Relational Mindfulness

Relational Mindfulness

Can you see how many layers of the unspoken are present in the photograph at left? Tiara and Eric met that morning, and throughout the day there unfolded a series of conversations, the seeds of which are latent in the photograph. As connection phenomenologists, we are tracking eye gaze, facial expression, gesture, posture, bodily symmetry, emotional resonance, and a host of other things. We are listening to what is said and what is not said, what is revealed and what is hidden. We are listening for the moments of connection, and for what gets in the way.

Many of us have been trained to view mindfulness as something that happens on a cushion with our eyes closed. Our mentor Lee Mun Wah re-orients us toward an understanding of mindfulness as a relational process akin to falling in love: we notice everything. In this video, Gabriel Kram interviews Lee Mun Wah about this understanding of mindfulness in relationship.