Mindfulness for Resilience

Suggestions for the week ahead are given below.

– Guided tracks – Week 6 Meditations

 Practicing the Kindness to Self tracks
There are 3 different Kindness to Self tracks to explore; each with a different way in (phrases, imagery, breath) so see which resonates with you. If you have time it can be good to settle in with a short body scan or breath practice (one of 1-4 below) and then follow it directly with a kindness to others practice (one of 5-7 below).  

You can alternate kindness to self on some days with any other track from the course.

1. On the Mind   Brief body scan (9 min)
2. Breathworks   The body scan (20 mins)
3. On the Mind   Breath Awareness (9min)
4. Breathworks    Mindfulness Of Breathing (10 min)
   
   
5. Breathworks Kindness-to-self-using-phrases (10 min)
6. Breathworks Kindness-to-self-using-imagery (10 min)
7. Breathworks Kindness-to-self-using-the-breath (10 min)

You may like to try this short Soothing Pause (5min) (On the Mind).
It is designed to bring a sense of kindness to ourselves just because we can or when there is something difficult around.  Listen a few times the guided version and then just try it in real time without guidance when you need a soothing pause.

– Mindfulness in Action

1. Spend some time in the ‘Green circle’
   -Notice what the blue, green and red circles feel like in your daily life. Get really familiar with them so you recognise more often which circle(s) is running the show.
   -Page 136 give you some ideas of green circle activation e.g. appreciating the world around you, connect to people as a fellow human being and with full attention, do something fun, do something that absorbs you, do something kind.  
2. Gratitude or Appreciation practice: continue with this if you choose
3. Do the Breathing Space Daily
   Either practice it when you think of it, or when facing a difficulty i.e. at a time you notice unpleasant feelings or reactivity. Use this to explore options of responding with greater mindfulness and in a more friendly way to yourself and the situation.

– Reading 
Chapter 7 of the Mindfulness Workbook

– Moving Towards what we Value
(and noticing what gets in the way)

You could complete the matrix for a life area (health, work/career, relationship, leisure). Ask yourself ‘what personal quality do I want/ did I most want to guide my behaviour’. You can use the blank matrix pages to help you go through the process in the matrix.
You can also do any retrospective or prospective noticing matrices to keep building experience with this tool and insight.

– Additional materials

• matrix-Life Area (work, health, leisure, time).pdf
• matrix-retrospective noticing.pdf
• matrix-prospective-noticing.pdf
• List of Values.pdf

Suggestions for the week ahead are given below.

– Guided tracks – Week 5 Meditations

 Choose from any of the tracks we have done so far
Body scan, breath, sounds, thoughts, movement. Notice the push and pull of sometimes enjoying the practice, sometimes finding it frustrating, sometimes feeling alert and alive, other times zoning out or caught up in mind wandering. Every practice is different  – a training ground in practicing being present as best we can, with kindness, curiosity and without judgment, however it is.

1. On the Mind   Brief body scan (9 min)
2. Breathworks   Meditation 1 the body scan (20 mins)
3. On the Mind   Breath Awareness (9min)

4. On The Mind Breath Practice (15 min)
5. On the Mind  Extended Breathing Meditation (25 min)
6. Breathworks    Mindfulness Of Breathing (10 min)
7. On the Mind    Sounds-Meditation (11 min)
8. Breathworks   Listening to Sounds (10 min)
9. Breathworks   Moving Mindfully (10 mins)
10. Or do a Walking Meditation – pick a stretch that you regularly walk and pay attention as you walk to sensations in the body

– Mindfulness in Action

1. Letting in the good. Try to do this a number of times a day. It doesn’t take long – 10, 20, 30 seconds each time.
   Remember there are 3 stages.
   -Notice a positive or pleasant experience however small,
   – Stay with the experience
   -Absorb the experience
2. Gratitude or Appreciation practice. You could build on ‘letting in the good’ by adding a short gratitude/appreciation practice at the end of the day.
3. Do the Breathing Space Daily
   Either practice it when you think of it, or when facing a difficulty i.e. at a time you notice unpleasant feelings or reactivity. Use this to explore options of responding with greater mindfulness and in a more friendly way to yourself and the situation.

