CHAPTER 7
Mindful Living Plan
NOW THAT WE’VE TALKED about the roles that food and physical activity can play in our mindfulness practice and our journey toward a healthy weight, it’s time to take a step back and take a broader view of how we can incorporate mindfulness into our lives.
Mindfulness practice touches the stillness in ourselves. It allows us to calm down and re ect so that we can reconnect with our true self. Our true self has been camou aged by our numbed, autopilot way of life, our days overloaded with countless daily demands and by the never-ending stimuli from our high-tech, advertising-driven consumer society. When we are free from our automatic responses, we can see more clearly things as they are, from moment to moment, without judgment, preconceived notions, or bias. We get to know ourselves better. We become much more in tune with our own feelings, actions, and thoughts as well as with the feelings, actions, and thoughts of others. As we live in each moment fully, we learn to love ourselves and to make peace with all that is around us. In sum, we simply savor life.
Most people can’t practice healthy living even though they know they should. There are innumerable inner and outer barriers we can name. To transcend these, you need to ask yourself what it is that you really want. Often our habit energy and fear prevent us from identifying what we want and from living healthily. Habit energy keeps us going, but we may not know where we are heading. We struggle even during our sleep. We need to practice mindfulness in our daily lives to check and transform the destructive habit energies
that are taking our lives in the wrong direction.
With the creation of your healthy-weight mission statement, as described in chapter 1, you have already taken the rst step on the
mindful journey to improving your health. As you practice with the intention to improve your eating habits, you will nd that the same
mindful eating practices can change your perception of everything
else that you do and experience. Similarly, if you learn to approach other aspects of your life with mindfulness, you will nd that these
good habits can in turn enhance your efforts to eat more healthily.
Practice focusing on the now and immersing yourself entirely in the task at hand, whatever it may be. You will nd that you can complete the task with less e ort. The way you engage in the task will completely determine the quality of the future. How the future unfolds depends on the way we handle each present moment. Being mindful from moment to moment gives us the greatest opportunity to create a successful and beautiful future.
Chapters 5 and 6 covered how to shine the light of mindfulness on the everyday activities of eating and moving, and guided you through the creation of the in Eating and in Moving strategies to help you chart your mindfulness course. To jump -start you in your mindfulness journey, we suggest a mindfulness practice plan to help put together some of the exercises and recommendations that we have talked about throughout the book and integrate them into your daily routines. The proposed plan includes practices not only in eating and moving for weight control, but also in transforming and enjoying life. We call it the Mindful Living Plan. It has three main components: inEating, inMoving, and inBreathing. As we discussed, in denotes “in the moment.” These in strategies can be personalized and integrated seamlessly into virtually every act of your daily living, becoming the pillars for helping you build a mindful life.
While inEating and inMoving speci cally address food and physical activity for health, the inBreathing strategy addresses all other aspects of what we do and helps us transform our habits and a ictions. The in-Breathing strategy helps awaken all our senses and helps us be fully present to understand and skillfully handle our thoughts, feelings, words, and actions.
When we eat, we eat mindfully. When we exercise, we exercise mindfully. We also look, listen, talk, touch, feel, think, and perceive mindfully. We are breathing all the time, and being aware of our breathing is the easiest and the most e ective practice to get us focused on the present moment. Breathing is a core complement to both eating and moving mindfully as well as to practicing mindfulness throughout the day.
When we live with awareness, we will gain insight and understanding, diminish ignorance, and bring about love, compassion, and joy. Understanding the interdependent and impermanent nature of all things is the key to transformation, and mindfulness energy is the source of power to fuel the transformation process in every moment.
Just as sunlight provides the energy for a seed to grow into a
plant, mindfulness provides the energy to transform all mental
formations—our mind states, which are expressions of seed energies
manifested in our mind. Mindfulness energy is like the sun: it has
only to radiate its energy to do its work naturally. The essential
point is that we do not try to repress our a ictions, our negative energies, because the more we resist or ght them, the stronger they
will grow in us. We need only learn to recognize them, embrace them, and bathe them in the energy of mindfulness. When there is an abundance of mindfulness energy in us, it can transmute and dilute the e ects of the negative seed energies in us. Cultivating mindfulness energy will soothe and calm our negative emotions. The Mindful Living Plan provides a practical framework to build up such mindfulness energy.
When we feel stuck and immobilized, we are in our own way. Our ego is obstructing us. We are anxious, limited in our thinking, reactive, doubtful, and always thinking and worrying about the future or regretting the past rather than being with what’s now. We become our worst enemy as we are overwhelmed by our fears, our anger, and our despair. These fears, anger, and despair are illusions. They are not real, but we believe they are real and let them dominate us. Take a few in -breaths and out-breaths so that your mind and your body are united again, allowing you to be fully in the present. Once you can be in the present, you will recognize that your fears, anger, and despair are all projections from the past.
They are not the present reality.
This practice plan is only a guide to help you improve your well-
being. These practices are not rigid formulas but are simply exercises to help you take the rst steps to get a taste of
mindfulness practice, to gain better insight, and to remove the
clouds that cover our clear vision. As we learn and put these
concepts into practice, it is important that we are not limited by
them but learn to use them to gain greater understanding. Certainly,
you can come up with your own practices by simply applying
mindfulness principles in ways that are relevant and appropriate to
your own life. The important thing is that you start taking the rst
few simple steps and see for yourself their e ect. Continual daily
practice will certainly build up your mindfulness energy. In the
following sections we describe the three main components of the Mindful Living Plan: in Eating, in Moving, and in Breathing.
