Mindfulness - Starting Out

“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally”. Jon Kabat-Zinn

This implies that what is experienced, be it for example, the breath, bodily sensation, emotion, thought or event, is acknowledged, without judgement, as it occurs in the field of one’s attention.

The practice of mindfulness at specific times and at intervals throughout the day has been proven to help with amongst others, stress, pain reduction, anxiety and depression. Conscious awareness has also enabled individuals to develop more positive habits and outlooks as they become gradually aware of detrimental, habitual patterns of thought and action.

These are all added benefits, as first and foremost, mindfulness helps you to be fully present in the moment as it is happening right now.

Mindfulness helps to bring about what Thich Nhat Hanh calls “the unity of the body and the mind”. Often the body is here, but the mind is completely somewhere else.

Being lost in thought, caught up in regrets, fears, anger, anxiety, plans or perceptions, prevents you from being fully there for yourself or others. Awareness of what is occurring as it occurs, helps you over a period of time to not identify with feelings, emotions or thoughts as they arise. You begin to realize that you are not the pain you are feeling right now. You are not your anger or your happy feeling. The perceptions you hold onto, often hold you as a victim, and awareness of them, without judgement, loosens their grip.

As the breath is a link between the body and the mind it is a good friend to have when you start your practice.

Whether you practice at a set time every day for a certain number of minutes (5, 10 or 15 mins a session is more than enough to begin with); whether you practice once or twice a day; whether you practice seated in a particular chair with your back straight and your feet on the ground; whether you practice lying down upon waking or before going to sleep or both; whether you stop at brief intervals throughout the day for a few seconds - in all of these instances become aware of each breath as it enters your body and then as it leaves. Don’t worry if the breath is shallow or deep. Simply observe it and then repeat the process. Concentration on the in-breath and the out-breath is your practice. When your mind wanders off, notice it and then return your focus to the breath.

After a while you will begin to notice the length of your in-breaths and your out-breaths and the space of time in-between them. Do so without judgment.

After you become more familiar with this practice, you can extend your awareness to bodily sensations as they are occurring in your body. “Oh, my right knee is paining”. “There is a tingling in my neck”.

As you continue your practice over time, you can then extend your awareness to your emotions and thoughts. “I am livid with so-and-so”. “I have to plan for tomorrow’s meeting”. Observe these but do not engage them. By that I mean, do not allow yourself to get caught up in the emotion or go down the lane the thought is wanting to lead you. Simply, observe, and then return to a conscious awareness of the in and out breath if necessary.

A mindfulness practice helps you to observe yourself looking out at the world and all that living entails. Gradually and as your practice overflows into all you do, you are set free to experience life as it is happening right now and in this moment.

If you are able to set aside just over an hour to watch an excellent video on mindfulness by Jon Kabat-Zinn it can be found here.

There is much being written about mindfulness at the moment. If you would like to follow a blog, Elisha Goldstein’s “Mindfulness - Your Present Moment” is a good place to start.

The #mindfulness Daily has various sections with daily articles on mindfulness.

“You are here” by Thich Nhat Hanh is an excellent little book to read.

For those of you with an academic interest in mindfulness, the website of UCLA is a good one.

Mindfulness, I believe, is one of the major keys to a healthier society. If you have already started on a practice of mindfulness and have a favorite book, blog, website, idea, etc that you would like to share, please do so in the comments section below. Shared resources are an encouragement to those starting out with a mindfulness practice.

Hard Rock Cafe

Knowing that I am a keen photographer of Dubai’s architecture, a fellow instagrammer, @femsta, recently asked me if I had a photo of the Hard Rock Cafe on Sheikh Zayed Road. I replied that I would set out to take one upon my return from Canada. 

This morning saw me heading that way only to discover a building with signs that said it was to be demolished. I went around taking photos of what remained.

 

Unaware of the history of this building I had to do a bit of research upon my return home. 

Dubai’s Hard Rock Cafe opened in 1997 in an area that was then the outskirts of Dubai. Its architectural theme of a mini Empire State Building in the desert, with a globe at the top that read “Save the Planet” and two great mock electric guitars outside the building, gave rise to many differing opinions. 

