The Mindfulness Effect: An Unexpected Path to Healing, Connection and Social Justice

By Dena Samuels and LaFleur Matthew

How can mindfulness change your life, and your impact on the world? In addition to challenging and dismantling systemic inequalities we are facing globally, we must also reflect on ourselves, our life’s purpose, and the effect our social identities have on us and on others. Unpacking our social conditioning and the systemic inequalities th

• Language: English
• Publisher: Night River Press
• Release date: Aug 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781732483613

Dena Samuels

Dena Samuels, PhD serves as a mindfulness-based leadership development and cultural inclusion consultant. Author, activist, public speaker, and award-winning educator, she taught for 20 years at the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs in the Women's & Ethnic Studies program while consulting around the U.S. and beyond. Her passion is to inspire people to raise their personal and social consciousness to live more fulfilling, connected, and meaningful lives; and to assist organizations, campuses, and corporations in building more diverse, equitable, and inclusive cultures. Samuels' latest book, The Mindfulness Effect: an unexpected journey to healing, connection, & social justice (Night River Press, 2018) offers 25 mindfulness practices for self-empowerment and cultural inclusion. Her previous book, The Culturally Inclusive Educator: Preparing for a Multicultural World (Teachers College Press, 2014) provides transformative inquiry and strategies for building cultural inclusiveness. Over her extensive career, Dr. Samuels has been interviewed in print, radio, online, and on TV. Most notably, she was interviewed by the Colorado affiliate station of NPR; and by the Huffington Post. She is also a featured speaker in Thomas Keith's documentary, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? (2019). Samuels volunteers as co-facilitator of the monthly Second Tuesday Race Forum of Denver, and also as co-chair of The Privilege Institute, the institutional home of the annual White Privilege Conference. In Denver, Samuels serves as a culturally inclusive, trauma-sensitive yoga and mindfulness instructor.

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The Mindfulness Effect: An unexpected journey to healing, connection, and social justice.

Copyright © 2018 Dena Samuels PhD.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

ISBN (Paperback): 978-1-7324836-0-6 ISBN (eBook): 978-1-7324836-1-3 ISBN (Audio Book): 978-1-7324836-2-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018949101

Front cover image: Dena Samuels PhD Book & cover design: Matthew LaFleur

First printing edition 2018.

Samuels, Dena      The mindfulness effect: an unexpected journey to healing, connection, and social justice / Dena Samuels      p.  cm.

Publisher Night River Press Denver, CO, 80209 www.nightriverpress.com


Other books by author:The Culturally Inclusive Educator: Preparing for a Multicultural World (Teachers College Press, 2014)The Matrix Reader: Examining the Dynamics of Oppression and Privilege (McGraw-Hill, 2009)

Dedication

My Brilliant Image

One day the sun admitted, I am just a shadow. I wish I could show you the Infinite Incandescence that has cast my brilliant image! I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the Astonishing Light of your own Being ~ Hafiz

I dedicate this book to my openhearted and dearest friend, Daryl L. Miller, whose love and astonishing light will live on in my heart always.

Praise for The Mindfulness Effect

Dr. Dena Samuels teaches with radical authenticity, courageous vulnerability, and deep wisdom.  The Mindfulness Effect is a rich and practical manual for personal and collective healing, empowerment, and profound social justice. ~ Rabbi Jessica Kessler Marshall

"The Mindfulness Effect has changed how I interact with the world and myself. I love how immediate and interactive it is! I’ve been unsure how to meditate in the past, I felt like I wasn’t doing it right. I had no idea that meditation/mindfulness was so useful in self-healing. The practices really pulled me in and I ended up writing a meditation journal which was a useful tool of introspection. I see so much more clearly how mindfulness can help me lead a happy and more meaningful life. A life that I’m choosing. Also, the way the book seamlessly connected mindfulness and social justice changed my whole schematic. I wouldn’t have thought of the connection before, but now I don’t know how we would even try to resolve social justice issues without mindfulness and self-healing. Teaching people mindfulness helps them see their own biases and can soften their views on those who are different than themselves." 
~ Jaime Pederson, physical therapist

