Welcome, I am Warensia, a Whole Health Coach here at the
Portland, VA. Together we will briefly explore the concept of
mindful awareness, the benefits and the resources around how you
can implement it into your life to improve your health and
wellness. I have with me Topher who is also curious about Mindful
whole awareness. Thank you for joining me. Can you tell
me what you know about mindfulness? Well, I was in
the doctors office and I saw poster this dog
and it said 'mind full' and 'mindful' it was kind of confusing.
I think I know the poster you're talking about in the poster
there's a picture of a dog and a guy. The dog is being present
seeing what's in front of him while the guy has other things
on his mind and not seeing what's in front of him. In the
poster, the dog is represented being mindful because he's
paying attention on purpose without judgment. These are the
components of Mindful Awareness.
Before we jump into different ways to implement mindful
practice with in your life, I would like to show everyone
the following video.
You may have heard this word mindfulness. It's become
something of a buzz phrase of late, so I'm going to give you
one simple, serviceable definition, which is this.
Mindfulness is the ability to know what's happening in your
head at any given moment without getting carried away by it.
Imagine how useful this could be. Just as an example, driving
down the road and somebody cuts you off in traffic. How do you
normally react? I think most of us we normally react by having a
thought which is I'm ******. And then what happens next? You
immediately habitually reflexively inhabit that
thought. You actually become ****** there's no buffer between
the stimulus and your reaction.
With just a little bit of mindfulness in that same
situation, you might notice my chest is buzzing. My ears are
turning red. I'm having a star burst of self righteous
thoughts. I'm getting angry, but you don't necessarily have to
act on it and chase that person down the road screaming at them
with your kids in the back of the car thinking you've gone
nuts. Now you might be thinking.
Don't I need to get angry sometimes, aren't I justified?
I would say yes, but probably not as much as you think.
The proposition here is not that you should be rendered by
mindfulness into some lifeless
nonjudgmental blob. The proposition is that you
should learn how to respond wisely to things that
happened to you rather than just reacting blindly.
And that, my friends, is a
superpower. How do you get it?
The way to get it is through
meditation. I believe that meditation and mindfulness are
the next big public health
revolution. In the 1940s, if you told somebody you were going
running. They would have said
who's chasing you? But then what happened next, the scientist
swooped in. They showed that physical exercise is really good
for you and now all of us do it.
And if we don't, we feel guilty about it, and that's where I
think we're headed with mindfulness and meditation. It's
going to join the pantheon of no brainers like brushing your
teeth, eating well, and taking the meds your doctor prescribed
for you. Let me just close by
saying. Mindfulness is not going to solve all of your problems.
It's not going to render your life. A nonstop parade of
unicorns and rainbows. Nonetheless, this is a
superpower and one that is accessible by you.
Immediately.
What are your thought so far? I try to practice meditation but not
on a regular basis. Do they count as mindfulness? It does
affect incorporates the components of mindful awareness.
Mindful Awareness is often thought of as the space between
thought and action. This space can be the moment you are paying
attention to the internal and external factors within
yourself. Mindfulness to the individual is
about the experience.
Now that you've had a chance to get to know what Mindful
Awareness is, think of all the different types of ways
that you incorporated in your day to day life. Mmmmm....
You can be mindful waiting at the bus stop.
Even getting your lunch.
Walking from one area to another.
The VA even offers mobile apps that can help you with
the mindful practice.
Hmmm, I see, so I've been practicing mindfulness all the time in my
day to day life. But I don't like meditation there because I
admit it still makes me sleepy.
There's various different mindful practices.
If meditation is not your preferred practice, try working
with myself or one of the many other VA Whole Health Coaches
located here at the Portland campus and at the VA clinics we
are available to assist and have multiple resources to aid you on
your health and wellness journey. Thank you.