What is mindfulness?

Sarah Fader with Better Help defines it as “a state of being completely focused on the present moment, without dwelling on or reacting to your thoughts”. The keywords here are without reaction. Often, our thoughts can be emotionally charged and even distressful. Not only can our thoughts be a lot, but even the surroundings we find ourselves in can be triggering too. It becomes a cycle of reacting to your thoughts and surroundings rather than observing them. When I underwent counseling training, one of my teachers often said that counselling or psychotherapy is about supporting someone in developing their “observer” and honing their “Blue Feelings”.

One popular approach within Psychotherapy that greatly informs what my counselling teacher taught is Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT). DBT was created and tested by Dr. Marsha Linehan (A.L. Miller, American Psychotherapy Journal, pg 9), in 1991 to specifically support people who have extreme emotional dysregulation and maladaptive behaviours. DBT has since been used in a variety of settings including; educational, social developmental, long-term care, and forensics. The way DBT conceptualizes mindfulness is by dividing the mind into three different categories.

• Reasonable Mind - Pertains to facts, logic, rationale

• Emotion Mind - Relates to how you feel (physically & emotionally), impulses, urges

• Wise Mind - Combines the two minds together. It is intuitive, peaceful, and calm. You use your rational mind to observe what you are feeling in the moment, right here and now.

(D. Spiegel, S. Makary, L. Bonavitacola, Creative DBT Activities Using Music, 2020)

Another perspective that has informed my approach to mindfulness is the practice of Reiki. Reiki found its origins in Buddhism and teaches a variety of meditations to support mindfulness. Within Reiki, mindfulness can be defined as observing energy but then having a conscious intent for the energy. Reiki practitioners may also use the principles created by the founder, Mikao Usui. He asks practitioners to state:

“Just for today:

I will not be angry

I will not worry

I will be grateful

I will do my work honestly

I will be kind to every living thing”

Inherent in these principles is the use of mindfulness because in order not to be angry or worried, you need to make a conscious effort to observe and choose what to do next.

How can you develop Mindfulness?

A Certified Music Therapist working within the DBT framework may gently challenge their client to observe what mind they are using or to simply describe what is going on in their body. This can be done using improvisation where clients explore different sensations felt when listening to particular sounds or songs. Music Therapists also can rely on the Iso Principle to support someone’s regulation by isolating the rhythm of someone’s breathing or heart rate, matching it rhythmically by tapping or drumming and subtly shifting it to the desired pace. Another activity used is composition. Clients are given opportunities to practice verbalizing their feelings and needs by making their own songs. Another is where the client is directed to listen for a certain sound or word in a song and count how many times they heard it repeated.

A Reiki practitioner achieves mindfulness by:

• Connecting to the breath, Life Force Energy

• Visualizing it going into different areas of the body

• Observing the heat emanating from the hands

• Observing how the energy flows and see if it triggers any emotional material

• Visualizing symbols and empowering them with intent

Who can develop mindfulness?

Everyone can learn to cultivate being in the present moment with time, curiosity, patience, and possibly with the support of a professional.

Where?

Mindfulness tools and concepts can be applied anytime and anywhere. Once you learn what works best for you, you can choose to apply it any time you wish.

Why?

There are so many ways to hone and become mindful, but why? Why is mindfulness so important? I’d say because we live in such a fast-paced world that it has become too easy to lose yourself in it. Without mindfulness, it becomes easy to fall prey to reacting to life rather than actually enjoying it. We begin to rely on our survival instincts rather than consciously living. This can make life feel stressful and actually teaches your brain to stay stressed, creates more stress hormones, and exhausts your nervous system to a point where it can just shut down. When you observe, you activate your wise mind, your frontal lobe; your higher level of thinking. This reduces stress hormones in the brain and teaches the nervous system that it does not need to be so reactive. It gives you permission to release what no longer serves you which promotes feelings of bliss or at least relief. This, in turn, promotes positivity not only within you but also in your environment. You will become more focused on the “Blue Moments” rather than the “red”. When you give yourself permission to observe, you give yourself permission to thrive!