To warn you about the dangers of practising mindfulness

[theymademejoin]

I brought the dogs for a walk in the woods yesterday. Decided to take the nice, smooth gravel path rather than one of the mud tracks, as it had been raining the previous day.

I had been reading about how you can practise mindfulness anywhere. Just be in the moment. Absorb with your senses. So, as the path was nice and smooth, with no roots or holes to trip me up, I decided to give it a go.

I wandered along, really seeing the dappled sunlight filtering through the treetops, really hearing the swoosh of the gentle breeze as it rustled through the leaves, really smelling the earthy fragrance of the loamy, damp, undergrowth when.........

Splash! I had wandered from the centre of the path into an ankle-deep, crater filled with mucky water at the side of the path. And best of all, I was about 30 minutes away from the car at this stage.

I was bloody mindful on the walk back. Mindful of the squelchy, squishy, horribleness that was my shoe. I think I'll stick to my normal heedless tramp through the woods in future. Or maybe wear wellies.

Any other tales of mindfulness gone wrong?

Slime - that is actually what I was doing. Just enjoying the lovely woods. But I can call that mindfulness if I want .

@slimthistime yes. If you're walking in a flipping puddle that ain't mindfulness

It is actually really helpful for training the mind. For people who suffer with anxiety and low mood for eg, overthinking, worrying, it works well.
It's also used for grounding, and also for improving attention, deep listening etc. I find it difficult to explain, but it's more about experiencing the sensation of something, whether seeing the light, trees etc, or feeling a breeze on the skin, or the ground beneath your feet. There is formal and informal meditation, formal being sitting practice like for eg headspace, with mainly a breathing focus, and informal being any activity on the go, from dancing to singing to eating, including mindful walking etc.

But Nevill, I was very mindful of the puddle. Why is the puddle less deserving of mindfulness than the dappled light?

@theymademejoin I'm vegetarian and eating a bacon sandwich.
It clearly isn't vegetarian, but I want to say it is so I'm being lighthearted

You were probably most mindful in the puddle and with the wet foot. It actually what they call mindlessness, to be in a daydream and wander off the oath, it means you were too much in your head, unless I guess you were just looking straight upwards I suppose.
I used to hate mindfulness, because I thought it was looking at flowers or zoning out , now I know it's neither of those I like it. The books are rubbish though because you have to do it not read about it!

My ds found that the concentrating on breathing brought on an asthma attack.

@NevilleBennett - if you look up the term mindfulness in a dictionary, one of the definitions is: "the state or quality of being mindful or aware of something." By that definition, I was practising mindfulness.

The definition for vegetarian is: "A person who does not eat meat or fish, and sometimes other animal products, especially for moral, religious, or health reasons." By that definition, you are not a vegetarian.

@Aintgotnosoapbox - the trees are really, really tall (it's a beautiful, old, wood with lots of mature, native trees), so yes, I was looking up and off to the side.

@Lilyhatesjaz - that's not good!

It is so refreshing to read people having a dig at the mindfulness fad that has swept across the country over the last decade. sadiemm2 - my thoughts exactly (pick and mix religion). elektrawoman - that is so true. My Head of Department forced mindfulness on us and he was the least mindful person imaginable. Here's to just enjoying a nice walk with the dog. Unfortunately, mindfulness is being replaced with resilience. That's forcing yourself to enjoy the walk back with soggy socks I guess.

Ah well you were looking at the trees mindfully, but sadly not walking mindfully ..

@Genevieva - I said I was mindful of the wet sock and shoe (don't forget the shoe). I most definitely didn't enjoy them. Ah well, at least neither of the dogs rolled in fox poo.

Oh, and I'm not having a pop at people that practise and benefit from mindfulness. I know lots of people find it great. However, there is a load of crap talked about it too, particularly by those who are using it as a vehicle to simply make lots of money from vulnerable people or by those who see it as the cure to everything and push it heavily even when it's obviously not welcome.

Yes it would be really annoying to be forced to look at a raisin for five mins or focus on the breath without explaining what that means etc. think things have improved a lot, but you need an experienced teacher who actually understands it.

Shhhhhh.

I was offered an expensive and long winded course to learn to use it in the classroom. I turned it down, as it's the next big thing in education, like Brain Gym and learning styles. A big bag of wank, in my opinion... And I'm. A pagan... I have my own bag of wank to keep.me occupied

Oh, the bringing it into workplaces is utterly disgusting. Companies paying sums of money to some con artist to peddle a lot of woo-bollocks to the staff to 'improve wellbeing' ie cut down on the amount of sick pay the company has to give to staff signed off with stress. A far more effective use of the fee they give the scammer would be to pay the staff more.

Listening to my meditation music is how I define mindfulness, personally. I usually fall asleep, I was told you're not really supposed to. Pah to that!

Mindfulness is bullshit and if you'll note no one on here can agree on what it actually is

OP go and do a tai chi class instead

I've got a foot injury that no drugs are taking the edge off.

Someone suggested I practice mindfulness.

I had to practice it immediately to be able to avoid calling them a fucking twat.

Yeah, it sounds like your were daydreaming OP. I know it's easily done. I think it's a great thing that has to be practiced for sure, but once the mind is clear of the constant chatter yet senses fully aware it's wonderful. Sometimes when I'm practicing my cat is wandering about the living room, if I'm daydreaming and he comes up to sniff or touch me it makes me jump but if I'm fully aware I can hear his footsteps before he gets to me.

Ps, there's not need to spend any £££ on this, that's the beauty of it.

I'm up in the night worrying about a sodding awful 'pain management workshop' later today.

I suspect there will be loads of mindfulness crap amongst the other minimizing and patient-blaming crap masquerading as the miracle cure.

I'm going to read this thread and try and be 'mindful' in the appointment in the same manner as you OP :) I will tune into the light and shadows, and the colours of the lino, and tune out the deeply flawed content.

(Yes I know I should be open to all 'help', and try and get something out of it, but this ain't my first rodeo and given the harm other events like this have done, my aim is to try and get through it without crying).

Mindfulness bollocks in 5hrs and counting. Grrr.

It's all bollocks and I have to stop myself screaming when colleagues talk about being mindful of other people's feelings and then carry on being a complete twat who shows no respect for others.