InEating
In chapter 5, we discussed the key components of a mindful,
nutritious eating plan, one that is good for you as well as our
planet, paying attention to not only what you eat but how you eat.
As you gradually increase your practice of mindful eating, you may
| nd that you will be more in tune with your hunger and fullness | |
| cues. You may | nd that you will eat when you are hungry and stop |
| when you are | full. You may nd that you will make nutritious, |
wise, and green food choices that are satisfying to you and good for our planet. You may nd that you will eat with more awareness and deeply enjoy the choices you make.
At least once a day, eat one snack or one meal without any sensory stimulus other than focusing on the food and drink you are consuming. This means no television, no newspaper, no book, no radio, no iPod, no mobile phone, no thinking or worries. Eat slowly, really enjoy the food, and chew well to savor the taste of the food and help with digestion.
Take time to review the key nutrition principles in chapter 5 as well as the seven habits of mindful eaters, and check which ones you already have in place and which ones you need to change and improve. As we discussed in chapter 5, identify those that are most
important to you so that you can come up with a list of food goals and mindful -habit goals. Focus on a new food goal and a new mindful eating practice every one or two weeks, and consciously adhere to them on a daily basis. Take note of the challenges and obstacles that prevent you from reaching your intended goals, and plan strategies to overcome them.
For example, if your food goal is to eliminate sugar-sweetened beverages, be aware of your habit energy leading you to reach out for a soda throughout the day. As you go toward a sugar-sweetened soda, stop yourself, pause, take one in-breath and out-breath, and say silently to yourself, “I made a commitment to eliminate sugar-sweetened soda. I am going to have lime- avored sparkling water instead.” If your mindful eating goal is to choose smaller portions, use smaller utensils to serve yourself, and use a smaller plate. As you adopt a new healthy eating habit and a new mindful eating habit every week or two, over the course of four, eight, or twelve weeks you will nd your daily eating practice to be much more healthful and in line with your healthy-weight goals. Since you are the one who decides which healthier choice you will incorporate into your own daily eating plan, the likelihood of you sticking with your choice is much greater than if the incentive for change were to come from someone else.
InMoving
Even if we may no longer work in the elds like our ancestors, there are many opportunities for us to move our bodies every day. As we discussed in chapter 6, physical activity is one of the best means of practicing mindfulness, because it is so connected with body, mind, and the here and now. Our bodies (and our minds) yearn to be active. The key is nding routines that you love and that can be integrated into your everyday living.
At least every day, nd a route or hallway you can walk mindfully. It can be in your home, at work, in a park, or somewhere around town where you walk often. As you walk, put your full attention on your feet and their contact with the ground. You walk for the sake of walking, not to reach any destination. You walk without any “to do” list, regrets of the past, or worries about
the future. You breathe as you walk. For a slow pace, take two steps for each in-breath and out-breath. For a brisker pace when you need to reach your appointment on time, take three steps or more for each in-breath and out-breath.
To gain the physical, emotional, and weight-loss bene ts of increased activity, review your in Moving plan from chapter 6. What goals did you set for mindfully increasing your activity, and what strategies did you develop for overcoming your barriers to being more active? Use the goals you set to ll in the in Moving section of your Mindful Living Plan.
As you build up your practice of mindful moving, you will nd yourself wanting to move more and more. And mindful moving will become a habit—a good habit. When you skip your mindful movement, you will find yourself missing it, even just for one day.
InBreathing
In Breathing involves every aspect of our lives. We have discussed the importance of conscious breathing and mindfulness practice, and we have given many exercises in chapter 4 that are wonderful practices for the inBreathing strategy. We can only describe the principle in the practice; it would be impossible to list all the di erent ways to practice. However, to help you instill more mindfulness into your daily actions as well as sustain mindfulness as a way of life, we suggest that you consider trying some of the exercises in chapter 4, and the additional meditations and verses in this chapter. These are what we call “breathing meditations in action”: you can use them as you engage in various tasks and routines throughout the day. Pick and choose those that are relevant and appealing to you.
One of the aspects of engaged mindfulness practice is that it is continuous. We don’t just have periods of mindfulness throughout the day: we want to be mindful all day long, as much as possible. When we incorporate mindfulness from moment to moment, we stay fresh, peaceful, and protected from the push and pull of our habit energy. We stay on track because we are awake, no longer on autopilot. The meditations and verses given here are like signposts along the road, reminding us of the speed limit, giving us
directions, helping us stay on track. And we need them all throughout our journey, not just at the beginning or end. So it is with mindfulness. We may start out our day very mindfully, but if when we get in the car or bus to go to work we allow stress or worry to overwhelm us, we have lost our way. So we need practices throughout the day to help us remember to come back to our breathing, relax, and stay present in this moment. In this way, we will not be the victim of our stress and worry.
As you practice these meditations and verses, keep in mind that the very rst step in opening your heart to mindfulness is to stop for a brief moment as soon as you are aware of your action. This brief stop invites you to look deeply and gain insight into what you are doing by being totally present at that moment. It is possible to turn every activity we do into a meditation, even the most mundane things—like using the toilet, brushing our hair, or putting on our clothes—as long as we have awareness, with our mind and body united.
