practice

I forgot to practice!

(4m46s video, 1m40s text)

How many times has that happened?!

All of a sudden you realize that you forgot to practice today… or this week, or for the last month or year.

That’s not a fun moment.
It feels bad. You haven’t done something that you know is good for you, that helps you feel great and keeps you sane.
There’s a moment of painful emotions, for me a mix of guilt, shame, frustration, anger, sadness.

It’s useful to recognize and acknowledge those feelings. They’re reminding us that we’re off track. They’re providing motivation to get back in gear.

And you can!
The best part is that you can actually decide to practice immediately, turning that sad reminder into a moment of practice! Sweet!

How?

Well, after you accept your feelings, you can decide to do your practice right then and there.

If you meditate, you can get present.
If you do yoga, you can stretch your arms out or do a few neck rolls (go ahead, you know you want to :)).

If you do something like run or lift weights or play tennis, you can embody the practice. Feel what it feels like to run or lift or play… what do you notice?

For example, if you lift and you imagine doing a bench press, you can contract your muscles and notice how your body reacts. This can be a nice light practice in itself. It can also give you information about how you move when you press… are you arching your back too much? Are you overly tight anywhere? Stretch! And take that info into your next practice and see what happens.

If you write, paint, knit, etc. you can feel into your current project. How is it going? Do you want to change anything about it? Add or subtract anything or completely switch something up?

You get the picture.

The point is to take that moment of “bleh” and use it.
Immediately give yourself the benefits of your practice.
Turn “bleh” into “yeah”!

Not only will you get the benefits of practicing immediately, you’ll also be that much more motivated to practice tomorrow! Yeah!

Happy Practicing!,
Elena

3 Minute River of Sound Meditation

Mindfulness Practice: 3 Minute River of Sound

  1. Begin by getting into position, whatever position works best for your body. This position will become your body-mind’s signal that you are starting a practice. I suggest the following as it uses little muscular energy to stay upright and alert, and allows you to breathe easily :
    1. Sit on a chair (sofa, bed, etc) with your feet flat on the floor.
    2. Rest your hands where ever they are comfortable (neither propping yourself up or pulling yourself forward with your hands).
    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 tiny bit so that the back of your neck is long, making sure it’s also soft.
    6. Soften your jaw.
  2. Close your eyes. Or keep them open, and look down at the floor (or whatever is in front of you) a few feet or meter or so in front of you, keeping your eyes relaxed.
  3. Bring your attention to your breath. Notice how it feels to breathe.
  4. Gently shift your attention to what you can hear.
  5. Imagine that you are a rock in the middle of a river. A river of sound.
  6. Notice the whole river of sound as it floats by. Don’t focus on a particular sound, rather soften your hearing and listen to all of the sounds. Listen to the whole river of sound as it flows by.
  7. Keep most of your attention here as much as possible. Let everything else float by in the background. Let thoughts, emotions and physical sensations flow through like an undercurrent.
  8. When your attention has become absorbed in your thoughts (emotions or sensations) to the point that you are no longer noticing the sounds, simply let the thoughts go, and gently and kindly bring your attention back to the river and start a fresh. You can have an infinite number of fresh starts, so you can relax about that.
  9. End the practice when you feel ready or when your timer rings by bringing your attention back to your breath for a few breaths and then gently opening 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 file as many times as you like provided you do so in it’s entirety and used it for personal or educational uses only (no commercial uses).

Stop Learning From the Past?

I just read this great article in Mindful Magazine about defining mindfulness. I think that they make some really great points including that mindfulness is the natural ability to be aware of where we are what we’re doing (and when we aren’t we tend to get anxious), that there many different ways to practice it, no belief system is required (nor negated) and that it brings out the best in everyone.

Be in the moment.

And like most people when they discuss mindfulness, I think that they miss a really cogent point that causes a ton of confusion: being in the moment does not mean you stop thinking about the past and future.

Oh contraire.

That is a logical mistake and an important one to correct. (Not that they make it directly, they just imply it and don’t address it.)

We keep hearing and saying, “Be in the moment. In the here and now. Don’t get lost in thought, thinking about the past and future, and lose touch with were you are in the moment.” This I agree with totally.

On the other had mindfulness doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t think about the past and future. We need to learn from the past and consciously create our futures. If we never did these things we’d be aimlessly moving though life, never improving our lives or evolving our selves. 

Being conscious while thinking

Mindfulness isn’t about this. Mindfulness isn’t about giving up your ability to think or grow. It’s about doing these things with awareness. The conscious part is what’s important. 

Being mindful means that when you think about the past and future you do it with awareness. You’re aware that you’re in the present, the here and now, thinking about another time. It means that you’re conscious about thinking about what happened and what could happen. Simply, you keep in mind the whole time, “I’m sitting here thinking this.”

This is an amazingly important point. And so many people misunderstand  it that I’ve discussing it with practically every single client I’ve ever had.

Thinking isn’t the problem

I find this a weird disconnect. Why would the mis-belief that thinking is a problem be so widespread?

