Rethink Mental Illness interviews Maitreyabandhu

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Life (an with fu These days you can’t set foot in mental health without reading about “mindfulness”. From Ruby Wax to our local GP, we’re told its crucial in keeping our demons at bay. However, anyone who has ever tried it knows it’s easier said than done.

Maitreyabandhu teaches Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and has been an part of the Triratna Buddhist Order for 23 years. His book Life With Full Attention is a practical guide to mindfulness. We caught up with him at the London Buddhist Centre to find out more.

If you are feeling low over Christmas here are some mindfulness techniques from the book to help manage your mental health 1) Give yourself a breathing space. If things are getting too much sit somewhere quiet.

Bring awareness to your feet on the ground and bring that awareness to your whole body.

Then focus on your breathing for three minutes.

2) Go for a mindful walk. Feel the soles of your feet on the pavement. Pay special attention to the things you see and feel

such as the sight of winter sun shining through the trees or the cold breeze on your face.

3) Think of three tasks you could complete straight away.

You could tidy your sock draw, put the washing on, top up your phone. This will give you a sense of “mastery” which can lift our spirits and make us feel in control. Don’t wait until you want to do it, just do it.

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nd Christmas) ull attention What is mindfulness?

It’s a way of living consciously rather than being off somewhere in your head the whole time. Our life often gets run by our ruminations and our self stories which we get lost in. Mindfulness is stepping out of those into your direct experience in the body.

Why is it so useful for mental health problems?

Mindfulness helps your life flourish whether or not you have a mental health problem. The mind is a wonderful place and a dangerous place and you can really destroy your life just because of the thoughts you have. However, you can also train your mind to turn towards the positive and flourish.

What’s the difference between mindfulness and meditation?

Mindfulness can be applied to all experience. Meditation is more of an intensification of mindfulness and kindness – meditation is working directly on your mind with your mind.

Is mindfulness about acceptance?

It begins with that. It’s like when you go outside and it’s cold. You can go outside and simply feel the cold on your skin or you can start thinking ‘I hate this cold/ why do I live here/ I hate this country etc’.

But actually all that’s happening is that it’s cold. You either sit with the sensation that it’s cold and accept it or you make up a whole great story around the fact that it’s cold and make it even worse.

In the same way we have to learn to accept the weather of our mind. If you feel down, then what does that feel like, sit with it without trying to change it. Then, based on that awareness, you can make wise decisions about what might make you feel better. Often difficult or uncomfortable emotions can pass quite quickly if you sit with them.

Christmas can negatively affect people’s mental health due to too much consumption, socialising or feeling lonely.

By Rebecca Stambridge

Can mindfulness help people get through this period?

When we think of Christmas we often only think of the good parts but in fact when we eat or drink too much it’s uncomfortable.

Usually we don’t experience what we are consuming but are thinking about having more. If we bring more awareness into the experience of eating and drinking we may realise we’ve had enough.

Part of mindfulness is getting to know ourselves. So some people need a lot of time on their own. If so, think about what your needs are and strategise to make sure you get some time away from others or to be with one person.

If you are on your own try not to let your mind attach too much negative meaning to that fact.

Just sit with the feeling of being on your own without judgement.

Perhaps be more attentive to your environment and find pleasure in the things around you such as art or nature.

REVIEW OF LIFE WITH FULL ATTENTION In his book Maitreyabandhu returns the practice of mindfulness to its original Buddhist context and shows the ancient teachings are relevant to the modern world.

Like Buddha intended, it extends the practice of mindfulness to all aspects of our day to day existence to increase our quality of life. Written as a practical eight week course, it teaches the reader to be mindful in everything we do.

For example, week one looks

at how we manage the logistics of our lives. Not only would being more mindful about “putting the cutlery back” reduce our overall stress, but attending to such details forces us to be more present.

Week two helps us cultivate a sense of body awareness and we are encouraged to do a daily “mindful walk” by paying more attention to how our body feels.

Other weekly practices look at how we can apply the teachings of

Buddhism to our feelings, thoughts and relationships. Each chapter has exercises to encourage you to embed these new habits into daily life.

Although based on Buddhism, you don’t need to be interested in Buddhism to gain a lot from this book.

As well as being helpful to anyone wanting to reduce stress, I believe it could be useful to people managing mild to moderate mental health problems.