Sustainable Wellness: An Integrative Approach to Transform Your Mind, Body, and Spirit
240
Sustainable Wellness: An Integrative Approach to Transform Your Mind, Body, and Spirit
240eBook
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Overview
Whether you’re looking for improved physical health, better ways to manage stress, or just a greater sense of inner peace and wellness, Sustainable Wellness offers a simple but powerfully effective plan for transformation.
You will learn how to:
Sustainable Wellness: An Integrative Approach to Transform Your Mind, Body, and Spirit combines modern scientific research with ancient methods that benefit the individual on all levels. The authors share tested techniques, personal stories of triumph, and daily exercises that will guide you on the path to sustainable wellness.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781601635655 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Red Wheel/Weiser |
| Publication date: | 04/17/2020 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 240 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
About the Author
Dr. Matthew Mumber is an awardwinning, board-certified radiation oncologist and codirector of the MD Ambassador Program and Integrative Oncology Program at Harbin Clinic in Rome, Georgia. He gives talks, leads workshops nationally, and writes extensively on integrative approaches to oncology, health, and wellness. Dr. Mumber is the founder of the nonprofit organization, Cancer Navigators Inc. He was named a Health Care Hero by Georgia Trend magazine.
Heather Reed has been teaching yoga since 1996. She specializes in using yoga and meditation techniques for people living with cancer, post-polio syndrome, and other chronic illnesses. Reed currently facilitates Cancer Navigators residential retreats and support groups in person and online from Austin, Texas.
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
MINDFULNESS
Nothing is more important than this day.
— Goethe
Moving to mindfulness
The word mindful is very popular right now. Many public policy–makers state that we must be mindful of where we have been and where we are now in order to know where we want to go in the future. Scientific literature increasingly reports that the practice of mindfulness and mindfulness-based meditation are successful interventions for a large variety of health challenges. With all of this publicity, there's a danger that some may see the whole process of mindfulness as the next quick fix for whatever ails a society or an individual. Quick fixes rarely work because with them, it's easier to just add new practices without emptying our cup. We must also pay attention to the quality of the container for our work. The Bible has a passage that warns against using old wineskins to hold new wine. The new wine would be ruined by the poor quality of the old container. When we are open to a new way of holding things grounded in surrender and safe space, the new practices can slowly mature. In our approach to sustainable wellness, the practice of mindfulness brings about that new way of holding things through increasing our capacity to be aware. This awareness serves as the foundation for maintaining balance.
The practice of mindfulness has been defined in various ways. In North America, the beginnings of a definition took place in a basement room at the University of Massachusetts. Jon Kabat-Zinn, a trained molecular biologist, invited physicians to refer patients for whom they had no other conventional treatment options. Kabat-Zinn guided these patients who were experiencing chronic pain and illness through an eight-week training based on his personal practice. That eight-week process became his mindfulness-based stress reduction curriculum. To the amazement of the referring physicians and the patients themselves, the process relieved suffering on several levels.
Kabat-Zinn's definition of mindfulness is direct and profound: Mindfulness is paying attention on purpose, non-judgmentally, and as though your life depended on it. Mindfulness is about non-judgmental awareness of whatever comes up, without trying to change it. To use a previous analogy, it's like the sky holding all of the passing clouds without clinging to any of them.
The level of our engagement in the process is vitally important. Here's a story about the importance of commitment. One day a group of students asked their master to teach them about enlightenment. The master told them that enlightenment was like a group of men playing cards in the back of an airplane in which there were no parachutes. The stakes were very high, as the loser of the game had to jump out of the airplane. The students all immediately concluded that this game cheapened the value of life, and that if life was not valued then enlightenment could not occur. The master smiled and said, "That may be true, but think of how engaged the players would be in that game." The process of mindfulness allows us to be curious about whatever is going on in the present moment, regardless of the stakes. We pay attention to positive, negative, and neutral thoughts. It's important to realize that the stakes are always high when it comes to our health because poor choices can result in illness becoming a chronic disease.
It's equally important to understand what mindfulness isn't.
* It's not a religion, though the approach is a part of many Eastern religious practices, most notably Buddhism. Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh consistently says, "It is not something to kill or die for."
* It's not trying to enter into a trance or some special state of mind. No one can impose mindfulness on you or put you into a state of mindfulness.
* It's not about trying to only think positive thoughts or distract yourself from negative ones. There's therapeutic power in using affirmations and positive psychology as health tools. There's also a benefit to using guided imagery and visualization as methods to focus on desired outcomes and take the mind away from suffering. The ability to focus the mind into a broad awareness is bigger than these tools and is actually foundational to the successful use of any health-promoting practice.
Mindful awareness is an inclusive state of being, rather than only a rule-based system of doing. It's transformational in nature: It empties your cup, allowing space for new practices, and creates a new container that allows these practices to mature in time to take on their own unique qualities, unadulterated by concerns about the past or musings about the future. Talking about awareness is difficult because of its transformational nature. It's like a joke: Either you get it or you don't, and no one can explain it to you afterward. This is why Kabat-Zinn's work was so revolutionary: It walked the fine line of defining a practice that creates an awareness that has both transformational and translational uses. Mindfulness meditation can be both a transformational practice to empty our cup and a discrete translational tool to address specific health concerns.
