Transforming Negative Thoughts With Mind-Body Connection (5)

This is a recording of the 5th event of the Mind-Body Connection series of 2023. We discover the profound potential of harnessing your Mind-Body link to shift from negativity to positivity. Let's discuss techniques, tips, and tricks to rewire your thoughts and emotions, fostering inner balance. In the end, we have a guided Mind-Body Connection meditation to work with the thoughts.

Make sure to check the previous events on my page and follow me here to stay updated about the Mind-Body Connection releases!

Transcript

Hello,

Good morning,

Good evening,

Or good afternoon everyone.

Thank you so much for joining our live event.

I'm really happy to see you all here.

And of course,

First of all,

I would like to hear from you guys where you are joining us from,

How you're feeling this Saturday.

And whether it is your first time here at the MindBodyConnection events or you have joined the previous ones too.

It would be very helpful for me to know your background and why you are joining us today so we can work closer and have more profound discussions.

Of course,

I would like you guys to actively participate today in our live event.

So it will be a both-side communication,

The dialogue between all of us where we safely and openly share our thoughts,

Opinions,

And experiences.

I hope that we will all enjoy our time together.

And once again,

This is a fully accepted space.

So feel free guys to express yourselves and to use our time effectively while more people are joining,

Which makes me very happy to see you guys.

And let me shortly introduce myself.

My name is Diana Mirzaeva.

I am a MindBodyConnection coach,

A psychosomatic specialist,

And a meditation teacher.

Here on Insight Timer,

I have a wide library of guided meditations,

Breathing practices.

Also for the PLOS subscription,

I have a MindBodyConnection course,

Which is available in English and in Spanish.

The Quantum Energy course,

Which is becoming more popular.

So if you guys haven't been on my page yet,

Please make sure to check all the content.

I'm very glad to share my vision,

My experience,

My professional views with all of you guys here.

All right.

And Daphne,

I can see that you're joining from Ohio in the US.

You're a social worker,

Caregiver to a sibling with dementia.

And it's your first time with us here.

Excellent.

Thank you so much for your words.

Really glad that you joined us.

And,

Well,

That's great to know your professional background.

Excellent.

And,

Well,

Today,

As you guys all know from the title and the description of our event,

We will discover the potential of the MindBodyConnection to shift our negative thoughts and to work with them effectively.

So the structure of today's event,

As I planned it,

Is to firstly understand the negative thoughts,

How they impact our mentality and our body,

And,

Of course,

How our body impacts our negative thoughts.

And we will see some MindBody techniques to manage the negative thoughts,

To cope with them successfully.

And we will conclude this event with a guided meditation.

So once again,

I would love you guys to participate here also in the comment section,

Whether you would have any questions or you would like to share your personal experiences or maybe some of the struggles that you have with negative thoughts in your life.

So perhaps I would be able to give you some piece of advice if you want me to,

And so on.

Well,

So for now,

First of all,

I would like to thank InsightTimer,

This incredible platform that I have been using for the past seven years or eight years as a meditator myself.

With such an expanded guided meditation library and courses,

It has been very useful for me.

So I'm very happy now to be a contributor here on InsightTimer,

And I would like to thank you guys in advance for your donations,

Which will be very helpful for the whole team of the platform and a great motivation for me to continue this weekly live event.

So you can always join me on Saturdays,

12 p.

M.

Central Time,

Here for another aspect of the mind-body connection.

And traditionally,

Let's start with a short breathing practice so we can fully arrive in our place here and now and fully enjoy our time together.

So it will be a very short practice,

Just probably a few breaths,

But let's make it really mindful.

Let's savor each inhale and exhale.

So shortly,

We will inhale for four counts,

Hold our breath for seven and exhale for eight.

It will help us to relax and slow down our thoughts.

So let's start.

Deep breath in,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Hold,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven.

Out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

In breath,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Hold,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven.

Out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

You guys can continue keeping the same pace if it feels comfortable for you.

You can prolong your in-breath or suspension on top.

