Mindfulness

Mindfulness resources

Mindfulness resources for download supporting understanding of how to practice.

Mindfulness is often described as a capacity to focus attention on the present without distraction and be observationally aware without judgement, and that by doing so we become calmer, less stressed and not so overwhelmed by what is happening within and around us. This is part of a broader explanation of mindfulness, a more expansive understanding of mindfulness is helpful. So, what is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is our innate potential to be attentive and aware of what it is to be human and alive, to know of our humanness and lived experience coupled with the cultivation of ethical response and engagement with life and living that is beneficial to our own personal health and Refuge, to the health and peace of others, to the health of the world and life itself.

A natural quality and potential of the human mind, the mindful mind is willing to meet and come to know ourselves more fully and with greater friendship and care. By applying a training technique our mindfulness grows supporting increasingly a calmer more ethically intelligent capacity to engage with life and living. Through practice we become increasingly aware of what we are experiencing, a fullness of mind develops, and we become increasingly familiar with how to respond in ways that support a deepening of calm, kindness and care, friendliness and compassion, a peaceful, healthy response to our own and others’ experiences, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

As we develop our mindfulness simultaneously, we are supporting the cultivation of Refuge. Refuge is a felt sense of security and safety, sheltered and held, a deepening sense of okayness with life and living and being human in the world. Refuge develops and expands alongside the development of our mindfulness in our own individual personal lives, within the lives of our families and friendship groups, within community, society and culture.

Mindfulness is not a technique but a state of mind and way of living that develops through the application of a training technique. In short, mindfulness is becoming familiar with our humanness, ethical and aware, purposefully attentive and kind. Mindfulness can be applied to all aspects of life.

Through mindfulness training we learn how to apply calming techniques to the everyday, deepening our capacity for calm generally. Mindfulness is an overarching whole of health practice, suitable for individuals, families, workplaces, and communities. Mindfulness practice establishes and sustains meaningful calm, a kind, caring, and friendly interest in the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual challenges of modern daily life and living. Practice supports the growth and development of helpful, healthy, response, and engagement.