So what is mindfulness?
There's a lot of misconceptions out there about what it is,
What it's not,
But here's what I'll tell you.
It's simply paying attention to our present moment experiences with a simple sense of open curiosity and a willingness to just be with what is.
So wherever you are right now,
Just allow yourself to notice what's going on around you,
What's going on within you.
And now you're being mindful.
So we spend almost all of our lives just rehashing the past or rehearsing the future or we spend it judging right now.
But one of my favorite things about mindfulness is that it just gives us the space to be.
We get to let go of doing and instead of being a human doing,
We get to be a human being.
Even the research over the last two decades has shown that mindfulness is really powerful in a lot of ways.
It reduces stress and pain levels and it increases your creativity and your ability to focus and pay attention.
It literally rewires your brain.
One of the things that I think has been the most powerful is to see that in just eight weeks,
You can create changes in your brain that are detectable in an fMRI.
And all we have to do in order to make those changes happen is just to simply pay attention to the present moment instead of wishing it was something different.
We often let ourselves run on autopilot,
Which is great.
Our bodies are amazing that they can do that.
But when we meditate,
We're letting go of autopilot and we're just anchoring ourselves here so we're not tossed and turned by our thoughts,
But we're able to really just be.
So we find one spot that we can come back to time and time again.
And tonight we'll play with a few of those.
You just have to let yourself figure out what works for you.
It could be the breath,
It could be sounds,
It could be body sensations.
So there's lots of different anchors that you can keep coming back to time after time so that you can continue being mindful.
But the mind really did evolve to wander.
It thinks about important issues,
So it's totally normal if your mind wanders when you are focusing on something as mundane and simple as the breath or sounds.
So instead of judging yourself or thinking you're doing it wrong,
Just be open,
Be curious about what's going on in your mind.
Then let it go and come back to your anger.
Mindfulness really is that simple.
It's just coming back over and over again after your mind wanders.
So we'll do a simple practice now focusing on sounds.
So your body is probably already in a comfortable position,
But if you need to make any changes,
Any last minute wiggles,
Adjust your hands,
Feet,
Feel free to do that.
You can allow your body to soften and I invite you to close your eyes if they're not already.
You can gaze softly at the floor.
Just allow yourself to hear what's going on around you.
Maybe you hear the music in the background.
You hear someone in the hallway outside,
The hum of the electricity,
Cars going by.
Maybe you just hear your own breath or your own thoughts racing across your mind.
We can anchor ourselves in sound by just simply listening to them as they come and they go.
Now that the music is gone,
What do you hear?
So just like the sounds change,
Some of them get really loud and they capture our attention.
Some of them are very subtle and you just barely can pick up on them.
So it goes with mindfulness.
Sometimes we're able to be really present and mindful and then our mind wanders and it's hard for us to remember to come back.
But we can always come back.
So we'll rest in awareness for a few moments,
Just listening to the sounds and then finally hearing the sound of the bell and just listening until you can no longer hear the sound of the bell.
All right?
You