You can make your exhales a bit longer if it feels right.

Listen to your body and enjoy any step of this technique.

And to conclude it,

Let's take a slightly deeper breath,

The last one,

And let go with a sigh.

You can close your eyes.

Enjoy this moment of silence,

Your natural breath.

I hope you feel a little more at ease physically and mentally.

And let's transition to the first part of our today's discussion.

So,

In the beginning,

I find it crucial to understand the negative thoughts.

And I would like to highlight it,

That our negative thoughts,

If they do not cause us some big,

Serious,

Or heavy problems,

They are okay and they happen to everyone.

It is a part of being alive,

A part of being a human.

And do not let having these negative thoughts define you.

And before we move on,

I would like you guys to share whether you have negative thoughts,

Generally speaking.

If you don't mind sharing what kind of them,

Or maybe about which aspect of life are they predominant,

And so on.

Also,

If you would like us to cover some specific aspect today of negativity,

Of negative thoughts,

Or,

Let's say,

Not a positive mindset,

Let me know so we can dedicate some time to that as well.

For me,

I think as a usual human being,

I have negative thoughts quite regularly,

Probably every day,

Depending on the intensity of them.

But,

As I mentioned,

I just don't give them power and I try to identify them.

And in about 95% of time,

They don't bother me.

Really don't bother me.

So,

That's my personal experience.

And there you are saying that you have lots of anxiety,

Focused on uncertainty about the future.

Right.

Thoughts dedicated to the future,

In most cases,

Would give us anxiety.

And that's totally understandable.

Yes.

To me,

In different periods of time,

I also get them when I start worrying about the future,

If I'm not sure what the next month will bring,

Because I'm moving pretty frequently as a digital nomad.

And uncertainty definitely can put some pressure on me.

Absolutely.

Well,

Today we will talk a bit about anxiety and the future as well.

And,

Right,

Negative thoughts can also revolve about our past experiences,

Maybe past regrets,

Something that we did wrongly or didn't do.

On the other hand,

They can be about our self-doubt or just a general outlook on life.

And most frequently,

I would say,

These negative thoughts can take a form of self-criticism,

Which was,

I would say,

A problem for me in the past.

Another can be mind reading,

So when we assume what other people think of us,

Or it happens usually without any evidence.

So,

As I said,

It is just our assumption,

Which has no proof in most cases.

Another quite a big one,

I would say,

It is a negative lens through which we are looking at the world.

So it's sort of negative filtering that our brain,

Naturally,

Again,

As we were evolving for thousands,

Millions of years,

Is focusing on some negative aspects,

Negative events,

Some failures,

Ignoring almost any positive experiences,

Our achievements,

And so on.

So this I would call negative filtering,

Which is,

Again,

Natural and normal for human beings,

But it doesn't mean that it has to be so most of the time.

Another aspect of negative thinking,

I would say,

Is overgeneralization,

When we make a broad conclusion,

Assuming that because one thing went wrong,

If we fail at one thing,

It will never get better,

Or it will be the same way all the time in the future.

So we are generalizing based on just one or a few negative experiences we had in the past.

Well,

Here,

I would also mention polarized thinking,

Or black and white thinking,

When we see the world in just two poles,

Let's say.

There is no middle ground,

Whether something is really good,

And we enjoy it,

Usually for a short period of time,

Or everything is quite dark and heavy and tense.

So there is no,

Let's say,

Gray color,

Or no rainbow colors in polarized thinking.

Well,

And I see that you guys are also sending your comments.

Thank you.

Let me finish with this part,

And I would love you to add something else as well.

So quite an intense one is catastrophizing.

So maybe we are expecting the worst outcome possible in any situation or in a specific aspect of our life,

Regardless of its likelihood.

It may never happen,

But our brain gets stuck in this sort of thoughts about the future again.

Well,

And I think all of these aspects are getting more intense because our brain repeats this kind of thoughts again and again,

Which leads to increased levels of stress and anxiety.

