So I'm, I think we're sort of ready to start. And, tonight, what I wanted to do is as you see there, they're water-based, meditations, and that really is because, I'm really keen to share a new meditation with you guys. It's called Rain.

And then, To go back to an old favourite, the leaves on a stream meditation, because just really because I'm speaking at the at the National Sleep Show next week about using meditation with sleep. And so, we've recently done another version of the leads on a on a stream. Meditation and I've, I've included that URL on, on the slide.

So it's I think it's a better version of leaves on the stream. So I'm hoping it'll be really good for people. And the other reason is because, it's been really wet out there and I was on a long walk with Billy today and managed to dodge the, the rain, but yesterday got, well and truly deluged by it.

So, We're going to do the rain meditation first and then we're going to start thinking about our sleep, and we're going to give it a go, but it's much more than a sleep meditation really leaves on a stream. It covers so much more. And then I've been asked by the webinar vets about doing another course, for, for vets, and the one I was thinking about was a mindfulness-based CBT course.

So it's, it's really, Very CBT focused as you would expect, but it sort of blends the cognitive behavioural therapy with a much gentler, relaxed, compassionate form of challenging and working with the thoughts largely. So it's very thought-based, very emotion based about how we work better with thoughts and emotions using cognitive behavioural therapy from a mindfulness stance. And so at the end I was just hoping.

To see whether that would be, my own feeling is that would probably be a really useful course for a lot of people in the veterinary profession, but, just thought I'd ask your advice at the end. So that's the plan for this evening. It's always, really nice to hear from everybody.

Oh, I seem to have I, I'm back. you know, it's just so lovely. But let's move into the, the, The second slide now and just get And there we are, it's playing, playing Cilly devils with me.

So I'm just gonna take you through first. The how we use the rain meditation. When we are beleaguered by the what ifs of life, so We can either use the rain meditation as a meditation, or we can just stop and use the mnemonic of rain to help ourselves, really, and this is one that a lot of people find so, so useful.

But only works best with the hypothetical worries that sometimes keep showing up. So the what ifs, and my classic would be, you know, what if we, plunge out of Europe with a, a no deal, and this is the one that I hear most people talking about. And, you know, we could become frustrated by that because actually at the moment, It's a hypothetical, and it's a hypothetical because it hasn't happened yet.

It might not happen yet, and nobody actually knows. And we can think of the amount of time that we get beleaguered and beset by hypotheticals, you know, what if so and so doesn't like me? What if tomorrow doesn't go well?

What if I make a mistake? And very often hypotheticals are what ifs, but they become. A drain on our Psychological well-being when that hypothetical goes round and round and round like a cow chewing the cud and we don't do anything.

To sort of deal with that which is only in our heads because it hasn't happened yet. So What I recommend when we get stuck with a hypothetical is firstly that wonderful thing, the stop. Take one mindful breath.

Perhaps if we all just think about something that we're worrying about now, let's do it live before we do the meditation. So we just think about something that we're worrying about that's a what if. So, Let me think what my what if.

I'm in a school tomorrow with 60 year sixes, and my thought that comes to mind is, what if what I've planned for them doesn't work? And when I think that, I sort of get a picture of a load of kids ignoring me at the front and just, you know, rioting in the classroom, and that brings a kind of frisson of fear, so it doesn't work for me to sit with that particular what if. So if you guys can just find your what if for a moment and we'll, we'll give it a go.

So what you do is you say, OK, take one breath. And then we say Just recognise what it is that's stressing me out. Oh, it's that thought.

It's that situation that hasn't actually happened yet. And then deliberately and on purpose, there's the R of the recognise. And then deliberately on purpose, we allow and make space for it.

So we just kind of wait and we pause and we think about it, make space for it. And then we investigate it. There's the eye.

But when we investigate it, we become curious about why is this hypothetical showing up right now. And when I investigate that one about the school tomorrow, it's showing up because I haven't actually finished my PowerPoint for the school tomorrow. And so I go, oh, so that's why that that what if is showing up.

Now here is the really interesting bit. The N is non-attend, and the skill of non-attend is to deliberately and on purpose. Either take your mind somewhere better, somewhere.

To something that really makes you feel good about you. Or take your mind back to what you were doing when the thought showed up and and doing and redo it fully. So that's the non-attend.

So you either non-attend by deliberately non-purpose attending to something else that matters to you, or you non-attend by going back to whatever it was that you were doing when the hypothetical thought showed up and started bugging you, even if it was just sitting watching the telly. You go back to sitting watching the telly and you do it more. Mindfully.

