deepening mindfulness with biology
In 2010, I attended my first Buddhist retreat at Spirit Rock, a contemplative center nestled in the hills of Marin County. Designed for beginners, the retreat offered ample time for discussion, questions, and answers.
One afternoon, we were given instructions to investigate how breath feels as it enters and leaves the nostrils. Later, during the Q&A, I raised my hand.
I had enjoyed the intimacy of breathing, yet my biomedical training kept wanting to participate. I'd found myself envisioning the nasal mucosa, the intricate airways connecting the nostrils to the throat, and the trachea and bronchial tubes that convey air deep into the lungs. Some of this internal anatomy I could physically feel; some of it was a visualized overlay.
Internal anatomy became a pure conceptual overlay when I envisioned oxygen diffusing from the lungs' microscopic air sacs into the surrounding capillaries, then flowing through the bloodstream to my brain. So too was the conceptual understanding that breath was enabling all the biology that gave me the experience of the predent moment. Though steeped in awe, much of this was imagined, not felt.
I wondered if this biological overlay was "permitted," or if I was simply getting lost in thought. A different teacher might have advised me to drop the intellectual knowledge and return strictly to the raw physical sensations. Happily, this teacher suggested the opposite. She told me that if biomedical knowledge helped me stay present with my breath, then it was a skillful tool to employ.
The Spark of Mindful Biology
That single validation was an immense gift. At the time, I didn't know it would set the foundation for Mindful Biology; I only knew that my years of biomedical study and training found a home in the meditation hall.
The sense of coming home was reinforced in that same Q&Q session, when a fellow retreatant raised her hand to say my exploration sounded deeply helpful. She asked if I would write it down so others could practice it.
That night in the residence lodge, I wrote laboriously on small slips of paper, mapping out my mindful exploration from nostrils to lungs, and from lungs to blood to brain to mind. I submitted the handwritten sheets to the teachers. Someone typed them up, and before long, the meditation was posted on the community board for all to read.
Everything that Mindful Biology has since become grew out of that graced moment.
Where Science Meets Mysticism
Many years of exploration, practice, and teaching have convinced me that biology is a powerful gateway for connecting mindfully with the body. Using it carries a slight risk of entanglement in conceptual thought, but when practiced lightly it is very effective. It has brought me home to my body, helped me in my relationships, and opened me to the infinite, seamless fields of experiential Life.
Tracing that whole journey will take time, but we can began with three distinct key ways that biology supports mindfulness:
Intimate Investigation: Basic biology helps us map and explore the subtle contours of our inner, experienced bodies. Bodily sensations, worldly perceptions, and mental activities continually impinge on awareness. Their pace and scope can be bewildering, and often our defense is to simply shut a lot out. By mapping a little biology onto our experiences, they become more manageable. We begin to both freer and more in touch with the ongoing flow of Life. At its best, the mapping is non-conceptual. During the many years I lived in San Francisco—in the days before GPS navigation—I'd study the city's map to learn its layout. But the goal was feeling more oriented on the ground, not simply memorizing streets and landmarks. Over time, the combination of map study and direct experience gifted me with a deep sense of San Francisco, a direct knowing. That's what biology's mapping does when combined with direct, mindful exploration of bodily experience.
Modern Grounding: It anchors ancient mindfulness practices in modern science, which makes them feel more understandable and accessible for many people. We don't subtract from traditional practices, we simply add basic biomedical knowledge. We leverage the powers of both ancient wisdom and modern science.
Sacred Resonance: As biology guides us to experience the body—mindfully—as a field of nature, it awakens feelings of sacredness, here and now in bodily experience. The miracle of nature is found in this very body, this very place and time.
As biology deepens and validates mindfulness, it becomes a mixture of meditation, nature appreciation, and portal to the divine.
Divine? Please don't let the word be an obstacle. I come from a Quaker background, where meetings for worship focuses on inner divinity. Yet many Quakers are atheists, so for them the word points to that which makes life feel important—our sense of value and purpose, perhaps.
Personally, I am well aware that I don't and can't understand ultimate reality. I'd be disappointed with myself if my writings suggested otherwise. My aim is to follow the Buddha's example and focus on suffering rather than metaphysics. At the same time, I've had many powerful experiences that make it hard for me to accept—as I once did—conventional materialist explanations. I'll touch on some of those going forward, but only tell the story of how my thinking and practice developed, not to propose any sort of theory or theology.
The basic ideas is simple. By exploring inner experience with both mindfulness and biology, we revitalize modern living and imbue it with sacredness. What could be better for helping us navigate the many challenges we face?