[dms-discuss] Mindfulness & Computing 2 follow up

[Emily Schleiner]

Hello gang,

Thank you for attending the second Mindfulness and Computing workshop. It
was great to take the group through our ‘Encountering Computers With a
Fresh Perspective’ day.

For anyone who missed this night and would like to stay caught up, we did
some mindful walking, did a guided meditation, and watched this video on The
Rubber Hand Illusion <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxwn1w7MJvk>. We did
some exercises aimed at learning how to distinguish between ‘the observer’
or ‘watcher’ inside every person and other sensations. One exercise was to
mindfully write while seated at a computer.

Goals for the day: With gentle awareness, watch and identify your
sensations and feelings. Do not try to own or judge feelings or sensations.
Instead, let them flow through you. As you watch your feelings, gently
focus on who, or what, is watching the feelings.

Discussion topics that came up:

One question that came up is:

What is the self? Is the self located in our bodies?

When we talk about developing awareness of feelings vs. the ‘self’,
naturally philosophical questions come up about the nature of self and
consciousness and where they are located.  Ruminating on this question is
interesting, but for the purposes of this workshop on mindfulness, we
encourage participants in the workshop to consider ‘the observer’ more as
an anchoring, non-judgemental awareness that mindful practitioners can
return to when reaching for mindfulness or meditation.

Kindness:

One participant commented that a major take-away for the day was our
emphasis on kindness. The word “observe” has a kind of ...coldly analytical
feel to it. But in a mindful practice, inquiring with kindness is essential
in order to observe more intimately, gain clarity, and experience a more
full awareness of the present moment.

The homework for next time is to do some mindful walking for 5 minutes a
day every day or to write mindfully for 5 minutes.

Here is a link to Rez's mindful walking instruction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ieuiRN9DP0

Next Tuesday's topic:

Living Bravely with Uncertainty

Looking forward to seeing you next Tuesday!

Thanks always,

-Emily and Rez


-- 
__________________________________
Emily Schleiner
cordial-emily.com
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