More Rewarding Journeys

Delivering the first session of a three part workshop this weekend prompted me to review a question I've been exploring since undertaking the training necessary to become a teacher is mindfulness:  as a mindfulness teacher, where do I sit? 

Mindfulness based approaches differ in significant and substantial ways from an operational definition of therapy per se (if indeed there is any such thing).  The agenda at a mindfulness class resembles something quite unlike anything you might encounter in counselling or psychotherapy.  The approach is by its nature, far more tightly structured and this fact has at different times provoked semantic controversy as mindfulness courses appear to be more closely related to a skills training than a group therapy. 

It gets more complicated still as becoming more skillful at the direction in which we incline our attention, undoubtedly confers benefits to the practitioner who might, with time and dedication, find this enhanced awareness therapeutic.  

Having made a grand entrance into common parlance, any consensus as to a definition of mindfulness remains elusive.  The definition I share with those I teach is learning to pay attention, on purpose, in each moment, without judgement.  There is nothing esoteric or mysterious about this practice that has an impressive longevity dating back over 2,500 years it might however, at first glance, appear deceptively simple.   

As a teacher, I practice alongside those I teach.  I do not follow a script, instead opening myself to the present moment - embarking upon the same endeavour I invite others to undertake.  In my experience, the difference is subtle, but meaningful.  I seek to truly walk alongside those I sit with.  As such, whilst I had a lesson plan and came well prepared, our day was shaped for the most part by the spontaneous contributions from those in the room.  There are teaching points, but nothing compares to those things that participants share from their heart, reflecting their present moment experience.  My job is to hold this unusual space in which all of our experience is welcome: positive, negative or neutral. 

I have been trained in order to impart the skills I have myself found beneficial, but do not claim any expertise beyond this.  There is no right, or wrong way to practice mindfulness.  And that's where it gets tricky.  I hold the map, but do not claim to be the navigator.  It is for each individual to determine their path, and we might travel in one another's company for part of the way. 

Guiding some courageously open minded attendees through their first ever encounter with mindfulness was a humbling experience.  The atmosphere in the space we occupied was electric with nerves, anticipation, and expectation.  We were all, somewhere, looking to get something out of today.  I'm not sure any of us got what we were looking for, but I am certain we took more than ourselves home.