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The Mindfulness Summit

Like The Self Acceptance Project before it, The Summit is such a gift. I've been away from the forum for awhile, and I feel like the universe brought me back just in time to get to know some great new members and to be here for the Summit!

That's interesting, Forest, what you noticed about the juxtaposition of the first three presentations, and you're right, they balance each other perfectly, especially with Dan Harris's compelling personal story following the rather intellectual presentation by Joseph Goldstein, which I had a little difficulty remaining present with. And yes, I did notice that's where Dan Harris is studying.

So far, I'm most taken with Mark Williams who brilliantly combines compelling scientific evidence with passion and compassion.

But we have 28 more to go!
 
Forest said:
I'm glad you liked it, Angelic!

I just did the following seven minute meditation by Melli, the woman who conducts all of the interviews and who organized the summit. It was wonderfully relaxing, and I like it because I figure I can always make seven minutes of time for myself.

Click here to download the mp3 audio file

I got the recording from the following page, which contains tips on how to meditate for all 31 days of the summit. She refers to it as the 31 days of mindfulness challenge:
http://themindfulnesssummit.com/31days/

I think it's helpful for those days when there isn't a guided meditation during the interview. If others give it a try, I'd love to hear if you liked it.[/mp3]
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I liked this meditation very much. Just the right length for me at this time. Thanks, @Forest , for bringing it to my attention. I seem to like meditations the most if the person has a somewhat foreign accent. Not sure why this is.....
 
Ellen said:
I liked this meditation very much. Just the right length for me at this time. Thanks, @Forest , for bringing it to my attention. I seem to like meditations the most if the person has a somewhat foreign accent. Not sure why this is.....
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Maybe it reminds you of being far from home and relaxing some place overseas :-)
 
JanAtheCPA said:
Like The Self Acceptance Project before it, The Summit is such a gift. I've been away from the forum for awhile, and I feel like the universe brought me back just in time to get to know some great new members and to be here for the Summit!

That's interesting, Forest, what you noticed about the juxtaposition of the first three presentations, and you're right, they balance each other perfectly, especially with Dan Harris's compelling personal story following the rather intellectual presentation by Joseph Goldstein, which I had a little difficulty remaining present with. And yes, I did notice that's where Dan Harris is studying.

So far, I'm most taken with Mark Williams who brilliantly combines compelling scientific evidence with passion and compassion.
Click to expand...
Ahhhh, that makes sense. I enjoyed Joseph's interview, but i can relate a story that is similar to what you're describing. It turns out that I live only 90 minutes away from the 2 retreat centers that Joseph Goldstein founded. I checked out their websites, and when I looked at the events that they had, the first two that I listed were actually three-month meditation retreats. That's a bit much for me!

It looks like his approach is very steeped in a type of Buddhism called Theravada Buddhism. It appears to be the least mystical form of Buddhism and the one that is the most focused on the Buddhas original teachings. It has more of a focus on how to use Buddhist psychology and meditation to achieve happiness in our lives. When people refer to using "wisdom traditions" to live a happier life, Theravada Buddhism seems like the main tradition that they would be thinking of.

While I don't personally am not able to participate in the type of retreats that Joseph's two centers offer, from a scientific perspective I admire the many "monk in an MRI" studies, many sponsored by the Dalai Lama or other Buddhist leaders, which show very convincingly, that that level of training makes dramatically positive changes in people's brains. Mainstream science has shown using brain scans that those monks and long-term meditators have greater activity and more neurons in the portions of their brains related to happiness and peace. Something truly to admire, even for someone like myself for whom a simple 6 1/2 minute meditation sometimes seems like a big challenge :D :D

I generally felt the same way as you, Jan. While it was fun to listen to Dan Harris, Mark Williams is the one who speaks to me the most. I admired Joseph, but from a bit of a distance.

