Mindfulness is in essence a way of paying attention to moment-to-moment experience. For most of our day, we are living either in the past, reflecting on things that have happened to us, or planning and imagining into the future.  But memories are unreliable and subject to our own perceptions, and the future is a fantasy that may be dominated by worry, leading to anxiety. So mindfulness connects us with what’s real, now.  It’s also about staying present, and stepping back to observe what’s going on, without judgement.

Meditation is a deeper exploration of our mind, through direct experience or observation of senses, feelings, emotions and thoughts. You employ mindfulness to stay present to the experience and insights that may arise. As you follow the process, such as mindful breathing, the body and mind naturally calm down.

You may find that at first, when stopping and looking in the mirror of your mind, you will be amazed and worried about the flood of thoughts that appear. Don't worry, this settles with practice.

Meditation does not require a thinking or analytical process, in fact when we are truly in the elusive space between past and future, the mind quietens down significantly. What we’re left with is the experience of the underlying nature of our mind, clear, spacious, and free of day-to-day worries. It is a place of tranquillity and love.  Ultimately, we can find mental freedom, inside ourselves, whatever’s happening.

There is extensive evidence of effects of these practices. In terms of mental health, it is accepted by the mainstream medical world including the NHS in the UK and NIH and the APA in the US, that it reduces anxiety and depression, reduces emotional reactivity, improves focus, boosts memory, and improves relationships.

In terms of impacts on the body, these practices reduce blood pressure, helps with chronic pain, improves sleep and contributes to better digestive health.

Links:

https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2021/06/mindfulness-your-health#:~:text=Health%20Benefits%20of%20Mindfulness&text=Mindfulness%2Dbased%20treatments%20have%20been,help%20people%20cope%20with%20pain.

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/07-08/ce-corner

https://www.helpguide.org/harvard/benefits-of-mindfulness.htm#:~:text=If%20greater%20well%2Dbeing%20isn,sleep%2C%20and%20alleviate%20gastrointestinal%20difficulties.

Recommended books:

Thich Nhat Hahn ‘Breathe! You Are alive'
Thich Nhat Hahn 'The Miracle of Mindfulness'
Mark Williams 'Mindfulness, 'Finding Peace in a Frantic World'

You don’t need much to do this programme, other than making a commitment to a daily practice of mediation and frequently taking ‘mindful moments’.  However, it will be useful to establish the following:

1. Find a quiet, uncluttered place to practice at home, where you can be undisturbed.

2. Try to find a time slot of at least 5 minutes, at the same time each day, in the early morning and again in the evening. In these times you can do your breathing or body scan exercises, using the mp3s if useful. You can gradually extend the time you meditate to 30 minutes, but start with less, to establish the routine.

3. Try to do this every day.

4. Find triggers (such as every time you get a drink, go to the loo, finish an email etc) when you pause for a few moments, breathe slowly and mindfully, and recentre yourself. Do this right through the day.

Getting ready to meditate

For many of the exercises in this course, you will adopt a sitting posture. You don’t need to get into a full lotus and pretend to be a little Buddha. Just sit, upright, either on a cushion or on an upright chair.

Here are the key instructions:

1. Sit in an upright position

2. Stay fully alert, but relaxed, with focused, curious attention

3. Stay in the now – dwell neither in the past or the future, just let the present unfold with freshness

4. Do not comment on or judge whatever arises – nothing is intrinsically good or bad

5. If you realise your mind has wandered, simply bring it back and carry on.

When we start these exercises, the first experience many people have is that the mind is busy, distracted and full of worries. Correct. If you notice that, you’ve made your first big insight. It will change; you just need to keep up the mind-training, just like going to the gym to get fit.

Start with the basic breathing practices every day for one week, then learn and practice the '10 second re-boot' for those odd moments and pauses during the day.  Do breathing practice every day for the 3 months (or for life!).

Audio tracks to play or download:

5 minute practice

10 minute practice

10 second re-boot

The starting point for most mindfulness practice, is mindful breathing, or ‘conscious breathing’. We simply bring our attention to the physical sensation of our own breath.

One of the advantages of using breathing as a tool in developing mindfulness, is that it’s always available. When we focus our attention on the breathing, and just observe, we actually find that every breath is subtly unique.

Doing this, calm naturally arises, and with it we can see how scattered the mind can be and how elusive full concentration really is. We may also notice the tendency to judge what’s happening around us, or in our thoughts. This is normal.

As one’s concentration improves, staying in the present moment becomes more and more natural. When that happens, we’re less worried and distracted by thoughts of past and future.

The following guided meditations are very simple, and form the foundation work at all stages of mindfulness training. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, you have access to practice attention to the breath.

Guided practices:

5 minute breathing practice

10 minute breathing practice   
10 second re-boot

In a busy, active environment, bombarded with stimuli from emails to billboards, it’s no surprise that we mostly live in our heads.

Yet our bodies are incredibly sensitive instruments, and in many ways a much better gauge of our emotional life, than our busy minds.

A key tool in developing mindfulness is to tune-in to our body. We cannot think ourselves into a clear and calm mind-state.

Dealing with difficult emotions, for example, can be addressed much more quickly by tuning-in to the feelings in our body; in fact trying to resolve difficult thoughts by thinking alone, will often lead to more confusion. When people ask what our gut feeling is, it means exactly that (our guts are lined with brain cells called the enteric system).

With practice, we can learn to recognise internal body feelings such as the effects of specific emotions, and get quicker at noticing tension arising. By becoming more aware of body sensations, externally and internally, we can access an incredible reserve of emotional intelligence.

Taking the time to consciously tune-in to the body, from tip to toe, is a core exercise in developing mindfulness. By learning to ‘listen’ to our bodies, we can become more sensitive to the messages it may be sending us.

Next time you’re in a situation that typically causes you stress, such as team meeting or a client review, employ these skills of tuning-in to the body.

The body scan is a key practice in this course, and great way to relax; if you suffer from poor sleep patterns it can really help, but try to keep awake while you’re doing it – keeping eyes open helps! Not only is it an exercise in tuning into the body, but it’s also about developing the capacity for sustained attention.

As with mindful breathing, this is an exercise that should be used regularly.

Guided body scans (Lie on your back with your hands lying by the side of your body or resting gently on your belly).

5 minute body scan

10 minute body scan

If we can bring mindfulness into everyday movements like walking, we can always find time to practice. Mindful walking practice is in two parts - learning to tune in to every step through meditative slow walking, then speeding it up into everyday activities.

It's also good to start this practice, or finish it, with standing meditation, so follow the 10 minute standing practice to help you.

Here's a video of mindful walking, a great form of meditation for those who like to move!

Guided practices:

Walking and standing meditation

Standing meditation

All of these practices are wonderful, helping us stay supple, counteracting muscle stiffness, improving balance and strength.

Yoga, meaning to live fully, was traditionally a preparation for meditation. I practice yoga every morning for about 20 minutes, and again for 5 minutes before bed (especially to address stiff legs). Rather than guide you in this website, I highly recommend starting a class, or using the excellent Yoga Studio app to work at home in your own time.  Build up slowly and adapt movements to what you can manage, for example by doing the movements that you can while seated, or using a chair to lean on. Never stretch more than 80% of what's possible for you..

Qi Gong means energy for Life, and has many forms, one of which is T'ai Ji. It helps us work with body energies and connect with the energy of life around us. If you're interested in Qi Gong, I found great teaching for healing at The Chi Centre.

I'm including some videos of a great friend and teacher Ad Brugman to guide you. I do these movements before yoga.

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3