Waking-Up Meditation
As you wake up every morning and before you get out of bed, breathe with the waking-up meditation. Breathe three in-breaths and out-breaths, repeating the following verse silently for each in-breath and out-breath.
Breathing in, I ll my new day with joy/faith/love/gratitude/mindfulness/ease/harmony.
Breathing out, I smile.
For the in-breath, choose one of the words that most appeals to you.
Sunrise Meditation
Sunrise is a very special time of the day. It is transient, brief in duration, yet magical if we can get up early enough to see it. It is the beginning of a brand-new day. Dawn is a reminder that we can start our life anew, unburdened by the troubles and worries of yesterday. The energy from the emerging rays nurtures all there is on Mother Earth, including plants, animals, and ourselves.
Keep your window clear, and watch the sky become gradually lit up with the rays of dawn. Witness the beauty of sunrise. As you see the sun rising, breathe in and out a few times.
Breathing in, I am aware of the sun.
Breathing out, I thank the universe for the sun’s energy and brilliance.
Teeth-Brushing Meditation
Since we brush our teeth a number of times a day, it is a great opportunity for us to practice mindfulness. Remember the advice from your dentist: brushing our teeth properly will foster gum health and the integrity of our teeth throughout our lives. Without healthy teeth and gums, we would not be able to chew well and enjoy our daily food.
As you brush your teeth, breathe in and out a few times. Do not think about your next assignment or errand. When you brush your teeth, focus just on your teeth and gums, nothing else.
Breathing in, I am aware of my teeth and gums.
Breathing out, I look after my teeth and gums.
Hurrying Meditation
It is inevitable that we may nd ourselves in a hurry at times. As you cultivate mindfulness, though, and plan your day better, your tendency to hurry may very well decrease. Nevertheless, when you do need to hurry, it doesn’t mean you need to forget mindfulness as you rush along. It is better to be mindful than not mindful as you hurry, if only to avoid accidents and mistakes. Mindful hurrying means that you know you are hurrying. In a sense, you embrace that you are hurrying. You focus on the task at hand and do it in a faster and more e cient mode. Mindfulness doesn’t necessarily mean going slow. You can be fast and still be mindful—totally aware and relaxed. For example, if you are going from one building to another in a hurry, you want to make sure that you are using the shortest route. As you hurry, pay attention to your in-breath and out-breath.
Breathing in, I am moving quickly.
Breathing out, I am in the flow.
Smiling Meditation
A smile is the universal language for happiness. When we see the “smiley” face on stickers, shopping bags, or T -shirts, we spontaneously smile even though we may not be in the best mood.
It is important not to forget our own smile and the power it has. Our smile can bring much joy and relaxation to us and to others around us at the same time. When we smile, the muscles around our mouth are stretched and relaxed, just like doing yoga. Smiling is mouth yoga. We release the tension from our face as we smile. Others who run into us notice it, even strangers, and are likely to smile back. It is a wonderful chain reaction that we can initiate, touching the joy in anyone we encounter. Smiling is an ambassador of goodwill. As you smile, take a few in-breaths and out-breaths.
Breathing in, I smile.
Breathing out, I relax and touch joy.
Light-Switch Meditation
We turn on light switches many times a day, at home or at our o ce. Each time you turn on a light switch, pause for a moment and practice a few breathing meditations.
Breathing in, I illuminate this room with light.
Breathing out, I thank the electricity that is available to us.
As you leave the room, turn o the light to save energy. Pause again after turning o the light switch and breathe in and out a few times.
Breathing in, I am leaving this room.
Breathing out, I am mindful of not wasting any electricity. Sky Meditation
Staring into the sky, we see and feel the expansiveness of space, the ever-changing scenery that captures our imagination, the power and
vastness of nature, and the smallness of ourselves in relation to our universe. Staring into the sky o ers us a wonderful opportunity to free ourselves from the burdens of our daily demands and from our ego. It allows us to appreciate the reality of constant change and to be free to dream.
Breathing in, I see the magnificent sky.
Breathing out, I feel free.
Jogging/Brisk-Walking Meditation
Jogging or brisk walking is a great form of exercise for our cardiovascular health and weight control. Jogging unmindfully not only deprives you of the joy of jogging but may even be detrimental, because it can lead to injuries or accidents. As you jog or walk briskly, focus on your legs, feet, and what is in front of your eyes. If you are moving very briskly, you may shorten this meditation so that on the in-breath you say silently to yourself the word “moving,” and on the out-breath you say to yourself the word “thanks.” (However many steps you take on your in-breath, say “moving” with each step. And then however many steps on your out-breath, say “thanks” with each step.)
Breathing in, I keep moving.
Breathing out, I thank my body for its strength, endurance. and coordination.
Driving Meditation
Driving meditation allows us to focus solely on our driving, with no distraction from conversations with other passengers, no thinking, no talking on the cell phone, and no text messaging. Discussions with fellow passengers or someone on the phone can, with all good intentions, end up in involved or heated conversations that distract us from paying attention to what is happening on the road—and what is happening in the moment.
Breathing in, I am driving my car.
Breathing out, I am mindful of all that is around me.
