Creative Ways to Transform Challenges:
Meditating

Expanding the Moment: Techniques for Enhancing Mindfulness Jane Brockman
 
"Our true home is in the present moment. When we enter the present moment deeply, our regrets and sorrows disappear, and we discover life with all its wonder." Thich Nhat Hanh
 
We hear so much these days about "staying present in the moment" and "living more fully in the moment." On a theoretical level, it makes sense. To anchor ourselves in the present-- truly seeing, feeling and absorbing what is happening in the here and now-- makes time slow down, Moments become richer and more rewarding. Interactions become more meaningful. Life becomes a process rather than a series of destinations. Yet, being fully present in each moment is not always an easy thing to do, particularly in light of modern-day pressures and the accelerated pace of life. How do we stay present when our to-do list is a mile high and when taking the time to slow down and anchor in the moment seems impossible?
 
Fortunately, there are many simple techniques we can practice as an organic extension of our normal day-to-day routine, that don’t necessarily take a lot of time, and in fact, some can be done in a matter of seconds or minutes. Others, such as establishing a meditation practice, will take more time to develop. Of course all of these techniques will be enhanced in the context of a regular meditation routine, yet, a daily practice is not essential. Nor is it necessary to be on a particular spiritual path as these methods are universal and relatively easy to adopt.
 
Telephone Meditation
 
The ringing telephone provides us with a wonderful opportunity to practice mindfulness. Buddhist teacher and author Thich Nhat Hanh encourages people to use the bell, or anything which imitates the sound of a bell, as a cue to come more fully into the present moment and let the outside distractions and worries drop away. With the phone, one can practice telephone meditation, whereby the sound of the ringing phone is used as a reminder to take several deep breaths, center oneself and come more deeply into the present. Instead of jumping up to answer the phone on the first ring, wait until the third or fourth ring to answer. When you do, you may find you’ll be a lot more centered and present for the other person on the other end of the line.
 
Sheila Canal uses telephone mediation during her busy workday at the welfare department in Oregon, where she can get as many as 20-30 calls a day, and on occasion up to 50. "When the phone rings, I usually acknowledge that it’s ringing, that there’s an interruption," says Canal in a soothing voice. "By the second ring, I’m really getting my thoughts together in terms of what I need to do-- to jot something down or whatever--so I can go back to what it is that I’ve been working on. And then, on the third ring, I usually get the chance to breathe--deeply, to breathe consciously. And it works out for me, it works out because then I’m more present for when I actually do answer the phone."
 
Leaving earlier for appointments and doing a short breathing exercise before hitting the road have enabled Barbara Casey to feel less rushed and more centered and connected with the driving process. "Before starting the car, I usually sit and breathe slowly and consciously a few times, sometimes saying the little gatha [phrase or group of phrases] ‘I know where I am going, The car and I are one.’ Then sometimes, I list off the places I am going, seeing myself arriving safely and peacefully. This also often helps to remind me if I have forgotten something before I leave, and will make me aware if I’m not really certain what errand I want or need to do. When I am driving and lose the feeling of relaxed concentration, and instead get caught up in the frustration of traffic or in rushing, my breath helps to bring me back."
 
"Every experience provides an opportunity to be present. The object of our mindfulness/meditation becomes each person or activity," shares Jerry Braza in his characteristic clear and simple style. Braza, a facilitator of mindfulness retreats and author of Moment by Moment, the Art and Practice of Mindfulness, uses the practice of "people meditation" as a way to bring himself more fully into the here and now. In his retreats, Braza uses eye contact, focusing on and truly seeing individuals rather than just connecting with a sea of faces. "Enhance visual steadiness," Braza suggests, "connect more deeply with everything-look a little longer at people, nature. Anchor into each moment."
 
Practicing Mindfulness with Difficult People
 
Dealings with difficult people provide an excellent opportunity to practice mindfulness and to anchor more into the moment. Sharon Salzberg’s book Lovingkindness is a clear and beautifully written introduction to the technique of sending love or metta to difficult people. The classical metta phrases go somewhat like this, "May you be free from danger, May you have mental happiness, May you have physical happiness, May you have ease of well-being." While these are the basic phrases, Salzberg urges us to use phrases that work for us, adapting them in whatever way feels best.
 
