New Harbinger Publications: Your new book, Five Good Minutes in the Evening is a follow-up to Five Good Minutes, which offered practices designed to be done in the morning. How do these practices differ?

Jeffrey Brantley: The practices in Five Good Minutes in the Evening are aimed at a different aspect of your life—evening, and a focus on making time for yourself, your family, for rest and renewal. The first Five Good Minutes aimed at the different situations and energies you engage as you go through the life and work of your day. Of course, the basic principles are the same: be present using a mindfulness practice, set your intention, and enact the unique practice wholeheartedly.

NHP: You say that taking just five minutes in the evening can help you feel more at ease and alive and more present for your life beyond your workaday world. How can only five minutes a day help us feel so renewed?

JB: Five minutes is “clock time.” And, it may not sound like much! The practices in Five Good Minutes are done consciously and explicitly in PRESENT TIME—the present moment, and that makes all the difference. Your first good minute is to use a mindfulness practice to break free from habit energy locking you in the past or the future, and to come into clear and strong connection with the present moment. Then, by setting an intention and acting wholeheartedly, you are consciously inhabiting the present moment while you engage in your chosen practice. Presence, intention, and wholeheartedness empower an entirely different experience, regardless of the amount of “clock time” involved.

NHP: In Five Good Minutes in the Eveningyou talk about how our evenings can be hijacked by unrelenting thoughts of the workday and about how our out-of-work lives are often dominated by work concerns. Do you think that this kind of fixation on work is more of a problem today than it was say a couple of generations ago?

JB: Well, I don’t know about a couple of generations ago. I do think that people can be easily hijacked or caught in recurring thought of work or of problem solving. I also think that today’s lifestyle with electronic devices like pagers, cell phones, computers and email, for all the benefits they offer, also make it easier to stay on the treadmill of work regardless of where your body is.

NHP: What are a few keys to being in the present moment?

JB: We are actually always IN the present moment! What is not always present is our attention! In other words, we can be caught in thoughts of the past or the future, or can be narrowly focused on something happening now (like a story in our head), and be out of touch with what is going on inside and outside at the same time. So, the key thing we need to do is to bring our ATTENTION here to the present moment. That is easily done by practicing mindfulness—paying attention on purpose with a welcoming and non-judging attitude. That’s it, simply paying attention on purpose, especially to the things you don’t usually pay attention to, like your breath sensations, the sounds and stillness around you, the coolness of a breeze on your face, or the warmth of your coffee cup against your hand.

NHP: Why do you think it’s so hard for so many of us to simply be in the present moment?

JB: The thing that makes keeping attention here in the present moment so hard is the habit-energy we have of being elsewhere. What I mean is that if you have spent all day planning and analyzing information and putting attention into the past or the future, then that habit-energy will follow you into the evening. If you couple that thinking habit with feelings of hurry, worry, anger, distress, and so on, then the draw on your attention to go away from the present moment becomes even stronger. I like to tell people that they have not made a mistake or done anything wrong, when they notice their attention has moved away from where they placed it. It is just the nature of mind and attention. What is very important is that you don’t blame yourself or feel like a failure just because you notice your attention moves. Instead, practice kindness and patience with yourself, and gently continue to return attention to the present moment with mindful breathing, listening, or some other mindfulness practice.

NHP: You’re a psychiatrist who has developed a number of programs that center on mindfulness and being present. What role do you think mindfulness plays in mental health and what does the science tell us about how mindfulness affects conditions like anxiety and depression?

JB: Mindfulness is an awareness that accurately reflects what is present, here, now. Your inner life is a rich and important focus for mindfulness, as are your relationships, and the world around you. Mindfulness arises by paying attention on purpose in a kind and allowing, non-judging way. Being mindful means not trying to add or subtract anything from what comes into your awareness. It means BEING and not doing. Mindfulness is about attention and awareness. It is NOT about generating more thoughts. In fact, being mindful OF thoughts can be very liberating! All human beings have a capacity to be mindful. It is good to know that, and also good to know some specific methods or practices to help you realize this capacity. Currently, many mental health professionals are interested in the power mindfulness, of being present, of applying kind and non-judging attention, as an approach for health and healing. There are interesting studies in the medical literature reporting a wide variety of health benefits for people practicing mindfulness. Conditions said to benefit include chronic pain, quality of life among cancer patients, various types of anxiety, and mild and moderate depression. In one particularly intriguing study, researchers found that people who practiced mindfulness consistently over an eight-week period demonstrated changes in brain wave patterns consistent with greater levels of well-being and reduced feelings of anxiety. The same group also showed stronger immune system response to flu vaccine than did a similar group that did not practice mindfulness.

NHP: A section of your book is called “Enrich Your Home Life.” What effect can not being present after work have on the family and on home life?

JB: Well, think about your own life. If you come home and are so worried or preoccupied with your day or your work, then how does that affect your relationship with family, friends, even pets? Carrying it a bit further, if you are upset, irritable, or feeling distressed, how do you deal with your own upset? So often people turn to alcohol, drugs, or some other agent that further separates them from a healthy connection with home and loved ones. Learning to recognize you “inner weather” and knowing how to take good care of yourself and those reactions to stress, can empower you to be truly available for the most important people and moments of your life.

NHP: In Five Good Minutes in the Evening you offer a number of exercises to prepare for a good night’s rest. Why does a good night’s sleep require preparation?

JB: Sleep, or at least your intention to have good sleep, can also be hijacked by the habit-energy and upset or uncomfortable inner feelings that follow you home from the day.

So, the idea of “preparation” for a good night’s sleep, includes kind attention to your inner life as well as the usual hygiene such as brushing your teeth, putting on sleeping clothes, or cleaning your body. Preparation of the inner life can mean learning methods or skills to quiet your mind and body, to gladden and open your heart, and to help you recover a sense of mystery and connection with a higher power or with the larger web of life.

NHP: One of your exercises, “Detox the Negativity” is designed to help you develop “immunity” to negative or toxic coworkers. How can practicing this exercise help you resist their influence?

JB: This is an interesting practice. It utilizes skills of mindfulness and presence, calming, skillful use of affirmations and thought, and the immense and mysterious power of forgiveness. All of these elements help you to become “unstuck” from the defensive and reactive habits that being around “negative” people can evoke. It is also useful to recognize that whenever you are approached by such negativity, managing any ill-will you feel skillfully, is important. If you come out of this contact feeling angry or upset, then that is not so good for you, and not so good for the other person, either. By learning to manage your own reactions more compassionately and effectively, you actually may create a healing space that can benefit that other, “negative” person as well.

NHP: You talk about the need to be patient when you’re trying to develop a deeper level of mindfulness. What are a few tips that can help when you’re having an especially tough time settling into the present moment?

JB: Mindfulness accurately reflects what is happening. It does not seek to change what is happening, only to connect kindly, and to understand. From this perspective, even if you notice you are struggling, or are impatient, or that your mind is “racing”, then being mindful of THAT condition is practicing mindfulness. So, if you seem to be having a tough time, gently and kindly acknowledge that as a first step. Then, for a “busy” mind, it can be helpful to take a narrow focus for your attention—say the breath sensations. Letting breath come to you. Alternately, if you feel “stuck” on something, it can be helpful to take a wide focus for mindful attention, for example by doing mindful listening. For either “busy” or “stuck” sometimes it can be helpful to get your body moving and to be mindful as you move. The additional focus on the moving body can help bring attention back to the present moment.