So much wisdom and caring is felt in these words and the simplicity with which the information about mindfulness is related is easy and inspiring to receive. Samuels’ storytelling is an integral part of diving into the material, as it demonstrates the ideas and concepts in experiential form. As a kinetic learner, that helps me a lot. It also brings a rich creative hand to the book, moving it from instructional to felt. … Samuels brings a most heart-satisfying, wholeness and healing gift to the world 
~ Norma Johnson, social justice poet & performing artist

So much to absorb and ponder. Thank you for this wonderful book! It’s such a wise and also humble offering. 
~ Debbie Zucker, anti-racial activist and educator

This beautifully written and insightful book helps me understand more and more clearly that through mindfulness, meditation and decluttering practices, I am happier, healthier, more connected, more awake and conscious and aware. The practices Dr. Samuels encourages her readers to engage with are a journey toward personal freedom that also enables me/us to be of better service for social and environmental justice work. ~ Kristen Suttles, writer

Table of Contents

Preface: Cultivating Freedom from Within 2

Introduction: What is Mindful Liberation? 11

What is Mindfulness? 15

Mindfulness Meditation 17

Mindfulness Practices 19

Mindfulness Practice 1:Present Moment/Finding Stillness/Focusing on the Breath 20

Mindfulness Practice 2: Leaf on a Stream/Cloud in the Sky 22

Chapter 1

Social Conditioning – Living from the Outside In 25

Who are you? 27

We are More Than Our Thoughts & Emotions 28

Mindfulness Practice 3: The Observer 29

Estrada’s Hand Activity 30

We are More than Our Stories 31

Mindfulness Practice 4: Unpacking Our Stories 32

We are More than What Happened to Us 33

Mindfulness Practice 5: Finding Your Gifts 36

Chapter 2

Who/What We Really Are – Living from the Inside Out 37

Mindfulness Practice 6: We are More than the Bodies that Hold Us 40

Inspired Self 41

Conditioned Self 42

Two Aspects of Ourselves 43

Making Use of Mindfulness Practices 45

Chapter 3

Mindfulness in Context and Spiritual Bypassing 49

Mindfulness Practice 7: Expanding Your Light/Connecting with Community 50

Spiritual Bypassing 51

Colorblindness or Post-Racialism 53

Acknowledging Social Privilege 54

A Privilege Inventory 57

Chapter 4

Mindfulness to Discover the Wisdom Our Bodies Hold 59

Embodied Learning 61

Embodied Leadership 63

Mindfulness Practice 8: From Reaction to Response: Cultivating Openheartedness 63

Chapter 5

Mindful Liberation 67

From Head to Heart 69

Mindful Liberation & Singer’s Thorn Analogy 70

Mindfulness Practice 9: Embodied Healing 72

Going Even Deeper: Mindfully Dissolving Singer’s Dark Box 74

Chapter 6

Mindfully Living On Purpose – Finding Your Purpose for a Meaningful Life 77

Finding Your Purpose – Follow Your Bliss 79

Mindfulness Practice 10: Finding your Purpose: Getting Still, Asking, and Listening 80

