's traffic of events moves on.

It is a practice of being intensely aware of what the person is sensing and feeling in a moment, without interpretation or judgement.

Based on ancient Buddhist practice, it was popularised in the mid-'70s by Thich Nhat Hanh, a world-renowned monk from Vietnam who died on January 21, 2022, at the age of 95.

In his book "You Are Here,"  introducing the concept of mindfulness, he emphasized what we're experiencing in our bodies and minds at any given moment and not dwell in the past or think of the future.

He stressed the awareness of the breath by repeating internally, "I'm breathing in; this is an in-breath. I'm breathing out; this is an out-breath."

According to Hann, peace, happiness, joy, and true love get realized only in the present moment.

Mindfulness slightly deviates from meditation that it can be practised anytime, with closed or opened eyes, without any guru-given mind-focussing mantra. Or even when engaged in routine chores like doing dishes. The idea is to focus on the activity and be fully present. Another example is exercising on a treadmill or bike.   

Living in the present and being involved within does not mean disengagement with the world. Instead, mindfulness with total concentration still keeps the people connected with the surroundings that do not disturb them.

The subtility of mindfulness rests on the essential human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we're doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what's going on around us.

-by Promod Puri

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