So it works beautifully as a sort of strategy for dealing with those hypotheticals. But it's also, I think, a really useful meditation. So with no more ado, let's do our first meditation of the evening, rain.

So Those of you who know me well know that I'm no stickler on the lotus position or I'm certainly not as bendy as Meg. So, I would find that quite difficult. But let's just get ourselves into a seated position.

Seated position where we, we were looking in a mirror. Our face would be relaxed. You would see a gentle smile.

We would see that our arms and our shoulders were relaxed. But that we were sitting comfortably but dignified. We would see that nothing was crossing, no arms crossed, no legs crossed.

And we would see that our feet were planted shoulder width apart. On the floor, feeling the earth beneath our feet. And let's begin.

So I'd just like you to stop. And take your attention. Outside of the room.

That you're meditating in. And just for a moment consider the weather. The temperature The humidity.

The sound outside the room. You're meditating. And gently bring your attention.

Into the room where you are. And get a sense of. How safe it is, how warm it is.

Inside the room. Where you're meditating. How comfortable you are.

And then bring your attention right in. Find your breath. Maybe placing a hand.

On your tummy for a moment. And deliberately and on purpose, just breathe in. Taking the air right the way into your tummy.

And when you think that your tummy is full of that air, just take a little bit more. Top it up. A nice long breath out.

And once again just breathing into our tummy. Topping it up. A lovely long breath out.

Using the breath To create the calm we need. To be able to move forward with this meditation. And now deliberately and on purpose.

Just find a hypothetical what if worry? I worry about the future, something that's coming up. Something that hasn't happened yet.

But something that keeps hijacking your mind. Awati And Just quietly. Just say it to yourself.

What if? And just share the what if with your son. And in that moment, Now, Let's find that mindful half smile.

And let's recognise this what if. As though it were an old friend. Perhaps even an old friend that sometimes shows up a bit too often.

We're not angry with them. But it's you again. And there's recognition there.

And that's it, 00 yeah, I know you. So we recognise. And allow That what if in?

And notice that it comes. As words and pictures. Maybe we see in our mind's eye.

What the what if pertains to. And we look at the words. The language.

Making up It's worth. We sit with it. And we then allow it.

And we Allow our shoulders to just roll back slightly. And open up our chests. And we just breathe.

And we find that smile of acceptance. And we allow and we make space. For this water.

Tracking our breath as we breathe in. And we breathe out. Just anchoring our attention.

To our breath. I smiling. Oh yeah, I get it.

Now, We deliberately and on purpose adopt. That curious scientist persona. That's so much a part of the mindful stance.

And we Question. Lightly, holding it lightly. So why?

Why does this water? Show up. And we allow our mind.

To become curious. Let me see if we can find patterns. Oh, it shows up when.

I'm not fully prepared for something. Oh, that's interesting. Or maybe it shows up only with particular people.

And that's interesting. And what sort of people is it? Most aligned to.

And that's interesting. And we find curiosity. And notice the difference between threat.

And curiosity. There's no smile with threat. There's a smile.

With curiosity, . That's why when I investigate this. This hypothetical shows up only ever on a Sunday, before I go back to work.

Well this only shows up with These people Or this only shows up when I'm hungry. Or this only shows up. And I've been hard on myself.

Once again we allow this curiosity. We investigate it. Knowing that When it matters, when we're ready.

We can always anchor our attention. To the bra. So right at this moment now.

We make a decision together, guys. We smile and we say, OK. I've recognised it.

I've allowed space for it. I've investigated it with mindful curiosity. And now I'm going to non attend to it.

And I let go of it. And I take my attention fully. To my breath.

And I find my breath. And I gently breathe in. I follow the breath in.

And I let it go. I follow the breath out. And I bring that wonderful curiosity to the temperature of the air that I breathe in.

Noticing whether the in breath is cooler. Than the out breath. And should the Mind wander or the hypothetical worry return.

We smile at it and we say no. Just none attending. By breathing.

And we anchor our attention. Once more. Right, right.

And we find a sense of mastery. And I'm really quiet. Comfortable sense of.

Knowing But you know what? I don't need to be hijacked. Quite so often by my worry brain.

If I use rain. I can be in charge of my worrying brain. Mindfully.

And with acceptance. Just see yourself in the week to come. How we might look if we're dealing brilliantly.

With those bothersome. Hypothetical. Wars.

When you're ready. Very gently. Just come back to the room.

I'm always interested to see whether people, found that to be useful. It's, it's, I'm a worrier and . You know, I'm quite good if it's an actual worry, but when it's a hypothetical, they can, they can really take over a day.

