Mindfulness: Eternal meditation
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November 22, 2021
What is mindfulness? What does this concept, which is so fashionable nowadays, refer to? We can translate
mindfulness as full awareness. This concept comes from Buddhist meditation, specifically from the
Vipassana Buddhist movement, a meditative technique focused on becoming aware of the present moment, since this is the only way to be conscious of reality.
Vipassana is a Pali word (Indic or Prakrit language) which we translate as clear and penetrating vision. It is the direct and spontaneous understanding of the true nature of things. The main texts in which the Buddha describes meditation techniques are the Anapanasati Sutta and the Satipatthana Sutta.
Mindfulness was popularized in the West by
Jon Kabat-Zinn. This practice of Buddhist origin is more than 2,500 years old; however, it did not appear in the West until thirty years ago to treat those associated with stress and chronic pain. Despite its roots in Buddhism, mindfulness is taught without any oriental component or terminology.
Mindful meditation alters our brain and calms our heart. The key is to be aware of the breath, to try to feel it, to notice how the air moves in and out of our body.
In a society where interruptions in a task occur every 11 minutes or less, it is necessary to learn to concentrate on our thoughts and go deep within ourselves. The essence of mindfulness is to see our own thoughts from the outside.
We often live so immersed in our thoughts that we only see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear. Learning mindfulness helps you to take advantage of the immense capacity that we have and that we never talk about in school, consciousness. Reaching a state of mindfulness helps, not only to reduce stress or anxiety, but also to be more creative, to assess situations more clearly, to increase emotional resilience and enjoy more of what you are doing.
Like so many other human capacities, attention can also be trained. Because it is a muscle that strengthens when it is used and atrophies when it is not. The results, logically, are progressive and we can, little by little, reach levels of greater attention.
