G'day. Jason Fox here, and today I've got Rachel Green in the studios.
And Rachel's an emotional intelligence coach and professional speaker.
She's been practicing mindfulness meditation since 1987...
>> It's a long time. >> [LAUGH] And has actually used this practice to cure her of
panic attacks... Which is purely awesome and we're going to get into that soon,
but perhaps before, what is mindfulness meditation and how can that help people?
>> Mindfulness meditation is a way of coming into the present moment.
So it's to make sure that instead of worrying about what's going to happen,
like the future exam, or the future job interview,
that you actually are right here, right now in the present moment.
Not judgmentally, just being aware of all your senses and
concentrating on what you're actually doing 100% fully... So, for exams, it's so
important because, instead of worrying about the next question, you
focus on that question. The night before, instead of worrying about the consequences
of failing the exam, you're focusing on the study that you're doing.
You're focusing on going to sleep. So you're actually right here,
right now... >> It's so important. I can remember countless exams,
and I'm sure that many students can relate to this,
where they get to their exam table. They have a wonky desk.
There's someone with a snotty nose within 360 degrees of them.
They've got an adjudicator that's prancing around and looking at them. And
there are so many different things that can take them away from what they need to
be focusing on. >> Yeah, they get distracted. Yeah, and then,
the biggest thing with anxiety is what if... What if this happens?
What if that happens? Or regrets about the past... Oh, I wish I'd read that article.
I wish I'd studied that. I wish I'd asked the teacher this. So, being in the present
moment means that you let go of the anxieties and what if's of the future,
and you let go of the regrets of the past, so that you just focus on a fully present.
One of the big mindfulness meditation gurus is called Jon Kabat-Zinn,
and he talks about be 100% fully present with 100% of your marbles.
Don't just go into an exam, or into a meeting, or into an interaction, or
talking to someone with only 20% of your marbles, or
40% of your marbles, or 60%... Go with 100%. Think how much better you'll do in
an exam, if everything else is clear, and you're just focused right here,
right now. >> Gosh, I can imagine that sometimes this is easier said than done,
which is why you need a lot of practice in this.
Where is a place that people can maybe start if they want to be more mindful?
>> Eating... Because lots of us love to eat... [LAUGH] You'd like that, Jason. So,
eating meditation, you just take a piece of food and very slowly eat it,
so that you actually fully taste it.
So you start to notice the foods in your mouth, and you start to
chew very slowly. So that what happens is, you start to actually taste your food, and
then you start to notice what is the tongue doing, what saliva
is there in the mouth, what are your cheeks doing, what is your mind doing,
what are you paying attention to... So you eat and be fully present with the eating.
And I had a man the other day, I did this with a large group... And he put
his hand up at the end and said, I realize that after 45 years,
I've never fully tasted my food. >> Mmm...
>> I gave them all a sultana [raisin]. Sultana...to have a meditation on...
We took 15 minutes to eat the sultana. So, we got people to smell it.
We got people to look at it. We got people to feel it. We got people to hear it.
It crinkles, the sultana crinkles... And then we got people to taste it. So that
they put all those senses just into this one sultana... And at the end, I did it
with a group of 40 last week. They were so calm. They were so
stressed when they came in, and they were so calm at the end.
So, food's really easy to practice, because you always have to eat.
>> And, there's several points along a student's pathway that
may derail them from mindfulness. Whether it's when they arrive at an exam room and
all their friends are comparing how stressed they are, and
it's got that frantic person flipping their notes, or if they get a question
that suddenly they haven't studied for, and they're really worried about that.
What's a way that they could perhaps navigate through those?
>> I think you practice mindfulness well before exam time. So
you don't just go into an exam and go, Now I'm going to be mindful. [LAUGH] You go,
Now I'm going to practice. So practice every day just for a little bit, even if
it's just, you're just having a meal, and just practice mindfulness once a day for
10 minutes. Then when the exams come, it's already a habit. If it's already a habit,
then it's much easier to do, and then you are less likely to panic or
get anxious when you see a question you don't know. Your thinking is more likely
to be clear, so that the answers will arrive in the moment,
rather than you going into that terrible anxious struggling.