Traffic-Jam Meditation
| Many people become impatient and irritable when they are in a | |
| tra | c jam. What can you do to speed up the tra c? Nothing. The |
| tra | c will have to take its own course. And this actually makes it a |
great time to practice mindfulness. It provides valuable time for us to decompress and go back to the island of calm in ourselves to get refreshed.
Breathing in, I follow my in-breath.
Breathing out, I follow my out-breath.
Breathing in, I know everyone is trying to get somewhere.
Breathing out, I wish everyone a peaceful, safe journey.
Breathing in, I go back to the island of calm in myself.
Breathing out, I feel refreshed.
Water-Faucet Meditation
In developed countries, clean sanitary water is available continuously from the water faucet. Yet 1.1 billion people
worldwide are still without clean water.1 As we turn on our faucet, it is a reminder of how blessed we are. An average American uses
four hundred liters of water a day.2 It takes twenty-four hundred liters of water to produce a hamburger, but only twenty-four liters to grow a pound of grain. We need to use water carefully and nd ways to help others around the world have access to clean water— an essential for daily living.
Breathing in, as I turn on the faucet, I am grateful for the clean water that sustains my life.
Breathing out, I remember the billions of people who are without clean water every day.
Elevator Meditation
While we are waiting for an elevator to arrive, it is easy for us to become impatient and get irritated about the wait. This window of time is actually a great opportunity to sneak in some conscious breathing to help us maintain our calm and return to the present
moment.
For those of us who are claustrophobic or afraid of heights, breathing in and out mindfully is a wonderful way to take care of our anxiety when it arises.
Breathing in, I am aware of my in-breath.
Breathing out, I am aware of my out-breath.
Breathing in, I embrace my discomfort.
Breathing out, I feel a lot of space and security inside me.
Greeting-Our-Negative-Emotions Meditation
It is human for all of us to have negative emotions on a daily basis unless we are a seasoned mindfulness practitioner who knows how to prevent and transform them. Whenever a negative emotion arises, be it anger, despair, sadness, frustration, fear, or anxiety, repeat the following gatha (verse) silently to yourself for three to six in-breaths and out-breaths.
Breathing in, I am aware of my anger/despair/sadness/frustration/fear/anxiety.
Breathing out, I embrace my anger/despair/sadness/frustration/fear/anxiety.
Name the emotion that is the strongest at that moment. The more often you can catch your negative emotions as they arise, breathe into them, and embrace them, the easier it is to transform them. What you are essentially doing is preventing your body from engaging neural pathways that produce stress hormones, which are good for you when you need to jump out of the way of an oncoming train but not helpful in the course of everyday life. The more frequently we can disengage the coupling of perceived stress, be it physical or emotional, to our body’s stress response, the greater the likelihood that we can maintain our well-being. The route to transformation is really as easy as going back to our in-breath and out-breath—the action that we are all constantly engaged in as long as we are alive. The only task for us is to be aware of our emotions and reconnect to them through our in-breath
and out-breath.
Internet/E-mail Meditation
The Internet and e-mail are now a way of life and a principal means of communication in the twenty- rst century. It is quite easy to be totally consumed by the Internet, chained to our chair, forgetting to get up and move around, eat or be in touch with our body. After hours of staring at our computer screen, our eyes are strained, our back may hurt, our shoulders are sti , and our mind can become numb.
We can refresh ourselves easily by breathing with awareness. The following meditation is very helpful in preventing major mistakes or disasters that occur when we are on computer overload, like sending sensitive e-mails to unintended recipients. You can use it whenever you write an e-mail before you click “Send.”
Breathing in, I thank the power of the Internet.
Breathing out, I am fully conscious of my current e-mail actions.
Deep-Listening-and-Loving-Speech Meditation
Many of us nd it di cult to communicate with our family members or colleagues. At times we can become intolerant of them and irritated with their views and advice. We lose our capacity to listen deeply to them or the willingness to understand their point of view. We cannot speak calmly with others, or when we do talk, our own su ering, fear, or anxiety surfaces, and our words become critical and bitter.
We need to learn the art of listening and speaking. To help restore communication, we need deep, compassionate listening to help us understand others better. This means that our only intention while listening is to help the other person su er less and express what she has in her heart. We become completely present to just receive what she needs to share, without judging or reacting. Even if the other person says things that are not true, that contain a lot of blame and bitterness, we do not correct her straightaway. We give her space to share her feelings, and later on, maybe a day or two later, we can slowly share information that will help her release her
wrong perceptions about us or the situation.
We also need to apply the methods of loving speech, using only words that inspire con dence, joy, and hope in others. We take time to acknowledge the positive, beautiful things in others. We let them know how important they are to us, and we thank them for the way they contribute to our life. We also can very mindfully and patiently express our di culties in our relationship with them without judgment or blame. We take responsibility for our own feelings and reactions but ask them to support us and help us by watering the good seeds in us, not the negative ones. And we can ask them how we can be of support to them when they go through di culties. This way, we can attain peace and harmony in our interactions.
Start with your family or those you are closest to. Before starting a conversation with a loved one, take a moment to breathe in and out a few times.
Breathing in, I listen deeply.
Breathing out, I speak with love.
As you form the habit of being able to listen deeply and speak in a positive, constructive manner with your loved ones, it will spread to other interactions you have with friends and colleagues.
