Mindful Monday

The fast flowing nature of our life today has resulted in our strong desire to build deep and meaningful relationships. The feeling of connecting with someone, being seen, cared about and loved by someone is a basic human need. Research suggests that positive relationships can help us succeed, grow, become better people, are good for our wellbeing and mental health. Across all different spheres of our lives, our relationships help us feel good, but they also help us be good. Like most things in life it takes time and effort to grow and deepen our relationships.. Not all of your relationships will be deep but those you want will require effort, focus and attention. Of course, do not forget to deepen the relationship with yourself. 

This meditation is Mindful Movement practice called Sitting Movement. Mindful movement focuses on the range of feelings and sensations through slow movement enabling you to listen to what it needs and deepening your relationship to individual parts. It can be done anywhere, in its entirety or just one movement at a time.

Each day we make decisions, many small and some big. Decisions help you choose the path that is your life and can have powerful impacts on days, months and even years ahead for yourself and others. Making mindful decisions is not about choosing an option, it’s about inquiry that requires openness, curiosity and patience coupled with the capacity to be compassionate with yourself. Being present and knowing how to listen to the messages of the heart and gut and not just accepting our rational mind will help you make good decisions on what the present moment holds. 

This meditation is called the Conscious Decision Making, and it accompanies our Decision Making edition of Mindful Monday 19th April No 11. This meditation provides the opportunity to listen to the three information centres we have that connect with each other and provide guidance to us when making decisions. The challenge is to listen to the messages the three brain centres (mind, heart and gut) bring in words, feelings, sensations and intuition. 

Given that 75% of the time when we listen we are distracted is justification alone for cultivating your capacity for really listening. It assists you to connect with yourself, connect with others and it helps you to look through another’s eyes. 

This meditation is called the Fostering inner listening, and it accompanies our Really Listening edition of Mindful Monday 12th of April edition No 10. This practice offers you the opportunity to really listen inwardly. To listen to your body, your heart and your inner voice. When you direct your attention to inner listening you cultivate your capacity for really listening and attuning into your own being. This meditation can be done sitting, standing or lying down. 

Sensations are the language that our bodies speak. They constantly communicate our state of mind and body – telling us if we are angry, hungry, or tired. A sensation is a physical feeling in the body. Inner body sensation refers to the actual physical feeling that are created as the various systems of the body monitor and give feedback about inner states. Sensations are continually created in the body through movement such as fluids, breath and energy. They are intense and subtle body sensations called interoception. Paying attention to your body helps you to notice sensations and how they change. 

This short “Kalm kids body scan” meditation, is a practice that you can do with kids any time during the day or at bedtime. It will help them to bring attention to their breath, then individual parts of the body in turn, to notice any sensations that may or not be there. It might also help them to settle after a busy day. This meditation is best done lying down. 

This meditation is called the Body Scan, and it accompanies our Connecting with Sensations edition of Mindful Monday 29th March No 9. The body scan practice allows you to check in with your body and to notice any sensations or changing sensations. In this meditation, we are going to direct our awareness through different parts of the body, paying attention to the experience of this, noticing any sensations such as twitching, tightness, and relating differently them. This meditation is best done lying down. 

Change, whether big or small, is an integral part of life. Have you heard the expression, “The only constant is change.” Just because change is so common, does not make it easy, especially when faced with an unexpected or unwelcomed change. Changes that take you by surprise can be particularly difficult to navigate and are usually accompanied by a flood of emotions. It’s human nature to resist change, and the default reaction to it can be fear, doubt, and other unhelpful emotions. Mindfulness helps you to navigate and manage change in a more positive and productive way. You can learn to react to uncertainty with acceptance and become more aware of what is taking place - your emotions and reactions included.