Mindfulness, an out of body experience

Crazy deadlines and the stress that comes with meeting them and being able to deliver are all part and parcel of a modern day professional.

Negative energy in a formal environment that often times send some to the edges is nothing new to someone who works in an environment heavily laced with different personalities. The dynamics of the extended family and life in general also means that one neglects their spiritual being that eventually leads to an imbalanced and unhappy individual.

If you are one of those who find yourself in a situation where you can not even muster the courage to just stand back or walk away from situations, then you are in desperate need of help. Seeing results and being able to see a positive change in your life all depends on how committed you are to working on your spiritual self.

Mindfulness has made positive changes in those who follow and practise it religiously. Locally this old age lifestyle choice is being championed by MotherK Masire, an ambassador who lives and breathes it 24/7. Touted as a state of active, and open attention on the present, when you learn about mindfulness, it is like you are having an out of body experience, but on your mind. “You study your own self, your mind.

And you study your thoughts, your feelings, your friendships and your environment,” she explains. Masire has been based in South Africa where for a while, she has been living her dream. That dream now sees her returning to Gaborone where she is working on opening a centre for those who wish to explore this concept, one that is credited to giving its followers a blissfuls life minus the stress and negativity.

In March she will be offering a series of sessions for those who wish to charter a new course for their lives. On Thursday last week, Masire held an intimate session attended by a select number of participants who by the end of the one and half session were singing praises about the possibilities that lie in wait for those who will be embarking on their new journey to spiritual fulfilment.

During the session attendants were  put  through their paces on how to breathe properly as well as how to just relax and listen to their thoughts. Interestingly it emerged that this concept can also help in other parts of one’s life, by assisting one to eat right, and most importantly the right portions as well as deal with pain.

The breathing exercise and meditation are particularly crucial as it emerged that some of us are still breathing the wrong way. And that if learnt and with practice, this can save their lives and equip them with a tool that will see them walking away from situations with their dignity still intact.

The big question posed to Masire is what does one have to do in order to  attain Mindfulness. She starts by pointing out that there are a couple of activities that can help train one’s mind to be mindful during one’s daily live activities; communication, eating, teaching, and leading. “When you drink your tea mindfully, it’s called mindfulness of drinking.

When you walk mindfully, it’s called mindfulness of walking. And when you breathe mindfully, that is mindfulness of breathing,” she explains. She further says that meditation is one tool that can help build one’s mind to be mindful. “Basic meditation of breathing can help. Just recognise: this is an in-breath, this is an out-breath. You don’t have to make an effort to stop your thinking; you bring your attention to your in-breath and the mental discourse just stops. That is the miracle of the practice,” she says.

“You don’t think of the past anymore. You don’t think of the future. The practice is simple recognition of the in-breath and the out-breath. That is good enough. It will have a powerful effect,” she adds.

For those who might have too much on their plates right now, she has these tips that will help them to decluster and walk away from situations that might turn lethal, depending on the magnitude. Firstly, she says that one has to recoginise that one’s mind job is to think so it will always have thoughts jumping up and down fighting for one’s attention.

She also highlights that we need to realise that not every thought is a fact. And that there are thoughts that can add value to one’s life and thoughts that are unproductive and cause stress and eventually the stress manifest in the form of diseases.“Once we learn to recognise and identify these thought patterns as they occur we can start to have a choice about how to react.

The practice of Mindfulness helps us recognise our thought patterns as we learn to be the observers of our minds,” she says.