Mindfulness

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Transcript

Welcome to part 5.

This section is all around mindfulness. We’re going to look at what mindfulness means. We’re going to look at acceptance and non-judgment within the context of mindfulness. We’re going to look at how we label our thoughts and label our emotions. We’re going to look at how we stay with our present experience. And we’re going to look at this through exercises and mindfulness exercises.

Mindfulness is all about paying attention with kindness and paying attention with curiosity. What are we paying attention to? It’s basically anything that you want to be mindful of. You could be mindful as you go for a walk. Mindful as you sit and do the dishes. Or as you stand and do dishes. Mindful as you, you know sit and look out your window. You could be mindful of absolutely anything. But it’s doing it with kindness and curiosity.

It’s having an inner focus of kindness and an inner focus of curiosity. Mindfulness is all about being present in whatever you’re doing. It’s all about returning our attention to our direct experience. Whatever it is that we’re being mindful of.

If our thoughts drift or we get pulled towards our emotions and we start drifting, we just return our attention to a present experience with kindness and with curiosity. And depending on the research that we’re reading, we have 60,000 (or how busy our thoughts are), we have 60 to 90 thousand thoughts per day. And a lot of these are negative. They can be predominantly negative, from our survival instinct. And also they can be about reminiscing, they can be about planning, they can be about over-analysing. They can be about self-criticizing.

There’s lots of things that are going on and on and on and all these radio stations that are playing in our heads. It can be very busy at times. Mindfulness is about you know bringing in acceptance that that is there. Bringing in acceptance to that experience. And just trying to be present with however that is and not get lost in the story of where our thoughts are bringing us to. And not get lost in the story of our thoughts. We’re constantly reminiscing, imagining and talking to ourselves.

In mindfulness we bring in the concept of labelling. Labelling our thoughts and labelling our emotions. When we look at labelling our thoughts. Really within the context of mindless, our thoughts, we think about our thoughts – we’re not our thoughts, we have thoughts we know our thoughts, we can talk about our thoughts, we can express our thoughts, we can tell other people about our thoughts, we know what our thoughts are. But we’re not our thoughts. They’re a tool that we have within our human experience. They’re a tool that we use to have our human experience. They’re a tool that supports us to have our human experience. And it’s the same with our emotions. We’re not our emotions. We have emotions, we can feel our emotions, we can express our emotions, we can talk to others about our emotions. We know what our emotions are, we can write about our emotions. There’s lots of different things that we can do with our emotions. But we are not our emotions. They’re a tool that we have to have this human experience.

Really with emotions it’s to let us know that we feel great about  something, something feels good to us or something feels doesn’t feel good to us. It’s either this feels good to me or this doesn’t feel good to me and it helps me to make a choice about what I want to do about that situation. It helps me to make a choice about what I want to do with that thought that I feel good about it or that thought that I don’t feel good about.

Really with our thoughts and our emotions we label these within our experience as thoughts and we label them as emotions. But we’re not our thoughts and we’re not our emotions. And this is within the context of a mindful practice.

We then look at acceptance. Acceptance of our experience and we just keep returning our attention to whatever it is we’re being mindful of. Really it’s just bringing acceptance to disturbances,  acceptance to if there’s noises around us, acceptance to whatever our experience is. If we’re feeling discomfort, if we’re feeling cold and you know just allowing the experience to be whatever way it is in a non-judgmental way. We can either be in acceptance or we can be in judgment. We can’t be in both at the same time.

If we’re in acceptance it means we’re in non-judgement, we’re not in judgment. It’s allowing ourselves to just be in acceptance of our experience. The more we exercise this muscle of acceptance within our mindfulness practice, the more that translates out into other areas of our life. The more we build up the momentum of bringing acceptance to our practice, the more momentum we are able to give acceptance within our own lives as well, in how we reacts to situations. We begin to respond to external circumstances rather than react to external circumstances. We begin to respond to the stories around us, rather than react to the stories around us. And we also begin to not to jump into the story when something is happening. If something is happening around us in our experience, we don’t tend to jump straight in and get involved, we can take a step back and choose what our response is. These are all benefits of having a mindfulness practice and having a practice where we bring acceptance into that mindfulness experience as well.

