MSC, Winter 2025

Week 2: January 28, 2025

“Practicing Mindfulness”, chapters 6-8 of the workbook

Home practices:

  • Affectionate Breathing

  • Soles of the Feet

  • Mindfulness and Self-compassion in Daily Life

  • Self-Compassion Break

Wandering Mind

Mind wandering is normal. The mind wanders much of our lives, according to a 2010 article in Science magazine. Researchers, Killingsworth & Gilbert (2010), developed an iPhone app that contacted 2,250 volunteers at random intervals and asked if they were paying attention to what they were doing. The results of this study showed that on average, participants' minds wandered 46.9% of the time.

Why does the mind wander so much? Brain researchers have identified an interconnected network of brain regions that is active when the mind is at rest and inactive when the mind is engaged in a task—the default mode network (Hasenkamp & Barsalou, 2012; Gusnard & Raichle, 2001). 

Have you ever had the experience of taking a shower and then forgetting if you washed your hair or not?  If so, you were in the default mode network. 

  •  The default mode network includes structures located right down the midline of the brain from front to back. Those parts become highly active when we’re disengaged and the mind is wandering.

  • The default mode network does three basic things:  1) create a sense of self, 2) project that self into the past or the future, and 3) look for problems. Generally speaking, we are hardwired for survival, not for happiness.

  • Research shows that mindfulness meditation deactivates the default mode network, both while meditating (Brewer, et al., 2011) and in a resting state (Taylor et al, 2012).

Backdraft

What is Backdraft?

Backdraft refers to discomfort that may arise when we give ourselves compassion. The experience of backdraft can be confusing for some practitioners but it is a key part of the transformation process.  It helps to understand the nature of backdraft and to know how to respond to it.

“Backdraft” is a term that firefighters use to describe how a fire can grow when fresh air is introduced through an open door. A similar effect can occur when we open the door of our hearts with self-compassion. Most of our hearts are hot with pain accumulated over a lifetime. In order to function in our lives, we needed to shut out stressful or painful experiences. However, when the door of our hearts opens and kindness flows in, old hurts are likely to come out.  That’s backdraft. The discomfort we feel is not created by self-compassion practice—it’s simply being re-experienced and transformed by the power of compassion. 

There is another metaphor for this process – warming up ice-cold hands. When our hands are numb from being out in cold and then they begin to warm up, we may experience pain for a short time.  Numbness is also what we may feel toward old pains in our lives until we warm up our awareness with self-compassion. 

How do we Recognize Backdraft? 

Backdraft can show up as any type of emotional, mental, or physical uneasiness.  For example:

  • Emotionally – shame, grief, fear, sadness

  • Mentally – “I’m all alone.” “I’m a failure.” “I’m unworthy.”

  • Physically – body memories, aches, pains

Often uneasiness appears out of nowhere and we may not understand why it’s happening. A tear can appear while meditating, or a sadness, or a sense of vulnerability. Secondary reactions may also arise when we struggle not to feel backdraft.  For example, we might go into our heads (intellectualize), become agitated, withdraw, space-out, or criticize ourselves and others. All these reactions are quite natural and can also be met with kindness and compassion.

What Can we do About Backdraft? 

Below is a summary of approaches to backdraft that you will learn in MSC. However, please remember that you are the foremost expert on your life and what you need. You can begin by asking yourself “What do I need right now?  “What do I need to feel safe?”  Then, depending on what feels right to you, you may consider any of the following strategies:

Practice Mindfulness to Regulate Attention:

  • Label the experience as backdraft – “Oh, this is ‘backdraft’”—as you might for a dear friend.

  • Name your strongest emotion and validate it for yourself in a compassionate voice (“Ah, that’s grief”). 

  • Explore where the emotion physically resides in your body, perhaps as tension in your stomach or hollowness in your heart, and offer yourself soothing or supportive touch.

  • Redirect your attention to a neutral focus inside your body (e.g., the breath), or a sensation at the boundary of the body (e.g., sensations in the soles of your feet while walking), or a sense object in the outside world (e.g., ambient sounds).  The further from your body you go, the easier it will be.

Self-Compassion in Daily Life, Anchor Awareness in Ordinary Activities:

  • You may feel the need to anchor your awareness in an everyday activity, such as washing the dishes, going for a walk, showering, cycling. If you happen to find the activity pleasant or rewarding for your senses (smell, taste, touch, sound, vision), allow yourself to savour it. Please see the handout, “Mindfulness in Daily Life,” for further instructions.

  • Or you may feel the need to comfort, soothe or support yourself in a practical, behavioral way, such as by having a cup of tea, a warm bath, listening to music, or calling a friend. Please see the handout in the right side bar, “Self-Compassion in Daily Life,” for additional instructions.

  • If you need further assistance, please make use of your personal contacts (friends, family, therapists, teachers) to get what you need.