Mindfulness Behaviour Training

By Kyaw Sanhla

This book is written as a manual to help the reader develop a personalised mindfulness program just like the participants who attend a Mindfulness Behaviour Training (MBT) course.

Part I
A personal story and how MBT was developed. You may read this part quickly if you wish to know the background.

Part II
The course structure of the MBT program is out-lined on page 34.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ReadOnTime BV
• Release date: Jul 21, 2012
• ISBN: 9781742840581

Book preview

Mindfulness Behaviour Training

By

Dr Kyaw Sanhla

SMASHWORDS EDITION

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Mindfulness Behaviour Training

Copyright © 2011 Dr Kyaw Sanhla

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

The information, views, opinions and visuals expressed in this publication are solely those of the author(s) and do not reflect those of the publisher. The publisher disclaims any liabilities or responsibilities whatsoever for any damages, libel or liabilities arising directly or indirectly from the contents of this publication.

A copy of this publication can be found in the National Library of Australia.

ISBN: 978-1-742840-58-1 (pbk.)

Published by Book Pal

www.bookpal.com.au

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Dedicated to all my teachers who taught me how to mind the mind

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Acknowledgments

The Mindfulness Behaviour Program (MBT) would not have been possible without the generous help and support of one person to whom I owe an enormous debt of gratitude. Mike Koperno is a Health Psychologist at Mackay Base Hospital. He introduced me to the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, who has developed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at Massachusetts General Hospital. MBSR is significantly different from the traditional model of residential retreats as pioneered by Buddhist monks for centuries. My dream of sharing mindfulness practice with people in a different society came true by adopting the hospital-based model on a weekly basis. Again, Mike Koperno has been the ambassador for the MBT program – recruiting the patients and spreading the news to other health professionals. He continues to follow up the patients after the completion of the six-week course.

It was also Mike who encouraged me to write a manual for the MBT program and I am deeply grateful to him for reading and re-reading this book. It is a challenging task for me to translate the natural and spontaneous process of verbal presentation to a message in the form of written words alone. The non-verbal language of enthusiasm and interest as well as small talk and humour are lost during this translation. Fortunately I am writing a DIY book where the essence lies in Doing It Yourself and the book is a means of knowing the tools and how to use them.

I would like to thank family and friends who helped out by reading the manuscript and giving me feedback: Mya Nu San, Aye Nyein San, Jan Daniels and Lee Williams. Special thanks to my wife, Nu Nu Aye, for not only reading the book but also lending a hand to create illustrations which were modified by a professional illustrator.

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Contents

Foreword

How to get the most out of this book

The Blind Men and the Elephant

PART ONE

A journey of minding the mind

The Road I Travelled

PART TWO

Mindfulness Behaviour Training (MBT)

Types of Meditation

Mindfulness Behaviour Training (MBT)

The Program

Consent Form

A Pilot Program: Report on one year of Mindfulness Behaviour Training

Chris’s Story

Ready, Get Set, Go!

Information Week

Meditation is a biological phenomenon

Mindfulness is different from thinking: the two brain concept

The brain can be redesigned and changed at any age

MBT is a right brain workout

Week One

Mindfulness = attention to the present moment

Silent awareness

Awareness of the breath

Dealing with a wandering mind

Letting go

Week Two

Core Elements of MBT

1. Awareness of the present

2. Non-reactive relationship

Attitudes (NAG)

1. Non-judgement

2. Acknowledge reality

3. Let go

Body Scan

Week Three

Formal practice and informal practice

Autopilot

Raisin-eating exercise

Mindful walk

Don’t forget NAG

Week Four

How do feelings (emotions) happen?

Categories of feelings

Equanimity

How to practise awareness of feelings

Week Five

What are thoughts?

How do thoughts come about?

Awareness of thoughts

Insight

Week Six

MBT as a journey

Living fully

Practice, practice and practice

The origin of mindfulness

References

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Foreword

Having trained as a psychologist I am aware of numerous therapeutic interventions, from psychoanalysis (with its emphasis on the past as the cause of present difficulties), to solution focussed therapy (where the emphasis is on achieving behaviour change in the present and future without needing to know about antecedent events). These approaches, along with many others, have their uses and their adherents. Yet none has all the answers to the human condition. And of course there are no definitive answers.

Dr Kyaw Sanhla doesn’t claim to have such answers either, though his Buddhist background suggests a path. Indeed, his mindfulness behaviour training (MBT) doesn’t even claim to be therapy. Yet, it seems to me, it shares with the best of therapies the potential to create significant and sustained change at a profound level. This is no quick fix – it requires work, and the work is the work of a lifetime. As Dr Sanhla says, MBT has only two rules: (1) regular practice no matter what; and (2) don’t forget rule number one. The emphasis is on awareness of the present condition, while relating to it in a non-reactive way. Sounds easy? It is, and it isn’t. The book will explain.

Mindfulness Behaviour Training is both a record of Dr Sanhla’s program (and as such a ‘hands on’ manual) and also a comprehensive and subject-appropriate discourse on the broader issue of meditation practice as a lifestyle choice with discernible medical and psychological benefits. It is, in my view, a tremendously valuable resource, as well as being an intriguing fusion of Buddhist practice and Western medicine. The crossover between neurology, attitude change and meditation is a particularly interesting area that is presented here in a way that is accessible to the non-medical and/or non-Buddhist reader. It is a very practical guide to the six-week program that Dr Sanhla has run successfully with chronic diabetic patients and others, and could be used as a text for replicating such a program. It could also be of benefit to those readers who simply want to apply these very powerful techniques to their own life.

Chris McLeod, Ph.D.

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How to get the most out of this book

This book is written as a manual to help the reader develop a personalised mindfulness program just like the participants who attend a Mindfulness Behaviour Training (MBT) course.

• Part I

A personal story and how MBT was developed. You may read this part quickly if you wish to know the background.

• Part II

The course structure of the MBT program is outlined on page 34.

The analysis of the pilot program in 2008 is included to highlight the acceptance of the program and its effectiveness on the well-being of the patients.

Chapters on a weekly basis. This is the core of the manual and the arrangement follows the MBT course structure. It provides a detailed six-week program as it is run in the hospital setting. The book is a written version of the explanation given at the course on PowerPoint presentations. It gives instructions on how to apply various mindfulness techniques. The techniques are indeed very simple to follow and the most important aspect of MBT is developing correct attitudes. It takes time to develop a skill and readers are encouraged to dedicate regular practice on a daily basis, just like the participants attending the course. The duration of practice should be extended gradually, leading up to at least thirty minutes a day, every day.

• The book is not meant to satisfy an intellectual curiosity; it is a workbook to redesign the brain.

There are two rules to follow if you wish to benefit most from this book or MBT program.

• Rule Number One: Regular practice no matter what.

• Rule Number Two: Never forget Rule Number One.

Last but not least, open up your mind to a different mode of consciousness. Make a commitment to practise for at least six weeks - and experience the change. Suspend your judgement during this period until you get a whole picture of MBT. Making a judgement from piecemeal experience would be like legendary blind men and an elephant from an Indian story . . .

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The Blind Men and the Elephant

It was six men of Indostan, to learning much inclined, who went to see the elephant (Though all of them were blind), that each by observation, might