Hello and welcome to our mindfulness series that we're doing for the virtual Congress. My name's Doctor Mike Scanlon. A lot of you know me, I've been meditating, with vets for a long time, practising mindfulness and trying to help us realise just how useful that can be, particularly in times like we're going through at the moment.

And What I want to share with you today is two things really, is the evidence base for minimal. Meditating, because I think that the most useful thing sometimes we can do is for those of us who work in professions like the veterinary profession, and for those of you in the veterinary profession, it's mindfulness is, I, I suppose there's two ways to think about it. Mindfulness, meditation and mindful living.

And what we're focusing on today is the importance of integrating meditation. Into your day, now I know how busy so many of you are, and I know that when we get into the sort of. Busyness of the day and automatic functioning.

We sort of see one client, perhaps. We see one thing, we have one interaction that perhaps doesn't go so well. And instead of stopping and resetting our minds, we just kind of carry on with our day.

And sometimes it's almost as if our day can be polluted by, And kindness or polluted by hurry hurry up, or we can have our day mired or marred in some way. And what minimal meditation, and what I mean by this is literally just 10 minute meditations can do is they can provide us with that wonderful, wonderful reset. And for many, many years, certainly when I first started my mindfulness practise.

We were working on the principle that one ought to have a meditative practise of about sort of 40 minutes a day. Now, for those of us who are busy, for those of us who our days really would struggle to allow 40 minutes every day, I think that's something of a sort of barrier to enjoying our mindfulness meditation, because we fall into the trap of believing, well, maybe this. Doesn't really do us much good and as humans we like to do stuff that takes effort, as long as we know it's taking us in the direction we want to go as a human being.

So, this first session I'm doing today about how we blend mindfulness into each working day, really does work very closely with the prevailing evidence base, and that is that we use. Meditations that we know work, so. The meditations that we know work would perhaps be the body scan for which there's a real strong evidence base for.

So, in a little while we're actually gonna enjoy doing the the body scan meditation. And of course, just that. Absolute favourite standby, the mindfulness of the breath.

And I'm just looking at this research here and just sharing this with you from 2012, which makes clear that actually in terms of our concentration, in terms of our ability to stop and to reset, there is a growing. And very powerful evidence base that suggests that if we can carry out a simple mindful breathing meditation for an average of about 10 minutes per day for a period of perhaps the research suggested 16 weeks, so you know we are looking at 4 months of integrating. 10 minutes of meditation into our day on a daily basis now.

It seems from the research. That our brain starts to, after a couple of months, we start to notice some real improvements. We start to remember stuff a little bit better.

We start to feel calmer. We start to function just that little bit better. And literally, that's with 10 minutes every day.

And. I suppose for you guys. 4 months, 16 weeks might feel like quite a long time, but perhaps not if you're thinking right, I just need to really enjoy because that's the other half of this is it should never feel like a chore.

I should really look to enjoy maybe a body scan at coffee time. Maybe at lunchtime to make sure I actually stop and take a lunch and as part of that lunch just to stop and to find a 10 minute. Guided breathing meditation.

And One of mine, the thing I send out with this, we will be sending out the two, recordings of the body scan and the mindfulness of the breath recording, which are really nice short meditations of just under 10 minutes. And so what I'm recommending is that for our mental health, we do need to value it. And if we value our mental health, if we value our happiness, if we value the ability.

To stop and be present. And to enjoy our work more. One of my favourite slides that I will sometimes use is this slide of a man walking his dog, and the man's head is full of clutter, and the dog's brain is just literally the day, the weather.

And his walk and of the two of them it's that sense that the dog gets it right and what mindfulness meditation does is it helps us to Be in charge of our thinking to deliberately and on purpose be the boss of the way our mind is working. And so if you choose to go for a walk at your lunch break, if you choose to stop. By building regular meditation into our practise, we can actually enable this process of focusing on what we want to focus on, rather than carrying clutter into the rest of our day.

So The two meditations we're going to do in. This recording and sharing this session with you guys today are the two core meditations from the great John Cabotzin's mindfulness based stress reduction programme, because this has the real evidence base. And we're going to start with, a mindfulness of the breath, and then we're going to move over and we're going to do a body scan together.