So, it's about practicing, and I'd always do it the night before... So
that you need to get a good night's sleep... Stop the cramming. Go and
meditate. Ease off. Let the mind calm down. Have a good night's sleep.
And then when you get there, you won't be so disturbed by those students who aren't
mindful. And if you've got, between exams, practice meditation as well.
And then after an exam, practice it, because that's also a time people freak
out. They start to hear what everybody else has said. And then they go,
I didn't say that. But if you start to freak out, then it affects the next exam.
So, I'd be practicing mindfulness meditation before an exam,
in between an exam, and after an exam. >> Yeah, and
then I'm going to throw this out, I guess, because I can see this whole thing in so
many areas. I think back to the number of times I've had a phone call where I
haven't actually been present in the phone call. And
then afterwards I have this regret that I didn't listen as much as I could. >> Yeah,
you don't know what they said. >> I'm just thinking, anxiety has come up a few times.
If students don't immediately, or have exams coming up in the near future,
they may be feeling fairly anxious about their study workload. They may think
that is so big, I don't know what to do, I don't know where to start.
So they don't start, and the anxiety grows and grows, and grows.
What would you suggest in this situation? >> Start with any step or one step.
So, anxiety will become overwhelming, but
if you think about just focusing on meditating for 10 minutes, and
then starting, that will probably be easier. Because it calms your whole mind...
And when people are anxious, their minds get very, very restless, and
they have this monkey mind, and they go over and over and over and
over and over and over it. And instead, what you can do when you meditate is
just to let all of that restlessness go. It's like holding a heavy weight.
If you keep a heavy weight held in your hand, hour after hour after hour,
it becomes so heavy, it becomes impossible to deal with.
Meditation is saying put that heavy weight, which is the exam, down.
Just rest it, even if it's 10 minutes later, you pick it back up.
It's nowhere near as heavy as if you'd held it for half an hour or three hours.
So it gives your whole mind and your whole body a rest.
And there's some fabulous research... So, there's lots and lots of neuroscientific
research being done at the moment on mindfulness meditation.
And one of the researchers, Professor Richard Davidson in the U.S.,
he's actually taken groups who have practiced mindfulness meditation for
only eight weeks, for only 45 minutes a day, and
he has proven that you can get measurable changes of a positive nature in
the brain between those who've done the eight weeks and those who haven't.
It's just quite astounding. And they've also shown by injecting people with flu [vaccine],
that those who have meditated for that eight-week period have a stronger
immune system than those who don't. How good is that for exams?
>> Gosh, they should be teaching this in schools.
>> Oh, I do think they should be teaching it in school. In fact, one of my friends
is a teacher. And she used to teach it in schools to her little children...
She used to call it quiet time. So that they'd all learn just to quieten down and
calm down... And if you're calm for an exam, you're going to do so much better.
>> I just imagine the power of a whole classroom or
a whole year level of students that have an awareness of the power of this,
entering an exam in a completely calm, collected state, would be.
>> Because everybody feeds off each other, so if everybody else is in a panic,
it's so much easier to get in a panic. If you're all quite calm, and you could walk
into an exam mindfully... You could just go, I notice my foot on the floor,
I notice this foot on the floor, I notice this foot on the floor, and
this foot on the floor. Just go into your senses, and let the past go and
the future go, and just notice. And sit on your chair mindfully...
Notice how you're sitting, where your back is, where your hands are.
So you just bring yourself into your senses in the present moment...
And then the exam will be easier. >> Wow, gosh.
>> And that's how I cured myself of panic attacks. >> Yeah,
yeah... >> I used to sit there, and I used to actually notice my breath. I'd sit.
I'd have panic attacks, particularly at 3 o'clock in the morning. So I'd get up, and
I'd sit. And I'd just notice the anxiety. I actually just noticed it,
became mindful of the anxiety, and I noticed it got worse.
And then it got better. And so it arises, and
then it fades away. And you can use the breath to do the same thing.
You can just sit there going, Well, I just noticed that I'm breathing in.
And you don't have to take a huge breath... [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] >> Your
breath is already moving your body without you doing anything. So
don't change your breathing. Just simply be with it. Just notice it going in, and
notice it going out... >> That's really... >> Mindfully breathing in and
mindfully breathing out, breath in and breath out...