I imagine we don’t question it because most of us have a hard time with our thoughts and emotions. We want our busy minds to stop. We see them as the source of our problems, the obstacle to inner peace. 

The issue here is that it’s not your thoughts and emotions that are the problem. The problem is that you get lost in them.  You abandon yourself to them. And then you believe them. 

The good news, my friend, is that they are not your problem. You don’t need to stop them, or calm them, or even make them go away. You just need to be aware of them. You need to be sufficiently conscious of them that you start to see/remember that you are not them. 

Practice to realize your truth

This comes with mindfulness practice. As you practice being aware of yourself, of your thoughts and feelings and sensations, you realize little by little and giant leap by giant leap, that you are much bigger than they are.

This isn’t an esoteric idea or some kind of state or place that you have to achieve.  This is who you already are. You’re already bigger than they are. You experience this naturally every time you become aware of yourself (example: notice that you’re sitting/standing there reading this and voila, you’re bigger than your body-mind).  Simple, huh? Not rocket science.

The only difference between experiencing that as unimportant and experiencing that as evidence that you’re bigger than your thoughts is that you haven’t done it enough. The more you do it, especially being aware of yourself while you’re thinking, the more obvious this becomes. 

And most importantly, you need to do it for yourself. You need to find out for yourself whether this is true or not. Definitely don’t believe me. Be the arbiter of your own reality.

Sensational Emotions Mindfulness Practice

MME Album Art(meditation: 5:48 min) This meditation builds on the meditation called Sensational Awareness. Once you’re good at focusing on an area of sensation in the body, this practice adds noticing the emotions as well. It is very similar to Emotional Awareness (I even called it that in the recording), and the difference is that this one uses sensation as the starting point whereas Emotional Awareness focuses solely on emotions. This practice, Sensational Emotions, is a good bridge between the two.

Instructions:

Begin by getting into position, whatever position works best for your body. This position will become your body-mind’s signal that you are starting a practice. I suggest the following:

  • Sit on a chair (sofa, bed, etc) with your feet flat on the floor. Rest your hands in your lap. Feel your sit bones pressing down. Float the crown of your head up so that it softly lifts your torso into alignment. Let your back body be a bit firm to maintain this posture and your front body be soft and relaxed.
  1. Take a moment and look around you to ground yourself in the space you’re in (be/become aware of where you are).
  2. Close your eyes and bring your attention to your breath. Feel the sensations of breathing for a few breaths. This will help you be/become aware of your body.
  3. Find an area in your body that feels a bit tense or stiff, an area that feels “charged” to you – an area that might have an emotional component to it. If you aren’t sure, simply focus on the first area you notice that has strong sensation.
  4. Now notice the qualities of the area, as if you were a scientist studying it’s properties. You’ll take time to notice qualitative “facts” about it versus thinking about why it’s like this or that. In other words, you’re going to notice it’s properties and not the who, what and why of it. You’re going to notice “It’s as big as my shoulder,” and not “my shoulder hurts because I’ve been exercising too hard.” Notice things like how big it is (where are the edges?)? How dense? How sharp/dull. What texture? If you could see it what color would it be? Etc.
  5. As you’re noticing the area, you may notice emotions that are related to this area. Do the same with them, and simply examine their qualities, too. Notice things like how sharp or dull is the emotion? How dense is it? If it had a color what color would it be? Etc.
  6. Keeping most of your attention on this area, let other thoughts, sensations and emotions float through the background like passing clouds.
  7. If you find that your attention has become absorbed in something else and you’re no longer noticing the sensations in the area, gently bring your attention back to the area you’ve chosen.
  8. When you feel ready or when your timer rings, end the practice by bringing your attention back to your breath for a few breaths and then gently opening 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).

 

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.

Sensational Awareness – Guided Meditation

MME Album Art(meditation: 8:51 min)

Ever thought, “Uh! I wish I hadn’t said that!!”

Americans like to call this putting your foot in your mouth. Sometimes I put my whole leg in! Open mouth, insert leg. Yikes!

One of the beauties of meditation is that I don’t do this so often anymore. Meditation helps me be more aware of what I’m thinking and feeling… so that I have a moment to decide whether to say something before it pops out of my mouth.

Instead of being lost in my thoughts or overwhelmed by my feelings, I cultivate a perspective (called presence) that lets me see the difference between me and them. I stay aware that I am bigger than my thoughts. I am like a container for them. They are still very much here in me, they are just a PART of me versus taking over me.

This subtle and powerful change in perspective makes all the difference.

I do not get so overwhelmed because they do not fill my entire world. I do not get so lost in them because I see the whole map now.

Make sense? Probably not. If you are like most people this is at best a crazy sounding conceptual theory that doesn’t realate to your experience of reality. I clearly remember thinking this myself. “What the heck does that mean, ‘I am not my thoughts’?

So, how to go from wacky sounding theory to part of your reality?

Experience it yourself!

Below is a practice to help you experience this with sensation, the easiest of the three (thoughts, emotions, sensations). You will happily discover that you do this already (you are present quite often), quite naturally… And now you know how to cultivate it.