So that is when it becomes quite difficult to manage negative thoughts,

And probably becomes very difficult to stay in this mindset alone or help yourself being inside of it.

Right.

So,

Helena,

You're also saying about lots of anxiety,

Or trust issues for you,

Long history of loss.

Yes.

And Daphne,

Working on letting go of resentment.

Right.

So here,

Resentment also plays a big role.

Yes.

And it's a big part of negative thoughts,

Let's say.

And yeah,

Everything I mentioned.

Generally speaking,

I would say this is what many of my clients struggled with in the beginning when we started working together.

So that is,

Again,

Common and natural.

And speaking of resentment,

The first step,

The biggest piece of advice that I can give to everyone is to not resist these negative thoughts,

But to let them be,

To accept the fact that you have them.

And that's the first step to working with them.

Right.

Thank you all,

Guys.

And of course,

I'm sure that all of us,

At least once in our lives,

Have seen the impact of negative thoughts on ourselves,

On all of the aspects of our being.

So let's have a look at how negative mindset can affect our well-being.

So how did you guys notice it on yourselves or in your lives,

Whether it happened to you,

Or what would you guess here?

Some of the examples of how we can notice this negative influence.

Certainly,

I would divide this impact into two parts as we are speaking here through the lens of the mind-body connection.

So negative thoughts can impact us on the emotional level,

And it will cause,

Again,

Any sort of uncomfortable emotions.

Let me call them uncomfortable,

Such as sadness,

Anger,

Frustration,

Fear,

Which leads to anxiety,

Distress,

Chronic stress,

Which is even worse,

And emotional imbalance.

And here,

If some of you guys have joined our second and third events of this series where we were talking about emotions and stress,

You can now get an idea how we can deal with the aspect.

And if you guys missed those events,

You can check them in my profile after this one.

We had really interesting discussions with the participation of the listeners.

That was amazing.

And,

Yeah,

Right away,

Let me recommend you guys to check the Working with Difficult Emotions practice,

Which you can also find on my page on Plus Subscription.

That is a very powerful and quite short meditation which helps to effectively deal with negative emotions or have an emotional state right at the moment.

So that's very useful based on the psychosomatic techniques,

And I use this meditation myself whenever I feel that,

Oh,

My God,

Something wrong is going on and I need some extra self-care at the moment.

So this is about the emotional impact,

Right?

And there you're saying that about remuneration,

Lack of focus and inability to experience enjoyment and physical symptoms.

Right.

Well,

Unfortunately,

Inability to experience joy that you mentioned.

Of course,

I think when we are buried in negative thoughts or uncomfortable emotions,

There is almost no way to access joy.

And unfortunately,

Life doesn't seem as bright as it is or could be.

And physical symptoms,

If you could mention some of them,

We will also talk about them just in a few moments.

Absolutely.

Okay.

Feeling brave for the next inevitable loss.

Braced.

Braced.

Yeah.

Again,

The thoughts about the future sort of predictions,

Trying to avoid it or trying to control something,

Which in most cases is impossible to control the future.

Yeah.

Thank you guys for sharing that.

And speaking about the physical impact,

How negative emotions influence our bodies,

We can definitely lose our healthy sleep patterns or appetite,

Immune function.

So the decrease of immune system and increasing risk of some health conditions such as heart disease or heart blood pressure,

Which are affected.

One of the first ones when we are talking about emotions,

Negative emotions and stress.

On the other hand,

Here we can include some sort of behavioral impact when we start noticing in ourselves some sort of avoidance or maybe social withdrawal.

In some severe cases,

Substance abuse,

Because they serve us as coping mechanisms.

So this is where it comes from as well.

Well,

And if you guys have something else to share about how you noticed the impact of negativity,

Of negative thoughts in your life,

On your mind or bodies,

Let us know,

Please.

For me,

I think the most obvious one is when I start,

When my sleep schedule starts to fluctuate.

So when I lose my usual routines,

When I just sort of can't follow them.

And after that,

It impacts my appetite.

So I start having cravings for sweets.

