Mindfulness Meditation: Mind & Body in Transition

Jayanta (Shirley) Johannesen

All human beings experience the anxieties, fears, and tensions of daily living. In Buddhist terms this is called dukkha, which has different translations and appears in many forms and guises. Buddhist mindfulness meditation, from my experience, offers a simple and yet profound approach for maintaining balance in our constantly changing bodies and minds, and in our very busy, often stressful lives. Meditation can effect transformation and healing in our lives, but we must carry our practice from the sitting cushion into our everyday activities. It is through developing awareness and compassion that we create greater peace and happiness within ourselves and then take them into the world.

The two suttas in which the Buddha gave detailed meditation instruction are the Anapanasati (Awareness of Breathing) Sutta and the Satipatthana (Establishing of Mindfulness) Sutta. In the Theravada tradition, these suttas are considered the most important for developing and guiding a meditation practice. They clearly explain the necessity of establishing and maintaining a regular meditation practice.

The Pali word sati is most often translated as "mindfulness". The cultivation and maintenance of mindfulness is a central, integral aspect of Buddhist meditation practice. Awareness of one’s mind and body is an immediate and trustworthy gateway to staying present in this very moment and is therefore a valuable tool for maintaining balance in one’s life. It is through this mind-heart-body connection that we awaken to our true nature and find freedom from dukkha.

The Buddhist teachings offer a variety of meditation practices for learning to observe our actions, motivations, thoughts, emotions, speech, and bodily sensations. We can be mindful of the sensations of our bodies, our movement in walking, the sounds around us, and the thoughts and feelings that come into our minds. In the Satipatthana Sutta, the first foundation of mindfulness is the body. In my many years of teaching, I have found that the body is often overlooked by meditators and that many are surprisingly alienated from their bodies. Inspired by my own ever-changing meditation and yoga experiences and by the Buddha's words of 2500 years ago, I have made awareness of the body one of the focal points of my teaching. The Buddha taught that there are many ways to take the body as the primary object of meditation to realize the potential of becoming free from dukkha, awakening, and reaching liberation.