A Desire Inventory 82

Mindfulness Practice 11: Imagine! Dream Big! 84

Setting Intentions 85

Chapter 7

Mindfully Discovering What Stops Us 87

Insecurity vs. Creativity 87

Scarcity vs. Abundance 88

Noticing Other People’s Reactions 90

Contraction vs. Expansion 91

Mindfulness Practice 12: Breaking Free from Doubt 92

Limiting Beliefs Inventory 93

Katie’s Four Questions Plus One 94

Mindfulness Practice 13: Challenging our Limiting Beliefs 94

Manipulators vs. Magnets 95

Willingness to Receive 97

A Yes! Mentality – Living in The Flow 98

Chapter 8

Going Deeper: Mindfully Staying on Track 101

Gardner’s Life Mapping 102

When We Get Stuck 103

That Dang Rabbit Hole! 103

Getting Grounded 105

Mindfulness Practice 14: Root to Rise 105

More Strategies for Getting Unstuck 106

Mindful Decision-Making 108

Gratitude 109

Mindfulness Practice 15: Finding Gratitude 110

Honoring Ourselves 112

Reframing Mistakes into Opportunities 113

Chapter 9

What Stops Us from Building Relationships Across Difference 115

Acknowledging your Socialization 116

The Power of Belongingness 117

Mindfulness Practice 16: Connecting with Exclusion and Empowering Ourselves 119

Acknowledging Implicit/Unconscious Bias 120

Hand Activity Revisited 122

Revisiting Katie’s Four Questions Plus One 123

Mindfulness Practice 17: Challenging our Assumptions 123

Revisiting Mistakes – Mind the GAP 124

So-Called Microaggressions: Going Deeper 127

Mindfulness Practice 18: Successfully Interrupting Microaggressions: Pause-Notice-Breathe-Respond 128

Chapter 10

Mindfulness for Cultural Inclusion – Connecting across Differences 131

Relationship Inventory 132

Mindful Relationships across Differences 133

Bringing it All Together 134

Mindfulness Practice 19: Connecting the Spiritual with the Physical 134

Culture Clash: Mindfully Engaging Across Political Differences 136

Mindfully Opening Your Heart for Compassionate Connections 138

Mindfulness Practice 20: Metta/Lovingkindness 139

Chapter 11

Mindfulness for Social Justice 143

Unplugging from The Matrix 144

Revisiting Singer’s Dark Box: Mindfully Dismantling Systemic Privilege 145

Again, with the Hand 147

Mindfulness Practice 21: Acknowledging the Impact of an Unfair System 148

Mindfully Challenging Inequities in our Institutions 149

Mindfully Becoming a Social Justice Ally/Advocate 153

Mindfulness Practice 22: Choosing to Make a Difference 153

Mindfully Taking Action 155

Mindful Action Inventory 156

Chapter 12

Mindfully Connecting Social Justice & Environmental Justice 157

Mindfulness for Environmental Justice 158

Connecting the Dots 159

Mindfulness Practice 23: Interconnectedness 160

Acknowledging Interconnectedness 162

Curbing Consumption 162

Mindfulness Practice 24: Impact on the Earth 164

Embodiment of Consumption: Food Justice 165

Mindful Eating 166

Mindfulness for Health Justice 167

The Sanctuary Within 168

Conclusion

Takeaways 171

Takeaways for Taking your Life to the Next Level 173

You are Right on Time 176

Mindfulness Practice 25: Living an Inspired Life 176

Reflecting on Our Shared Future 177

Mindful, Inclusive Leadership 178

Table of Contents

Preface: Cultivating Freedom from Within

My Journey: From Breaking Down to Breaking Free

Introduction: What is Mindful Liberation?

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness Practices

Practice 1: Present Moment/Finding Stillness/Focusing on the Breath

Practice 2: Leaf on a Stream/Cloud in the Sky

Chapter 1: Social Conditioning – Living from the Outside In

Who are You?