My diet,

My balanced regular diet doesn't work for me anymore.

Some sort of cravings occur.

And later,

I would say,

It starts influencing my work schedule and the quality of work itself.

So the earlier I start noticing it,

When my sleep is disturbed,

This is the time for me to start acting,

Not to let it develop more.

So that is how it works for me.

And yes,

Angus,

You're mentioning the cluttered mind.

Yeah,

When we cannot probably see things as they are,

Or our mind cannot think clearly,

Right?

We cannot see the situations clearly,

And so on.

And Daphne,

Having a regular meditation practice has kept me off of blood pressure medication.

Wow,

That is amazing.

That's great.

Yeah,

It makes me very happy for you.

And thank you so much for sharing that.

Absolutely,

There are lots of scientifically proven benefits of meditation.

Indeed,

As negativity,

Negative thoughts or uncomfortable emotions can increase our blood pressure and out of the heart system,

Let's say,

The same way meditation can help us cope with that better.

So I'm sure that all of us guys are meditating quite regularly as we gathered on Insight Timer today.

So I'm sure that most of us could notice the advantages of this great practice.

And Beth,

A comment from you.

Oh,

I dread waking up in the morning and I do not find any pleasure in anything anymore.

I feel like I'm going through a severe anhedonia.

Every day I feel like it's just the same old,

Same old negative events and thoughts because I don't look forward to anything.

I've had so many bad things happen to me over the past few months.

Beth,

I'm very sorry to hear about your past times.

And thank you so much for being vulnerable here,

For opening up and telling us how you feel at the moment.

Once again,

This is all right to have these periods of time.

And I'm sure that you are able to deal with that.

Whether you can help yourself,

Do not hesitate to seek for help or professional help.

So you will not stay in that alone.

Right.

Right.

And Angus sending an umbrella of peace,

Beth hugs.

Yeah,

Absolutely.

So absolutely.

Thank you.

Right.

Thank you guys for sharing your experiences.

It really means a lot to me to know you a little bit better.

And I'm sure it's helpful to all of us to see that we are very similar.

We go through the same life experiences and we are never alone.

Even if it seems like that in the darkest times of our lives,

We are never alone.

And there is always someone who is willing,

Who is able to help us.

So please guys,

Let's remember that.

Well,

And what we were talking about previously,

This negative impacts of negative mindset on us,

On different parts of our beings.

Very important to notice them as early as possible.

So we can faster and more efficiently deal with these disadvantages,

Let's say.

And again,

If you guys find it difficult to go through some times in your life alone,

Do not hesitate to ask for professional help of a therapist or a specialist or of a coach.

Well,

And let's have a look at the other side of this question,

How the body can impact our negative thoughts,

How the body,

When it is imbalanced,

Generally speaking,

Can create negative thoughts in us.

So also here I would like to hear from you guys,

If you have noticed it from your experience or how you guess the body can cause negative thoughts and enhance them probably.

I would be happy and very curious to hear your thoughts on that.

And Beth,

Your comment,

I have professional support and the support of all my pets,

Which I feel are suffering because I don't find as much.

Thank you so much everyone for your kind words in your life.

Well,

You are very,

Very welcome.

And that is amazing that you got professional support and the support of your pets.

That's incredible.

I can definitely relate to that.

And to me,

Pets are family members.

They are persons.

Right.

So they are very helpful.

Very helpful.

Great.

So let's have a look at the body.

So our bodies,

Unfortunately,

Can also create some intensification of negative thoughts.

For example,

With neurochemistry or hormonal influence when,

Let's say,

Neurotransmitters such as serotonin or dopamine,

When lack of them or imbalance of them can create emotional swings or emotional imbalance.

Or our hormones,

Especially I would say for women during the menstrual cycles,

We can notice that pretty obviously that it drastically changes our mood and impacts our emotional states.

And when our hormones,

Just in general for all of the sexes,

Hormonal imbalance can create a lot of health problems and mental problems as well.

So we definitely have to pay close attention to that and check these aspects of our bodies regularly.