So that's something I use for my own kind of sense of well-being, and people I work with 1 to 1 find that to be enormously helpful, both as a meditation and as a strategy and . You know, when we're in jobs like vets or doctors or anything where we're kind of responsible for other people's happiness. I think We are more kind of Plagued, bothered by those sort of hypothetical worries.

So just remind you again, when a hypothetical shows up, we recognise it. We allow it and make space for it. We investigate, not the thought itself, but why have you shown up and what's significant and what have I been doing that's opened the door to you?

And then we none attend. And it's that non-attend, the skill of the non-attend that, is so useful. Thank you.

Katrion has just come through. I'll just say first name saying, that couldn't have come at a better time. Oh, I'm so pleased.

It's nice to know. I, I think, I think it's just such a useful, a, a, a useful strategy. So I recognise A allows spaces.

The eye is investigate with a wonderful gentle curiosity, and the n is not at end. You know, no matter what it was I was doing when it showed up, go back to doing it, or non attend by focusing on the breath again. So, our, second meditation of the evening.

If I can make my computer work, is, we're going to move it on to, The leaves on a string and I've recorded a new leads on a stream. Some of you may actually have seen it, and this one's another one when we become just before, just, just as we're dropping off to sleep really, What tends to happen is if we're busy people, and you guys are, aren't you, and really busy people, then it's rare that we really give the thoughts and the worries, worries mostly actually, that show up enough attention during the day and then we get home, and the last thing we want to do when we get home is, you know, deal with those worrisome thoughts. So we just keep putting them off and putting them off, and I think our brain sits there kind of just waiting patiently, knowing.

That there's going to be a moment when your guard drops, and it's in that moment that it's going to send you all of those thoughts that you've been blocking, pushing away, not dealing with. And unfortunately that tends to be just as we're lulled into that pre-sleep moment of relaxation and we're just about to drop off. And I don't know if it's the same for you guys, but it's certainly the same for me.

And that's when all of those thoughts, it's almost like the floodgates open and warmth in they come. And that's what stops us sleeping, you know, because the brain says, OK, his defences are down, send in the thoughts, you know, because your brain wants them processed and dealt with. And the lovely thing about leaves on a stream is that we don't push them away is we allow them and we look at them.

And then we let the thoughts go, but our brain perceives that we're dealing with them. And so it allows us to gently, securely drop off back to sleep. So if we're struggling with our sleep, our best bet really is some progressive muscular relaxation, you know, good bedtime routine, and then just before you plan to drop off to sleep, just switch on.

The audio and watch those leads. So our second meditation of the day is leaves on a string. So, let's just relax for a moment and smile, a nice one, is.

And if you're a visualizer, it's so much easier. And if you're not, still try and stay with the process because it still works. So we gently Just close your eyes.

And smile. And let's see if we can find in the top right-hand corner of your consciousness. The beginnings of your stream.

And just imagine that it meanders. And flows. All the way from the top right hand corner of your consciousness down past your nose.

And disappears somewhere off below your left ear. They're kind of Just traverses its way. And disappears.

Let's build this dream. And it's beautiful, rather like the slide, have a quick peek. You know, it's clean, lovely water.

There's some boulders in the stream perhaps. And the leaves don't get caught, they just flow. And the river flows at a gentle.

Constant pace. And it gurgles. And it's surrounded by Fauna and flowers and.

Greenery. Let's just sit back and Just look at our stream for a moment. And we noticed that at the top right-hand corner of the stream stands a great huge oak.

And every now and then A leaf falls from the tree. And it's Csils. Its way down.

And the leaf lands right at the top of your string. With barely a dapple. And certainly no sound.

And I'd just like you to watch that me now. As the leaf is. Carried Inexorably Gently supported and floating.

And it floats down the stream. And we have no compunction to reach in and grab it because it's just a leaf. Just a little.

And it disappears. Let me breathe. Let me smile.

And we wait, because where one leaf is, another will surely follow. And it does. On the leaf.

Falls again from the tree. And we see that it's a beautiful autumnal brown. And it seesaws down.

And it lands once more. And is carried Down stream. Again, we sit back.

Let me just watch it. And if thoughts come into our mind, we just smile and say nothing. I'm watching these.

Right. Come back. We wait again.

And sure enough. Here comes another me. When it falls.

And it lands. And we watch it. On the leaf Is carried Notice any urge in us to make the river run faster.

Or slower. Just let go of that. The river will run as the river runs what is is.

And then we stop. And we know that a leaf is going to fall again in a few moments. But we turn to ourselves and we say, OK.