We are More Than our Thoughts & Emotions

Practice 3: The Observer

Estrada’s Hand Activity

We are More Than Our Stories

Practice 4: Unpacking Our Stories

We are More than What Happened to Us

Practice 5: Finding Your Gifts

Chapter 2: Who/What We Really Are – Living from the Inside Out

Practice 6: We are More than the Bodies that Hold Us

Inspired Self

Conditioned Self

Two Aspects of Ourselves

Making Use of Mindfulness Practices

Chapter 3: Mindfulness in Context and Spiritual Bypassing

Practice 7: Expanding Your Light/Connecting with Community

Spiritual Bypassing

Colorblindness or Post-Racialism

Acknowledging Social Privilege

A Privilege Inventory

Chapter 4: Mindfulness to Discover the Wisdom Our Bodies Hold

Embodied Learning

Embodied Leadership

Practice 8: From Reaction to Response: Cultivating Openheartedness

Chapter 5: Mindful Liberation

From Head to Heart

Mindful Liberation & Singer’s Thorn Analogy

Practice 9: Embodied Healing

Going Even Deeper: Mindfully Dissolving Singer’s Dark Box

Chapter 6: Mindfully Living On Purpose – Finding Your Purpose for a Meaningful Life

Finding Your Purpose – Follow Your Bliss

Practice 10: Finding your Purpose: Getting Still, Asking, and Listening

A Desire Inventory

Practice 11: Imagine! Dream Big!

Setting Intentions

Chapter 7: Mindfully Discovering What Stops Us

Insecurity vs. Creativity

Scarcity vs. Abundance

Noticing Other People’s Reactions

Contraction vs. Expansion

Practice 12: Breaking Free from Doubt

Limiting Beliefs Inventory

Katie’s Four Questions Plus One

Practice 13: Challenging Our Limiting Beliefs

Manipulators vs. Magnets

Willingness to Receive

A Yes! Mentality – Living in The Flow

Chapter 8: Going Deeper: Mindfully Staying on Track

Gardner’s Life Mapping

When We Get Stuck

That Dang Rabbit Hole!

Getting Grounded

Practice 14: Root to Rise

More Strategies for Getting Unstuck

Mindful Decision-Making

Gratitude

Practice 15: Finding Gratitude

Honoring Ourselves

Reframing Mistakes into Opportunities

Chapter 9: What Stops Us from Building Relationships Across Differences

Acknowledging Your Socialization

The Power of Belongingness

Practice 16: Connecting with Exclusion and Empowering Ourselves

Acknowledging Implicit/Unconscious Bias

Hand Activity Revisited

Revisiting Katie’s Four Questions Plus One

Practice 17: Challenging Our Assumptions

Revisiting Mistakes – Mind the GAP

So-called Microaggressions: Going Deeper

Practice 18: Successfully Navigating Microaggressions

Chapter 10: Mindfulness for Cultural Inclusion – Connecting Across Differences

Relationship Inventory

Mindful Relationships Across Differences

Bringing it All Together

Practice 19: Connecting the Spiritual with the Physical

Cultural Clash: Mindfully Engaging across Political Differences

Mindfully Opening Your Heart for Compassionate Connections

Practice 20: Metta/Lovingkindness

Chapter 11: Mindfulness for Social Justice

Unplugging from The Matrix

Revisiting Singer’s Dark Box: Mindfully Dismantling Systemic Privilege

Again, with the Hand

Practice 21: Acknowledging the Impact of an Unfair System

Mindfully Challenging Inequities in Our Institutions

Mindfully Becoming a Social Justice Ally/Advocate

Practice 22: Choosing to Make a Difference

Mindfully Taking Action

Mindful Action Inventory

Chapter 12: Mindfully Connecting Social Justice & Environmental Justice

Mindfulness for Environmental Justice

Connecting the Dots

Practice 23: Interconnectedness

Acknowledging Interconnectedness

Curbing Consumption

Practice 24: Impact on the Earth

Embodiment of Consumption: Food Justice

Mindful Eating

Mindfulness for Health Justice

The Sanctuary Within

Conclusion: Takeaways

Takeaways for Taking Your Life to the Next Level

You are Right on Time

Practice 25: Living an Inspired Life

Reflecting on Our Shared Future

Mindful, Inclusive Leadership

Acknowledgements/Pledge

This work has emerged from the inspiration and guidance of many friends and colleagues, based on the principle that defines it: a collaborative effort that is not fixed for all time, but rather dynamic, fluid, ever growing. This work is not mine, nor does it belong to me; it integrates the teachings of many scholars, yogis, and activists, many of whom are named in the book. As they have shared their teachings with me orally or in written form, I pledge to honor their wisdom and their example by continuing to teach these concepts and practices in service to others.

