JOYFUL MIND WELLNESS
  • HOME
  • About
    • Testimonials
    • subscribe
  • ONLINE
    • Online Yoga >
      • Watch a sample
      • what people say
  • LOCAL
    • Calm in Kyogle
    • Mindfulness Courses & News
    • Meditation Course
    • Taking in the Good
    • Yoga >
      • Yoga Booklet
    • Mindfulness Workshops
    • Schools
    • iRest
    • Links
  • Blog
    • Blog Roll archive
  • Shop
    • Product

Joyfulmind Blog

STORE
JOIN

3 Reliable Mindfulness Anchors

29/5/2016

0 Comments

 
shakti burke

Body, breath and senses, the reliable three anchors of Mindfulness, provide a safe haven when we’re blown about by the wind of mindlessness.
Blown about when we’re overloaded, overwhelmed or over-obligated. Mindless because we’ve switched onto automatic. Speeding on autopilot, we inadvertently trigger flight and fight, the stress response.
 
Our charged-up state, driven perhaps by insecurity or rumination, keeps fight and flight firmly in place. We wonder how to switch off the anxious feelings and discover the ease that we crave.
 
How can we find a reliable island of stability, dry land?
 
Hello mindfulness
 
Mindfulness can reverse the situation and calm the choppy waves because it reclaims the territory of stability: the present moment. It shores us up on the island of sanity. Think of it this way: stress reactions are by nature automatic and unconscious. “When we bring awareness to whatever’s happening, it changes the situation dramatically” says Jon Kabat-Zinn, a well-known mindfulness pioneer.
 
How do we access this elusive present moment? The lifebuoy that seems so distant when trapped in past and future, fight and flight, hope and fear, is easily accessible. We just need to remember to make a simple adjustment. We need to remind ourselves to connect to one of the mindfulness anchors: body, breath and /or senses.
 
The techniques of body sensing, mindful breathing and mindful seeing, enhance clarity by bringing us powerfully into the present moment. (more details below)
 
Returning Again and Again

Over and over, we practice returning to body, breath and/or senses when autopilot or rumination sweeps us away. By doing so, again and again, we create a new habit. Instead of the old habit of freaking out we create the new habit of returning and stabilising. In that way we build new neural pathways in the brain. We learn a new way of facing stress. Eventually, the mindful response- taking the support of body, breath and senses- will become our new default.
 
No matter how busy we are, we can grab moments to ease back on our island of mindfulness and savour life.
​


                       The 'HOW-TO' of Mindful Body, Breath and Senses
​
BODY

BODY SENSING- Bring your awareness into the body by feeling into the body itself. Feel your feet planted on the ground. Feel the weight of being actually in a body.
TAKE IT FURTHER- sense into the sensations you can feel. Where do you experience sensation, such as tingling or pulsing? What quality does it have?
MORE- Take a class! Yoga, Tai Chi and Qi Gong are designed to optimise body awareness.
 
BREATH
CONNECT TO THE BREATH.  As soon as you notice tension arising, make a point of slowing and deepening your breath. Avoid shallow chest breathing; breathe from the abdomen instead.
TAKE IT FURTHER- in dire situations, slow your breath to the magic six breaths per minute, that is, 10 second per breath.
 
SENSES
SEE whatever is immediately in front of you! (This practice can be life changing, believe me!) That’s right, pause and look: look directly at the ordinariness of the objects that happen to be right in front of you right now. It might not turn out to be as ordinary as it seems …. Give it a try!
TAKE IT FURTHER- apply the ‘pause and experience’ to the other senses. What are you hearing? Tasting? Smelling? What textures meet your body? We can only experience the senses in real time, the present moment, so they are brilliant Mindfulness tools. 
​
Like it? Share it!
I love to hear from my readers. You can leave a comment via the orange comments link. Mobile users click on website version (click blog title) to enable commenting.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture

           Categories

    All
    Anger Management
    Circular Thoughts
    Home Yoga Practice
    Letting Go
    Nervous System
    NVC
    Prolonged Sitting
    Self-empathy
    Setting Intention
    Sleep Well
    Standing Desk
    Values & Goals

    Archives

    December 2020
    October 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    February 2020
    September 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013

    RSS Feed

Services

Yoga Online
Mindfulness
Coaching

Joyfulmind

About
The Blog
Shakti Burke is a registered Senior Teacher with Yoga Australia

Support

Contact

© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • HOME
  • About
    • Testimonials
    • subscribe
  • ONLINE
    • Online Yoga >
      • Watch a sample
      • what people say
  • LOCAL
    • Calm in Kyogle
    • Mindfulness Courses & News
    • Meditation Course
    • Taking in the Good
    • Yoga >
      • Yoga Booklet
    • Mindfulness Workshops
    • Schools
    • iRest
    • Links
  • Blog
    • Blog Roll archive
  • Shop
    • Product