And as we mentioned we’re always mindful of something. We’re mindful of something that our senses are bringing to us. We could be mindful of smells, mindful of taste, mindful of touch, mindful of sight, the things that we can see, mindful of what we’re hearing as well. And just mindful of our general knowing of what is happening within our experience of whatever it is that we’re being mindful about. And one of the big benefits of this is what we’ve mentioned in the sense that we start to respond to our circumstances rather than react to our circumstances. This builds up over time within our mindful practice.

As we begin to practice more and more and there’s less judgement, more acceptance – we just bring in gradually this responsiveness rather than this reactionary sense that we may have sometimes to the situations that happen around us.

The beauty then with mindfulness as well is that I could be practiced individually or as a group with other people as well. You can practice it in person with people, or practice it together online with other people as well. It’s just a lovely thing to do on your own, or a lovely thing to share with others as well.

We’re really starting to look then at acceptance within mindfulness. What does this mean. We’ll just look a little bit deeper at this whole area of acceptance. It’s really about staying with our present experience as it goes on and as we go through it without of needing to end, without you know even if there’s discomfort within our present experience, not trying to force it to end or to want it to end and just allowing it to be whatever way it is.

For example if we were practicing something with mindfulness where we were just focusing on our breath and we have an itch in our nose, or we have an itch somewhere on our face, it’s just allowing that to be there without needing to change it. Without needing to do anything about it and just seeing if we can last through that experience as it goes on. The itch will fade, you know, without us needing to scratch it. But it’s just seeing, can I sit with this. It’s giving me discomfort. Can I just sit and be with this. And then that translates out into our external experience with the outside world as well.

Acceptance is also observing an experience without struggling with self-talk or with the emotion that’s going on for us as well. And that can be difficult to do sometimes. But it’s really, this is about practice makes perfect. It’s also about willing to be aware and not needing to escape the awareness that we have. And just allowing it to be whatever way it is for us in that present moment. Allowing the experience to be whatever way it is for us in that present moment. And just accepting our experience of internal and external events. Accepting what’s happening externally for us whether that’s noises we can hear. You know, if we can hear somebody yawning if you’re practicing this in a group or snoring or just whatever’s going on internally first as well, with our own thoughts, our own emotions, our own feelings. Just allowing those to be.

Refusing to accept our experience just as it is, can lead to discomfort within our system. Can lead to tension within our system. It can also lead to anxiety, non-acceptance of ourselves, non-acceptance of others. Really bringing this acceptance into our practice, helps us to be more accepting of ourselves, be more accepting of others and can alleviate against the increase of anxiety and also depression sometimes as well.

What’s the practice of mindfulness all about. Well really it’s about labelling our thoughts as thoughts and labelling our emotions as emotions. Just allowing them to be thoughts, allowing them to be emotions just as they are. Not needing to get caught up in the story of either. Not needing to get involved in the story of our thoughts, involved in the story of our emotions. Just being the observer, a keen observer and bringing our awareness to this observance. Bringing our awareness to ‘there are thoughts’ .. ‘I have thoughts’ .. ‘there are emotions’ .. ‘I have emotions’. And just accepting that our thoughts are there, without feeling the need to get rid of them. They will just float by like clouds. And just allowing them to be there whatever way they need to be. But again returning our attention to whatever it is we’re being mindful of.

We also hold from labelling our experience as good or bad. We hold from judging our experience. So if we’re in allowance of something and in acceptance of something, it means that we’re not in judgment of it.

If we’re labelling something as good or as bad it means we’re judging it. We’re not allowing it to just be the way it actually is. And if we allow something to be just exactly as it is, it means that we’re in total acceptance and total allowance. We’re in non-judgment.

Mindfulness is also about staying with our emotions without needing to get rid of them. And there’s lots of different ways that we can practice mindfulness. Some of these ways are through a practice called loving-kindness, we can do this through breath work, and we can also do things like a body scan which we’re going to do in our practice today as well.

There’s lots of benefits to practicing mindfulness. It can enhance clarity in our life. It can increase our energy, increase our focus. It can lower depression, anxiety, stress and fatigue levels as well. And it can promote greater acceptance, greater peace and greater non-judgement in our lives. A huge amount of benefits that are there and it’s also about the more we practice mindfulness and the more that it brings to our internal experience, the more that can translate into our external experience.

The more acceptance we have within our internal experience, the more acceptance we can have of our external experience. The more non-judgment we have within our internal experience, the more non-judgment we have of our external experience. The more we can separate ourselves from our thoughts and our emotions and label them as thoughts or emotions and not get caught up in the stories of them, the more we’re able to take a step back when we’re in situations that can be stressful, overwhelming, can cause anxiety, can cause fear. To be able to see the truth in those situations and to not get caught up in the story of those situations, where we can just take a step back and we can be in allowance of whatever is happening. Have awareness of whatever’s happening. Know whether we feel that we like a situation or we don’t like a situation. But be able to respond to that situation, rather than to react in that situation. And if we do this practice on a regular basis, this just helps us to have that muscle built up of acceptance. That muscle of non-judgment. That resilience muscle as well. Mindfulness also helps us to build up resilience. It’s really helping to keep our resilience battery charged as well.

Some of the different ways that we can practice mindfulness are: breathing in for 7, breathing out for a count of 11. Breathing in for a count of 7 and out for a count of 11. And that’s your own pace for 7, and your own pace for 11. We can breathe in and notice just our in-breath, and do that for a few minutes. We can have a practice where we notice the pause between our in-breath and our out-breath. We can try to keep silence in our head for a moment and just notice how that feels for us in that moment. These are all mindfulness practices. We can look at our posture. What’s my posture in this moment, how comfortable do I feel. How supported do I feel. Can I just bring acceptance to the way my posture is. Do I need to adjust. Another practice we can do is what’s the furthest away sound that you can hear. This is a lovely one to do when you’re outdoors as well. What’s the furthest away sound that you can hear. And just to take a few moments, to see what that is. Can you listen to the chatter in your mind without getting involved in the chatter. Just allowing the thoughts to be there. Allowing the thoughts to flow through, allowing the thoughts to flow through like clouds. Just allowing the thoughts to be whatever way they are, labelling them as thoughts, returning to your breath, anchoring in your breath. And really with mindfulness it’s easy to anchor in our breath. And anchor in our body with mindfulness practices. Our breath is always there. Our body is always there. They’re easy ones to just focus on. Taking a deep breath in all the way down to your toes, and just seeing where in your body do you feel calm. Is there any part of your body where you just feel a sense of peace, a sense of calmness at this point in time. Look at an object to see what feelings it evokes. And try to stay out of the story of the feelings. Try to notice how long a thought lasts. Follow a thought. See how long it lasts. See if you can follow a thought all the way through. It’s a different way of looking at our thoughts. Where in your body are you most aware of your breath. Is it your nose, just as the breath enters. Is it your throat, or your mouth, as you take a deep breath in. Is it in your lungs, or even down in your abdomen, as you feel your lungs fill up. Listen with your attention and not just with your ears. Listen with all of your senses. Next time you’re talking to somebody, notice how they’re breathing. See if you can be close enough to somebody, without it being uncomfortable, just to notice how they’re breathing. See if you can hold your awareness of their breath as you talk to them. When you feel resentful stay out of the feelings of the story, as you allow the feelings to fade. See if it’s possible. We can do this with lots of different negative emotions. When we feel anger. Stay out of the story of the feelings. As we the feelings to fade. Can you pause for one minute without distracting yourself. Can you be in acceptance of that.

Now we’re going to take a moment to do a body scan. And a body scan is where we bring our attention and our focus all through our body. And it’s really a grounding practice, it helps to centre us, it helps us to feel presence, it helps to give us a strong sense of presence. Just to have your feet flat on the floor. Your palms in your lap. Eyes closed or if you’d like to have your eyes open, just to have your eyes open at a very soft and gentle gaze. And taking three deep breaths in, all the way down to your toes. Taking three deep breaths in all the way down to your toes and now bringing your awareness to your left foot, to your lower left foot, to the sole on your left foot. And to the toes on your left foot. And to the top of your left foot. And after bringing your awareness to your right foot, to the sole of your right foot, the toes of your right foot and the top of your right foot. And how do your feet feel in this moment, any sensations that you feel there, any heat any cold. How do your feet feel against your shoe, socks or tights, against the floor against any surface that your feet are resting on. How do your feet feel in this moment. Any tension that you’re feeling there, just allowing this tension to release, allowing this tension to relax just allowing its tension to let go. Just to release, to relax and to let go. Relax 5% more. And relax each foot 5% more. All of your toes, your soles, to the tops of your feet allowing all of that area to just relax. And now bringing your awareness your ankles, your left and right ankle, how do your ankles feel in this moment. Notice any sensations that you may feel there. Any heat, any cold. How does this feel in this moment for you. Just allowing your ankles to relax. Allowing your ankles to just release any tension, any tightness, any pain, any discomfort. If any of that is there for you. Just allowing it to relax, allowing it to let go. Allowing your ankles to relax 5% more, and 5% more. And now bringing your awareness to your left lower leg and your right lower leg. How does your left and right lower leg feel in this moment. The front of your legs, the back of your legs, within your legs. Any tension, any tightness, any discomfort, any pain. Just allowing it all to release, to relax, to let go. Allowing your lower legs to just relax 5% more and 5% more. And now bringing your awareness to your knees. Your left and your right knee. The front of your knee, the back of your knee, within your knee. How do your knees feel in this moment. Notice any heat, any cold, any tightness, any tension. And just allowing all of this area to release, to relax, to let go. To relax your knees just 5% more. Any tightness that’s there. Any tension, just allowing it to release. Allowing your knees to relax. Relax 5% more and 5% more. And now bringing your awareness to your upper legs, to your left upper leg and your lower upper leg. To your left upper leg and to your right upper leg. To the front of your left leg, back of your right leg. To the front of your left leg, the back of your left leg, to the front of your right leg, the back of your right leg. How do your thighs feel in this moment. How do you feel seated where you’re seated. Do your legs feel supported. Is there any tension or tightness there. Allowing all of this area to just release any tension – to just relax – to let go – relax 5% more and 5% more. And now bringing your awareness to your sitting area, to your lower pelvic area at the front – to all of your sitting area. And to your hips. And how does all of this area feel in this moment for you. Just bringing your attention to all of this area. Any tension that you may be holding there. Any tightness. Just allowing it all to release, allowing all of this area to relax, just let go of any tightness. Giving yourself permission to just let go of any tension, any pain, any discomfort. Allowing all of that area to just relax, 5% more, and to relax 5% more. And now bringing your awareness to your lower back, your mid-back and your upper back. And how does all of your back feel in this moment. Notice any tightness or tension that you’re holding there. Any sensations, any heat, any cold. How does all of this area feel for you. Just allowing all of the upper, mid and lower back to just release this tension – let it go – to just relax all of this area. Allow it to relax a little bit more and allow it to relax a little bit more. And now bringing your awareness to your lower abdomen, your mid-abdomen and your upper abdomen. How does all of this area for. Notice any tension, any discomfort, any sensations, any tightness. Maybe it just feels fine for you. Just allowing all of this area to release anything that needs to release. Release any tension, release any discomfort. And to just relax all of this area. Give yourself permission to just allow all of this area to relax. Bringing your awareness to your chest, all of your chest area, all the way up to your neck. How is all of this area feeling for you in this moment. Allowing this to fully relax, fully release, fully let go of any tension, any tightness. And just allowing all of that area to relax 5% more, relax 5% more. And now bringing your awareness to your left shoulder, your left arm, all the way down to your left hand. From your left shoulder, down to your left elbow, to your left wrist. Down