For anyone reading this who isn't sure if they should sign up, the Mark Williams interview will be available throughout the entire month:
http://themindfulnesssummit.com/sessions/mark-williams/

By the way, Jan, you mentioned how happy you are to be back, but it is also such a wonderful pleasure to have you back. Your consideration and thoughtfulness tend to elevate the threads that you participate in in a way that I think Dr. Sarno and the other TMS doctors appreciate (after all, for many Internet searchers, our discussions represent the TMS movement, which is a substantial responsibility). It's a pleasure to have you back. The same goes for several other members in this thread, who elevated our discussions wonderfully, and whom I am very happy to see posting again. :)
 
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Forest, thanks for showing me how to watch the mindfulness meditation sessions. It opened for me fine today (Sunday).

I will watch that audio you posted above.

Today's session with Jono Fisher was interesting but only as background. I wish he'd have spent some time on how to do MM.
I found some guided mindfulness meditations on Youtube that helped me learn how to do it.

I'll start a new thread now on one of those guided sessions from Youtube.
 
I did get a lot out of Goldstein's discussion of the importance of acceptance of our periods of "non-mindfulness". After I find that I've gotten caught up in my thoughts, I sometimes am hard on myself about it. Of course that's the inner bully--to tie it in with TMS teachings. I always need to be reminded that acceptance and suspending judgement extends to myself, not just others.

So when I find that I've gotten caught up in the delusions of my thoughts, I try to just say "Oops, I did it again..." to quote Britney Spears. Bet no one thought Britney Spears would be quoted in a thread on mindfulness :D
 
Forest said:
What I am enjoying the most about the summit so far is the way that it reminds me just how much I need mindfulness.

As someone who has his own experience of organizing webinars and recorded interviews, I also liked how Melli organized the first three interviews. Mark Williams, a famous psychological researcher from Oxford, was able to establish scientific credibility in the very first session. He was able to authoritatively speak about the scientific evidence that mindfulness changes lives. His interview is actually still available: http://themindfulnesssummit.com/sessions/mark-williams/ .

What is so special about mindfulness is that while it has a history of literally thousands of years of wisdom tradition there are also thousands of well-designed scientific studies verifying that it changes lives. Whereas Mark Williams is a special authority on the scientific studies, the next interviewee, Joseph Goldstein, is an expert on the wisdom tradition. He has 40 years of studying and teaching mindfulness and Buddhist psychology.

While the first two days brought in experts on the scientific literature and Buddhist philosophy, the third day brought in Dan Harris to talk about his own experiences. Because I love science, I would have thought that I would like Mark Williams the most, but I found that I really liked Dan because I could really relate to him. For someone who is a celebrity, he seemed very down-to-earth. It made me want to get his book:
http://www.amazon.com/10-Happier-Reduced-Self-Help-Actually/dp/B00I8NLVFY

Did anyone else notice that the place that Dan Harris was continuing to study mindfulness was actually the center that Joseph Goldstein set up? Here's Goldstein's Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goldstein

I'm curious, of the talks so far, which ones have others found most interesting?

Incidentally, here is Dan Harris' famous panic attack on live television. It was one of the things that forced him to realize he needed a change in life and therefore was one of the things that brought him to meditate. He has come a long way:
Click to expand...
So far I have enjoyed Joseph Goldstein best. Perhaps this is because it is very similar to the Buddhist practice I follow. I was a bit disappointed with the meditation, that it didn't go deeper to connect with inner peace that exists in our hearts. Fore , meditation doesn't happen in my head, it happens in my heart....
 
Thank you, Forest - that means a lot to me :)

Forest said:
Something truly to admire, even for someone like myself for whom a simple 6 1/2 minute meditation sometimes seems like a big challenge :D :D
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I'm with you there, which is why I am thrilled at the number of mindfulness mentors who are now assuring us that even three minutes can help change your brain! Mark Williams has several free meditations (none of them long) on his web site Peace In A Frantic World - including one called "Three-Minute Breathing Space". Three minutes!
http://franticworld.com/free-meditations-from-mindfulness/
 
Those look great, Jan. I'm afraid I lost a little time when I saw that they had "the chocolate meditation." That is something that I can definitely get behind! I will have to pick up some chocolate. I wonder if you could do it with Oreos?

