Meditation had never been tried before in a medical center, so we had no idea whether mainstream Americans would accept a clinic whose foundation was intensive training in meditative discipline.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the uncertainty of introducing meditation as a medical practice.
In this quote, Jon Kabat-Zinn highlights the pioneering nature of incorporating meditation into medical treatment, emphasizing the unknowns involved in its acceptance by the mainstream American public. He suggests that despite the lack of precedent, it was an innovative approach to enhance wellness through meditative practices.
In practice
A speaker at a wellness retreat could use this quote to emphasize the importance of meditation in healing.
Once you have established yourself as a center of love and kindness radiating throughout your being, which amounts to a cradling of yourself in loving kindness and acceptance, you can dwell here indefinitely, drinking at this fount, bathing it in, renewing yourself, nourishing yourself, enlivening yourself. This can be a profoundly healing practice for body and soul.
One way to look at meditation is as a kind of intrapsychic technology that's been developed over thousands of years by traditions that know a lot about the mind/body connection.
Meditation means learning how to get out of this current, sit by its bank and listen to it, learn from it, and then use its energies to guide us.
Practice sharing the fullness of your being, your best self, your enthusiasm, your vitality, your spirit, your trust, your openness, above all, your presence. Share it with yourself, with your family, with the world.
The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness. Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing.
In Asian languages, the word for mind and the word for heart are same. So if youβre not hearing mindfulness in some deep way as heartfulness, youβre not really understanding it. Compassion and kindness towards oneself are intrinsically woven into it. You could think of mindfulness as wise and affectionate attention.
We live well enough to have the luxury to get ourselves sick with purely social, psychological stress.
Suggested remedy for the common cold: A good gulp of whiskey at bedtime-it's not very scientific, but it helps.
It is not the soul alone that should be healthy; if the mind is healthy in a healthy body, all will be healthy and much better prepared to give God greater service.
We are an overfed and undernourished nation digging an early grave with our teeth.
I'm in complete remission. I'm alive and well.
The power of community to create health is far greater than any physician, clinic or hospital.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.