MĪND-FŪL-NĚS

MĪND-FŪL-NĚS

A big part of my decision to travel to Spain to learn the practice of Mindfulness, was to become familiar and comfortable with the Spanish vocabulary around the practice - to practice with the words that actually make sense - that aren’t cute or even ridiculous, but speak to the essence of this practice, in Spanish, so I can bring it to the HIspanic community in Milwaukee and beyond.

The first obstacle, was to translate the word itself.  Mindfulness.  When I asked my friend Emilia, who lives in Madrid, she smiled and said “ Mind-fool-ness“ , with the cutest little smile and head bob on the “mind” part.  LIke so many terms, the American or English word has been imported into the language completely.  Well, mind-fool-ness seemed like a complete cop-out to me, so of course, I looked deeper.  Most translations use the word plena which means full, so Plena Conciencia is Full Consciousness.  and Atención Plena is Full Attention.  Both good ways to describe Mindfulness with circumlocution: using a description to describe a term that can’t be translated directly.

The other issue that will be a big change for me will be the verb forms.  When teaching Yoga in Spanish, I have always used commands - usually the formal, plural ones - to instruct a class.  "Bend your right knee over the little toe side of the foot.  Pull your shoulder blades down away from your ears.  Relax the jaw."  But mindfulness isn’t about telling students what to do.  Mindfulness is an invitation to notice what is happening, in present moment awareness.  The instructions are an invitation to move and then notice what you feel. To notice where the mind goes, what emotions move through the body, what stories develop in the mind.  And then come back to the present moment in the two anchors of the Body and the Breath.  

So instead of telling the class what to do, my job is more that of a facilitator.  The verbs are either in the familiar 2nd person present form - notice what you feel (personally) or perhaps the 1st person plural (we- or nosotros form) which can be more like “Bending our right knee, notice what you feel”.  This kind of instruction places the responsibility on the student to notice if they need to make an adjustment, or pay attention to the tightness in the jaw.  However, this doesn’t mean that students are simply encouraged to stay in their habits, like shoulders up by the ears.  Kathy Ward, the creator of Mindful Yoga, explains the benefits of invitational language as a way of encouraging students to Wake Up! to their practice instead of mindlessly doing what their teacher tells them to do as they day dream, or plan, or remember.  I find the languaging equally challenging in English - after a decade of teaching didactically. Kathy further explains. “Mindfulness isn’t about fixing.  And it certainly isn’t about doing.  If you lead a Vinyasa Flow class, mindfully, everyone will be moving at a pace that makes sense for their individual intentions.  You still encourage safe practice, and letting go of old habits in Body or MInd, and then you step out of the way and let them explore.”

The follow-up questions are invitational too, and based on the Eight Attitudinals:  1.  No Juzgar - Non Judgment  2.  Aceptación - Acceptance  3.  Mente de Principiante - Beginners MInd  4.  No esforzarse - Non-striving  5.  Ceder - Letting Go  6.  Paciencia - Patience  7.  Confianza - Trust  8.  Auto-Compasión - Self Compassion.  Each of these words, translated, comes with a barrage of cultural contexts, that may or may not make sense to the participants.  “You’ll need to do a lot of explaining, especially with words like Compasión - the cultural understanding of the word is more about pity than heartfelt taking care of yourself,” explains Bodhin.  He explains how he’s constantly learning from Adelina (his wife), a native of Valencia.  Later that afternoon, she leads me through a body scan in Spanish, and I’m completely pulled in by her poetic languaging.  I really want to surround the discomfort in my solar plexus with paciencia, sin juzgar, y con curiosidad.  As the body scan ends, I fervently  scribble vocabulary in my notebook.  Bodhin laughs and says with great compassion, don’t worry so much about the words.  You’re obviously not a native speaker.  They’ll be patient and non-judgmental with you too, if they’re truly open to practicing MIndfulness.  The fact that you’re here, willing to try to communicate this work is enough for now.  Fluency will come on its own.”  So is he reminding me to treat MYSELF compassionately also?  To release any striving and trust the process?  But I”m the teacher!  ………….. oh yeah.  I’m the Mindfulness Teacher.  The best teaching I can do is to extend the philosophy to myself.  Now there’s a challenge!  

