What are the core mindfulness skills?
Wise mind:
States of mind
“What” Skills
(what you do when practicing mindfulness):
observing, Describing, participating
“How” Skills
(how you practice when practicing mindfulness):
nonjudgmentally, one-mindfully, effectively
Ideas for wise mind
- Stone flake on the lake
- Walking down the spiral stairs
- Breathing “Wise” in, “mind” out
- Asking Wise Mind a question
- Asking is this Wise Mind?
- Attending to your breath coming in and out, let your attention settle into your center.
- Expanding awareness
- Dropping into the pauses between inhaling and exhaling
Stone flake on the lake
Imagine that you are by a clear blue lake on a beautiful sunny day. Then imagine that you are a small flake of stone, flat and light. Imagine that you have been tossed out onto the lake and are now gently, slowly, floating through the calm, clear blue water to the lake’s smooth, sandy bottom.
- • Notice what you see, what you feel as you float down, perhaps in slow circles, floating toward the bottom. As you reach the bottom of the lake, settle your attention there within yourself.
- • Notice the serenity of the lake; become aware of the calmness and quiet deep within.
- • As you reach the center of your self, settle your attention there.
Walking down the spiral stairs
Imagine that within you is a spiral staircase, winding down to your very center. Starting at the top walk very slowly down the staircase, going deeper and deeper within yourself.
•• Notice the sensations. Rest by sitting on a step, or turn on lights on the way down if you wish. Do not force yourself further than you want to go. Notice the quiet. As you reach the center of your self, settle your attention there— perhaps in your gut or your abdomen
Breathing “Wise” in, “mind” out
Breathing in, say to yourself, “Wise”; breathing out, say “Mind.”
- • Focus your entire attention on the word “wise,” then, focus it again entirely on the word “mind.”
- • Continue until you sense that you have settled into Wise Mind.
asking Wise mind a question
Breathing in, silently ask Wise Mind a question.
- • Breathing out, listen for the answer.
- • Listen, but do not give yourself the answer. Do not tell yourself the answer; listen for it.
- • Continue asking on each in- breath for some time. If no answer comes, try again another time.
Attending to your breath coming in and out, let your attention settle into your center
- • Breathing in completely, notice and follow the sensations of your breath coming in.
- • Let your attention settle into your center, at the bottom of your breath, at your solar plexus—or
- • Let your attention settle in the center of your forehead, your “third eye,” at the top of your breath.
- • Keeping your attention at your center, exhale, breathing normally, maintaining attention.
- • Settle into Wise Mind.
Expanding awareness.
Breathing in, focus your awareness on your center.
- • Breathing out, stay aware of your center, but expand awareness to the space you are in now.
- • Continue on in the moment.
Dropping into the pauses between inhaling and exhaling.
- Breathing in, notice the pause after inhaling (top of breath).
- • Breathing out, notice the pause after exhaling (bottom of breath).
- • At each pause, let yourself “fall into” the center space within the pause.
What are the “What” Skills?
1.) Observe, 2.) Describe, 3.) Participate
Observe
notice your body sensations (coming through your eyes, ears, nose, skin, and tongue).
pay attention on purpose, to the present moment.
control your attention, but not what you see. Push away nothing. Cling to nothing.
practice wordless watching: Watch thoughts come into your mind and let them slip right by like clouds in the sky. Notice each feeling, rising and falling, like waves in the ocean.
observe both inside and outside yourself
Describe
put words on the experience. When a feeling or thought arises, or you do something, acknowledge it. For example, say in your mind, “Sadness has just enveloped me,” or “Stomach muscles tightening,“ or “A thought ‘I can’t do this’ has come into my mind.”
label what you observe. Put a name on your feelings. Label a thought as just a thought, a feeling as just a feeling, an action as just an action.
unglue your interpretations and opinions from the facts. Describe the “who, what, when, and where” that you observe. Just the facts.
Remember, if you can’t observe it through your senses, you can’t describe it.
Participate
Throw yourself completely into activities of the current moment. Do not separate yourself from what is going on in the moment (dancing, cleaning, talking to a friend, feeling happy or feeling sad).
Become one with whatever you are doing, completely forgetting yourself. Throw your attention to the moment.
act intuitively from Wise mind. Do just what is needed in each situation—a skillful dancer on the dance floor, one with the music and your partner, neither willful nor sitting on your hands.
Go with the flow. Respond with spontaneity.
What are the “How” Skills?
1) Nonjudgmentally; 2) One-mindfully; 3) Effectively
Nonjudgmentally
See, but don’t evaluate as good or bad. Just the facts.
accept each moment like a blanket spread out on the lawn, accepting both the rain and the sun and each leaf that falls upon it.
acknowledge the difference between the helpful and the harmful, the safe and the dangerous, but don’t judge them.
acknowledge your values, your wishes, your emotional reactions, but don’t judge them.
When you find yourself judging, don’t judge your judging.
One-mindfully
rivet yourself to now. Be completely present to this one moment.
Do one thing at a time. Notice the desire to be half- present, to be somewhere else, to go somewhere else in your mind, to do something else, to multitask—and then come back to one thing at a time. •• When you are eating, eat. •• When you are walking, walk. •• When you are worrying, worry. •• When you are planning, plan. •• When you are remembering, remember.
let go of distractions. If other actions, or other thoughts, or strong feelings distract you, go back to what you are doing—again, and again, and again.
concentrate your mind. If you find you are doing two things at once, stop—go back to one thing at a time (the opposite of multitasking!).
Effectively
Be mindful of your goals in the situation, and do what is necessary to achieve them.
focus on what works. (Don’t let emotion mind get in the way of being effective.)
play by the rules.
act as skillfully as you can. Do what is needed for the situation you are in—not the situation you wish you were in; not the one that is fair; not the one that is more comfortable.
let go of willfulness and sitting on your hands.