Brain, mind. Send me a thought. A thought from the day.

That's been. For the day that's coming. Send me a thought.

And we. And whatever thought that our mind sends. You take it and you hold it lightly.

And we look at it and we see that it's made of. Letters that make words. Maybe even pictures.

And what we do is we take those letters and those pictures. And we jumble them up. And we popped them into an envelope.

And we wait and the leaf falls from the tree. Just as it lands. We just pop the envelope with our thought.

Onto the knee. You don't need to attend to it, it's just a thought. Just words and pictures.

And we now watch that envelope. Being carried By that thought. Until it disappears.

And we smile and we ask and send another thought. Even if it sends the same thought as before. Smile.

Thank you. We take that thought. And we see it as A combination of jumbled letters and pictures.

And we popped them into an envelope. And we wait And the tree obliges. And that allows the leaf.

To fall And again as the leaf falls with no sense of hurry up. The pop, I thought. Onto the lea And we watch it.

And we allow the leaf. To carry the thought. Until it disappears.

And for the last minute. Of our meditation. I'd just like you guys please.

To In a few moments. Ask your mind to send you a thought. See the thought as words and pictures.

Pop it into an envelope. Ask the leaf to fall. And just watch it.

As it disappears. And within a minute we may get time for perhaps one more. Too, though.

So we sit back and we smile. You relax. And let's have a minute or two.

Of thought watching. Thank God And if we get distracted or We find struggle, we smile. We know the thought that pushed its way in.

Can we take that thought? And we put that thought. Or that picture or that struggle.

Onto the next leaf. The courses. One moment.

And When you're ready. Just come back to the ring. And it's that meditation.

That many, many people find is the absolute go to if we're having some problems with our sleep. and you know, it makes so much sense. This ability to let go of thoughts becomes, it's just such a healthy, such a wonderful thing to do.

Because so many people that I know that You know, we, we. Treat thoughts as though they're 100% real, you know, on the whole, they're really poor indicators of reality. And so non attend.

So a lot of our meditations tonight have been based on the skill of, non-attending. So, it's lovely being back, doing the Sunday evening meditations, and I've got to say it's really miss, having Meg and, I heard from Meg the other day, and I know she would love me to share this with you, and she's just finished her Vipasana, the real kind of silent yoga retreat, as she tells me. So, I think she's probably at this moment, probably meditating some, some hotline.

And you know, just. Nice to think of Meg who always used to be part of this experience, and I hope will again in the future. So I hope that was, that's been useful.

I hope that's been enjoyable. I've really enjoyed it. It's been a lovely way, lovely thing to do on a Sunday evening, you know, before we get down to that.

The last bit of work I've got to do before I relax into my Sunday evening. If people have got any thoughts about the, I'm going to adjust the, mindfulness-based CBT down to a 5-week course. It's usually done again over the eight weeks, but, I think sometimes that's too long for our webinar, so I am putting together a course and we're looking to, Get that course on with the webinar vet.

Quite shortly in the usual way. And I will be talking to Richard and Anthony and others. About when we get it on and hopefully, you know, the veterinary community will find that really useful.

If you have any thoughts about, you know, gosh, Mike, please don't do a mindfulness-based CBT course. We'd just like, something else, you know, just let the webinar vet know. But my hope is that what we do will be, useful to you.

So I'm just gonna go and see whether there's, any more comments, No, nothing more coming in, . How, how do people find, I know some of you have done, or we had a chat come in there. Yeah, it was, Laura's just coming in.

Yeah, I'd like to do a CBT course and I'm going to be really strict this time, Laura. I, I, I tend to, Do a sort of blend of CBT and, and, acceptance and commitment therapy. But I think this time I'm gonna try and stick to the mind from the CBT curriculum, just to see whether that, Because I think there's some real merit to the fidelity of Of the evidence base for that stuff and they're the same meditations, you know, that we use and it's quite a set curriculum, but it has a great evidence base, particularly for depression, actually.

So, more so than anxiety. So that's I think where we're going to go next. So, With no more ado, I guess that leads me to say a big thank you to everybody, for coming in tonight.

Yeah, feeling quite rested after tonight's meditation is good. Yeah, and you'll be sent the recordings, I believe, as usual, so . I haven't recorded the rain meditation yet onto, and stuck it onto my, My YouTube channel.

But, I will do in the next couple of weeks, because people really like that meditation. But if you, you can do it again from the recording that you get from the webinar there. So thank you all very much, everybody, for, participating tonight and look forward to next month.

And have lovely, lovely evenings and a good weekend.