Introduction

Many patients start practicing yoga because of discomfort or pain. Empirical and scientific evidence has shown that a mindful state of being during exercising makes a big difference to the effect of the exercise. Mindfulness, awareness, and sensitivity, instead of an emphasis on doing, significantly increase the efficiency and effectiveness of exercising. Not without reason, mindful practice has always been used in the ancient meditation paths. The oldest known sources are found in the yoga tradition, where mindfulness is applied to physical practice, breathing, and almost all aspects of life. Different schools teaching mindfulness have developed. It is a core concept in the Buddhist tradition, and is particularly refined in Zen meditation practice, and it can also be found in martial arts such as aikido, tai chi, and other Asian training methods. Throughout the 20th century mindfulness was integrated into psychological methods. Since the 1980s aspects of physical and mental exercises, elements of yoga, and other ancient paths of meditation have been combined with mind and body therapeutic exercise and are now established in evidence-based medicine.

Mindfulness in the yoga tradition

In the yoga texts mindfulness plays a fundamental role in everyday actions, in breathing, and in particular in physical practice. The first systematic summary of this practical science was given by Patañjali (see Chapter 1). Patañjali’s Yoga-Sūtras, a concise text consisting of 195 aphorisms, cover all aspects of life. The Yoga-Sūtras were written some time between 200 bc and ad 400 (Mylius 2003); they have been used since then and are still studied by yoga practitioners all over the world. The basic principles of yoga practice that are still used can be found in this ancient textbook. The sources of this work are even older, reaching back perhaps 1000–2000 years.

Patañjali describes the fluctuations which continually disturb the mind. The task of the mind is to receive information from the outside from the senses of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin, and to reflect on this information in order to select or reject it. The mind is distracted and distressed if there are too many stimuli from the sense organs.

Patañjali shows various ways of stilling the organs of senses and the mind. One famous verse says: “Yoga is the cessation of movements in the consciousness” (Iyengar 2002a, p. 50). The general means of achieving this calmness are mentioned in Yoga-Sūtra I.12 (Iyengar 2002a, p. 61): constant study, practice, effort (abhyāsa in Sanskrit); detachment from desires and aspects distracting the mind (vairāgya). This includes learning what is essential for a fulfilled, healthy life.

Several practical means are described: breathing, stilling the senses, concentration, meditation. According to the Yoga-Sūtras meditation is the fruit of sustained practice of yoga. Mind and breath are closely related. Control of the breath is considered fundamental for mental stillness and peace, throughout the further development of yoga.

According to Sūtra I.34 (Iyengar 2002a, p. 87), the practice of slow inhalation and slow exhalation leads to a “state of consciousness, which is like a calm lake.” This awareness of the breath brings clarity of mind, attention which is totally focused on the present moment, and is ideally applied during physical practice. In Yoga-Sūtra I.2 (Iyengar 2002a, p. 49) yoga is defined as “union or integration from the outermost layer to the innermost self, that is, from the skin to the muscles, bones, nerves, mind, intellect, will, consciousness and self.”

To reach this mindful, focused attention pratyāhāra, the fifth stage of Patañjali’s Yoga-Sūtras, is fundamental (see Chapter 1). Practicing pratyāhāra can calm the senses and the wandering mind. The sensory organs are withdrawn from objects that distract them and make them greedy. Therefore they are free and released. The senses are controlled and mastered (Yoga-Sūtra II.55, Iyengar 2002b, p. 170). This can be practiced with the following two exercises.

Exercise: Breathing and Listening

Sit on a chair or on the floor in a position of your choice so that your spine is upright. Close your eyes and keep them closed until the end of the exercise. Be aware of your whole body; feel the contact with the floor and your clothes. Accept everything that your senses are perceiving; be completely open to these perceptions.

Possibly sound will be the most dominant perception. Be aware of all sounds, no matter whether people are speaking, birds are singing, the telephone rings, a car is passing by, there is noisy construction work going on, or anything else.

Listen carefully without judging, without asking where the sounds are coming from, but be aware that you are listening. Remain as an observer without becoming involved. In this way your perception connects the object with your organs of the senses, while your inner observer is unaffected by it.

Focus on a particularly dominant sound, then move your awareness to a different one, and then to a few more different ones. Now listen to as many different sounds as possible at the same time. Expand your perception to the most distant sound; listen to even more subtle sounds. Expand your perception further and further: this helps to keep your thoughts calm. You perceive the sounds directly without your mind judging.

Now pull your perception inwards to your breath, just below the nostrils. Sounds from outside are excluded now. Be with your breath for some time. As long as time allows you can switch between awareness of the outer sounds and your breathing.

Partner exercise: cultivating mindfulness

Partner A is performing any exercise from this book. Before the other one, partner B, touches A’s body with her hands, both talk about which area should be touched. Then, partner B feels the quantity and quality of her partner’s movements. She can also feel how much pressure or support is appropriate by communicating mindfully with the partner’s body tissues. This exercise leads to an even deeper experience for partner B if done with the eyes shut or with a bandage wrapped around the closed eyes.

