Is Mindfulness For Me?

This session disembarks the questions and fear surrounding mindfulness by providing simple tricks and tips to practice being mindful throughout the day. It involves a quick body scan in order to be more mindful of our body, emotions and thoughts.

Includes music from Chris Collins & Carmen Ng.

Transcript

Hello unique learner!

Great you're taking this time apart for yourself.

This session disembarks the questions and fear surrounding mindfulness by providing simple tricks and tips to practice being mindful throughout the day.

It involves a quick body scan in order to be more mindful of our body,

Emotions and thoughts.

But mindfulness is it for me?

I support students with their studies and coach professionals who write for a living.

When I introduce mindfulness to my clients some become very fearful or say I cannot sit still for an hour each day and think of nothing.

That nonsense that's not for me.

Well is mindfulness sitting still for an hour each day and think of nothing?

No!

Some people actually fear practices such as mindfulness and meditation.

There are many reasons for this.

For me a major thing was not being comfortable in my own body and feeling all the tension and stress.

Or that inner critic screaming you're doing it wrong you can't do anything.

But with some practice I work through it and now I can write better in less time,

Be more creative,

I'm more focused and sometimes I actually enjoy working on my PhD.

According to researchers,

One being our Inside Timer Shapiro,

Mindfulness helps us sleep better,

Improves interpersonal functioning,

Empathy,

Immune functioning and decreases stress and enhances cognition and creativity,

Attention and concentration and not to forget our self-esteem.

But what is mindfulness?

Is it thinking with every thought,

Now I'm mindful?

Mindfulness involves being aware of what is arising without changing the experience.

But rather changing the relationship to that experience.

Or in practical terms instead of shaming ourselves and beating ourselves up,

We look at ourselves with kindness.

But it's more difficult than you think.

It is often our self-judgment which is holding us back.

And when you think I cannot be mindful,

Do you then think it will help when you also add to it,

No you're not doing it right.

You cannot do this.

You are not good enough.

What's wrong with you?

Why can everybody else be focused and work better than you?

No wonder mindfulness isn't working for you.

And on and on and on and on.

Now with practicing mindfulness I smile at this inner critic.

I pay attention to the thought,

Say thank you and move on by focusing back on my breath.

What about sitting still and thinking about my thoughts,

My monkey minds?

How can I learn to concentrate on my thoughts if they are all over the place?

Because practice involves noticing that when your mind wanders off from whatever you're focusing on,

You intentionally bring your attention back to the object of your attention.

One little tip,

From my experience there is no way to completely quiet your mind and also it's not the goal here.

All you're trying to do is pay attention to the present moment without judgement.

If your mind wanders that's okay.

Everybody has that.

It's just practicing to bring your mind back to the focus point.

And the more you do this the better it gets.

As Shapiro mentioned,

What you practice makes you stronger.

There's a range of practices that can help us strengthen this ability.

It can be as simple as taking a deep breath before you start to write.

Or when you're in between meetings and checking with your body.

It can be a meditation of just 2 minutes.

Or a walking meditation.

And if you're more up for the challenge,

Yoga or a body scan meditation.

Bringing your attention and awareness to different regions of your body.

Where you experience the sensations in the body without trying to change or react to anything.

Some people,

Not me by the way,

Set the timer on their mobile phone and get an alarm so that they know they need to be mindful.

Again,

Whatever practice works for you.

We will now do a short version of a body scan with a quick connecting mindfulness practice.

If you're not already doing so,

Find a place to sit that feels calm and quiet to you.

Sit comfortably.

Notice your body.

How does your left pinky toe feel?

How does your right ear feel?

Is there tension anywhere in your body?

Whatever you feel,

If you feel anything at all,

That's okay.

Is your face tensed?

Are you looking angry at me now?

Feel your breath.

Follow the sensation of your breath as it goes in and as it goes out.

Try one breath in through your nose,

Hold it on the top and exhale longer through your mouth.

Another one,

Breathe in through your nose,

Hold it and exhale through the mouth,

Completely emptying those lungs.

Last big one for now,

Breathe in and exhale.

Now try to focus on one thought.

Notice when your mind has wandered.

Inevitably your attention will leave the sensations of the breath and wander to other places.

When you get around to noticing this in a few seconds,

A minute,

Simply return your attention to the breath.

Mahatmacosha,

We can't breathe and think thoughts at the same time.

Be kind to your wandering mind.

Be kind to your wandering mind.

Don't try to judge yourself or obsess over the content of the thoughts you find yourself lost in.

Easier said than done,

Right?

Just come back to your breath.

Be kind to your wandering mind.

That's it!

That's the practice.

You go away,

You come back and you try to do this as kindly as possible.

If you're new to meditation and you may think that your attention seems to be getting worse as you practice,

This isn't true.

You're just discovering how easily your mind can get distracted.

Keep trying,

Keep practicing,

Even if you feel you aren't focusing well at all.

Trust in the process.

Now how does your body feel?

Is it different from when you started?

So how can you apply mindfulness in your daily life?

I love to start when I sit behind my desk with 3 or 4 deep breaths.

For example I put my ring finger on my right nostril and breathe in through my left nostril.

And breathe out through my mouth 4 times before I start.

It's just 4 breaths which can make the difference.

And then I would like to focus on the task before me.

I also tend to multitask because I think this works better.

But that isn't always true.

Because when I focus on one task it works better.

Multitasking actually reduces productivity and increases stress so try to avoid it when you can.

When you are studying or trying to write that paragraph.

Is that inner critic at it again?

What are your thoughts saying?

Are they true?

Or is that inner critic actually telling lies?

Is it funny how petty that inner critic is,

The more you focus on it?

Those are questions I ask myself often after those 4 breaths.

And over time you become more familiar with mindfulness and practice this throughout your day.

Again,

Whatever practice works for you.

Maybe ask yourself how are you commuting to your work?

What do you feel and think when you are with love and company?

Over time regularly practicing mindfulness helps us develop the ability to be present throughout the day.

Every day.

And in this session we went over questions and fear surrounding mindfulness and achieved to do a quick body scan in order to be more mindful of our body,

Emotions and thoughts.

Hopefully the provided simple tricks and tips will help you to practice being mindful whilst working and more importantly throughout the day.

Going from I cannot be mindful to yes I am practicing mindfulness.

And now enjoy your day.