Tree Meditation for Stability
A tree is an inspiring image of sturdiness. When there is a storm or very strong wind, we see the branches shaking and bending. Yet the trunk of the tree remains sturdy and still, with its roots rmly in the soil. When you are in a state of turmoil or feeling vulnerable, look for a tree. If there are none nearby, look at an image of a tree. You may want to hang a picture of your favorite tree in your room or o ce as a reminder to breathe in and out with the tree whenever you feel unsteady.
Breathing in, I am like the trunk of the tree.
Breathing out, I can maintain my sturdiness despite stormy circumstances.
Flower Meditation
When we see a blooming ower, its natural beauty and fragrance never fail to lift our spirit no matter which corner of the globe we are in. Flowers bring us much joy and are a universal expression of love and appreciation for others, both in celebrations and memorials. Yet a flower withers shortly after it blooms—a profound reminder of the impermanence of all life. Being with a ower mindfully is a deep meditation.
Breathing in, I am grateful for the beauty and fragrance of this flower.
Breathing out, I treasure the flower here and now.
Standing-in-Line Meditation
In our daily lives, we often nd ourselves having to wait in line. Sometimes we get irritated by the wait. It can be the checkout line at the supermarket, the security-check line at the airport, or the pickup line at our child’s school. Being in a line is a great opportunity to sneak in mindful breathing and refresh yourself.
Breathing in, I use this time just for myself, to unite my body and mind.
Breathing out, I feel refreshed.
Multitasking Meditation
Juggling many tasks has become a way of life for many of us today. It is particularly true for people who have children or older parents to take care of, or for people who have to work more than one job to make ends meet. Think about your daily “to do” list: going shopping, preparing for a meeting at work, going to the post o ce, making a doctor’s appointment, writing thank-you notes, and so forth. As we increase our practice of mindfulness, we may become more conscious of what is realistic for us to accomplish in one day.
Breathing in, I am aware that I am juggling numerous tasks.
Breathing out, I am mindful that I can accomplish only so much in one day.
What actually helps us to be more e ective when we have many things to do is to engage each task with our full awareness, not worrying about the next task that needs to be done. While we run an errand, we simply do that task with our whole being. Then when we return home, we tackle the next task with the same focus and concentration, not thinking about other tasks. This way, our mind stays relaxed and fresh, and we have more energy to accomplish the items on our list as well as greater exibility and acceptance when we need to adjust our schedule or our “to do” list.
Key Meditation
We may often nd ourselves searching for our keys, whether they are to our car, home, or o ce. It helps to have a designated key hook in our home. Nevertheless, we still search for our keys everywhere—in the pockets of our coat or pants, in our backpack or briefcase. After you use a key, pause and breathe in and out to remind yourself of where you are placing your keys.
Breathing in, I am aware of my keys.
Breathing out, I place my keys here.
Cooking Meditation
With our hectic, demanding lives, fast food, cafeteria meals, and takeout from grocery stores or restaurants can become the mainstay of our eating. Many of us no longer really cook. In New York City, with meal-delivery service everywhere, even breakfast is commonly delivered.
Cooking can o er a sacred time for relaxing our mind and nurturing our soul. The act of cooking inevitably involves consciously thinking about what you would like to eat, purchasing the right ingredients, preparing the food, and enjoying what you created. Before you start preparing a meal in your kitchen, breathe in and breathe out a few times to be in touch with the joy of cooking.
Breathing in, I thank the universe for the wonderful foods available for this meal.
Breathing out, I prepare this meal with love and joy.
Sunset Meditation
Every day the sun rises and the sun sets. Even if we do not have a full view of the sunset, seeing the light rays through a window around that time o ers another precious opening for conscious breathing and renewal at the end of the day. As we enjoy the sunset and begin to wind down, we can re ect on our day and let go of the events of the day.
Breathing in, I thank the sun for all its energy, which sustains all beings on earth.
Breathing out, I will also do my part to support all of life and help reverse global warming.
Good-Night Meditation
Before you sleep, unwind with the good-night meditation with three in-breaths and out-breaths, repeating the following verse silently for each in-breath and out-breath.
Breathing in, I release my worries/thoughts.
Breathing out, I touch peace.
Ten-Week Sample Mindful Living Plan
Now that we have described the three pillars of daily mindfulness practice, it is time for you to put your in Eating, in Moving, and in Breathing strategies into a practical plan. On a daily basis, this means that you increase the practice of mindful breathing integrated into various daily routines. You have a healthy-eating routine that includes reducing the amount of calories you eat each day; you have a healthy-moving routine that includes increasing the amount of calories you burn in physical activity. And, you have a strategy to practice consolidating good habits as well as the mindful transformation of negative emotions. Set speci c goals, and stick with them. If you nd yourself falling o track, re ect on how and why you were not able to achieve what you intended. Through mindful awareness, re ect on ways that can support you in getting back on the right path. It will take time before these practices
become second nature. However, the more you are aware, the more attention you pay from moment to moment in your daily living, the more you will nd yourself increasing mindful practices throughout the day without consciously trying. Over time, the practices will become effortless, fulfilling routines that you love.
The ten-week sample plan will help you integrate the practical tools of mindful living into your daily life, with emphasis on weight control. The ten-week duration is only an illustration. You may need a shorter or longer time to practice, and you may choose the exercises you like to do. Throughout all the exercises, maintain conscious breathing as the foundation of your movement. For the inBreathing strategy, don’t feel compelled to do all the exercises suggested during each two-week segment. But do keep adding more exercises from one interval to the next. The progression suggested in the ten-week plan starts with building up positive energies and progresses to recognizing and transforming negative habit energies so that you can remain steady on your path to good health. There is no rigid formula for success. The key to improvement is continuing to practice every day. (See table 7.1.)
