Mindfulness

The mindfulness meditation

Mindfulness meditation is a spiritual practice in awareness, gratitude and charity, as well as the conscious perception of the divine in all creation and in all things including one's own body. Mindfulness meditation is an ascetic practice and aims at conscious awareness of the body, feelings, thoughts and perception of phenomena and focuses on the here and now and letting go of cravings and aversions. Arriving in the here and now and not clinging to memories or thoughts of the future are the characteristics of this exercise. By emptying the mind, the practitioner opens to the experience of transcendence. Mindfulness is also used as a method to reduce stress. However, one should consider whether the stress is mainly caused by the environment or by one's own way of dealing with it. In the latter case, it can be helpful; in the former case, it may be more advisable to work on the stress-causing situation. The practice of mindfulness is most effective when it is connected to a religious or ideological tradition, e.g. Celtic-Christian spirituality or Christian Zen. Here it serves as a preparation for silent prayer, but also as an independent practice. Whether the ascetic practice of mindfulness suits one's own way of life is something everyone should decide for themselves. The path of meditation is a spiritual offer, but by no means a duty in the Celtic tradition, as are most of the offers of the church. What is practised in mindfulness meditation is then transferred into everyday life. Making everyday life more conscious and mindful is a goal of the exercise and in turn improves the meditation itself.

Mindfulness of the Breath - The Three Cauldrons Meditation

Mindfulness of the breath is a basic form of meditation. Here one focuses one's awareness on the phases of breathing, i.e. inhaling, exhaling and the phases between inhaling and exhaling and inhaling. The breath is only observed without influencing it. The thoughts that arise are noticed, but no attention is paid to them and they are let go as a cloud flies by in the sky. Our thoughts are a natural process of our thinking apparatus. When one notices that thoughts have taken on a life of their own, one takes note and returns to the breath. Thoughts, feelings, memories and plans are labelled "thinking" or a more specific term and one returns again and again. The thoughts are not rejected, but simply noticed, labelled and allowed to move on. Similarly to silent prayer, obstacles can arise that keep one from a state of pure meditation or prayer. Buddhism speaks of the five obstacles (doubt, restlessness, inertia, reluctance, desire), and the Christian Desert Fathers described eight vices. One has to work through these obstacles or vices to reach pure stillness of thought. The eight vices are assigned in three groups to the soul (inertia, anger, sadness), the body (covetousness, fornication, gluttony) and the mind (glory-seeking, pride).

In the ancient Celtic poem "The Cauldron of Poetry" three cauldrons are described, the Cauldron of Wisdom, the Cauldron of Vocation and the Cauldron of Warmth. In modern Celtic spirituality, these cauldrons have been located in the body, forming an equivalent to the chakras of Eastern spirituality. The Cauldron of Wisdom is located in the head area, the Cauldron of Vocation in the heart area and the Cauldron of Warmth in the abdomen and lower body. In the Three Cauldrons Meditation, we consciously direct our attention to the breath in precisely these three areas. The three cauldrons are, so to speak, the positive antithesis of the three groups of eight vices. Another parallel can be found in the Enneagram, where the eight personality types are assigned to the three centres: belly (1, 8, 9), heart (2, 3, 4) and head (5, 6, 7).

The breath meditation is introduced by a short body scan, which we call inner pilgrimage in the Celtic tradition.

Instructions for breath and body meditation

Sit on a comfortable surface, e.g. a meditation cushion or chair. Straighten your spine, head towards the sky and buttocks towards the ground. If you are sitting on a meditation cushion or stool, your knees should touch the floor. Stick your chest out a little and form a slight hollow back and take up a stable and comfortable position. Place your hands in each other's lap and let the thumbs touch. The hand position is also called cosmic mudra.

Take three strong breaths, one with the earth beneath you, one with the sky above you and one with the sea and waters or nature around you.

Now begin the inner pilgrimage. Direct your awareness to the crown of your head and the top of your skull and notice how this feels. Does it feel good or do you perceive pain. Give the feeling a space and then move on to the forehead and feel into it. In this way you go through the whole body from top to bottom. You feel the eyes, cheeks, nose, jaw, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, chest, solar plexus, abdomen, lower abdomen, genitals, back, pelvis, thighs, knees, ankle and feet. Your body relaxes naturally without your interference.

Then direct your attention to the air flowing in and out of the nostrils. Stay with your attention for about 3 minutes. If thoughts come, notice them and return to the breath as described above. Then direct your attention to the rising and falling of the chest as you inhale and exhale and stay there for about 3 minutes. Then shift your awareness to the abdomen and feel how the abdomen rises and falls with the flow of the breath. Then go back to the chest and refer there for another 3 minutes, and finally to the nostril again for 3 minutes.

Bring your attention back to the space around you and bring your mindfulness back to everyday awareness. Stretch and relax. You may wish to have a cup of tea or a snack afterwards to ground yourself.

The walking meditation

For longer meditation stays, but also as a stand-alone practice, mindful walking is a good way to practise between sitting meditations. Walking meditation can be practised in a meditation room, in a church or in nature. In walking meditation we direct mindfulness to each phase of walking, i.e. lifting the foot, moving it forward and then putting the foot down and so on. You can also combine lifting the foot with inhaling and setting it down with exhaling. The walking process is slowed down considerably. You can plan between 15 and 60 minutes for mindful walking.

Mindfulness meditation in the group

Group meditation should be led by an experienced practitioner. Formal training is not required; one's own experience with meditation is crucial. The breathing meditation is introduced and ended by three beats of a singing bowl. The change between the phases is marked with one beat. For a group of experienced practitioners, the beats of the singing bowl are sufficient; for a more inexperienced group, the meditation is actively guided.

A practical guide to the Three Cauldrons Meditation and the inner pilgrimage can be found towards the end of The Mystic Hours, episodes 2 and 3, on the Ancient Celtic Church YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxd5IdzoWoOR80Rn3pyAknw).

The five obstacles

In Eastern spirituality, the following five obstacles to meditation are mentioned:

1. sensual lust, sensual desire.

2. ill-will, rejection (also: hatred)

3. dullness and languor (also: rigidity, inertia)

4. restlessness and agitation

5. Sceptical doubt

The eight vices

The desert fathers knew how to deal with the following eight vices that keep a praying person from pure prayer:

1. gastrimargía (lust for the palate)

2. porneía (fornication)

3. philarguría (greed for money)

4. lúpe (sadness)

5. orgé (anger)

6. akedía (sloth)

7. kenodoxía (glory-seeking)

8. huperephanía (pride)