Mindful Leader - Getting Started

This podcast is guidance for graduates of the Genos Mindful Leader program on how to use the other Mindful leader practices here on Insight Timer, to build a solid practice in the weeks and months following the program.

Transcript

Welcome to the Genost Mindful Leader Continuity Program. This series of recordings is designed to make it easy for you to integrate your practices into your life after you return from the formal attendance at the Mindful Leader Program. Let's talk about how you can get the best out of these recordings and how you integrate the practices into your business. And personal lives. The first thing you want to do is, As ever, And something you've heard a lot on the Mindful Leader Program is set an intent. If you intend to make practice part of your life, Well, Then set the intent to do it now. Setting intention is a powerful way of making things happen, Of getting things rolling. So set the intent right now. As you listen to me. Then let's look at the real world. Consider when you can practice and how much time you can budget. We all have different demands on our time, And I'm not going to tell you that you should carve out 20, 30, 40 minutes a day. At the end of the day, What you need to do is figure how much time do you want to put into this and how much time can you afford to put into this. So look at your own circumstances and figure out where can I squeeze an additional 10, 15, 20 minutes that it wouldn't hurt my schedule. And I would suggest that at the very minimum that you start with 10 mil a day, Possibly first thing in your morning. But make it work for you. Get a time schedule that works for you. I like to practice early in the morning before the day starts. Others like to practice at the end of the day. Some like to practice at both the beginning and the end and indeed throughout using the purposeful pause. It's a very personal thing. Get something that fits you, Because the last thing in the world you want is the idea of practice becoming a stress upon you. A third suggestion is that you maintain the beginner's mind that I asked you to adopt on day one of the program. Shoshin just means coming to things with an open mind that I don't know everything about this topic. So go with your Kindle onto Amazon, Download books on mindfulness, Mindful leadership and any other aspect of these practices that are meaningful for you. Keep it interesting and experiment. And that's another point with the practices. You want to experiment and move your practice around a bit because it's just like everything else. Effective or not, It can become boring if it becomes too samey over time. In terms of time, Let me suggest do anything rather than nothing. If all you can figure out how to do is to is to cram a couple of one minute purposeful pauses into your day as you go about your daily business. Well, Just do that. But whatever you do, Do something. I go through each of the core practices that we covered on the program in a separate recording here. What I suggest is that you take one of them, Use it for a week, Explore it and then decide from all of those practices that are available to you, Which ones work for you in your current circumstances, Given what you want to get from your practice. Now, On the program, We spoke about the concept of stacks. So I will say to you, Build your optimal stack. So what was that stack idea? If you recall, We took each of the core practices and we describe them as individual building blocks. For example, There was six breaths with which you're familiar, Seat and feet. We use those two to settle us before we started any meditation. And then we went into pretty much every one of the practices on the program started from these couple of steps. This is my current stack. And you see that it goes from the seat and feet into setting an intention. By the way, My intention is a long term intention in terms of my goals, Plus a short term intention for the day. I then do about 15 minutes attention to the breath and a brief body scan. I do 15 minutes open awareness practice. I finish with five minutes loving kindness and then just bring my practice to an end, Visualizing a successful end to my day. Now, That is not a recipe for success for you. That's just what I find I need and want at this point in time. Build your stack from whatever practices make sense for you. So point six there is really important. Don't be tempted into just getting stuck in one practice unless that's working really well for you. And don't be tempted to adopt my stack by all means do, But try and find something that works for you. What are you trying to do with these practices at this point in time? So what I'd suggest is start with the seat and feet recording, Work your way through the six breaths, And then through the rest of the practices, Maybe taking each of the core practices, As I say, And exercising them for one week before you decide what you're going to settle on for a month or two. But keep it real and keep it alive. Come back to your practice every so often. See, Does it need to be refreshed? See, Is it still meeting your needs? And of course, If you have any questions, Reach out to me, Derek McCann, Or to the instructor who delivered your program. I wish you all of the very best.