Chuck Berry performed at its opening, and despite its architecture and location Dubai’s Hard Rock Cafe grew in popularity.  The cafe’s rock ‘n roll style became highly popular and people “trekked” across the city to visit it. Michael Jackson had lunch there in 2005, confirming that his shoes on display there were indeed his.

2002 saw the property boom in Dubai, and soon the Hard Rock Cafe, once in the middle of nowhere, was surrounded by construction and major development. The hotel to which the cafe was attached was shut down in 2008 when the land it was on was sold to developers. As a result the cafe lost its alcohol licence. Thanks to the lobbying of the public the cafe managed to stay open for a while but eventually had to shut its doors in 2009 and await demolition.  

A new Hard Rock Cafe has since opened in Festival City in Dubai but redevelopment of the old site has been delayed by the collapse of the property boom. As a result the old Hard Rock Cafe is still standing in a state of decay as I found it this morning.

Looking at photos on the internet of what it had once been and then looking at the photos I had taken, was a strong reminder that nothing is permanent. Everything is in a state of flux. 

Night becomes day and day becomes night, spring will soon become summer, technologies will change and develop, my website is already a year old, my holiday to Canada is over, and I will soon be moving apartments. The knowledge that my jet lag will pass too is a comforting one! 

Clinging to an idea of permanence only causes suffering.  Mindfulness of the ever-changing now brings with it an openness to the new, a realization of the importance of compassion for all beings, and a willingness to be part of the creative process. 

In the seventies Eric Clapton used to hang out in the very first Hard Rock Cafe. When he asked the young proprietors to save him a regular table by putting up something like a plaque, they suggested they put up Clapton’s guitar. This was done and then a week later they were sent a guitar by Pete Townsend of The Who. The concept that made the Hard Rock Cafe famous had taken root. 

 

The two guitars outside the decaying building on Sheikh Zayed Road might be weeping, but I would like to think they do so gently because they know and accept that they too will one day no longer be. And that too will be okay.

“I look at the world and I notice it’s turning

While my guitar gently weeps”. 

Linda in Wonderland

The calendar year was 2012, one hundred and fifty years since Lewis Carroll first began writing “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”.  Sitting next to a stream, Alice was still pretty much aware of the fact that even though she sometimes thought she knew who she was, she was also conscious of having changed several times over the years, not to mention since that morning. Bored, she had peeped into her sister’s book, but it had no pictures or conversations. Alice found that weird.

All of a sudden, a white rabbit with iphone in hand, alarm going off rather loudly, attracted Alice’s attention. Following the sound of the alarm playing one of her favorite hits,  Alice ran after him. He passed a digital stream, and as he popped down a rabbit-hole Alice followed him further, only to find herself soon tumbling into what seemed to be a very deep well.

 

Whether the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, Alice did not know. What she did notice after a while were the symbols on the sides of the well depicting the various portals available to those entering this world of wonder. 

She did not know it yet, but by clicking on a link, the traveler in cyberspace can be transported from one place to another. By downloading an app, the user is offered tools and information unheard of before. 

As she fell, Alice remembered what she had learnt at school that week.  Her teacher, a forward thinking wonderful lady, had introduced her class to mindfulness. Sitting in a circle each morning the children focused on their breathing and the feelings they were experiencing. Alice decided that this was as good a time as ever to put this all into practice, and so, taking a deep breath, she allowed herself to be fully aware of herself, her feelings, her muddled emotions and her surroundings, which were rather strange to say the least.

She felt she must have reached the centre of the earth when she suddenly landed with a thump. She thought she spotted the white rabbit but he soon disappeared out of sight. 

Alice found herself in a room with a little table.  On it lay a tablet. To examine it she picked it up, swiped its screen and squealed with delight at what she found. There were stories with pictures that were interactive when she touched them.  There were conversations going on in real time! There were maps and dictionaries, newspapers and magazines. She could play games and even draw using her finger.

She noticed a camera and a special app and before long was taking pictures of herself which transformed her at once into someone tall, someone short, someone with a huge funny face and then someone all squashed up. She squealed with delight.

