Jon Kabat-Zinn: Mindfulness 101

You say there are so many misconceptions about what meditation really is.

This is from the introduction to Wherever You Go, There You Are.

You say, "When we speak of meditation, it's important for you to know that this is not some weird cryptic activity-

[laughs]

... as our popular culture might have it.

It does not involve becoming some kind of zombie vegetable, self-absorbed narcissist, navel gazer, or space cadet.

Uh, meditation is simply about being yourself and knowing something about who that is."

Mm

Wow, that's so powerful.

It's about being yourself and knowing something about who that is

Yeah, and the irony is, of course, you already are yourself.

Yes

If you could get out of your own way, you could be yourself 24/7.

[laughs]

Yes.

So in a sense, what, what this meditation practice is about is kinda continually noticing how much we get in our own way, through our thinking, through our emotions-

Why does it, why has it been so hard for everybody? If it's that simple, it's just about getting out of your own way, why, why does everybody make it so hard?

You know, I don't know the answer to that question.

Mm-hmm

I think that, uh, you know, it may be that it didn't used to be that hard.

When we were living as hunters and gatherers, you had to be mindful or you'd get eaten

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm

When we would sit around fires at the end of the day as hunters and gatherers for hundreds of thousands if not millions of years once we discovered fire, well, there was no electric lights.

I mean, the only thing that was happening was the fire, and you sit around with a group of people and you stare into the embers.

That's mindfulness