Stay on Track
Staying on track means doing what you intend to do and staying committed. Do not underestimate your resilience and resourcefulness. You have the power and the ability. Your journey to a healthier weight is not a journey that you start and then give up. It is a journey that you are living every day for the rest of your life. However, it is natural for you to encounter obstacles throughout this journey.
Sometimes you may feel discouraged, thinking that weight loss is an unattainable goal. Whenever you encounter such negative feelings, breathe in and out a few times to come back to the present reality. You can then embrace your doubts with compassion and awareness and see past the illusion they create. You have the capacity to change and to overcome every obstacle or challenge you face on your healthy-weight journey. You may need others to support you, including your family, friends, coworkers, and doctor. Think of how they can help you to eat healthier and stay active.
Then, be proactive and ask for their help.
We o er you a few other practical suggestions to help you stay on track. These include keeping a daily mindful living log, getting social support, having a good sleep routine, and doing something every day to nurture yourself and connect to nature.
Keep a Mindful Living Log
Research has shown that monitoring and tracking one’s weight can
help people lose weight as well as maintain their weight,3 so weigh yourself every morning or once a week to know your weight. Recording one’s eating and physical activity has also been reported
to be strongly associated with weight control.4
Journaling is useful for exploring what you are ready for and what you are not. Journaling helps us look deeply. Find the most ideal time of the day for pondering your mindful living log. For some, it is the morning, when the mind is clear. For others, it may be the evening before going to bed. What’s important is to nd a window of time every day during which you can focus on your own body, your mind, your feelings, and your inward experiences so that you know what is going on with yourself. Use your daily mindful living log to track your progress and whether you are reaching your daily in Eating, in Moving, and in Breathing goals. Record your weight in the mindful living log as well.
You can also do this yourself online. Many Web sites o er online food diaries that automatically calculate your calorie intake. A free, and ad-free, site worth trying is MyPyramid Tracker (www.mypyramid tracker.gov), set up by the U .S. Department of Agriculture to support its new food pyramid. The site also has an exercise tracker.
Attackpoint is also a good, free Web site for tracking activity (www.attackpoint.org). It’s geared toward serious athletes; but don’t be intimidated: it’s got a lot to o er everyone. Weight can be tracked as well.
Get Social Support
Getting support is important to your weight loss and weight maintenance. Recognizing the popularity of various diets di ering in suggested amounts of fats and protein—like Atkins, Zone, Mediterranean, and South Beach—scientists conducted a sophisticated trial to ascertain di erent diets’ e ectiveness in inducing weight loss. Researchers were surprised that they did not
nd much di erence among the various dietary approaches.5
However, they found that when one is able to stick with the eating
routine, it made a di erence. Those who attended the group
sessions lost more weight than those who skipped the sessions.
These group sessions were designed to help keep participants
motivated and informed while addressing their concerns. This
nding suggests that behavioral, psychological, and social factors
are probably far more important for weight loss than the relative amount of nutrients in a diet.
Other research has shown that social support can help individuals lose weight and sustain behavior change for weight control. Researchers found that weight loss can be greater when the spouse
is included in the weight-loss program.6 Others have found that couples can lose weight together even if only one of them is
enrolled in a formal program.7 Even more interesting, some researchers have observed that obesity appears to spread through social networks, such that our friends—of the same sex—may in uence our tendency to lose or gain weight even more than our spouses. And our close friends may not be the only ones who in uence us most with regard to weight gain and loss; more-distant acquaintances, the friends of friends, may also have some in uence
on our behavior.8 The lead researcher on this latter study, Dr. Nicholas Christakis, suggests that these social interconnections can empower us to do good—both for ourselves and for others. “Even as we are being in uenced by others, we can in uence others…. And therefore the importance of taking actions that are beneficial to others is heightened. So this network thing can cut both ways, subverting our ability to have free will, but increasing, if you will,
the importance of us having free will.”9
Social support can come from your family, your friends, your colleagues at work, or even virtual online communities. Re ect and identify all possible support that you may be able to get among all the people you know in your social network—people who may also want to live more mindfully or are struggling with their weight like yourself. The support system does not need to be face-to-face. You may nd support on a social-networking site. You may also want to start your own mindful living group with your own family, friends, or neighbors. Begin with even one person who can get
together with you regularly every week. The group can grow over time as friends tell other friends. The important thing is that you have your network of people who share the same vision and are committed to the practice of mindful living.
Buddhist teachings greatly emphasize the role of the sangha. A sangha is a spiritual community of like-minded practitioners. A very powerful, collective energy of mindfulness is generated when people practice together, and this energy can support us and help us continue our practice when our own willpower is weak. This is why monks and nuns, as well as laypeople, in many spiritual traditions live together. And the Buddha often said that it is only in a sangha that you can realize the dharma, the teachings of the Buddha. This is why the Three Jewels—Buddha, dharma, and sangha—interact: when you touch one, you touch the other two.