Swiping the screen yet again she found an app called Instagram. She realized that she had not landed in the centre of the earth, but was somehow in all places at once, as she watched photos from all over the world appear on her screen in real time. This was truly here2here! People commented on these photos and she noticed that many of the comments said Linda!!!

Linda? She thought her name was Alice! But then anything was possible when time was no longer linear and she felt herself so close to the other and the other felt as she.

To find out more about who she could possibly now be, she clicked on wikipedia to discover that the name Linda might be derived from the same root as the linden tree, with a German and ultimately Celtic root.  The image of the tree is often used to indicate a gentle personality. 

Alice was confused but read on. Linda could come from the “Celt Lindworm”, another variation of the mythical concept know as the ouroboros, the serpent biting its own tail. The ouroboros represents the perpetual cyclic renewal of life. More worlds of wonder were possibly awaiting her, whether she be Alice or Linda or whoever. 

Muchalinda was also the name of a snake-like being who protected the Buddha from the elements after his enlightenment.

The name Linda in Xhosa means “wait” and that perhaps made a little sense. Perhaps if she waited long enough it would all become clear to her.

This was getting curiouser and curiouser, until for now at least, it all suddenly made sense.

Linda was also used in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese to mean beautiful, pretty or cute.  People on Instagram were indicating that they liked a particular photo!!!

Alice looked up and saw the Mad Hatter laughing at her. She was not sure whether time had stopped or it had been transcended. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Cheshire Cat smiling.

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When starting this website, it was my intention to explore the concept of here2here through word and image and thereby promote a shared vision of diversity within unity. My blog and my presence on twitter are, and share, my explorations through word. To explore here2here through the use of image I have recently entered the world of Instagram.

I often feel like Alice, as a world of everyday happenings, memories and creativity appears on my screen in real time. In the gallery, “Some Instagram Pics”, you can see some of the images I have shared. If of course, you are on Instagram you can see more of these pics there. If not you can follow them here.

The image is a powerful tool and one that I believe can assist in an opening of the heart to compassion. 

 

We live in wonderful times. Wonder is there when we stop to see it. What is more, modern technology is making it possible to share these moments if we so choose.

I end with one such example. On New Year’s Eve, the Burj Khalifa, lit up with fireworks.  Standing on my balcony directly opposite the Burj Khalifa, overwhelmed at one stage by tears, I witnessed an event of beauty. You may not have been with me, but in a sense you are as I share with you a video of the event made possible through moving imagery and the world of youtube. Take a few minutes to step into this wonderland.

Time melting

In 1931, Salvado Dalí introduced the image of soft, melting pocket watches in one of his most famous works, “The Persistence of Memory”.

Suggesting that time was not as rigid and fixed as many people believed, the watches also suggested Einstein’s theory that time is relative. The image of the melting watch was portrayed by Dalí throughout his lifetime. 

In Dalí’s sculpture “Dance of Time II” seen above, Time appears to be fluid as it moves and dances in rhythm with the beat of the universe.  

Influenced by their perception of time, humans have always attempted to dance with Time in various ways and to different beats. And Time is a versatile dancer.

When there was no experience of self separate from the environment, magic Time danced in pointed shoes through point-like moments. Its flying leaps from moment to moment were magical, taking all and sundry along.

The repetitive dance steps accompanying the chorus of mythic, cyclical Time formed an ongoing round as Time danced in circles. Its seasonal music was comforting and offered hope. 

With the coming of the Age of Reason, time was seen to be linear, consisting of past, present and future. This necessitated the learning of new steps in the dance with mental Time, all in the name of progress. Time marched on, beating out its rhythm.

Postmodernism allowed all movement to be dance, and so Time improvised, focusing on the individual it was partnering with.

In dreams, Time leads in a tango-like dance. Time's embrace of the dreamer alternates between the open and the closed as scenes change rapidly from one to another and characters morph into each other.

Technology has made possible no time and all time in a huge web. In an age of information and an age of communion, individuals connect with each other regardless of time zones.

