In an often frenetic postmodern society – in work, in travel, in various daily commitments – we risk losing our bearings. We risk forgetting ideals and healthy principles, drowning negativity and stress in apathy, or in food, or worse still in alcohol and other deleterious substances that only alter the psycho-physical balance. Sometimes it can happen that the mind can escape like a kite that hovers without following a precise direction. This mental confusion that arises from too fast existential rhythms, or from negative situations / circumstances, alters the perception of oneself, of reality, of what happens in the surrounding world.
When agitation, restlessness occurs, one does not have the opportunity to live in the present time, to fully savor the here and now
Events slide on us without full, total participation in them. The best way to retrace our steps without being overwhelmed by confusion is to stop, take some time for yourself, to calm your mind and meditate …
As the ancient Eastern philosophies teach, meditation is par excellence the practice that helps you feel good, because it relaxes the body, reduces stress and makes the mind calm. But there is more. Those who go beyond tangible things know that the practice of meditation allows one to discover one’s true self, and to access spiritual states that would otherwise not be experienced. Mindfulness is based on meditation, that is, as Dr. Selene Calloni Williams explained to us “it is a journey of awareness that improves the conditions of inner well-being by transmuting emotions of sadness, anger, fear”. Psychologist, teacher of Nada yoga and shamanic yoga, Selene Calloni Williams studied meditation at the Theravada hermitages of Sri Lanka, as well as Burma and for over 30 years she has been practicing and spreading Mindfulness, a concept whose literal meaning is “mental fullness”.
In the West and also in Italy, seminars are starting to spread in various fields that are more or less directly connected to Mindfulness. We find psychology courses that explain how to deal with illnesses through this path, or Buddhism meetings with highly trained lay teachers who deal with the vast and complex subject of training the mind. However, we also find those who speculate on the practice of Mindfulness by making non-experts believe that it is an exclusive method they invented. Absurd, it cannot be so, precisely because Mindfulness has its roots in the East, as Selene Calloni Williams explains, who, just twenty years old, spent six years among the Buddhist hermitages of the forests and the prestigious Oriental Yoga Academy of Colombo, in island of Sri Lanka.
To the sources of Mindfulness
«Mindfulness is based on the tradition of Theravada Buddhism, a current which is particularly widespread in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Laos. In Theravada Buddhism, extraordinary meditation techniques are known such as meditation on the breath (called “anapanasati”), contemplation of the body, attention to the sensations of the body, visualization of the body from within, contemplation of emotions, contemplation of the body. mind, walking meditation, contemplation of the skeleton (symbol of impermanence and non-attachment). Alongside the practice of meditation proper, in Theravada Buddhism the “Satipatthana”, the path of full attention and awareness, is of great importance.The “Satipatthana” consists in always being present to what happens in the moment in which it happens. To this end, simple repetitive affirmations can be used as mantras to keep the mind focused on the present moment by preventing it from getting caught up in agitation and anxiety. For example, if I am driving the car I will repeat to myself “I know I’m driving, I know I’m driving…”. If I am eating I will repeat “I know that I am eating …” and so on, depending on the situation in which we find ourselves ».
In oriental philosophies and disciplines, therefore, we speak more properly of meditation and not so much of Mindfulness, which is a much more widespread word in the West, especially linked to the field of psychology. In fact, explains Dr.is designated in the West like Mindfulness. Meditation combined with neuroscience and applied psychology thus proves to be a tool for the development and realization of human potential ».
Mindfulness Effects Explained by Psychologist Selene Calloni Williams
Mindfulness is “a homecoming”, it is a look inside. In addition to Conscious Attention, Disidentification and Transvaluation, meditation facilitates the “unveiling of the mission of the soul”. It is one of the most important processes that intervenes in consolidating remission from depressive states. It allows you to depersonalize events and understand your belonging to a “cosmic drama” which is pure creative power.
