As mindfulness gains cultural momentum, there is a risk that its definition becomes more muddled. If we are to practice effectively and teach these practices to our students and communities, conceptual clarity is important. Of course, no single person or group has the authority to provide the one-and-only definition of ‘mindfulness.’ This is an open and evolving conversation among practitioners, scientists and scholars. We do not claim to offer the definitive version of mindfulness, but instead share a definition that has been productive in our practice and teaching, and is supported by the scientific research on mindfulness.
Mindfulness can be considered a state, a trait or a practice. We can have a moment of mindfulness (state) but also have a habitual tendency of mindfulness (trait). We can do the intentional formal practice of mindfulness using different postures and activities: seated mindfulness, mindful walking or mindful eating, for example. The formal practice of mindfulness leads to more moments of mindfulness and ultimately improved trait-level mindfulness. Higher trait-level mindfulness means that we’re more mindful even when we’re not consciously trying to be mindful. This is critically important: we’re learning to create a healthy habit of mindfulness.
Present Time Awareness
The first component in blue, present-time awareness, is perhaps more familiar to readers. It refers to a stable, clear and alert awareness of momentary experience. In present-time awareness, we are awake and alive to the moment. We know sensory experience – sights, sounds, sensations, thoughts – and we know that we’re knowing. When we’re on ‘automatic pilot’ we are, in fact, knowing something – typically our thoughts – but we don’t know that we’re knowing. We are all familiar with times when there’s virtually no mindfulness present – but we’re still having experience. We’re still experiencing sights and sounds and sensations and thoughts – but we don’t know that’s what we’re experiencing. Present-time awareness is thus a kind of meta-awareness, where we have rich contact with sensory experience and we know it’s sensory experience arising in the field of awareness.
Present-time awareness is depicted as a combination of stability, clarity and alertness. Imagine looking through a telescope at the moon. If the telescope were shaking, it would be difficult to fully take in the sight of the moon. Similarly, stability of our attention is important for present-time awareness. The moon would also be obscured if the lens were out of focus. In mindfulness practice, our ‘vision’ becomes more clear. We’re able to detect more and more subtle features of our experience. Lastly, we must be alert to the present moment. If we looked through a steady and focused telescope but were really sleepy and lapsing in and out of awareness, we would miss the grandeur of the moon. Mindfulness steadies the attention, focuses the attention, and remains alert to the object of our attention.
Finish reading on MindfulSchools.org’s website