 “Sardana” by Picasso

Reminiscent of the Sardana, a dance which symbolises a spirit of brotherhood and harmony, the dance with Time is one of interconnectedness, acknowledging self and the other in a unique fashion. Perhaps on the threshold of entering another dimension, we more and more begin to be reminded of pure grace and fluidity of movement. Time is no longer Chronos. It is dancing as Kairos, known to those individuals who have experienced being in a state of flow.

In this state, an individual's subjective experience of time is certainly altered. Time seems to disappear as it were, hiding its face for as long as the experience lasts.

No noticing of thoughts, emotions or feelings. No concept even of self for as long as the experience lasts. Present and in the moment. No thing in which all things rise. An emptiness giving rise to all forms. Experiential oneness with it all.

Mindful, present and in the moment, and most definitely aided by technology in a significant way, together we are now able to begin to enter a dance of shared flow which allows, welcomes and integrates all the various dance steps. 

Jean Gebser, spoke of timelessness and  time-freedom.

Jeremy Johnson, @jdj_tweets, in his excellent piece “The Integral Philosopher: Jean Gebser and Time” writes, 

“Integral is not abstraction. It is not a new system of ideas that everyone can agree on. It is a direct experience of “Presence.” Not an eternal now, but a consciousness that supports all the multitudes of experience, all the different ways we can perceive time.”

In this dance of Presence, all movements rise and fall. At its heart is stillness.  

“Except for the point, the still point, there would be no dance, and there is only the dance." - TS Eliot

Do we see the rhythmless and rhythmful stillness?  Do we hear, smell, taste and feel the beat? Do we intuit the dance?

The Gathering

Visiting the Pavilion in Downtown Dubai yesterday, I noticed that there were workers completing the installation of a new sculpture on the sidewalk.

After the installation was completed I went outside to photograph the figures from various angles, before going inside to continue what I was working on. 

As sunset approached the pink fingers stretching across the sky to embrace the Burj Khalifa drew me outside again. The chatting figures of the sculpture seemed happy in their new setting. 

While photographing them a gentleman and lady approached. Seeing me photograph the figures, she told me that the gentleman was the artist. I was privileged to meet architect and sculptor Xavier Corbero. 

A man with incredible vision, Corbero has built a dream home whose spaces are linked by underground passageways.

“His original vision of the property has since expanded to include a retreat for artists, studio spaces, workshops, a foundry, dozens of surreal chambers for residents and guests, sprawling galleries, living rooms, a myriad of hobbit nooks all connected by serpentine stairways filling over 10,000 square meters.”

Salvador Dali was Corbero’s first patron and Corbero is now considered to be Spain’s most important living sculptor. 

"You must leave things open so the person enjoys or looks," says Corbero. "I feel that when people look at a piece of art they become artists, they see what they see not what there is. What there is helps them to see something else and they feel better because they see something they were not seeing before seeing that. That's what I like to do.”

Standing next to his work, he seemed to effortlessly blend in with the figures, even unintentionally perhaps, replicating the pose of the figure he was standing next to.

 

In her piece on Corbero’s work in Beirut, Micheline Hazou, @mich1mich writes,

“Perhaps it’s the way the figures are positioned, in relation to the space and to one another that is as important as their bulk and mass…”

Corbero has said, "What is good is the scale, if you get the scale right, space stops being space to become mind. And this happens in a sculpture and it happens in architecture."

The sculpture, called The Gathering, invites one into its circle. The chatting figures capture for me the mix that is Dubai, a city where  many different nationalities and cultures meet.

The figures lean into each other with attention. They are accommodating of each other’s space and seem to acknowledge the other, while at the same time forming a unit. The energy flowing between them as they connect is almost palpable.

There is the sense that more personalities are about to join the gathering and engage in conversation. This excites me as non-judgmental listening and peaceful dialogue is so crucial in the world right now.

I immediately think too of this here2here space where we are all gathering now. What does it matter where we are physically situated in time and space. We can gather, be present here together, converse and share. We might all be different but we are more similar than we can imagine.

Whether gathering on sidewalks of cities, or sensing our interconnectedness in a large web made possible by technology, together we bear witness to Presence.