Here's an adapted version of their introductory text:
The Chocolate Meditation

Connecting with your senses is one of the core benefits of Mindfulness meditation. Many traditions use nuts or fruit as the focus for a meditation on the senses of taste, smell and touch. But you can use any food at all so we developed a meditation based on chocolate. Why not do it now by doing the meditation below


Click here to download the mp3 audio file​

Perhaps tomorrow or the next day.
 
And today's interview is about mindful eating!
http://themindfulnesssummit.com/sessions/susan-albers/
By author and clinical psychologist from the Cleveland clinic, Susan Albers

I may use jam instead of chocolate as I don't have chocolate handy and there is plenty to be mindful of with it. Or maybe some pineapple. I have that, too. Either way, due to brain plasticity, I'll have a stronger and healthier brain at the end.

And a full belly.
 
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Let's not skip over Jono Fisher, a bit slow to start and the title for his interview wasn't overly appealing to me but I am keeping an open mind! In fact, I really liked his story and his message and he's easy to listen to. Better yet, he makes mindfulness practice very accessible, and I intend to listen again.
 
Some interesting techniques today regarding mindful eating. But I felt Susan really pushed her books too much.
 
Yeah, I liked today's because it made me feel like I can start mindfully eating today, but it felt like it was more about getting control of one's eating than about mindfulness itself. Of course, Mindfulness can be very helpful for long term eating habits, but I was a bit more interested in learning about mindfulness for its own sake.

I didn't expect to like Bono 's talk as much as I did. I liked how he seemed like a down to earth and authentic guy. I liked how he applied mindfulness to living and in particular to living meaningful and happy life. I loved his story, too.

I also noted that for some reason, Jono's interview is still available even though the next one is also available. Sweet!
http://themindfulnesssummit.com/sessions/jono-fisher/
 
I wish the summit stuck more with HOW to practice mindful meditation. We all know it's good for us. I had to go through quite a bit
to learn how to eat better for mindfulness but never learned what that takes. I don't want to sign up for more newsletters and get on more lists.
 
I quite liked Jono's interview too. It was very personal - I enjoyed how he adopted mindfullness techniques without conciously being aware of the practice until later.

I agree, it did seem as if it was more geared towards being in control of one's eating. I remember Richard Gere (who also practices Buddhism), make the very same reference about cookies and how each subsequent cookie is less fulfilling than the first and with mindfulness we can stop any cravings or bad habits.
 
Walt Oleksy said:
I wish the summit stuck more with HOW to practice mindful meditation
Click to expand...
mike2014 said:
I felt Susan really pushed her books too much.
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Okay, guys - I have a couple of points to make here.

1. The summit is not intended to teach us mindfulness. The goal is to introduce a wider world audience to the many ways in which mindfulness can be used to improve our lives - and to introduce us to some of the many and varied teachers, authors, and practitioners who are finding ways to bring mindfulness to the world. This is exactly what I expected from this project - but then it is very similar in that regard to the Self-Acceptance Project of two (three?) years ago.

2. I don't mind the book plugs at all - Susan's books are not yet very popular on Amazon but they consistently receive high ratings. As far as I'm concerned, if just one person buys one of her books and achieves a healthier lifestyle, it's worth it, because overconsumption of unnatural food is killing humanity in general - while millions still starve. And I love Melli's question at the end of each interview - what would the world look like if a billion people were practicing mindfulness? Her goal, and the goal of many of the leaders in this field, is simple - change the world, one person at a time. Sounds like what we're doing here! It's why so many of us come back to help others.

The Summit is co-sponsored by SoundsTrue, the organization that produced the Self-Acceptance Project. I gave them my email address however long ago that was, but I've received very few emails from them, and I am quite positive that they did not put me onto any other email list. The vast majority of junky email I receive is from outfits I've never heard of trying to sell me accounting and tax-related products and services. That's because every continuing ed conference I attend (to maintain my license) DOES sell my name and email address, as does my state board of accountancy, my two professional membership organizations, and the IRS practitioner registration program.

Bottom line: at no cost, we are getting to hear and see interviews with some of the most amazing teachers in this field. Coming up: Tara Brach, Rick Hanson, and John Kabat-Zinn! I am loving this.
 
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