Students in my Social Justice & Sustainability: Living Mindfully course in the fall of 2015 served as the impetus and motivation to write this book. And it was Polly Fiedler, Kristen Suttles, Susan Patkin, Daryl Miller, Jenny Adams, among others who have guided and supported me in the process. I consider them my teachers, and for whom I have the utmost gratitude and respect.

For the inspiring conversations that informed this book, I thank: John Barber, Jaime Pedersen, Corinne Harmon, Mona Adelgren, Melinda Zolowicz, Sirat Salim, Stephany Rose, Shakti Butler, Steve Samuels, and Debby Irving; their enthusiastic words of encouragement have meant the world to me.

I offer gratitude also to those who have gently guided me to see the ways oppressive ideologies that exist in society have manifested within me. They have made visible what I was socialized not to see, so that I could mindfully do the work necessary to acknowledge, feel, mourn, and continue to release those ideologies from within that no longer serve me or the world. I thank in particular: Norma Johnson, Kenny Wiley, Todd Berliner, Heather Hackman, Alex Samuels, Harold Fields, Eddie Moore, Jr., Janice Gould, and Jessica Havens.

Thanks also to Kathy Sparrow for her detailed editing and insight; and to Skeeter Buck and Matthew LaFleur for their guidance and creativity. Finally, I offer gratitude to my daughter, Rachel Samuels, for her painstaking attention to my first draft. She offered a keen editorial eye, loving (and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny) feedback, and challenged me in ways that have transformed this book. I am inspired by her strength and determination to make this world a better, safer, more inclusive place for all of us, especially for those who have been silenced for too long.

Preface: Cultivating Freedom from Within

May the feeling of freedom you cultivate be so powerful that others feel free when they are in your presence.

You know that feeling you get when you’re on vacation? When all your anxiety seems to dissipate and you can just be in the present moment, enjoying whatever experience comes along? Your vacation doesn’t have to be a trip somewhere; sometimes it can happen in your own backyard, or in the next town over, or in visiting a park, or going for a hike or a bike ride, if that is available to you. When you get back home, you feel like you’ve been somewhere and you have a whole new perspective on your life. That feeling of freedom – that is the benefit of mindfulness. It is accessible any minute you choose throughout your day. And it doesn’t cost a penny!

Mindfulness is an experience that in the midst of a busy day and a busy life, allows you to pause and focus on the present moment. It is an experience that is more easily understood through practice than words, and so this book provides 25 practices to get you started or move you forward on your journey toward freedom, peace, self-empowerment, culturally inclusive leadership, social justice, and environmental justice. In short, this book offers liberation: to achieve freedom through mindfulness practices. Mindfully connecting to your inner wisdom promotes: self-healing, belonging, and empowers you to discover your life’s purpose and live a meaningful life. Mindfully connecting with others decreases unconscious bias, and promotes cultural inclusion and social justice. And mindfully connecting with the earth promotes environmental justice.

Let’s meet on the leading edge: Are you ready to take your life, your organization, and the world, to the next level?

My Journey: From Breaking Down to Breaking Free

I have not always had a mindfulness practice. My background is in sociology and educational leadership. My career has been focused on cultural inclusion and social justice, and teaching about the importance of freedom from systemic oppression (racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, ageism, among others). Through my own harrowing journey from hell to healing, I realized the importance of personal freedom, and how to acquire it. My mindfulness practices provided a sense of serenity I had never before known or experienced.

