Week 3 - Working with thoughts
This week we’re focusing on bringing mindfulness to the experience of the moving body, and beginning to experience more choice with regard to thoughts.
Key concepts we touch on this week are:
Meditation as movement
Thoughts are not (necessarily) facts
Home practice - week 3
Mindfulness of breathing (from week 2) once a day + mindful movement once a day - click here to download the two sound files of meditation 5 that come with the course workbook.
Remember to take care of yourself and not strain, over-do, or do anything that does not feel comfortable.
Three-step breathing space: to use as a tool to help you with disconnecting from auto-pilot during the week.
This week’s Mindfulness in Action practice is to take a break.
Stop what you're doing a number of times a day. Here are some ideas that might help you to do that:
Give yourself permission. Sometimes I ask my clients to do nothing for a few minutes and they often reflect how great it was to be given permission to do nothing. So, give yourself permission to do nothing, to take a break from activity, a number of times a day.
Don't do anything else. Let go completely of what you've been doing, really let yourself have a break. Stop doing, stop being productive or useful, be useless for a little while. Rest in being mode.
Have a holiday from doing mode. Having a break means shifting from doing to being mode for a little while. In being mode we're simply being here, in the moment, fully present, relaxed but alert, appreciating the richness of the present moment, even with its imperfections and problems.
Take lots of micro-breaks. If you don't feel you have time to take 5 or 10 minute breaks, take lots of tiny breaks: close your eyes and follow your breath for three breaths; look out of the window for 30 seconds; stand up if you've been sitting; sit down if you've been standing or walking.
Change your activity. If you've been doing one thing for the last hour or so, do something else for a while.
Get away from technology. If you work with a computer, walk away from it for a little while, turn off or ignore your phone. Don't let yourself be tyrannized by these devices.
Get into your body. If you're doing mental work, such as writing or working at a computer, do something with your body. Stand up, stretch, go for a micro-walk, lie down, or simply close your eyes and notice the sensations in your body.
Enjoy your practice!
Three-step breathing space
It only takes three steps to come back to being mode. You can practice this in 3 minutes, 20 minutes or as long as you want to, any time you would like. You can practice this when you are alone, or when you’re in a crowd, when you’re in nature, or in a meeting:
become aware of your surroundings and become still.
what sensations do you notice in your body?
check in with your mind and notice any thoughts.
what feelings and emotions are present?
focus on the sensations of breathing, using an anchor that works for your (breath, soles of feet on the ground, hands, bottom on chair, sounds around you, …)
expanding awareness to include the whole body, our surroundings, and the world.
Optional activities
In The Little Mindfulness Workbook :
you can review the key concepts from our live session by reading chapter 4 of the book.
you can download meditation 3 (listening to sounds) and meditation 4 (mindfulness of breathing - working with thoughts) from the playlist that accompanies the workbook by clicking here.
These meditations can really help support your practice of working with thoughts in any of your other meditations, as well as being great practices in their own right.
you can download journal templates for “listening to sounds” by clicking here or for “working with thoughts” by clicking here.
Reflect on your practice and learning: notice what your experience is, jot down some notes in a journal, or share some reflections in the FB group to help your learning.
Poem
Holiday
Take a holiday.
Take a holiday from being someone.
Take a holiday from being somewhere.
Take a holiday from it being a time.
Take a holiday from it being now.
Take a break from wanting things.
A holiday from hopes.
Let things not happen after all.
Take a break from fearing things.
Let the universe do what it pleases.
It will anyway.
The universe is having a holiday.
Why not you?
