In 2021, the world was still deep in its COVID response. Most of us were at home and still taking great precautions. I was in a deeply seeking phase. I had joined many programs to “decolonize” my mind and my therapy/coaching offerings. These were somewhat new concepts to me. I was working from home for the first time ever. I imagine this time hop came up for me because it’s the new year, a time of looking both back and forward. The thing I want to share is meditation!
In 2021, I completed a meditation course that has deeply supported me over the last five years. It’s called MNDFL. I started meditating in high school, though mainly in the "I got high and loved sitting by a stream with my BFF" category. I don’t discount it, even though I will point out the lack of rigor in those early experiences. These formative moments, along with seeing the Grateful Dead and other "jam bands" and talking about the inequities of the world with friends, all helped expand my consciousness. I started interacting with folks who didn’t see everything through a Western Christian lens. Fast forward to 2021, and I began the MNDFL program.
"MNDFL is a state-of-the-art training program offered by an unparalleled collective of expert teachers and scientists. Learn from fourteen individuals, including three neuroscientists and a neurosurgeon."
50% of their teaching staff identify as BIPOC or Global Majority people and facilitated classes always have BIPOC/Global Majority leadership. I’m still returning to my own slideshow, which you can find here: MNDFL slideshow
There are links within the links, so I encourage you to explore.
As I started to write this morning, I remembered the night before our weekend-long retreat to complete the 75-hour MNDFL program, an email came through. We were asked to watch two white guys talk about mindfulness. It was an interesting challenge, but I’m pretty sure I made it through both talks. Even though they are old, they’re vast and inspiring. Please read below for my quick takeaway.
John Dunne, PhD - Understanding Mindfulness: Heuristic Accounts
Evan Thompson, PhD - Context Matters: Steps to an Embodied Cognitive Science of Mindfulness
Essentially, I’m bringing these talks and these folks into this discussion because they are shedding light on what has been, or still is, the gold standard of teaching mindfulness in a medical/health setting: MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction). MBSR is not ineffective, but in short (and I’m REALLY simplifying here), these folks are saying there’s a context to everything. Our minds are not only just neurons and thoughts in our brains, and mindfulness is not simply about paying attention on purpose—though that’s a definition I can recite after studying meditation/MBSR in graduate school. Meditation is derived from Buddhism, and it’s doing much more than what we see on a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scan in many research studies. I’m sharing all of this to let you know that I love geeking out on meditation.
I meditate on New Year’s Eve. I’ve done this a good bit since the pandemic started; in four out of the last five years, I was on a cushion returning to myself (during meditation practice). I once met my Buddhist teacher in Times Square, had a cup of soup, watched the ball drop, and then went home to Brooklyn. I have to say, these are some of my favorite ways to celebrate our Judeo-Christian calendar.
I guess these disclosures let you know that when I offer to support you in your meditation practice, I’ve put in the time. Though I don’t have a formal Buddhist grounding, I immensely love the philosophy. It took the place of my Christian upbringing when I felt pretty lost. Deep down, I think I knew the church and the people I had been surrounded by wouldn’t all love me if I were an out queer radical person. For some, I imagine that’s still true. I don’t hear from them much.
For those of you still reading, check out the MNDFL page on my website or many of the other writings I’ve compiled over the years. Let’s see if I might be a good coach for you.
All the links are always here:
https://linktr.ee/bhopeb
I have some old images of art from a long-ago Instagram that I got rid of around completing this meditation course. The photo below shows two trees, a moon, a 3D box, and a broken heart. A large part of the painting is black and has the words “ bodies of culture” written in what looks like drops of blood going into the earth. There are two mugs beside the art, one with pencils and one with markers. The one with markers has a broken handle, and the text says, “Feminist all day err day.”
In solidarity,
Bridget
bridget@bridgetbertrand.com