Right.

Another,

Which we were already talking about,

Stress and anxiety,

Different parts and structures of our brain,

If they do not function properly or are imbalanced,

It can also cause some problems with negativity in our life,

Such as when amygdala is activated in our brain,

The part of brain which is responsible for processing emotions.

In response to stress and anxiety can also heighten the activity of negative thoughts or prefrontal cortex,

Which is responsible for decision making or emotional regulation.

When it doesn't work smoothly,

As it is supposed to,

Can cause chronic stress or even trauma.

Right.

So when speaking about decision making,

That is another sort of problem that can be caused by the negative bias,

Let's say,

In our brains.

So something more obvious,

I would say,

Is chronic pain or illness.

If some of us at some point were struggling with constant pain in the bodies or were dealing with some sort of sickness,

Depending how severe it was,

We could notice that we felt more frustrated and more anxious,

But generally were more pessimistic.

And again,

That is normal and that is natural.

There is an explanation to that as well,

As to anything that happens in our bodies and our minds.

Well,

Again,

Not only negative emotions can cause sleep disorders,

But vice versa,

The sleep disorders that we get from or because of many reasons,

Right,

It can also set our brain into the pessimistic state,

So we will see everything worse,

Darker,

More tense than it is.

And general fatigue or exhaustion,

Which many people nowadays get from work or maybe lack of structure in their days or some intense experiences that they are going through,

Can lead us to having lower energy levels,

To be more irritable.

And of course,

Again,

When we are experiencing all that,

It is quite difficult to enjoy life,

To see what we can enjoy,

Right?

So our brain focuses more on negativity,

On trying to cope with the problems rather than seeing some bright sides or bright aspects of our lives at these moments.

All right,

Let's make a little pause for your comments,

Guys.

And Kay,

You are saying that it's true,

I have been much more,

Even in mood swings,

Menopause.

I never want that hormonal rollercoaster again.

Yeah,

Absolutely.

I haven't been through that yet.

I guess it is waiting for me in the future.

But seeing,

For example,

My mom,

My aunts going through that,

It was very intense,

Unfortunately.

Right.

And Daphne,

A vicious cycle with aging body leading to negative thoughts,

Which leads to more aches and pains.

Yes,

Again,

That's all connected and related.

Absolutely.

And here in the body aspect,

Let me mention the final point about the diet and nutrition.

And I would like to remind you guys how important those are in our lives.

So,

For example,

Our blood sugar levels due to poor dietary habits can also lead to irritability,

Mood swings and pessimistic outlook.

As I mentioned previously,

I start getting from time to time sugar cravings,

Which of course are affected by blood sugar levels at that moment of time in my body.

Right.

And again,

If you guys would like to establish for yourselves healthier lifestyle or to adopt some healthy habits to get to smoothly infuse them in the structures of your days and manage stress more effectively,

Try to consider working with a specialist,

With a coach.

I'm always here for you.

You can contact me as well.

And I am an adept of a holistic approach with working through the mind and body at the same time,

Which I believe leads to easier,

More enjoyable and quicker process of healing,

Generally speaking.

And let's smoothly transition to the next step of our life event today.

We will be discussing different techniques,

How we can transform negative thoughts.

I'm sure that is a very,

Very wide topic and there are lots of tools and techniques that one can use.

And first of all,

I would like you guys to mention a couple of those which work best for you.

So we can share,

Let's say,

The cream of all of that and try maybe to use some of them ourselves after our event today.

Well,

While we are waiting for your contribution in the comment section,

First of all,

The most important one is that I ask my clients and which I recommend them is to limit the negative influence in your lives.

And here I would like everyone to take a pause,

Maybe not right now,

But to think about that after our session today,

Where can or where does negativity come from in your lives?

There might be just one moment or in most cases,

I would say a few of them.

Try to see them clearly and just accept it as a fact that it is like that right now.

So the negative influence can come from the news or social media.

Please,

Guys,

Be very conscious about who you follow on social media or which content you consume.

