Mindfulness and meditation through using Brightmind and Shinzen Young's approach - Part 1

Mindfulness and meditation through using Brightmind and Shinzen Young's approach

This post will be the start of multiple posts spanning a period of around a year, although I will update the post at various times throughout the journey. It is starting for the second time in December, 2024. Although I did go through the complete Brightmind / Shinzen Young approach in 2022 quite in depth, and was considerably impressed enough to do it all again from scratch. 

To be honest, I have not found any approach with the same level of simplicity, clarity, precision and efficiency.. although that is my own personal experience with the approach to meditation and mindfulness. 

When I use the word 'mindfulness' in this post and with this approach, I'm using it in the modern way, meaning a secular approach the encompasses various sub-skills such as concentration, focus, clarity, equanimity, ethics, psychology and other aspects. This is in contrast with the traditional Buddhist use of the word, which is a small part of the 8 fold path, and developed along with various types of meditation (such as vipassana, zazen, satipatthana practices etc.)

Brightmind (an app designed and maintained by Tony Sola) is an amazing combo of both curriculum (journey meditations leading to levels of understanding) and technology. The advantage of this over many other apps is that Brightmind offers an efficient, effective and easy to follow mindfulness/meditation course complete in all its parts, as well as a way to implement the practice and embed it into daily life. Often technology provides intro type meditations and even complex or deep meditations, but not much in the way of a graded course or complete curriculum coverall all aspects of mindfulness or meditation. On the other hand, there are many courses out there that deliver the content of what mindfulness involves (or meditation), but do not deliver the means to implement and embed those teachings into one's daily life in a permanent and effective fashion. Brightmind does both.

It takes around 30-40 days to complete the first level of training (leading to Graduation level 1), that covers the "why", "how" and "what" of mindfulness (and meditation). Already at this level, one becomes fairly well skilled in directing attention (concentration) throughout the day into internal systems (thought, emotions) or external environments (sense objects).

More posts to come on this topic.

Links:

https://www.brightmind.com/

https://www.shinzen.org/

Brain focused Qi Gong and technology impacts.

Took a lesson in Brain focused Qi Gong. Mainly uses finger and hand exercises (since the idea is that over 50% of nerve paths in the brain relate to hands alone).. extremely impressed. Shows up how detrimental technology use has become in conditioning a very limited use of our hands, coordination, and thus even limiting our neural pathways and brain function unfortunately. If there was ever a time that more body awareness and kinesthesis was needing to be taught at school and in the workplace, it is probably now.


Philosophies, will-power, mind power, planning, decisions, and all thought-related processes are pretty much pointless or limited, when the brain itself has been limited in function due to poor kinaesthetics, coordination, habituated body-misuse, etc.