Meditation

Mindfulness

            The practice of mindfulness could look at the possible causes of separation, stress, illness and seek for mind/body reintegration, or somatic/cognitive/emotional healing, which can be very beneficial for trauma survivors, rather than relying totally on symptoms’ relief drugs. Thich Nhat Hanh wrote “Mindfulness is the miracle by which we master and restore ourselves…Consider, for example: a magician who cuts his body into many parts and places each part in a different region—the hands in the south, arms in the east, legs in the north—then by some miraculous power lets forth a cry which reassembles whole every part of his body. Mindfulness…can call back in a flash our dispersed mind and restore it to wholeness so that we can live each minute of life (Nhat Hanh, 1987, pp. 12-13).” The Sutra of Mindfulness says: “When walking, the practitioner must be conscious that he is walking. When sitting, the practitioner must be conscious that he is sitting. When lying down…that he is lying down…The mindfulness of the positions of one’s body is not enough, however…We must be conscious of each breath, each movement, every thought and feeling, everything which has any relation to ourselves (Nhat Hanh, 1987, pp. 12-13).” “Mindfulness itself is the life of awareness: the presence of mindfulness means the presence of life, and therefore mindfulness is also the fruit (Nhat Hanh 1987, pp. 21-22). This more eastern vision advocates awareness of and control over the mind during the simplest everyday actions--practicing mindfulness is creating unity within every moment in life.

Body & Mind

            There are a variety of ways to feel body/mind healing and integration. Jung writes: “…It is the here and now, for to be really in the here and now, one must be in the body…anything experienced outside the body has the quality of being without body; so you must experience the whole thing over again.  It must come in a new way…Whatever you experience outside of the body, in a dream for instance, is not experienced unless you take it into the body.  If you have a dream and let it pass by you, nothing has happened at all, even if it is the most amazing dream; but if you look at it with the purpose of trying to understand it, and succeeds in understanding it, then you have taken it into the here and now, the body being a visible expression of the here and now…if you had not taken your body into this room, nobody would know you were here; though even if you seem to be in the body, it is by no means sure that you are, because your mind might be wandering without your realizing it.  Then whatever is going on here would not be realized; it would be like a vague dream that floats in and out, and nothing has happened (Harris, 2001, pp. 62-63).