It can come from the people,

From family members,

Some acquaintances or co-workers in your lives,

Or maybe from triggering environments,

The ones that do not really serve you,

Do not suit you.

It will be very personal for everyone.

These are just general moments that I can notice and if you talk about my personal experience,

Lots of negativity was coming from the news for me,

Considering that I do not check news and did not check news myself,

But they were all around me.

They were everywhere in the air and so on.

People were discussing them and especially in the COVID times,

I think many of us were affected by that.

And when it was already too much for me of this,

When I clearly saw that and I was like,

Why?

Why do I have to struggle with that?

Why do I have to be surrounded by the news that I do not want to consume here or so on?

So,

This was the turning point for me to lower the levels of negativity,

Let's say.

Of course,

In some aspects,

Such as with family members or co-workers with whom you have to be,

With whom you have to communicate either from time to time or every day,

That's much more difficult and here our mindset,

Our strong brain and mind can help us to cope with such situations or such people.

Well,

Also,

After limiting the negative influence or at least identifying where does negativity come from and affects us in our lives,

We can talk about cognitive reframing.

So,

This involves,

First of all,

Identifying the negative thoughts in you,

Some challenging thoughts and replacing them.

Of course,

It's easier said than done,

But this is what it takes,

Really.

So,

You can work either with each of your negative thoughts that you've noticed affects you most and work,

Maybe see some for and against of this negative thought and try to shift it,

Try to change that.

Try to give it space,

But let me say,

Do not give it that much power.

Try to understand whether it really is that bad at the moment or maybe it's your brain playing tricks with you.

Another technique,

Which is also one of the primary ones to use,

At least for me in my experience and in work with my clients,

Is just thought labeling related to identifying the negative thoughts.

So,

Trying to detach from the thoughts,

Probably with the help of meditation and observing them and seeing them just as part of your mental process without giving them too much space in your lives.

And if we are here on Insight Timer,

Definitely we cannot skip mindfulness,

Right?

So,

Just being mindful and trying to be in the moment,

In the present moment,

So we can catch our negative thoughts quicker,

Faster,

Notice them right when they arise or what caused the negative thought or experience and so on.

Of course,

Try and practice in gratitude,

Which became very popular or I would say mainstream a few years ago.

But the most important part of working with gratitude is to feel it in your body,

Not just in your mind,

Which is also helpful,

But to get all of the benefits of it.

Try to immerse yourself in gratitude physically.

So,

If you guys know what I mean,

How it can be done,

Again,

Maybe through meditation or through some somatic movement and so on,

Whichever works best for you.

So,

When we can feel that with sensations on a physical level,

This is when it gets really powerful.

Well,

Another aspect of working with the body can be a body scan or maybe some somatic movement,

Which will help us first to arrive in the present moment and second,

To get the power,

The strength of working with negative thoughts.

Well,

Also some sort of guided imagery meditations,

Self-compassion can be very,

Very helpful here.

All right.

Well,

Let me have a look here,

Elena,

Your comments.

Seeing and hearing the beauty of nature,

Learning new things that I'm interested in,

Movement,

Listening to calming music and meditations,

Laughing and talking to good friends,

Trying to reframe negative thoughts,

Seeing my options accepted,

Change it or leave it.

Well,

Great.

Thank you so much for the list of the techniques that work best for you.

Yes,

Absolutely.

If we use them all together at different moments,

It will work best for us indeed.

And especially talking to good friends right here,

I would like to mention socializing,

The power of that.

It's really important because we are all social beings.

We enjoy the good company and this is what definitely can help us to shift our mindset to a more positive one.

Great.

Thank you,

Elena and Daphne.

I can't change my sister's behavior,

But I can change how I react or respond to it.

Absolutely right.

Unfortunately,

We can't change other people.

We can't change most of the situations in our lives because they do not solely depend on us,

But we can change how we react to them or how much influence they get on us,

They have on us.

So that's definitely the work from our side and with our inner selves,

With our emotional states,

Response and so on.