– Reading 

Chapter 6 of the Mindfulness Workbook

– Moving Towards what we Value
(and noticing what gets in the way)

Complete the matrix for an event that’s coming up this week or do it retrospectively for one from the last week. Ask yourself ‘what personal quality do I want/ did I most want to guide my behaviour.’ You can use the blank matrix pages to help you go through the process in the matrix.

– Additional materials

• matrix-retrospective noticing.pdf
• matrix-prospective-noticing.pdf
• List of Values.pdf

Suggestions for the week ahead are given below.

– Guided tracks – Week 4 Meditations

The new practice this week is practicing relating to thoughts or challenge in a different way than we might normally habitually respond. Alternate these with any other practice

 Working with Challenge

1. On The Mind Working with challenge (9 min)
2. Breathworks  Working with a charged thought ( 10 min)
3. Breathworks  Being with an unwanted experience (10 min)

Alternate with other tracks from weeks 1 -3
Body scan, breath, sounds, thoughts, movement

Once you are familiar with working with your experience in this way, you can do any mindfulness track  from week 1-3 and apply it to any (unwanted) experience during the track

– Mindfulness in Action

1. Accepting a Difficult Experience Practice ‘being with’ a difficulty during a mindfulness practice. It may be a discomfort or restlessness while meditating. Alternatively you can practice this with some other mild difficulty that choose to bring to mind. You can do this just for a few seconds or minutes.  Return your attention to the breath or body at any time if it gets too uncomfortable. Having a sense that for just this moment you can allow whatever is there to be there – that it doesn’t need to be solved, resisted, blocked out or overwhelm you.
2. Do the Breathing Space Daily
   Either practice it when you think of it, or when facing a difficulty i.e. at a time you notice unpleasant feelings. Use this to explore options of responding with greater mindfulness and in a more friendly way to yourself and the situation.
3. Bring Awareness to Moments of Reaction Bring awareness to moments of reaction and explore options for responding with greater mindfulness, spaciousness and creativity, in formal meditation practice and in everyday life. Remember that the breath is an anchor, a way to heighten awareness of reactive tendencies, so you can use this to slow down and to make more conscious choices.

– Reading 

Chapter 5 of the Mindfulness Workbook

– Moving Towards what we Value
(and noticing what gets in the way)

Complete the matrix for an event that’s coming up this week or do it retrospectively for one from the last week. Ask yourself ‘what personal quality do I want/ did I most want to guide my behaviour.’ You can use the blank matrix pages to help you go through the process in the matrix.

– Additional materials

• matrix-retrospective noticing.pdf
• matrix-prospective-noticing.pdf
• List of Values.pdf

Suggestions for the week ahead are given below.

– Guided tracks – Week 3 Meditations

Have a go at these different practices this week to develop different aspects of the skills of being more embodied and being able to notice and let go of thinking.
Use Breathworks or On The Mind practices, whatever suits you best.

 Working with Thoughts and the Breath

1. On The Mind Letting go of thoughts with breath anchor (10min)
2. Breathworks   Working with Thoughts with Breathing (10 min)

Sound Practice

3. On the Mind  Sounds-Meditation (11 min)
4. Breathworks   Listening to Sounds (10 min)

Movement practice

5. Breathworks   Moving Mindfully (10 mins)
6. Or do a Walking Meditation – pick a stretch that you regularly walk and pay attention as you walk to sensations in the body.

