So welcome to People, we're just a little bit early, so we'll give everybody a few moments. It's me, Mike, Doctor Mike Scanlon, and this is our monthly. Meditation session and thank you to those of you who have written and just shared how, how useful the last one was, that was lovely.
And again, I'm gonna really hope that tonight's session, which is again, I think we need a bit more of this, reducing your stress and worry and the reason I chose this was because I've been doing a lot of . A lot of sessions in the evenings for the, frontline NHS staff. So we, NHS England, got me to do a sort of series for them.
And, after the sleep one, which seemed to go down well, this session got really, really, was well attended, and people really found it to be, really use, useful. So I just thought that, If they found it useful, I thought that this theme that we're looking at today on reducing your stress and worry, and it's a two part, session tonight. So our session begins with .
The sweet spot And I ask us, we do a a a a meditative explore to see if we can find that special place. In our past or in our present. It might be, a memory of a holiday, or it might be a memory of a particularly wonderful time, in your life, .
It might be a, a place that you go regularly. It might be, a place that you go to and relax right now. It might be somewhere you walk.
It could just be, a particularly wonderful, location that you take yourselves to once or twice a year. But most of us, if once we've found our sweet spot, and we are able to cue ourselves into it by using a cue word, it can be one of those really useful, strategies for when we're having a bit of a difficult day. So we find ourselves, and, you know, in mindfulness, we often talk about the importance of being in the present, and we find ourselves in the present, but the present ain't too great.
You know, the present is difficult, the present is torrid, the present is full of anxiety or sadness. And in that moment, mindfulness can help us because we can remind ourselves that. In this present moment, this is really difficult.
But in a very little time, this present moment is going to be the past. And the wonderful thing about life is we don't know what's coming next. We can influence it by the way we respond to the stuff that happens to us.
But just because this moment is difficult, it doesn't mean that it's going to stay difficult. And we can also deliberately and on purpose choose to take our mind somewhere and to remind ourselves of a place of a time when we've been happy and we can use mindfulness to restore calm, bring back a smile, find a sense of peacefulness. So we're gonna start with that.
And then we're going to use that sweet spot that we've found to help us with the meditation of. Letting go Of stuff and a meditation aimed at making better choices. And that's quite a detailed meditation, and we need a few minutes for that one.
So What I was gonna propose was that we start with an exploration of finding our sweet spot and to do that, we really do need to get the sort of ambience right, we need to get. Calm, very well established in our minds and in our bodies. So Let's do the sweet spot meditation.
In preparation for letting go. And making choices. So Before I start, I'd just like to say how lovely it is to be with you all tonight.
And Now let's just get ourselves into our Meditating stance physically. So we're sitting, looking dignified. Shoulders relaxed and down.
Spine In a comfortable but Kind of dignified position. Let's find that mindful half smile. Cultivate that, and that's the smile that says to the brain, it's safe to do this, you know.
It's OK to stop and Step off the Kind of train of life for a moment and just take a break. And we thank ourselves for liking ourselves enough to do just that. Sweet spot So we begin the meditation.
By bringing our attention. All the way down. To Our belly And we just place.
A hand there And we feel the warmth of our hand as we just press it. Against our belly And then we deliberately on purpose, take a very gentle breath in through our nose. And we take the breath all the way in.
Until we can feel our hand being pushed away. As the belly expands. And then we let go of the air.
And we exhale. And once again we take that lovely gentle breath in. And we exhale.
Wonderful. And as we use the breath deliberately. And on purpose to just create.
A feeling of calm and safety. So we carry on breathing in this style. Gentle breath in.
Taking the air all the way into our tummy. So we're really filling those lungs. And letting go.
In creating calm. And now I just ask you all please to Allow your mind to become soft. And smile And just ask yourself so.
Can I find a time and a place? Where I've been relaxed and happy. Smiling Where I've been free from stress.
A memory of a time and a place. Where to go there is to smile. Where to go there is to invite peacefulness.
And tranquilly. And perhaps it's a holiday memory. Perhaps it's a Day of your wedding Perhaps it's a really special place that you go to.
Regularly Perhaps it's somewhere that you go to when you walk the dog. And we just ask you to. Allow your mind.
To reach out and to find that safe place. When we've got it, we hold it in our mind's eye. And we use the sense of visualisation to bring up in our mind's eye.