That's all you have to do, you don't have to change the breath.
>> That's funny, because I always have this impression that you have to...
[DEEP BREATH SOUND] >> No... >> You know, do this deep breaths... >> That's so
tense... >> Yeah, yeah... >> No. The breath is moving your body every day,
every minute. Otherwise you're not listening to this video... So
if you're breathing, your breath does it automatically. Just be with the breath,
notice the breath, don't...see, you did a the deep breath again!
[LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] So, well... >> [LAUGH] >> Just try not
to breathe. [LAUGH] >> No, you're breathing already... >> I know, I know...
[LAUGH] >> You don't have it make it harder... >> Yeah... So...
>> Now you can't concentrate... Okay, so just get back to just allowing
the breath to come in, and then allowing the breath to go out.
>> [LAUGH] So... So you can, I can... >> You can do it better than Jason,
let me tell you. [LAUGH] >> You can imagine when you're doing an exam...
This is brilliant. So you don't have to go... [DEEP BREATH SOUND] >> No.
>> Because I've done yoga before, and they're very disciplined on the breath.
And, you know, sometimes breathing in through one nostril, breathe out through
the other... And there's all these... >> Well, you can do that if you want to, but
you don't have to... Because every time you go [DEEP BREATH SOUND],
you're tensing... Can you not see that in your body? That's actually tense.
You don't want to be more tense. So this is about not doing anything...
It's about just being with whatever is there. Just staying with it,
allowing it... Being there, non-judgmentally, in the present moment,
as it is, right now... >> Instead of attempting to resist it...
>> Yeah... >> Okay. >> And alter it, and do something, and complain about it...
>> Because that would just... >> And not like it... And think your breath should be
slower or faster... >> Um-hmm, we're not doing it right, yeah... >> Or higher...
Yeah... No, no... Just allow yourself to be here right
now with whatever is happening. >> Right.
And so, this helped you to cure yourself of the panic attacks. >> Totally.
>> And you've got four degrees, as well. >> [LAUGH] Yes.
>> So you've had to use this to... >> I've worked out exams, yeah... Yeah, yeah...
So, I would often, before any difficult situation, whether it's an exam,
whether it's public speaking, whether it's going to a difficult meeting,
whether it's talking to somebody who I find a little hard,
I'll often meditate first. And then I calm down... My mind is clear.
And then I can do whatever I need to do, without taking anxiety into it.
So anxiety's made a huge difference [LAUGH] to my life, but mindfulness
meditation is the thing that's calmed me. I haven't had a panic attack for years.
And the exams... You can walk into an exam, I won't cram the night before,
for instance, and I know that I just need to be fully present in the exam, and
give it my best shot... Which means I need to be calm and mindful, and
then be fully present with what I think the exam question is asking...
Because if you've got anxiety,
you might actually miss what the question is about. So, yeah, it really does help.
And doing assignments, just sitting there and writing things, and
preparing, and reading, be fully present, you'll absorb more.
>> Hmm, I love it. Okay, if the viewers,
if the people watching this would like to find out more about you,
where should they go to? >> [LAUGH] Please go to my website rachelgreen.com.
I have a second website confidentwoman.com.au that you can also
visit. Both sites have information on mindfulness meditation,
and I also have a CD set called, Happy Not Hassled,
a two CD set which has mindfulness meditations on it.
And I also talk on there about how to manage your own anxiety. And anger, yeah?
[LAUGH] >> Fantastic. [LAUGH] >> Because some people get angry
around exams, you know... So, stress, tension... So I talk about
how to use mindfulness meditation in those situations to manage your emotions.
So, Happy Not Hassled it's called. It's on both confidentwoman.com.au.
and rachelgreen.com. >> Fantastic. I'll have the websites appearing at the bottom
of the screen. >> Beautiful! Thank you, Jason. >> This is wonderful. Rachel's
helped me in my public speaking skills and being more mindful in that sense.
And she's just absolutely wonderful. I really encourage you to get on to her
websites and find out more. Thank you so much for sharing. >> Thank you, Jason.
Keep calm.
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