That's true.

And Elena,

Deep breathing for you too.

Absolutely.

Right.

This is another body technique that can help us to cope with the negativity.

Great.

And yes,

As I mentioned,

Social connection,

We can add to that list and also creative expression.

So we have so much creativity within us and we can express ourselves through creativity,

Whichever it can be.

It's all personal again.

For some,

It will be drawing or dancing,

Singing.

For some,

I would say mostly for men,

Probably fixing something or creating some tools,

Appliances or fixing something.

That's also creativity for me.

Right.

And many,

Many of us enjoy that as well.

So it can definitely help us to release our emotions,

To express ourselves and to lower the degree of negative thoughts,

Of the power of negative thoughts at the moment.

Great.

And let's move to the body techniques and experiences that can help us challenge negative thoughts.

So Elena,

You mentioned deep breathing.

Yes,

It would be at the top of my list as well.

Different types of relaxation exercises,

Maybe simple breath awareness that can help us to arrive to here and now,

That can help our brain to focus on the present moment rather than on the future or in the past,

Just to arrive in our bodies.

Because our bodies always live right now,

But our mind is all over the place.

Right.

Another one would be progressive muscle relaxation,

Which I love doing before falling asleep to sort of leave the day behind,

To allow my body and mind to relax and enjoy a peaceful night.

That's really working very well for me personally.

Any type of grounding techniques,

Whether practiced in nature,

Connecting to nature,

To the sounds of it,

To the physical sensations,

Walking barefoot or lying on the grass,

Whichever,

Looking at the water,

Listening to the sounds of the river and so on.

I'm sure that majority of people enjoy being out there in nature,

But unfortunately,

Most of us live in urban areas.

Well,

Maybe that's a benefit of nowadays,

But we don't get a lot of access to nature in big cities.

This is the unfortunate thing.

And speaking of the grounding techniques in my Mind-Body Connection course here on Insight Timer,

There is one of the latest practices is dedicated to grounding.

So that is the time when we can practice together and explore the power of that and probably implement these techniques in our everyday lives.

So if you would like to check that,

You are very welcome.

And let me know later how it went for you.

Well,

And once again,

A coach,

A specialist can help you to incorporate all of these techniques in your daily lives.

So you will build resilience towards the negative thoughts,

Negative influence in your lives.

If you guys have something else to add to our today's discussion,

You are welcome to do it in the chat box.

Because very soon we will be moving to our meditation,

Sort of a Mind-Body Connection practice.

We will not go so deeply because we are quite limited in time right now.

But if you would like to develop this practice for yourselves after the next time you practice by yourself,

That will be incredible.

Well,

Let's again take a deep breath together.

And with the out breath,

Try to close your eyes.

Take a comfortable seat.

You can lie down if it feels better for you.

And just make sure that your spine is straight and you can breathe freely.

So with your eyes closed,

Become aware of your physical body,

The position of your limbs,

Your torso.

Become aware of your breath and all of the movements that it causes in your body.

Place all of your attention on a spot in your body where you feel your breath the most.

Whether it is your belly,

Your chest or heart area,

Area beneath your nose.

Try to notice your heartbeat.

You may place your left hand on your heart,

Your right hand on your belly to connect with both.

Try to be an observer without changing anything except anything that is present inside of you right now.

And with the next inhale,

Try to slightly deepen your in-breath and send a bit more air into your belly.

It will prolong your inhale and exhale.

Do not try too hard,

But simply create more space in your belly for the air.

Have all your muscles of the pelvic area and lower belly to relax.

And notice any changes this deep breathing creates in your body.

If it feels comfortable for you,

Continue with a deep breathing,

Slow breathing.

And with your attention,

Scan your whole body starting with your feet and lower legs,

Your knees and thighs,

Your hips,

Pelvic area,

Lower back and belly,

Solar plexus,

Stomach and middle back,

Upper back and shoulder blades,

Heart area and chest,

Collarbones and shoulders,

Upper arms,

Elbows,

Lower arms,

Wrists,

Palms on the hands and all of your fingers,

Your neck and throat,

Jaws,

Face,

Front,

Skull and whole head.