And what I would say to you is, if you like these, and they're so simple and they're so accessible, I'd love you all to have a real think about whether this is something you could introduce into every day, remembering. That if we're just able to build a 10 minute meditation into our day, then in literally only 4 months, we're actually gonna start to notice significant differences to our attentional control. And what I mean by that is your ability to focus on what you want to focus on rather than your mind reaching in and pulling your attention away.

So I'm going to ask you all please to find yourself into a position where you're looking dignified, and what I like to think about is if you had a sort of full length mirror in front of yourself now, look, I'm going to do it myself, is you just pull yourself up, just straighten your spine a bit, allow your arms and your hands to rest in your lap. Find a half smile. We call it just a mindful half smile.

Ask the one, and if you're able to, perhaps just close your eyes. And let's begin. Short mindfulness of the breath.

So we just begin this meditation. By congratulating ourselves for having loved and liked ourselves enough to just find 10 minutes in the day. And we smile and we go and find our breath.

There it is. And we Don't change our breath, we don't manipulate it. We just find it and we place our attention onto our breath.

We find our breath and we follow it as we breathe in. And as we breathe out. Knowing that there is no right, there is no wrong way of breathing.

It's just breathing. And as we sit and we attach our attention. To our breath We find our senses as well.

And we listen To the sound that we make. As we gently breathe in. And we breathe out.

And we find that wonderful mindful curiosity. And we start to become curious about this automatic process. And we begin to notice that with each breath.

We are Engaging in another new life moment because with each breath is an opportunity for us to pull ourselves into each present moment that exists in tandem. With your breathing. As you breathe.

We just notice. The temperature of the air that we're breathing. And we noticed that.

As we breathe in The air feels cool. And as it circulates around inside our olfactory organs inside our mouth inside our nose. It warms and softens.

And for the next few breaths. I'm just gonna ask you to focus on. Exploring the temperature.

Of the air that we breathe. That's it. And now we expand that curiosity.

And we ask ourselves, well. Is each breath one continuous movement or is it? A couple of Stages to each breath.

Well, let's explore that. So find the next in breath. And notice where that in breath starts.

Does it start in your tummy? Does it start in your chest or just below your septum? And we breathe in and as our lungs fill, there's a brief and infinitesimal moment between breathing in.

Pause And breathing out. And as our lungs empty We breathe in again. And we pause and we breathe out.

So let's stay with our breath. Just focusing and noticing and enjoying. And if your mind goes wandering.

So important that we don't tell ourselves off. There's no judgement with mindfulness. No judgement when we meditate.

There is just what is. And if your mind is wandered, it's wandered. And our job is to gently retrieve it.

So we go look for where our attention has gone, and maybe we've been pulled away by an irritant. Or a sound. Or a thought or a feeling And we just acknowledge that and we smile.

And we just escort our attention back. Untill we find the breath once more. Because I'm just breathing.

And once again I anchor my attention to the breath. My breath becomes my anchor. That pulls me back.

Every time. Into the Present Moment And as we sit And we just breathe. We know That we're honing.

Our attention We're building Our concentration by merely Attaching our attention. To the breath Just for the last 30 seconds of this meditation. Just sit and breathe.

And be in this moment. With no judgement. Well done.

Very gently just open your eyes and just bring yourself back to the room. So I always think it's helpful to have two at least core meditations that are quick, evidence-based, and effective. And perhaps you might want to alternate or go with that sense of choice that some days.

I might really fancy doing a body scan, and on another day, I might just want to sit and use my breath to anchor my attention to the present moment. So our second meditation today is another one that we can just do 67, maybe 10 minutes of body scanning. And there are 2 body scans.

There's a linear body scan and a non-linear body scan. And the one I'm going to share with you today is nonlinear. And this one really hones our ability to send our attention where I choose to send my attention.

And there's something really liberating about that, that it reminds us, I suppose, that we are the drivers of our own bus. Our attentional control is our decision. And so if I wished to take my attention from My nose All the way to my belly button.

