This week, we had Dr. Marvin G. Belzer, an adjunct associate professor in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, teach us about mindfulness meditation.
Dr. Belzer started the workshop by explaining an overview of what mindfulness meditation is. Mindfulness meditation can be used to manage physical pain, anxiety, sorrow, and anger among many others. He explained that mindfulness is the capacity to be aware and conscious, and that we can refine and deepen it. Mindfulness meditation can involve focusing on something that is happening at the moment, such as sensations, breathing, or sounds. Focusing our attention on something relatively neutral works to cultivate calmness and stability.
Our first activity lasted about 6-7 minutes in which we practiced meditating through focusing and sustaining our attention. We first focused on our breath, then on ambient sounds, and finally on sensations in our body. If our intelligence kicks in and we are pulled away by our thoughts and worries, it is important to recognize it. After recognizing and giving ourselves permission to feel these emotions, we included what just happened. We then put in effort to bring ourselves back to what we were previously focusing our attention on.
Mindfulness meditation could also be helpful for someone experiencing pain. Even though meditation alone might not make the pain disappear, it could sometimes help to reduce the pain or better manage it. Meditating can help to undercut other feelings associated with the pain such as annoyance or anger. For this type of meditation, you first start by focusing somewhere else other than the pain. The pain you were feeling will then naturally pull your attention back to it. When this happens, simply notice it and feel the pain. After this, shift your attention back to where your focus was previously. The process is then repeated.
For managing emotions like sorrow, fear, or anger during meditation, simply give yourself permission to feel the emotions. When meditating, do not try to control what you are feeling or convince yourself to bury the emotions. It is important to give yourself pure permission and freedom to be real without hiding and questioning them.
The last activity we did was a kindness/appreciation meditation activity where we partnered up. We thought of a living being we appreciated such as a friend, family member, or pet. Then, we turned our attention to their goodness and thought about what we liked about them. We then asked our partners what we liked about the person or pet we had in our minds. After one person shared, our partners would say “thank you”. Doing this activity allowed us to feel love, positive emotions, and appreciation.
Even if it is just a few minutes of our day, we can bring more awareness into our daily lives through meditation. Taking 10 seconds at a time to feel what you are feeling at that moment in time is a great way to incorporate mindfulness.
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