Put your head into your hands,

Touch your head gently.

You can give yourself a little massage and notice if you have any thoughts right now in your head.

Do not label them as positive or negative.

Just see them sort of in front of you individually without going into their stories.

You can picture your thoughts as balloons or clouds,

Any other substances.

Give them color and texture,

Sizes.

And seeing all of these thoughts in front of you,

Notice that you are not your thoughts,

That they are just a part of your existence.

And if they are just a part of it,

You are bigger and stronger than them.

And you always have the power over them.

Allow these thoughts to exist and remind yourself that you are always one decision away from working with them.

Now you can let these thoughts go.

See them becoming smaller and smaller and notice how your head feels right now.

You can add some movement to your face or neck,

Maybe to all of your body if it feels comfortable to you.

To remind yourself that you are here,

You are now,

You are alive,

You are whole.

You are confident and you are powerful.

You can make your movements a bit smaller and come back slowly to your breathing,

To all of the sensations that you've got in your body.

Notice if something has changed since the beginning of this practice.

Take a slightly deeper breath and with a slightly longer out-breath,

Let go of this practice.

Fully arrive to your surroundings and open your eyes.

Well,

This was a very short journey for us to connect to ourselves,

Not only to our physical bodies,

To our minds as well,

Probably to our emotions,

To identify them.

And as I mentioned,

You guys can develop this practice for yourselves in your personal meditations.

If you guys would like to get a personal experience of working with me,

You can always do so.

I'm guiding online meditations,

One-on-one sessions or we can work together in the coaching programs if you find it useful for yourselves,

If you guys are ready for that.

And for now,

Please let me know maybe your comments,

Your questions,

Your thoughts on our today's live event.

I would be very happy to get your feedback.

And yeah,

Angus,

You're saying that it was awesome for you.

You are very welcome,

Daphne.

You're welcome too.

Thank you so much,

Guys.

Yeah,

Don't forget to breathe.

It is your superpower,

Angus.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much for this reminder.

Yeah,

So the breath is the most accessible tool that all of us have to help us arrive at the present moment and start working on some challenges or maybe deepening our practices,

Deepening our joy if we are talking about shifting our negative experiences and thoughts.

It is the very first step.

Right.

And Kay,

Thank you.

It was very wise and helpful.

I'm glad to hear that.

Great.

Thank you,

Guys,

For your participation in the comment section.

It was amazing to have this chat together to hear more about yourselves.

And once again,

I would like to thank Insight Timer for providing us the space and time to connect to each other,

To also contribute this time to our community here,

Which I really enjoy building and having.

Thank you all,

Guys,

For your donations,

For your hearts here during the event.

And once again,

Make sure to follow my page here to discover more practices.

You can also send me direct messages on Insight Timer if you have any questions or further requests.

I'm always open to communication and to connecting with all of you guys.

Well,

For now,

I would like to ask you the final question,

Which is important to conclude our session today.

What will you bring with you from our today's event?

Answering this question either for yourselves,

Either in the comment section will help all of us,

Each of you guys,

To really not only get some insights,

Right,

But to implement them,

To get something that we can use,

Something very practical.

So I always ask this question in my sessions at the end of our live events,

Because this is probably one of the most important questions to answer.

Right,

For me,

I think,

Yes,

I would get for myself the reminder of Angus to breathe,

Right,

Just to breathe and enjoy the breath.

And gratitude that I felt for my body,

For being alive,

Whatever happens,

No matter what's going on,

And gratitude for this beautiful community.

Well,

Daphne,

What for you is the body is always in the present.

Yes,

Great.

And Kay,

The thought labeling suggestion helped.

Great,

I'm very happy to hear that.

So I guess for now that is it for this Saturday.

I will be very happy to see all you guys in a week.

And I wish you to enjoy the weekend fully and enjoy the present moment.

Bye,

Everyone.