Whenever people leave one of our retreats, we always encourage them to join a sangha in their local area or start one if one doesn’t yet exist. This is the best way to ensure an energetic and joyful continuation of your practice after the retreat. Alone, we will quickly succumb to our usual habits and lose our mindfulness practice. Sangha-building is the noblest task, the most important thing a practitioner can do. And in the Buddhist tradition, we speak of Maitreya, the future Buddha. In fact, it may be that the future Buddha will become manifest as a sangha, not as an individual, because this is what the world needs. Individual awakening is no longer enough. A collective awakening is necessary for us to survive as a species.
If you are interested in connecting with others who practice mindfulness, there are hundreds of local sanghas all over the world. At www.iamhome.org you can nd a worldwide list of sanghas in the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition.
Get a Good Night’s Sleep
We mentioned in chapter 1 that research suggests that a good night’s sleep may also be essential to controlling your weight. As a result of not having enough sleep, you may be too tired to exercise, or you eat more because you get hungrier when you stay up late. When you’re tired you have trouble knowing what your body really
needs, and when you don’t sleep enough you simply have more hours in the day available to eat. Help yourself establish good sleep habits by going to bed at a regular hour to minimize uctuations in your circadian rhythm, which is closely related to the release of hormones a ecting your sleep. Avoid caf-feinated drinks after midafternoon unless you want to deliberately stay awake late at night. Avoid eating a big, heavy meal late at night, since it can cause indigestion and disrupt your ability to sleep. Do not drink alcohol with the idea that it can help you sleep better. Though alcohol may act like a sedative or tranquillizer because it is a central nervous system depressant, it actually interferes with sleep
and may result in insomnia.10 Before sleeping, refrain from any stimulating activity including exercising, watching violent movies, or listening to loud music. Help yourself fall asleep peacefully by reading for pleasure, listening to soft music, and practicing your good-night meditation.
Do Something Every Day to Nurture Yourself
What are you doing to nurture yourself every day? Don’t forget to love and care for yourself while you are loving and taking care of others. Loving yourself is the basis for loving other people. Be your own best friend.
Re ect on whether you have been really nurturing yourself, feeding yourself with the good nutriments for your physical body as well as your spirit. Consider not only what you have been doing to take care of your family members or your friends, but how you have been caring for yourself and for your own well-being too.
Do you know your passion? Are you doing the work you love? Do you know what you really want to do in this life? Are you doing what you want to do? Or are you losing yourself because you are trying to meet someone else’s expectations? You don’t have to be trapped in any predicament. You have the freedom and ability to lead your life the way you want.
Start nurturing yourself by identifying an activity that will help you refuel your enthusiasm and life force daily. Do things that will capture your spirit and bring you joy, watering your positive seeds in your consciousness. It can be something very simple, such as
listening to your favorite song, appreciating a favorite drawing, watching the birds feeding from the bird feeder, staring at a beam of light from the sky touching the horizon, enjoying a beautiful ower, or chatting with a friend who has a great sense of humor. Don’t just sit there and wait for your negative feelings to pass. Complaining will not change your life. Change your thinking, and you can let go of limitations you imposed on yourself. Explore, and
be proactive.
Get Back to Nature
Writers from Lao-tzu to Ralph Waldo Emerson have urged humans to be in tune and in touch with nature. Many of us may have experienced that whenever we spend time with nature: whether we’re in the forest staring at the trees or watching a peaceful pond, we are refreshed and feel better.
Research has shown that nature actually can have an impact on our mental functioning. According to environmental psychologists, urban environments can dull our thinking and a ect our memory. If you walk down a street in the city, there are many signs and cues to draw your attention, like the threat of wayward cars or the attractive window displays. Paying attention like this takes energy and e ort, according to these researchers. Our brain can get “directed-attention fatigue,” resulting in greater distractibility and irritability. In contrast, as we are walking along a pond with trees, the images in nature enter our mind without provoking lots of mental activity, draining us of energy or triggering a negative emotional response. Our brain can relax deeply and replenish itself. This is why scientists think that immersing ourselves in nature—or even just viewing a tree or a patch of green from a window—can
have a restorative effect.11
Prevent Relapses
It is normal for all of us to slip and go back to our old habits despite our best intentions. This can be very discouraging. How do we prevent relapse? This is a scienti c topic that has been studied extensively in the treatment of addictive behaviors such as
alcoholism.12 Researchers identi ed three “high-risk situations” that
were linked to nearly 75 percent of relapses they studied.13 These three situations are negative emotional states, interpersonal con ict, and social pressure. The researchers proposed three strategies to cope with these high-risk situations—namely, coping-skills training, cognitive therapy, and lifestyle modi cation. In the domain of lifestyle modi cation, researchers recommended the use of meditation, exercise, and spiritual practices as ways to help support
a person’s overall coping strategy.14
When we practice mindfulness, we can become more aware and catch the moment when we rst begin to slip. Slipping is just slipping. It doesn’t mean we’re sliding back to where we started, and it doesn’t imply that we have failed. It is just a signal that we have to get back on the right course. Some routines may not be working quite right for you, so you’ll need to tweak them to make them better. Or you may have been distracted by something happening in your life without being conscious of it. Every mindful moment is a new opportunity to prevent relapse. We can begin anew every moment. That’s one of the real powers of mindfulness.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings are a good tool to prevent relapse and stay on course. (See gure 7.1.) They are also a concrete way to practice compassion, understanding, and love. They are a moral compass guiding us toward a healthy, happy life.