I will. And if I choose to stay focused on one part of my body. I can do that too.

So the idea of the body scan is it allows us to anchor our attention to various different parts of our body, and it can be enormously useful when we have an injury or we're experiencing pain because it hones our ability to choose where our wandering mind will go. So for our second meditation today, I'm just gonna ask you all please to just relax. Soften And once again Just close your eyes.

And just get the sense of how wonderful this would be. To just stop In your day And to hold all calls. Create some space.

And just sit with your body. So we begin this meditation by taking your attention outside of the room. That you're meditating in.

And just listening. Naming any sounds you can hear. And then Bring your attention in.

And get a sense of the room that you're meditating in. Is it soft? Is it quiet in there?

And then take your attention all the way in. And find your breath. And just attach your attention.

To your breath Just breathing in. And breathing out. Paying particular attention.

To the movement in your body. As you gently breathe in. Noticing your chest rises upwards and outwards on the in breath.

And as we breathe out. Everything softens and relaxes into place. So what we'd like you to do is to take a gentle breath in again.

And on your out breath send your attention. To the big toe of the right foot. All the way down your body down the right side, down your right leg, past your knees, past the shin into the foot.

And rest your attention. On your big toe of your right foot. And find that wonderful.

Mindful curiosity, your curious scientist's stance. As though you've never focused on your big toe. Ever before in your life.

And you're bursting with curiosity. And mindful. Curiosity to find well.

How does it feel? Does it feel much bigger than the other toes? Can you feel it inside your shoe or Can you get a sense of it if you press your big toe into the floor?

And then if you let go is their sensation. And we breathe in And on the out breath. Move your attention.

And find the toes. All 5 of them. On that left foot.

I notice that although nobody's asked you to wiggle those toes, you've started to wiggle them anyway. And find that curiosity. Can I be still?

And stay with my focus on the toes of that foot. Is the temperature in the toes of my left foot. The same as the temperature on the right.

And if your mind wanders as minds do because that's what they're meant to do. We smile. And we use our breath again.

And we retrieve our attention from wherever it's gone. And we find it And we connect with it. And once again We're looking to scan our body.

We're looking with curiosity about, so what's going on in my body today? And we breathe in And we send your attention. And we find the very top.

Of your scalp And you stay there. And you imagine and get a sense of the myriad of tiny blood vessels that are rushing about just underneath your scalp. And you take your attention there.

And is there a tingling? Can you sense the busyness? Of the body underneath the scalp.

And we just stay there. And we focus. And when we're ready, I'm going to ask you guys, please.

We're gonna take a breath in. And on the out breath you choose where you send your attention. Send it to a part of your body.

And when you found that part of your body. Just settle and rest your attention there. Meet it with curiosity.

Get a sense of the temperature. Of that part of your body. Of the range of movement Of that part of your body.

And be curious as though this is the first time ever. That someone's introduced you to the wonderfulness. Of this particular part of your body that We just take for granted.

And when you're ready, Return to the breath and breathe in. And on the out breath send your breath somewhere else you choose. And anchor your attention there.

And again find that mindful wonderful. Liberating curiosity. And should your mind Be distracted or pulled away.

Just bring it back to the breath. Breathe in And breathe and send your attention back. To the part of your body that you want.

To explore Body scanning Simple Evidence based. And very, very effective. And well done.

And as we Open our eyes and come back to the room and maybe have a wiggle. Just notice how easy that was. Just notice how Quickly, we can bring ourselves into a mindfulness of the breath, how quickly we can connect with the different parts of our body.

And perhaps just get a sense of how would it be. To just bring that into every day at work for just. 10 minutes.

Either body scan or mindfulness of the breath reminding ourselves that in Only 16 weeks. It's no time at all. We would have made a significant difference to our ability.

To be in charge as a human being. And that's huge. So thank you so much for sharing this.

Short meditations and the powerfulness of the short meditation. And it's been a lovely way just to spend Half an hour, hasn't it? Just sitting with your body, sitting with your breath.

Well done, everybody, and thank you.