An Cosantóir

| 13 www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE What is mindfulness? Meditation is the 'formal practice' in my daily mindfulness practice. So, If I meditate for 20 minutes ever y day, I then have the rest of the day to practice living mindfully; this is my 'informal practice'. Meditations are like g ym work. If I wanted to build muscles in my body, I would go to a g ym and lif t weights, star ting small and working up through the weights (repetitions train muscle). But how do I train the brain to be more aware, to pay attention, and to concentrate on what I am doing in the present moment? This is done through my meditations. If the word 'meditation' brings up an image of a monk in a cave dressed in a purple robe, having lived there for 5 years, don't use the word "meditation". Instead, call it "brain training ". From an early age we are so pro-active in looking af ter our bodies, diet and nutrition through all t ypes of physical training, yoga etc., but when do we learn about our thoughts, about what is going on in our heads? Through meditation, we look inwards, we gain insights into how we 'operate'. This gives us clarit y, awareness and space, so we can respond better to what happens to us in life. My daily mindfulness practice – a formal practice of a sitting meditation, where I sit on a chair for 20 minutes (or sometimes just 1 minute) a day with my eyes closed, becoming aware of each inbreath and each outbreath, feeling the air come in through the nose or the mouth and back out again. This sounds like a simple practice, but to be honest, it can be ver y hard to keep doing. You see, the mind just wants to wander of f to the future and the past, through no fault of its own, that 's how minds work. But in our meditation practice, when I notice that my mind has wondered of f the breath, I simply bring it back with a sense of kindness and curiosit y to the next inbreath. That sense of kindness is extremely impor tant. If we are harsh and give out to ourselves ever y time our mind wanders, then that becomes our practice, we get better at being harsh on ourselves. If I practice being kind to myself through the process, then I get better at being kind to myself. Being curious is also impor tant; when I'm being curious about my present moment experiences, I'm star ting to learn more about myself. Considering that the most impor tant relationship you will ever have in your life is with yourself, isn't it wor th investing the time to learn about how you operate? We brush our teeth ever y day, we wash and shower our bodies. We don't wake up thinking about where we will f ind the time to do these things, we just know that it 's impor tant to clean ourselves. But how do we look af ter our mental hygiene? What time do we put aside to look af ter our mental health? One really good way is to meditate. To let the brain/mind settle into calmness and stillness. We operate far too much out of our 'driven' and 'threat ' systems; it 's impor tant to spend more time in the 'soothing system'. If we are constantly living in our heads and we can so easily get caught up in the worr ying, ruminating, analysing, judging, brooding etc, we can activate the stress (f ight or f light) response (sympathetic ner vous system). When we take more responsibilit y for our own health, we realise that if we abuse our bodies with junk food, alcohol, drugs etc, the body will break down. The same goes for our mental health. When we practice mindfulness, we become more aware of what we let into our heads, we can reduce the negative stuf f, and increase the positive stuf f. A bit like a bouncer at a nightclub, "you're not coming in tonight ", while at the same time, letting in the good. Your awareness is your securit y guard. When we spend more time in the present, aware of what is going on internally (thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations) and what is going on externally (where we are in the moment and what is going on) we can, with the right attitudes of kindness, curiosit y, and non-judging, spend more time in the relaxation (relax and digest) response (parasympathetic ner vous system). Is it easy? No, it takes practice. That 's why we call it a mindfulness practice. Whatever you practice gets stronger - for the positive or the negative. So, when we spend more time being present, we spend less time in our heads. And it 's when we spend all that time in our heads, that we can so easily go to the future, worr ying (what if this happens?), or to the past ruminating (if only I did this). When we are in the present, using all our senses to be present and aware of what is going on, we reduce so much stress, worr ying, rumination, anxiet y etc. This has many benef its for an individual, but also for an organisation (social mindfulness – it 's not just about 'me', it 's about the 'we'). We become more aware of our actions, we begin to see what is nourishing us and what is depleting us. Some people will think that mindfulness will make you sof t. The realit y is, with practice you will develop more compassion, for yourself and for others. There are two sides to compassion, the yin, and the yang. The yin is the sof ter side, and the yang is the tougher side. This (yang) is where we learn to say 'no' to inappropriate behaviour, we have the courage to be strong and stand up for ourselves. As Jon Kabat-zin says, 'we should meditate like our lives depend on it, because the qualit y of our lives does depend on it '. On sniper duties in CHAD Fergus after leaving the Defence Forces

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