The first mindfulness training strengthens our innate reverence for life and reminds us of the su ering caused by the destruction of life, be it of the lives of people, animals, plants, or minerals. The second mindfulness training encourages our true happiness by reminding us that happiness can only be found in the present moment, through the practice of generosity and interconnectedness. It also raises our awareness of the su ering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression. The third mindfulness training nurtures our capacity for true love and raises our awareness of the su ering caused by unmindful sexuality. The fourth mindfulness training invites us to care for ourselves and others through loving speech and deep listening and addresses the su ering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others. The fth mindfulness training promotes our nourishment and healing through mindful consumption and is integral to our aspiration to attain a healthy weight. Recite the Five Mindfulness Trainings
regularly—say, once a week—to support your mindful living.
Figure 7.1 THE FIVE MINDFULNESS TRAININGS
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
Reverence for Life
Aware of the su ering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and to learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and nonattachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.
True Happiness
Aware of the su ering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to practicing generosity in my thinking, speaking, and acting. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others; and I will share my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need. I will practice looking deeply to see that the happiness and su ering of others are not separate from my own happiness and su ering; that true happiness is not possible without understanding and compassion; and that running after wealth, fame, power, and sensual pleasures can bring much su ering and despair. I am aware that happiness depends on my mental attitude and not on external conditions, and that I can live happily in the present moment simply by remembering that I already have more than enough conditions to be happy. I am committed to
practicing right livelihood so that I can help reduce the su ering of living beings on earth and reverse the process of global warming.
True Love
Aware of the su ering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. Knowing that sexual desire is not love, and that sexual activity motivated by craving always harms myself as well as others, I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without true love and a deep, long-term commitment made known to my family and friends. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct. Seeing that body and mind are one, I am committed to learning appropriate ways to take care of my sexual energy and to cultivating loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and inclusiveness—which are the four basic elements of true love—for my greater happiness and the greater happiness of others. Practicing true love, we know that we will continue beautifully into the future.
Loving Speech and Deep Listening
Aware of the su ering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and compassionate listening in order to relieve su ering and to promote reconciliation and peace in myself and among other people, ethnic and religious groups, and nations. Knowing that words can create happiness or su ering, I am committed to speaking truthfully, using words that inspire con dence, joy, and hope. When anger is becoming manifest in me, I am determined not to speak. I will practice mindful breathing and walking in order to recognize and to look deeply into my anger. I know that the roots of anger can be found in my wrong perceptions and lack of understanding of the su ering in myself and in the other person. I will speak and listen in a way that can help myself and the other person transform su ering and see the way out of di cult situations. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to utter words that can cause division or discord. I will practice right diligence to nourish my capacity for understanding, love, joy, and inclusiveness, and gradually transform the anger, violence, and fear that lie deep in my consciousness.
Nourishment and Healing
Aware of the su ering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivating good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I will
practice looking deeply into how I consume the four kinds of nutriments— namely, edible foods, sense impressions, volition, and consciousness. I am determined not to gamble or to use alcohol, drugs, or any other products that contain toxins, such as certain Web sites, electronic games, TV programs, lms, magazines, books, and conversations. I will practice coming back to the present moment to be in touch with the refreshing, healing, and nourishing elements in me and around me, not letting regrets and sorrow drag me back into the past or letting anxieties, fears, or cravings pull me out of the present moment. I am determined not to try to cover up loneliness, anxiety, or other su ering by losing myself in consumption. I will contemplate interbeing and consume in a way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being in my body and consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family, my
society, and the earth.
For a full commentary on the Five Mindfulness Trainings, see For a Future to Be Possible, by Thich Nhat Hanh. Source: Plum Village Web site, http://www.plum village.org/mindfulness-trainings/3-the- ve-mindfulness-trainings.html.
Reach the Point of No Failure
Now you have all the tools you need to cultivate mindful living and embark on your mindful journey to attain a healthier weight. Bear in mind that having faith that you can accomplish your intended goal and being diligent in your practice are keys to reaching your destination. Doing everything the way you most enjoy doing it helps you remain mindful. With mindfulness practice, there is no failure—only awareness of what works, what doesn’t work, and how to improve the practice at hand. Every mindful step counts. The important thing on this journey is the process, not the destination. Throughout the day, there are many opportunities available to cultivate mindfulness. Find the daily tasks, chores, and events that inspire you the most for integrating mindfulness.
Surrender to what life presents to you in the moment. Stay open, and allow events to unfold. Bear witness to those events, and observe them with equanimity. What is that particular event trying to teach you or alert you to? Stay concentrated on your intentions and goals. With mindfulness, concentration, and your ability to
remain nonjudgmental, you will keep gaining valuable insights into all that is needed for you to make progress. This cultivation also helps you become more solid on your path and freer from worries and anxieties over failure.
Through your daily re ection with your mindful living log, thank all the people, beings, and things that have made your life and the way you live possible, as well as those who have helped you stay on the path of mindful living. For example, think of the salad that you had for lunch: how many people and processes are needed to assemble the rainbow-colored salad that you ate? Such contemplation will reinforce your awareness of how blessed and supported you are every day by people you know and by many people you do not know. Thinking like this, you will realize that life is a miracle, that we have much to be grateful for, and that we are all very lucky to have the opportunity to savor it all.
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