Note that if this is the first time you’ve experienced meditation, this isn’t the easiest place to start! I recommend starting with something simple to get the mechanics down first like 3 Breaths.

Happy sensing!

Mindfulness Practice: Sensational Awareness

  1. Start by becoming present to the location you are in: look around at what you can see right now.
  2. Close your eyes and gently shift your attention to your breathing. Notice your breath moving in and out of your body right now. Be curious about your breath. “How am I breathing right now?”
  3. Find a place in your body that has a strong sensation to focus on. Often it is easiest to feel a place that is painful or stiff, or chose a place that feels very fluid and nice. Anywhere is fine, as long as there is sensation that is easy to feel there.
    1. Shift your attention away from your breath and to the area you have chosen with the strong sensation.
    2. Remembering that you are the one feeling the sensation (“I am feeling/sensing.”), be curious about the qualities of the sensation. Notice as much as you can about how it feels. (You can notice qualities like: big/small, intense/soft, rough/smooth, sharp/dull, pulsing/constant, dense/open, etc.)
    3. As much as you can feel it and don’t go into the story about why you are sensing it. Cultivate being curious about feeling the sensations versus thinking about why you feel this way and what you can do to avoid (or repeat) it in the future.
  4. When you feel complete, shift your attention back to your breath. Notice your breath moving in and out of your body.
  5. When you’re ready, open your eyes to end the practice, noticing the space that you’re in right now.

When your mind wanders, as it inevitably will, gently bring it back first to presence by noticing your breath and the quiet between thoughts, and then re-focus on the heart of the practice.

 

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).

 

How to make your meditation practice fun.

To make anything you do more fun, like meditation or working on a project, add in elements of things you like! Add music, go to a beautiful place or dance while you work.

Not sure how to do this last one? Get creative! I have a high counter that I work at that allows me to move.

Here’s to us all having even more fun this new year!

Warmly,
Elena Maria Foucher

Portable Practice 4: Field of Sound (Guided Meditation)

MME Album Art

Welcome to the Mindfulness Made Easy Portable Practices. In the Mindfulness Made Easy course I teach simple and quick practices that you can do anywhere and anytime.

This is the fourth portable practice that I teach in the course, Field of Sound. This practice is great for those of you who prefer audio or sound focuses.

It’s your’s to listen to, download and share as many times as you like for personal, non-commercial use.

Enjoy!,

Elena

To Listen: Click play to listen on this page.

 

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.

 

Portable Practice 1: Three Breaths Meditation

MME Album Art

Welcome to the Mindfulness Made Easy Portable Practices.

In the Mindfulness Made Easy course I teach quick and easy practices that you can do anywhere and anytime.

This is the first portable practice that I teach in the course. It’s called Three Breaths.

It’s your’s to listen to, download and share as many times as you like for personal, non-commercial use only.

Enjoy!,

Elena

 

To Listen: Click play to listen on this page.

 

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.

 

Spice Up Your Meditation Practice!

Spice Up Your Practice!-3Want to spice up your meditation practice?
Add one of these simple focuses to your practice to spices things up a bit. They help keep your mind interested (focused and willing)… and ultimately keep us motivated to practice!

1. Counting vs not counting breath: Exploring the advantages and challenges of both. Noticing what happens when you count vs when you don’t. (The bigger picture: This isn’t about one option being better, it’s more about noticing the differences between the two and playing with the effects.)

2. Noticing the variety of sensations in your body at any given time: Noticing different qualities of sensations in your foot like hot, cold, itching, tingling, etc. Next time you can notice all the different sensations in your foot again and notice how things have changed – to compare and contrast, or switch to noticing your leg or face or arm, etc. (The bigger picture: Focusing attention on noticing the different sensations increases your ability to sense them… This gets quite interesting as there are a wide array of ‘subtle’ sensations that most of us are not even aware of at first.)

3. Relaxing: Can you relax your face when you meditate? (Or your foot, or leg…). This is to play with consciously relaxing a part of the body and noticing what happens. (The bigger picture: This also helps you notice how tense you are – or aren’t – and to let go of unnecessary muscular tension that drains your energy! Often we discover that there are areas that we habitually hold unnecessary tension and we can begin to change that habit by relaxing those areas every day.)4. How big or small of an area can you pay attention to? Can you notice your whole foot for 3 breaths? Only 1 toe? (The bigger picture: This helps you break out of any patterns you’ve developed during your life or your practice that are restricting your ability to focus on larger or smaller areas/things.)

5. Length of focus: Can you stay present for one entire breath (inhale+exhale) with out losing focus and getting lost in thought? Two? Two and a half? Three? Can you build up to three and a half? Four? Four and a half? Ten?
(The bigger picture: This is to consciously lengthen the amount of time you’re able to stay present continuously. This isn’t about increasing to a specific number of breaths or certain length of time, it’s about exercising the muscle of focus and thereby learning and remembering how to grow and change and evolve… as we play with lengthening our focus we teach ourselves how, how to get better. This is not about numbers, it’s about getting to know ourselves and learning how to learn.)