How do we practice mindfulness in order to cultivate awareness? It can be as simple as breathing in, and knowing that you are breathing in; breathing out, and knowing that you are breathing out. The daily exercises at the end of this chapter will guide your health practice for this week. As a foundation, each practice session for the entire eight weeks will begin with cultivating awareness. The most important step is to experience the power of this approach.
Heather shares how she began her movement into mindfulness:
Many of my early memories involve movement. As a small child, I whirled dervish-like through the house, creating intricate dance-like patterns. Time passed unnoticed, and an audience was neither requested nor necessary. Pure joy was enough. My mother observed with interest and offered a dance class. My dance lessons continued nearly 20 years, providing a safe place for self-expression and a protective backdrop for growth and change.
Other aspects of my life were much less satisfying. Quiet and shy, I tried to follow the rules and fulfill the expectations of others. My progression through school was successful, predictable, and uneventful. While planning for college, good fortune intervened: I was awarded a scholarship to focus on fine arts as well as traditional courses. There, I had the life-changing opportunity to study movement with experienced dancers. Entire afternoons were devoted to dance, balanced with challenging academic studies in history and philosophy.
Gradually, I saw the world differently and began to consider open-ended questions, rather than calculate perfect answers. Despite hours of physical exertion, I often left the studio feeling peaceful and clear. When I danced, I seemed to move into an open, timeless place. It was possible to lose myself; worry and preoccupation would fade away. The experience was mysterious and welcome.
Once college ended, I chose a life more practical than that of a dancer. I allowed myself to shrink, and withdrew from dance. A part of me faded into dormancy. My body craved movement, however, and I was drawn to the physicality of Hatha Yoga. I began an ardent study and caught glimpses of the clarity and peace I had experienced through dance. Believing movement alone invoked these qualities, I readily pursued an intense, very linear exploration of Yoga poses. Ironically, this approach was rule-bound and full of expectations.
Before long, I found myself entangled in knots of my own making. Researching the myriad styles of Yoga lead me to a gifted teacher. During a particular daylong workshop, she seemed to sense my personal struggle and my drive for perfection. As I wound my body tightly, my teacher gently suggested that I forget everything I had learned about Yoga and instead trust in the body's intelligence. She invited me to follow my breath and to watch its wave-like movement. My response was a leap of faith. In the next breath, I experienced a profound physical and emotional release. It was joyful.
In time, I challenged the assumption that the forms of Yoga must manifest in a particular way — to be duplicated by all and immediately recognized. I realized that the practice of Yoga enriches us by accessing an internal space. Techniques are not to be learned as much as explored and used as gateways to open-ended possibilities. It is the simple act of paying attention — mindfully and on purpose — to the sensations of movement, to the subtle flow of breath, to the thoughts that come pushing into mind, to any object of focus. It is this process itself that cultivates peace and stillness. My experiences as a child, as a young dancer, as a Yoga student, were serendipitous, and once I recognized their common thread, I committed to it. In losing myself, I had found myself. Moving to mindfulness had taken me home.
Heather's story reveals that the practice of cultivating awareness can open us up to a new way of seeing and being within any set of rule-oriented doings. The magic is not in the tools or rules themselves, but in the space in which we experience them! But how do we become aware of this space?
Paying attention and becoming aware
Although there are many tools and systems that can provide a transformational experience that cultivates awareness, the practice of mindfulness is arguably the most direct. Kabat-Zinn describes seven qualities of the mind that are necessary for the practice of mindfulness. Think of a mature fruit tree. These qualities of mind are like the combination of the soil and roots of the tree. They aren't hard-and-fast rules to follow compulsively, but collectively act as nutrients to support the entire tree and the growth of a personal practice that cultivates the fruit of awareness and understanding. Much like the three-legged stool of health, all of these qualities are linked; each is affected by and has effects on the others. Often the roots and the soil interact. For the purposes of our work, we'll use the following definitions of these seven qualities of mind.
1. Beginner's mind
Beginner's mind is the ability to see things with new eyes as though we'd never seen them before. Marcel Proust wrote, "The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." We approach whatever comes up with a fresh perspective, as though this is the first time we've had this specific experience. This type of stance opens us up to the whole world of possibilities that exist in the present moment, without the baggage of automatic reactions based on past experience or expectations of future results. Although this may sound impractical or naïve, a more in-depth analysis reveals that opening to the present moment is incredibly rational.
Despite all that we've experienced in the past, and all that we expect of the future, there has never been a present moment just like this one. Instead of closing down our senses to the experience of everything that's going on right now, beginner's mind allows us to experience the totality of life, open to all that is going on to make this moment unique. It's important to understand that beginner's mind is not the same thing as letting go of all of your valuable previous experience and ideas about health and wellness. Instead, this approach means that we will look at our ideas, experiences, and behaviors from a new point of view.