What it looks like this place, what are the colours? What do we see? As we recall this safe place.
And if we're there, is there a sound? What's the temperature like? Is there a smell?
And we allow ourselves to really. Enjoy and build that sense of your sweet spot. And then we think for a moment that If I wanted a cue word.
That really fits. This sweet spot, what word? Can I use As my cue word.
That will take my mind inexorably. To that sweet spot in your brain. So we choose your Cue word And We let go of the sweet spot.
Just for a moment. And now we say the cue word out loud. Tenby My sweet spot And we use that Q word to queue.
Us back into. That wonderful Sweet spot. And as we reside once more.
In that place We take our attention to our breath. And we notice that when we're in this sweet spot we breathe calmly. We look at our faces and we see that there's a smile.
Or at least a look of softness and relaxation there. And we realise that we have this really special place that can help us. And we stay with that sweet spot for a moment.
As we gently segue. Into the 2nd. Meditation of the evening.
A meditation of letting go. Making choices. So we allow ourselves to reside in our mind.
In our sweet Spot place. And we notice that here it feels safe. Yeah.
I feel contained. And we noticed that it just takes one word. To gentle us back into this special calm.
Place of repose. And now We take our attention. And we find our breath once more.
And we just Notice that we can anchor our attention to the breath if we please. So we can either return to the breath. Or we can return to our sweet spot.
And so as we sit. Choosing to take time. To meditate and to be in touch.
With the stuff of life that really matters. I'm just gonna ask you. To think about.
What you have Lined up For yourself this week. What jobs What chores What activities. What people What meetings?
What commitments. That you have And just ask you to allow your mind. To just open up.
And to let the staff of the forthcoming week in. And we're choosing to open up and allow this stuff in. And as we allow it in.
We sit with it. And we make space for it. Maybe we even roll our shoulders back.
And open up our chest and let all the stuff. Of the week, and And as we let it in. We just notice.
With curiosity whether Any of this stuff. Elicits An aversive response. Do we find ourselves wanting to not think about that meeting?
Do we find ourselves wanting to sort of bat away? Something that Maybe is coming up. In this week ahead.
And now I'd ask you to choose. One of those Activities, one of those chores, one of those jobs, one of those meetings, one of those commitments. That You perhaps Find difficult.
And just allow that in. And sit with it. And Just notice what it is that shows up.
What thoughts, what feelings. What emotions show up as we do that? And we let them stay because they are just thoughts, they are just emotions, they are just feelings.
And we Sit with them And we just wonder. Whether we need To carry that. Difficult emotions, there's difficult thoughts.
Those aversive feelings. And we just imagine letting go of them. Just letting go.
A bit like a balloon that we let go of and they just. Fly And we Gentle ourselves in. And we look at this activity, this commitment, this chore.
That We need to attend to in this week. And we stop and we make a choice. What can I choose to do?
That will make this less troublesome. What can I choose to do? That will make this less troublesome.
What can I choose to do that will make this easier? And even if what we find is. I can choose to let my shoulders relax.
I can choose to remind myself that. This too shall pass and This thing I've got to do will be over with. So we let go of the emotions and the thoughts and the feelings.
And we make a choice. About how we can Manage this difficult situation. Better.
And now we gentle ourselves back and you say the cue word. Just out loud, your keyword to your sweet spot. And take yourself back.
Bring your attention to your breath and notice whether you like me have just taken a gentle breath in. And let go as I've welcomed myself back. To that sweet spot.
And as we get back to the sweet spot, we notice that the sweet spot is like a refuge. It's somewhere I can go to to recharge. To feel safe again.
And when I'm ready, I can reach out. And return To the stuff of life that causes me. Difficulty Stuff of life that is.
Usually avoided. And I can look at it. And I can think about the thoughts and the feelings and the emotions.
And maybe I can let go of them. And then I can look once more. Activity The demand That's causing me this anxiety.
And I can sit with it. And I can smile at it. And I can choose.
To do one thing. To make this easier, to make it go better. No avoidance.
Just one thing, what am I gonna do? That's gonna make this. A more Beneficial experience for me.
And I sit In the knowledge that I can sit and I can imagine, and I can plan. Mindfully If it gets difficult, I can use my keyword. