mindfulness

Body Strength Challenge 2 (Wall Squat)

(video 49sec) Here is the second body strength exercise that Personal Trainer, Joey Hunter, gave me. She asked me how long can I hold a few simple exercises & what goes through my mind as I do them?

I decided to see what would happen if I did each exercise a second time while practicing mindfulness. Would it change my experience? Would I be able to hold it longer?

Above is the first exercise, a wall squat, done ‘normally’ and while voicing my stream if conscious.

Below is me doing it mindfully! (video 2:04min)

Try this yourself! Put your back against a wall, thighs parallel to the ground and see how long you can hold it. Then do it while practicing mindfulness meditation and see if you can hold it longer.

How to Calm Your Mind, Part 2

(video 12:04min) In Part 1 we covered the idea that when we’re practicing mindfulness, and when we’re being mindful we’re going to keep thinking… And that actually we WANT to think (gasp!).

And now we want to know why we’re told during practice that we should “let go of our thoughts”? If thinking is ok, then why do we need to let go of it?

Great question! On to Part 2!

Why is it important to practice mindfulness regularly?

(video: 5:31 min) Does mindfulness ever become permanent? Will I ever be mindful all the time with out having to practice it regularly?

Well yes. And no.
Yes in that you can reach a stage where mindfulness is something you’re doing all of the time, as a behavior, a habit or an state of being.

And no in that until it becomes an ingrained habit, you need to keep reinforcing the behavior by practicing it!

Why? Because your brain learns and changes based on your behaviors. What you do today is changing your brain. You’re either creating & maintaining neurological structures for mindfulness today or you’re creating structures for something else.

Thanks to Dr Lara Boyd on TEDxVancouver for making the relationship between our daily behaviors and our brain so clear.

Reclining Body Scan (for falling asleep)

MME Album Art(meditation: 21:22 min) You may be familiar with Body Scan meditations from your yoga or relaxation classes. They are an ancient way to relax the body and mind.

There are a variety of ways to do body scans. Usually you start at one end of the body (head or feet), focus on the sensations in that part, and move slowly, part by part, to the other end.

This recording is long and slow enough to help you fall asleep. Soft muscle contractions are suggested throughout to help you release muscle tension and relax your body for rest. You can also listen at low volume, so that you dream peacefully through it once you fall asleep.

Rest well.

Mindfulness Practice: Reclining Body Scan (for falling asleep)

  1. Begin by lying down in a comfortable position.
  2. Close your eyes.
  3. Bring your attention to your breath. Notice how it feels to breathe.
  4. Gently shift your attention to your feet and feel the sensations in your feet.
  5. Keep most of your attention on your sensations. Let everything else float by in the background. Let thoughts, emotions and other physical sensations float through like passing clouds, knowing that during this practice, you don’t need to do anything with your thoughts or feelings except notice that they are here.
  6. If you find that your attention has become absorbed in your thoughts (emotions or sensations) to the point that you are no longer noticing the sensations in your feet, simply redirect your attention kindly and gently back to your feet and start a fresh. Your thoughts will remain, and you don’t need to do anything with them to make them go away. Each thought will pass on it’s own. You don’t make them come and you don’t need to do anything to make them go. Simply notice that they are here and that is enough.
  7. With your attention on your feet, gently squeeze your feet muscles, softly contracting and releasing, and noticing how your feet feel as you do this. Do this a few times.
  8. Then, let your feet rest and invite your feet to soften like butter and melt down into the cushion.
  9. Next move your attention up to your lower legs and repeat this process of first noticing, then gently squeezing and releasing, resting and melting.
  10. Move slowly up the body, repeating the process with each part.
  11. When you get to your head you can start again with the feet, continuing the cycle until you fall asleep, or you can end the practice at any point by returning to the sensations of breathing for a few cycles of breath and completing the practice there.

 

To Download:

Click on the Download button below.

If it does not download automatically:

  1. A new window will open with an audio player (like the player above).
  2. Right click on the player and choose “Download File” or “Download Video”
  3. iPhone users will want to first copy the meditation into iTunes (on your computer) and then sync with your iPhone.

Note that you are welcome to download and share this files as many times as you like provided you do so in it’s entirety and it is used for personal or educational use only (no commercial uses).

 

Mindfulness Practice: Field of Vision

MME Album Art(meditation: 6:18 min) This practice is also a classic mindfulness practice that is very old. In this practice we focus on what we can see in the space in front of us.

As with River of Sound, some people love this practice. It  really suits them. “Now this is a practice that I like!” And other people really don’t like it.

This is why I offer it, because I find that different people like different practices, and the best practice is one that you like! Why? Because you are more likely to do it if you like it!

Try this out and see what you feel. You may find that this is the one for you! And if you like this kind of practice, there are lots of other practices available in the world of meditation with eyes open.

Enjoy!

Mindfulness Practice: Field of Vision

  1. Begin by getting into position, whatever position works best for your body. I suggest the following:
    1. Sit on a chair (sofa, bed, etc) with your feet flat on the floor.
    2. Rest your hands, palms down, on your thighs.
    3. Feel your sit bones pressing down.
    4. Float the crown of your head up so that it softly lifts your torso.
    5. Tuck your chin in a bit so that the back of your neck is soft and long.
    6. Soften your jaw.
    7. Let your front body be soft (relax your belly, chest and face) and your back body be firm and upright.
    8. Close your eyes.
  2. Bring your attention to your breath. Notice how it feels to breathe.
  3. Gently open your eyes and gaze down a comfortable distance in front of you (1 to 2 meters)
  4. Soften your eyes and take in your whole field of vision. Rather than look at just one thing, let your eyes gently take in your whole field of vision at once.
  5. Be curious about what you can see. Stay soft and let your eyes un-focus or anything that they want to do. Relax and notice what ever you can see in any given moment, including blurry vision, etc.
  6. Keep most of your attention here as much as you can. Let everything else float by in the background. Let thoughts, emotions and physical sensations float by in the background like clouds.
  7. If you find that your attention has become absorbed in your thoughts (emotions or sensations) to the point that you are no longer noticing what you can see, simply let the thoughts go, and kindly and gently bring your attention back to your vision and start a fresh. You can have an infinite number of fresh starts, so you can relax.
  8. End the practice when you feel ready or when your timer rings by coming back to your breath for a few seconds and then raising your eyes.

 

To Download:

Click on the Download button below.

If it does not download automatically:

  1. A new window will open with an audio player (like the player above).
  2. Right click on the player and choose “Download File” or “Download Video”
  3. iPhone users will want to first copy the meditation into iTunes (on your computer) and then sync with your iPhone.

Note that you are welcome to download and share this files as many times as you like provided you do so in it’s entirety and it is used for personal or educational use only (no commercial uses).

 

What to Do When You Feel Bad

(video: 9:44) Confused? Angry? Guilty? Sad? Depressed? Anxious?Overwhelmed? …?

What to do?
Mindfulness gives us a great tool: notice how you feel. Feel it. Observe it from the inside – feel how it feels to feel what you are feeling. What does it feel like to feel confused right now? What does it feel like to feel angry right now? Ask and feel and remember the whole time that you are asking the question, that you are exploring, that a part of you is doing the noticing, the observing, the exploring and taking notes.

This is incredibly powerful because it allows us to feel what we’re feeling and learn from it at the same time.

Maybe all we learn is what it feels like to feel confused. Already this is a million times better than being lost in confusion, where confusion is our entire experience & we can’t gain from it because we’re drowimg in it.

Bringing in the noticing is like popping our heads out of the water. Suddenly we have a bit of breathing room. We’re not drowning anymore. We can look down and see that we’re up to our neck in confusion. We have a whole new perspective on the situation. We can see that we’re in it versus being overwhelmed by it.

And then what?… You’re welcome to watch the video for my recent experiences with the next steps.

Cultivating Compassion

(video 4:59) The Science of Meditation Summit interview with Dr. Kelly McGonigal was all about compassion, her research and experience.

Compassion for others is an instinct, according to her research, as social animals we’re geared towards helping our community members relieve their suffering. This keeps our survival group strong.

Self-compassion is not instinctive. Instinctively we respond to our own suffering with stress: distress, shame, guilt, fight, fight, freeze, etc.

If we’re going to train compassion for self and others, she suggests that we do both at the same time. Cultivate compassion for others, practicing to improve that natural process, and also include self-compassion in the practice to build that as well.

Watch the video for a brief description of a compassion practice.

Enjoy!,
Elena
www.ElenaMariaFoucher.com

Mindfulness is Not Self-help

(video 4:12) I listened to the Science of Meditation Summit presentation by meditation teacher Susan Piver who said one of the myths about mindfulness is that it is a form of self-help. “It’s not,” she says, and after listening to her explaination, I totally agree.

Mindfulness as a concept is simply being present, aware of ourselves, and pure mindfulness practice is simply noticing ourselves. What ever we’re doing, thinking, feeling, we simply notice. We don’t try to change anything, we simply notice.

Self-help is another set of meditations, therapies and tools that we use to change what we notice. If, using mindfulness, we notice that we’re angry a lot and inappropriate with how we express it, we might take other steps to create healthier expressions of our anger. Now we’ve added self-help.

I find this distinction really useful for understanding the role of mindfulness and the role of self-help. Mindfulness is for being aware of what is happening. Self-help is for changing what is happening.