RAIN, MINDFULNESS, and LESSONS ON ACCEPTANCE by Tina L Romenesko

I’m writing this blogpost during a torrential rain - thunder, lightning - the works!  A week of rain has descended upon  La Vall de Laguar, after suffering the worst drought in 150 years this summer.  Instead of taking one last hike through the almond groves, I guess I’ll sit down and write about a few things I”ve learned here at this training.  

Hand crafted ceiling in the meditation room at Solterreno.

Mindfulness is based on some very concrete foundations that serve as a groundwork for the very important and challenging journey of Awareness.  Here you go:

The first foundation is the Triangle of Awareness:  Body.  Thought.  Emotions.  These three elements comprise our reality.  Most people are run around by Thoughts and Emotions until their Body breaks down and they need to make some big life changes.  When we sit in stillness and recognize our patterns, we increase awareness at all 3 areas and are able to wake up and inhabit our lives more fully, more mindfully, and consequently we suffer less.

Body - Students learn to inhabit the body by practicing Body Scans.  Body Scans usually last about 40 minutes and can be lead by a teacher or CD.   So many people only live in their Mind.  Embodiment is where all mindfulness practices begin.  

Thought - noticing our thoughts - A basic tenet of Mindfulness is that Thoughts are not Facts.  Many of our thoughts simply reflect our automatic responses to life, which is called Automatic Pilot.  Automatic Pilot is mindless and can get us into bad habits that we aren’t even aware of.  When our Thoughts go round and round we are standing in place - stuck.  If we have a problem, we will probably get into a pattern of ruminating - circulating thought patterns - that seldom are creative and even less frequently solve anything.  Mindfulness encourages us to get back into the moment and be present with what is happening, instead of thinking about it - or ignoring it.  It opens us up to the beautiful small details of our lives - getting out of the head and into the heart of our lives.  

Emotions are another story.  Literally.  Letting go of the story around the emotion and noticing its reflection in the body is the third element of Mindfulness.  Sounds simple.  Good luck with this one.

The second foundation of MIndfulness is the Eight Attitudinals.  1.  Non Judgment  2.  Acceptance  3.  Beginners MInd  4.  Non-striving  5.  Letting Go  6.  Patience  7.  Trust  8.  Self Compassion (much like the Four Agreements, there’s always one you can never remember…. )  Bringing these Attitudes to the cushion, reminds us that this isn’t a journey of doing or a journey of ego.  It’s about remembering, making more space, coming back to our senses and listening.

But it all begins and ends with time on the cushion.  Sitting down and remembering to be here now.  Lying down on the earth and remembering the shape of the body, its contours, its sensations, and the life force that lies within it. The meditations are guided for the first 8 weeks and begin with Body Scans and Mindful Movement (which may be yoga but only if it follows the 8 Attitudinals)  MIndful Movement is about noticing what is happening in the body without a goal.  Being with the movement as opposed to simply doing movement (moving mindlessly).  

The next meditations are centered on Gathering the Scattered MInd - using Body and Breath as the tether to the present moment.  Noticing when we are disembodied and coming back to the body.  Noticing when we have been taken away with a Thought - and coming back to the Breath.  Noticing the story around our Emotions, releasing the story, and noticing where in the body you are feeling the Emotion - naming it - and then returning to the Body and the Breath in Present Moment Awarenesss.  

In this course, which is a combination of MBSR (MIndfulness Based Stress Relief) and MBCT (MIndfulness Based Cognitive Therapy), week 7 is a Meditation on Loving Kindness or what is traditionally called Metta Meditation.  Compassion is implicit in this work - for yourself and others.  It’s an 8 week course that is very well structured, and available to anyone who is interested in Waking Up to what is truly happening in their life, without wishing it were different.  

Its the benefits that are the startling part - and perhaps they happen no matter what kind of meditation you practice.  Immediately and almost without exception, students begin to feel a spaciousness and expansiveness in their life.  Each moment becomes more full - more clear - they appreciate their life and make better choices.

