Go forth and flashmob

At 6:34 p.m. on Thursday, June 2, several hundred people quietly strolled between the fountains in London's Trafalgar Square, sat down together, and began to meditate. They remained seated on the ground in the crisp summer sunshine for almost half an hour, before getting up again and going their separate ways. The English capital had just played host to its first meditation flashmob. 

For those who aren't in the know, flashmobs are gatherings of people who meet up to perform apparently spontaneous and unusual acts in public, and like most, this one was organised over the internet.  A Facebook page gave the time, place and instructions, and word spread through online social networks. By the day of the event, more than 500 people had signed up, and from the looks of this video, most of them were actually there. Organizer Elina Pen says she was "astonished" at the level of interest, describing it as "a wonderful 30 minutes of serenity amidst the busyness of Central London..."

Meditation flashmobs have been springing up across the United States and elsewhere over the last year or so, and June 2nd's might have been the largest yet. There's something of a movement happening—websites such as Medmob are promoting the sit-ins, and while many flashmobs thrive on a sense of absurdity or lack of explicit purpose, the meditation variety seem grounded in an underlying ethos—to normalize practice through bringing people together and supporting them to sit in public spaces, and by piquing the interest of bystanders.

There's an enduring misconception in some quarters that meditation is a purely personal, even self-centred act. It's in part a hangover from its associations with the hippie and new-age/alternative scene, both of which have sometimes been accused of promoting narcissism, with an over-involved focus on "me" and "my" development. So it's refreshing when practice is explicitly undertaken as social experiment, designed not just for individual gain but to make an offering and invitation to others.

Flashmobs are good art, too. At a time when the primary mover in promoting the virtues of meditation is scientific research and medical protocol, it's nice to see meditators injecting some joie de vivre into the fray—if the Trafalgar Square sitters didn't persuade onlookers to take up mind training, they at least gave them a decent spectacle, an unexpected memento from their day to treasure and laugh about when they got home. And maybe one or two did get inspired by seeing a large bunch of strangers (wearing everything from saffron robes to business suits) suddenly and simultanousely parking their arses in one of England's premier tourist spots.

There will be scoffers, for sure—staying silent and engaging with one's inner environment are still viewed as suspicious behaviour in sections of our go-getting, externally-focused culture. Meditation practice ("doing nothing") and social action may even be seen as incompatible, despite the fact that observing one's own mind stream can often be the first step to more skillful, empathic and compassionate relationships. If meditation doesn't lead to greater social responsibility, we probably aren't doing it right.

The flashmob groundswell is growing. Anyone can organize a local event, and if you're looking for solidarity and support, Medmob are working to inspire loosely co-ordinated events around the world, with a monthly event planned for the last Sunday of each month. (And another meditation flashmob took place this evening, in London.) So for the benefit of all, go forth and flashmob...

Waking Up to Mindfulness

Ten years ago last March, I decided to seek help for my mind. It was near the beginning of a third (and most crippling) episode of anxiety and depression, and I realized that whatever the outer circumstances behind my despair, resolution had to come from within.

Swamped by distressing thoughts and feelings, I felt there must be a way to manage this inner turmoil. The question was, how? Normally, I would use my mind to solve problems in life—but now my mind was the problem in life. Something different was needed, but I'd no real idea what that something might be.

I found myself embarking on a self-help odyssey. In psychotherapy, I explored why my mind was how it was, and gained useful insights into some habitual patterns and tendencies. But I remained acutely depressed and tense, nowhere near discovering how to manage the unrelenting onslaught of negativity and emotional pain. I read a mountain of psychology books, and went to support groups, alternative therapists, and even a psychic—each to little or no avail. Having tried antidepressants, increasingly desperate visits to the GP were also proving fruitless.

It was about two years into this journey that my therapist suggested learning to meditate. It took me several months to act on this advice, but doing so changed my life. I discovered a meditation center five minutes' walk from my home, and the instructors there were kind and helpful. Too strung-out to sit for long periods, I was advised to begin with "mindful tea-drinking" (just sit and notice the experience of lifting the cup, tasting the tea, putting the cup down again), and perhaps five minutes a day of focusing on the breath. This felt torturous at first—suddenly there was no distraction from my raging mind and body—but at the same time, I sensed some magic happening. I started to notice a part of me that wasn't consumed by depression and fear, and that there was a way to sit still—even peacefully—through deep difficulty. So began a love affair with meditation that continues to this day—I've discovered no better way to work with life than this gentle, precise, liberating practice.

A lot has changed in the last decade. Here in the UK, around 70% of family doctors believe mindfulness meditation would be helpful for their patients, and some even have government-funded courses they can refer people to. Mindfulness-based stress reduction is available in most areas, and  newspapers regularly report on meditation's effectiveness for conditions such as depression, chronic pain and addiction. Scientific literature on the subject has exploded: until 2003 there were less than 50 mindfulness research studies a year, while in 2010 this had mushroomed to more than three hundred and fifty. We are learning more and more how meditation practice can be beneficial for the brain, help with illness, and enable us to reach our human potential.

Mindfulness programs are thriving in schools, workplaces, and most other settings where people congregate. Major health charities and government agencies are recommending mindfulness, dozens of books on the subject are published each year, and people who might never have previously encountered meditation are beginning to seek out instruction as a way to manage lives that often seem frenetic or out of control.

The world seems to be waking up to mindfulness. For those of us who believe meditation can bring healing to many of our individual and social wounds, these are exciting times. I'll do my best to chronicle this fledgling process of awakening here,  however it continues to emerge. I'll report on the burgeoning science and practice of mindfulness in our 21st century culture—how it grows, develops and transforms. I'll try to highlight areas of interest and concern to practitioners, and warmly invite you to offer your comments too. And because mindfulness requires engagement as well as observation, I hope you'll indulge me if I say some more about my own experience of meditation—some of the joys and obstacles that are part of what seems to be an ever-unfolding practice. I'd be delighted if you shared your stories too...

Please note that in this space, you will also see pieces I’ve written before the blog started, which have been placed here to make it possible to see the work I’ve done that’s already appeared in Mindful.