It is not necessary to start with the most difficult person first, cautions Salzberg, and sometimes it can be harmful. While she was in Burma learning the principles of the lovingkindness meditation, she questioned her teacher as to why she should first begin with sending metta to a loved one when really she should be sending metta to her worst enemy. "Why do you want to do things in the hardest way possible," her teacher questioned her. "This practice is not meant to induce suffering," cautions Salzberg, "though it may reveal it."
 
Often it is helpful to begin the lovingkindness meditation with the self, "enveloping yourself with your own loving care," suggests Salzberg. From there, you can direct your phrases towards a person for whom you feel much love. Then you can work towards a friend or neutral person. Finally, you can work with the difficult person last. Feel free to imagine the difficult person in any situation that you wish-as an infant, on their deathbed, in a humorous situation-any situation that might make it easier for you to send lovingkindness their way. It can help to visualize them or say their name. If possible, try to think of one good thing about them.
 
In his work as an addictionologist at the VA Domicilary in White City, Bob Naymik comes into contact with a lot of difficult people. The Dom houses a large residential drug and alcohol treatment program for long-term resistant alcoholics and addicts. "There’s a lot of psychiatric illness in this population," explains Naymik- "bi-polar disease and PTSD [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder] and depression and things and a whole lot of personality disorders with anti-social people coming out of prisons and jails who wind up here."
 
Lovingkindness meditation is a practice which Naymik has quietly and successfully incorporated into his workday. Practicing metta meditation at work helps Naymik bring the practice of mindfulness into his work, so that mindfulness is not simply something to experience in meditation or a spiritual setting. "One of the ways that meditation or loving kindness helps me maintain mindfulness in my daily practice is that it gives me a way to avoid collecting emotional baggage during the day like resentments or anger or slights or things like that."
 
Recently, Naymik needed to use the lovingkindness meditation with a particular patient who’d been released from prison after serving a drug sentence. The patient was still drug-seeking, angry and traumatized. Naymik remembers that the patient was all over him with "really foul language and irritability and drug-seeking," which pushed a lot of buttons for him. After taking a little time to do some mindfulness breathing and a short lovingkindness meditation, he was able to achieve forgiveness and compassion.
 
Protection and Grounding Techniques
 
Family and relationship counselor Sharon Hines recalls that when she first started doing counseling, she often got sick because she would absorb a lot of clients’ emotions and didn’t even know it was happening. Eventually, she began using the technique she terms "calling in the light" whenever she or a client is in a difficult mood. "If it seem appropriate," says Hines in a comforting and secure tone of voice, "I might call in the light by asking to be surrounded, protected and filled with the pure white light of love. And I ask that only that which is for my highest good and the good of the person before me and all concerned, be brought forward. And if there’s any negativity, imbalance or disharmony, that it can be lifted for the highest good." For clients who are not open to this, Hines says she might do this silently to herself and for children, she might ask them to take a breath.
 
Another way that Hines grounds herself in the moment is to sense into her own body and to ask clients to sense into theirs. During a session, she’ll sometimes ask people to notice what they’re experiencing in their body. "If we can sense into our own physical being, it’s very grounding," says Hines. By stopping and sensing into that tightness in our jaw or that aching in our back for example, we can then examine our feelings and emotions and figure out what part they may have in that.
 
Yoga of course is an excellent way of sensing into the body and coming more completely into the fullness of the present moment. Yoga instructor Cathleen Katz brings a beautiful spiritual focus to her classes. For Katz, who teaches several classes a week, yoga is a primary way of anchoring herself in the present. "The gifts that yoga bring are like the thousand petal lotus. They keep unfolding as you open to the process in the practice," Katz reveals.
 
There are so many opportunities for mindfulness available to us and so many ways we can set up our own reminders throughout the day which help bring us more deeply into the fullness of each moment. Incorporating just a few of these practices into our lives, particularly our workday, can help us to feel more alive and connected. Practicing mindfulness in the context of a spiritual setting is wonderful, yet, extending that spirit of mindfulness into the workplace or into the rest of society is an even deeper challenge to embrace, not to mention an opportunity for more flow in one’s own life and a deeper sense of connection with others.
 
© 2000 Jane Brockman. Article printed by permission of the author.
 
Jane Brockman has been practicing yoga and meditation for 10 years. She teaches English as a Second Language at Rogue Community College in Southern Oregon and enjoys worldwide travel. This article was originally published in The Sentient Times: Alternatives for Personal and Community Transformation, Ashland, Oregon, www.sentienttimes.com