2. Trust
Trust is believing in ourselves and in our authority to know our own body, thoughts, and feelings. We believe that we have the internal and external resources to sit with whatever comes up, and that the process is one that's worth following. We trust that each of us is the ultimate expert on what makes us tick and that the process of creating safe space creates a necessary support for exploration and discovery.
3. Non-judging
Non-judging is the ability to hold an open and neutral place for whatever comes up within and around you, without thinking of anything as categorically better or worse than anything else. It's a witnessing state of mind, like the blue sky holding the clouds. Past experience and future outcomes do not define what's going on in the present moment. Non-judging is a necessary ingredient for non-dual thinking. Non-dual thinking allows us to sit with mystery and paradox without needing to know the answer. This state of surrender to the present moment is key for transformation.
Dr. Matt shares a story about his introduction to non-dual thinking:
During my second year of medical school, I began a support group for medical students entitled the Group for Exceptional Medical Students, patterned after Dr. Bernie Siegel's Exceptional Cancer Patients. It was a group focused on the premise that it was beneficial for a doctor to care for patients as fellow humans, that the power of love enabled healing, and that we could support each other in learning about healing service from multiple traditions.
One of the speakers who addressed an initial group session was named Wolf, and he was a Native American Medicine Man. After his class, he invited all of us to a Native American sweat lodge ceremony to experience this cultural form of healing. The night of the ceremony, a large rain cloud settled in over Charlottesville, Virginia. Undeterred, I drove the 30 minutes to the designated site. When I arrived, I found myself to be the only person there from our group, and that the rest of those in attendance were mostly silent, preparing for the ceremony. I was scared and intimidated.
Fortunately, the clouds parted and a brilliant moon was present. Wolf walked me over to the ceremonial grounds, which were down a small hill and directly next to a half-acre pond, brilliantly reflecting the moon light. He explained the ceremony and told me that there would be a time when he would be connected to the Great Spirit, and that I would be given the opportunity to ask a question.
The ceremony was physically and mentally challenging. The group sat in a circle inside of the small igloo-like sweat lodge made of blankets and bent-over trees. At first there was complete darkness, and I could not see my hand in front of my face. After some initial instructions from Wolf, the lodge door opened and a molten red rock was lifted into the lodge and deposited in the exact center in a small hole in the ground. Water was poured over this rock, creating intense steam, which immediately filled the lodge. This occurred for several rounds defined by specific prayers and instructions.
Finally, the time came to ask the question. When my turn came, I asked, "How can I become a great healer?" The answer immediately shot back, slicing through the darkness as though an arrow was sent into the middle of my forehead: "In order to have the power to heal, you must also accept the power to kill." The remainder of the ceremony raced by as I held this answer, churning it around over and over.
On the drive home afterward, at first it seemed obvious that in order to make sure that I was going to be able to have a positive effect on my patients, I must study hard, learn all about medicine, and then I would be able to avoid doing harm and only do good. As Dr. Bernie Siegel had told one of my fellow medical students, I would need to be credible before I could be incredible. But this did not seem to fit all of the answer and I continued to look deeper. Finally, the realization struck me that healing and killing are inseparable; they're different sides of the same coin. One cannot exist without the other. Instead of being motivated to learn based on fear of avoiding a bad outcome, it would make more sense to understand the sacred ground that healing service rests upon. It's a ground that includes everything. The merciful awareness, which is brought to parts of our lives we would rather dismiss, may be difficult to embrace. Sometimes the process of experiencing transformation can feel a lot like dying. I was re-energized to learn as much as I could about the scientific and human sides of medicine, in order to best apply the tools of modern medicine guided by the mysteries of the heart and mind.
4. Patience
Patience is a willingness to continue with the process of paying attention on purpose even when it appears that no progress is being made. In the ancient Eastern mystical text Tao Te Ching, number 43, Lao Tzu wrote, "As the soft water cleaves obstinate stone, so to yield with life solves the insoluble: To yield, I have learned, is to come back again. But this unworded lesson, this easy example, is lost upon men." Learning and growing through mindful practice happens with time, and we can't force the outcome. It's like standing in a river: No matter how hard we move our arms through the water in the direction of the flow, we can't make the river travel any faster toward the ocean.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Sustainable Wellness"
by .
Copyright © 2012 Matt Mumber and Heather Reed.
Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
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Table of Contents
Foreword by Dr. Andrew Weil,
Preface: Creating the Container,
Introduction Defining Health and Wellness,
Part I The Eight Steps To Lasting Health: Steps 1–3,
Step 1: Mindfulness,
Step 2: Know Thyself,
Step 3: Life Review and Planning,
Part II Beginning Again: Steps 4–8,
Step 4: Nutrition,
Step 5: Physical Activity,
Step 6: Stress Management,
Step 7: Spirituality,
Step 8: Bringing It All Together,
Notes,
Resources,
Further Reading,
Index,
About the Authors,