Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn on Mindfulness
Five years later
Originally written April 2020 for The Inside Blog, a collection of stories and comfort I published during lockdown.
Oprah has a thing on Apple TV where she sits in her home in front of her laptop and has remote conversations with experts and everyday people on refreshing topics regarding covid-19. The episodes run an easily consumable 15-20 minutes, which is perfect for those of us avoiding media intoxication.
Her talk with Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn held my attention. Lately it feels like I’m the target girl of a vaudeville act, strapped to a spinning board and my mind is throwing knives. Know the feeling?
We’ve got a black belt in emotional reactivity, and it’s stepping out of the thinking mind and dropping into awareness that stops the knife. We have access to this, we’ve always had access to this, and we can have it on demand. Can we learn to inhabit it?
In times of strong emotion, one of my closest friends begins to name the tangible things he can see. One of my present practices is to focus on shadow and light from the sun moving through the room. It’s a welcome reminder of the impermanence of everything… control an illusion.
Much love.
To view the episode today requires an Apple TV subscription.
Oprah had similar conversations with Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn in 2017 (YouTube), and in 2018 on her Super Soul Conversations podcast (Apple Podcasts).