If any ones a longer spell of practice, you can use this

7. On the Mind  Extended Breathing Meditation (25 min)

– Mindfulness in Action

1. Take at least one short break each day. To add to the ‘pausing with an anchor’ from last week, we can add the more structured Breathing Space. There is an example of a guided Breathing Space here : On The Mind Breathing Space (5 min)
   Here is a summary of the practice 3 Step Breathing Space.pdf
2. Monitor Your Reactions
   Be aware of your reactions to stress during the week without trying to change them.  Notice if you are blocking out or shutting off from the moment, and how this feels in your body. When do you notice yourself refusing or resisting what is happening at the time?  What do you notice in your body?
3. Do the Mindfulness in Action from earlier weeks that you enjoy.

– Reading 

Chapter 4 of the Mindfulness Workbook

– Moving Towards what we Value
(and noticing what gets in the way)

Complete the matrix for an event from the last week. Ask yourself ‘what personal quality do I want/ did I most want to guide my behaviour.’ You can use the blank matrix pages to help you go through the process in the matrix.

– Additional materials

• List of Values.pdf
• matrix-retrospective noticing.pdf
• 3 Step Breathing Space.pdf

Suggestions for the week ahead are given below.

Guided tracks – Week 2 Meditation – Body Scan or Breathing
Practice the Body Scan or Breath based practice each (most) day(s), either doing the On The Mind track or the Breathworks track or a mixture

Body scan recordings

1. On the Mind   Brief body scan (9 min)
2. Breathworks   Meditation 1 the body scan (20 mins)

Breathing practice recordings

1. On the Mind   Breath Awareness (9min)
2. Breathworks    Mindfulness Of Breathing (10 min)
3. On The Mind Breath Practice (15 min)

Noticing our attention moving around the Attention Cycle as it gets pulled off to thinking, being, or other sensations in the body or sounds for example happening out in the world around us. Be curious too about anything that gets in the way of engaging with this practice

Mindfulness in Action – Mindfulness of a Daily Activity

These short practices take no additional time and are so important in building a new habit of mindfulness in your daily life

1. Routine activity Choose a new Routine activity to be especially mindful of. Bring a friendly focus on the body sensations and the surroundings as you do an activity – noticing when the attention gets pulled away to thoughts, images, memories, emotions and allowing them some room to present in the background as you redirect your attention to the activity.
2. Slow Down
   Do something slowly as suggested in chapter 3.
3. Pausing with an anchor
   Practice consciously introducing pauses into your day. Focus in on sounds, sights, feet, hands to help you shift into the sensing space out of the thinking space.

To help you to remember to pause, or give attention to an activity you can use a reminder e.g. Iphone ‘Stand Up!The Work Break’ timer or Android Work and Rest: Pomodoro timer’

Reading Chapter 3 of the Mindfulness Workbook

Moving Towards what we Value (and noticing what gets in the way)

Engage in small actions that help you to express your chosen personal value; noticing what it is like to do so and noticing any ‘internal barriers’ that interfere.

Additional materials

• List of Values.pdf
• Identifying towards moves.pdf

Suggestions for the week ahead are given below.

Guided tracks – Week 1 Meditation – Body Scan
Practice the Body Scan each (most) day(s), either doing the On The Mind track or the Breathworks track or a mixture

Noticing body and mind during the guided practice. Don’t expect to feel anything in particular when doing the practice. In fact, give up all expectations about it. Just let your experience be your experience. Don’t judge it. Just keep doing the practice and we’ll talk about it in the next class.  Be curious too about anything that gets in the way of engaging with this practice

Noticing your attention moving around the ‘Attention Cycle’ as it gets pulled off to thinking, being, or other sensations in the body or sounds for example happening out in the world around us.

Mindfulness in Action – Mindfulness of a Daily Activity

Reading: Chapter 1 and 2 of the Mindfulness Workbook

Moving Towards what we Value
Engage in small actions that help you to express your chosen personal value; noticing what it is like to do so and noticing any ‘internal barriers’ that interfere.

Additional materials

• List of Values.pdf
• Identifying towards moves.pdf

My name is Annika Wager from On The Mind.
I am very much looking forward to meeting you for the first live online session on Wed 9 Feb 7-9 pm. This message contains some guidelines to support you to get the most out of the sessions, together with the Zoom details for all sessions.