I can’t close this blogpost without acknowleding the Paradox of Mindfulness:  Acceptance precedes Change.  This is always the case.  Change doesn’t happen without Acceptance happening first.  No one ever woke up by pulling the covers over their head.  It simply will not happen.  Instead of wishing life were different, we finally accept the reality of life as it is.  And perhaps, if we get to the cushion every day, we Choose Change - we Wake Up and make Choices that bring us more Freedom, more Peace, more Joy.

Well, it looks like the rain isn’t going to stop this afternoon - no last hike for me!  So I pull out some texts that have been translated into Spanish that Bodhin has given me to look through before I leave, and the first thing I turn to is a poem by Mary Oliver - translated into Spanish.  See.  If I keep my mind open to what is - even a rainy afternoon is a gift.  Mindfulness doesn’t mean our life is perfect -it’s what we do with those imperfect moments that changes.  

Thank you Mary.  Thank you Bodhin and Kathy.  Thank you rain…………..

“Tell me. What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
"Dime. ¿Qué planeas hacer con tu vida preciosa, salvaje, única?"

ADVENTURES IN COOKING! PAELLA VALENCIANA Y EL PAELLERO

Paella is a Valencian rice dish with ancient roots that originated in its modern form in the mid-nineteenth century.  The dish is widely regarded as Spain's national dish , but most Spaniards consider it to be a regional Valencian dish. The Spanish food historian Lourdes March notes that the dish "symbolizes the heritage and the union of two important cultures, the Roman, all which gives us the utensil, and the Arab, all which brought us the basic food of humanity for centuries." (wikipedia.com.es)

Azún, the cook at Solterreno, preparing paella.

In the Alicante area of ​​the Valencia province, paella is prepared outside, with the help of a paellero - a butane fueled burner that usually stands on a brick platform on the patio. The coils are perfectly shaped for a paella pan, of course. A wonderful adjunct to the new paella tradition I am visualizing for my family and friends!  

So where does one buy a paellero? In a Ferreteria - or hardware store - was the unexpected answer. Really? OK. So after finding an ATM in Orba, I set off to find a hardware store and make this dream a reality. I was encouraged this way and that to no avail - and ended up back at the market. I inquired about Azafrán, or saffron, at the cheese vendor, and purchased instead some brilliant red pimentón and pulpo para llevar (take out octopus), When I asked the storekeeper where I could buy a paellero, she came out of her shop into the street and had a conversation with about five local women as to where they should send the tall blonde American to fulfill her culinary needs. DASI was the unanimous answer. Up to the bar, turn right and go up up up the hill. Can not miss it. On your left. This time the directions were accurate and I found myself in a store that sold everything from tiles and bricks to plumbing supplies. After wondering around for about 10 minutes, I spied them. Various shapes and sizes of both the pans and the coils - all neatly stacked in the middle aisle. PERFECTO! I picked up an enameled variety, about the size of a large fry pan and a woman I had seen earlier in the bank asked in Spanish, "How many are you cooking for? That pan is too small for a family!" After consulting with her husband, the manager of the Ferreteria - no less - they decided on a pan that measured nearly two feet across. Perfect for my family! "The paellero part is rather heavy", I say, but they're encouraging on all levels. "The key is not to make it too thick. Thick paella is awful - the best paella is thin". I head up to pay and my new friend and I laugh about me trying to get all this paella gear on the plane..... I hear the word burbujas (bubbles) and know we're headed for bubble wrap. Brilliant! They wrap my two purchases together and secure them with some packing tape and Voila! I'm ready to go.  

I thank the staff at the hardware store for their help, as my new friend and I compare notes about our families. I tell her about my brand new granddaughter, Emma Rose, and our eyes meet in wordless recognition of the joys of being a Grandma. "Its good you bought the bigger one" - 

she laughs.  

As I get into Bodhin's car, headed back to the retreat center for a couple of days practice teaching in Spanish, he laughs at my purchase! How am I going to get that contraption to Alicante - to Belgium - through the streets of Amsterdam - and then home ????  

Me. I "m smiling from head to toe. The afternoon has been a grand success in my mind and heart. The new paella tradition is now in motion. From the streets of Orba to my patio in Milwaukee. I am grateful to each woman that helped me along the way. Their generosity has touched my heart. Buen Provecho - With deep gratitude for the Richness of Life in every moment.