Although this book is not a memoir, I share my experience here to provide a sense of how I have come to live a life of freedom from within. I had no idea when I was going through my journey, the impact mindfulness practices would have on my life, and how they connect perfectly with and enhance cultural inclusion and social justice practices. Every time I share my story, listeners seem to gain a better understanding of the tangible benefits of an effective mindfulness practice; they become curious to see how it might benefit their own lives.

Looking back on my life, I can’t remember a time when I felt free. My first memories as a child are of being told to look pretty for the camera; already being forced to conform to the female standards of society. Standing on a large rock in the backyard of our house, I had on a yellow dress with a white bodice, little white socks, and patent-leather shoes, and I remember feeling like I had better measure up to whatever image my father, the photographer, had of what I was supposed to look like. I mustered a little grin on my face, stretched my dress out to the sides with my hands as if I were about to curtsy, and he snapped the photograph. Apparently, I passed the test. I was just four years old.

Despite the societal pressures of femininity that were already weighing down on my tiny body, that photograph stands out as being reminiscent of a relatively happy time. Unfortunately, it was extremely short-lived. My childhood home was not a safe place. I was subjected to severe trauma and every form of abuse (emotional, physical, and sexual), which trapped me in a continuous state of detachment, disconnection from my body, and disorientation. After my parents’ divorce, my mother, with whom I lived, was incapacitated for two years. Fear and anxiety were my constant companions. And as our household wealth dwindled, I worried constantly that I wouldn’t have light, heat, or food. I developed Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as a coping strategy (needing to repeat behaviors an even number of times, as just one of so many symptoms), which I hid from everyone because I didn’t want anyone to think something was wrong with me.

The only place I felt somewhat free was at school, where, fortunately, I excelled. I worked hard, sought out and received positive attention from my teachers, which motivated me to work even harder. Mercifully, throughout my adolescence and young adulthood, my clever brain blocked out much of my childhood torture and trauma as a means of self-protection. I had developed excellent strategies to erase any bad memories from my mind. My very effective coping techniques mostly centered on striving to be the best at everything I did. This strategy served me well in terms of meeting and exceeding the standards society sets for us.

Excelling meant I did not have time to stop and think, or feel. Thus, my time in college was jam-packed with activity: in addition to a full course load, I directed the entire dance program which included coordinating and teaching dance classes, and directing the largescale dance productions held on campus twice a year. In addition, I held three jobs to pay for college, and even made the dean’s list. No downtime; no pauses in my over-filled days.

I met and eventually married Steve, a brilliant, grounded man from a two-parent, fairly normal, financially comfortable household, and we lived a very happy life for the next twenty years. It felt like a dream come true; I was living the life I had worked so hard to obtain. I was constantly moving at warp-speed because for me that felt like happiness. Stopping to feel what my body was shielding me from was not an option.

Throughout that time, I managed to keep the nightmares I consistently experienced at bay. When my stress would overwhelm me, the nightmares would get worse, and made me terrified to go to sleep. They were so disturbing that once in my twenties and once in my thirties, I deliberately sought out short-term therapy in the hopes of relieving them. I just wanted them to go away, and although I did some important self-work both times, and learned some very important coping skills, I only went as deep as my conscience would allow at the time. I even hid my obsessive-compulsive tendencies from both counselors – and my husband – out of embarrassment for my behavior.

Instead, I continued to live at warp-speed, using my newly acquired coping skills when needed. By the time I was forty-five, I had it all. I was the mother of two phenomenal children, whose classrooms I volunteered in every year; I was a faculty member at the university, had many good friends, and a loving relationship with my husband. I also volunteered as a conference coordinator for a national social justice conference, and was on the board of directors of my synagogue. I even had a freshly minted doctoral degree that I had completed in three years. Every day was a whirlwind of prioritization, coordination, and list-checking. In the United States, this is what success looks like.

And suddenly – unexpectedly – it all came crashing down.

With the challenging work of the doctoral program recently behind me, my brain was finally free to take a break. It wasn’t long before my nightmares got so bad that the thought of getting into