into your left palm, the front of your left hand, your left thumb, your left fingers. How does all of this area – from your shoulder all the way down to your fingertips feel. Is there any tension, is there any tightness. Just allowing all of this to release, to relax. Allowing all of this area all the way down to your fingertips just to let go. And relax 5% more. Noticing any sensations and relax 5% more. And now bringing your awareness your right shoulder, your right elbow, all the way down your right arm, to your right wrist, to your right palm, the top of your right hand, your right palm and your right fingers. How does all of this area feel, from your right shoulder, all the way down to the tips of your fingertips, the tip of your thumb on your right hand and right arm. Any sensations, tightness tension, pain, discomfort. Just allowing it to all release. Giving yourself permission for this to release. Just to let go. Allowing all of this area to relax. 5% more and relax 5% more and even relax some more. And now bringing your awareness to your back. To the back of your shoulders and the back of your neck, to the sides of your neck, the front of your neck. Any tension that’s held here. Any discomfort, any tightness. Giving it permission to release, giving a permission to relax, giving it permission to just let go. Allowing all of this area to relax 5% more and 5% more and 5% more. Allowing your shoulders to drop. Allowing your neck to relax. Allowing your neck to release. Releasing your neck of the responsibility to hold this tightness there. Releasing your shoulders of the responsibility to hold this tightness there. Allowing it all to just relax and relax some more and relax even a bit more. And now bringing your awareness to the back of your head, the back of your scalp, the top of your scalp, the sides of your scalp. How does your whole scalp feel in this moment. Any tension that you’re holding there. Give it permission to just release, to relax, to let go. Relax your full scalp, and relax it 5% more, and 5% more. And now bringing your awareness to your forehead and to your temples, your left and right temple. And how does all of this area feel for you in this moment. Just allowing all of this area to relax, to release, to let go. Relaxing your forehead, relaxing your temples, 5% more and 5% more. And bringing your awareness to your eyebrows, your left and right eyebrows. Your left and right eyelids. Your left and right eye sockets. Your left and right eyeballs. Your left and right eyelashes. How does all of this area feel for you in this moment. Allowing all of this area to just release any tension, relax. Just to let go of any tension, any tightness, any discomfort. Just relax all of this eye area. And the left or right side 5% more and 5% more. And now bringing your awareness to your left and right cheek. Allowing your cheeks to just release, relax, let go. Relax 5% more and relax some more, just let go of any tightness. Bringing your awareness to your nose, the top of your nose, the bridge of your nose, the sides of your nose. Just allowing your nose to relax, release tension, and release it a bit more And just relax all of your nose area 5% more. And now bringing your awareness to your lips, your top and bottom lip, to your tongue, to your teeth, to your gums and all of that area. To just relax, release any tension or tightness and just relax 5% more and 5% more. Relax even a bit more. Bringing your awareness to your jaws, the left side your jaw, the right side of your jaw, the centre of your jaw. Allowing all of your jaw and all of your lower chin area to just relax. Release all of your jaw area from tension. Allow the tension to just be released and allow it to let go. Give it permission to just release. Feel your jaw area relaxing 5% more and 5% more. And then bringing your awareness your left and your right ear. And allowing both your left and right ear to relax 5% more. Release any tension. And release a little bit more and relax a little bit more. And now taking a deep breath in all the way down to your toes and rubbing your palms together and bringing the heat of your palms over your eyes. Allowing your eyes to open underneath your palms. Allowing your palms to fall away from your eyes. Taking another deep breath in. And fully bringing yourself back to the space that you’re in.

And this is a body scan that helps us to relax, it helps us to release tension, and it helps us to feel centred and present in our bodies. I hope you enjoyed.

For module five, we looked at a number of different areas. We looked at the practices of acceptance and the practice of non-judgment and how we can encourage and support those practices within our lives through the practice of mindfulness. And we looked at lots of different ways that you can practice mindfulness. We looked at labelling our thoughts as thoughts or labelling our emotions as emotions and the way that we can do that within our practice and how that benefits us within our lives on a daily basis. And we looked at staying with our present experience and how we can do that and one of these practices that we’ve looked at, is through the body scan as well. I hope you enjoyed this section and I hope you got benefits from the tools that we’ve used within this section as well.

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