In his book Yoga – The Path to Holistic Health (2001), Iyengar emphasizes the importance of being completely focused both physically and mentally during yoga practice. The effects of the exercises are mainly achieved through mindful exercising:

The learning process follows four stages:

The state of mind can be influenced, too: “Through cultivation of friendliness, compassion, joy, and indifference to pleasure and pain, virtue and vice respectively, the consciousness becomes favourably disposed, serene and benevolent” (Iyengar 2002a, p. 86).

Among the classic books on yoga the Haha-Yoga-Pradīpikā is particularly celebrated. This is the first known book where the basic yoga postures, which are still practiced today, can be found. It was written by Svātmārāma, probably around ad 1400 (Weiss 1986, Feuerstein 2001). In Chapter II.2 the connection between a steady breath and a steady mind is emphasized. According to Chapter IV, verse 29, the breath, mind, and senses are closely related; the breath is considered to be the master of the mind, and the mind the master of the senses (Sinh 2006).

In the 20th century this approach, integrating mindfulness into work with the body, was further developed by B K S Iyengar over seven decades, constantly refining awareness of the structures and functions of the body while practicing with full attention.

Iyengar (2009, p. 87) states: “The brain and the mind should be kept alert, to correct and adjust the body position and the flow of breath from moment to moment … Complete receptivity of the mind and intellect are essential.” Geeta Iyengar, his daughter, has continued and refined this work, particularly emphasizing the importance of mental and intellectual attitude. Body posture is closely connected to the mental and intellectual attitude (Iyengar 2002b).

The practice of āsanas can teach us a lot about cultivating mindfulness and intelligence throughout the body. Looking inwards, the body can constantly be adjusted and balanced. For example, if we stand with our arms spread horizontally we can look at our fingers or we can look into a mirror. We can feel the fingers and the expansion of the posture as far as the fingertips. Similarly we can look at other areas of the body or feel them, growing more and more aware of them. The awareness of the body and the intelligence of the mind and the heart should be in harmony.

While practicing the āsanas the mind should be in a calm space filled with a subtle awareness of the actions and sensations felt in performing the respective āsana. During the practice of āsanas this awareness must be renewed constantly. Practice should not become a habit and you should not be distracted. Mindfulness helps to overcome exhaustion both during practice and in everyday life (Iyengar 2005).

Over thousands of years the mindful exercise approach of yoga has been shown to be beneficial for prevention and cure or as an adjunct to curing a wide range of conditions. This knowledge is mostly based on clinical and empirical evidence. It is only during the last decades that modern research has furnished evidence for a wide range of therapeutic effects of this ancient exercise approach (see Chapter 1).

Mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition

From the Satipatthāna Sutta, one of the central teachings ascribed to Shakyamuni Buddha, we can learn a lot about the application of mindfulness to basic postures and movements. Slightly simplified, the text describes a monk’s practice as follows. If the monk is walking, he knows: I am walking. If he is standing, he knows: I am standing. Sitting, he knows: I am sitting. Lying down, he knows: I am lying. He knows exactly what his posture is at every moment. By letting go of his memories and desires his mind becomes steady and focused.

Then the correct breathing method is described. The monk is sitting in a straight firm posture, maintaining his awareness. Inhaling, he knows: I am inhaling; exhaling, he knows: I am exhaling. Being fully aware of his whole body, he is inhaling; being fully aware of his whole body, he is exhaling. Stilling the actions of the body he will inhale and exhale. Through this dedicated practice he can let go of distractions and his mind becomes calm and focused. He becomes like deep water, which is not disturbed by any waves – this water reflects everything clearly and quietly (Satipatthāna Sutta 2009). From this text one of the most important meditation exercises of Theravada Buddhism has developed, called after the sutta’s title, satipatthāna, or the “four foundations of mindfulness.”

The same principles are practiced in the Zen tradition of China, Korea, and Japan. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the mind’s actions, you learn to let go of thoughts and emotions. Then, according to Takuan Sōhō, a Japanese Zen master teaching in the early 17th century, a mental state of “no-mind” is reached (Takuan 1987). Interestingly, this state is something which cannot be seen with the eyes but only experienced with the body. Takuan states that the purpose of training is to free yourself from mental attachments. This expression refers to the regular mind which constantly attaches itself to something. No-mind, however, is free from these strings. According to the Zen tradition, our tendency to attach the mind to things around us is an enormous obstacle in training. Here again, breathing meditation is used to get rid of distracting thoughts. As Takuan explains, whenever we think of doing something, our mind is stopped by this thought. The solution is to get the mind to initiate an action without stopping in the process. The result is something called the “original mind” in Zen, a mind filling the entire body and permeating all of its parts, while our everyday state of being, the “deluded mind,” is fixed at one specific point because of excessive thinking. By concentrating on breathing, even beginners can slowly learn to loosen this fixation while moving towards a more open condition.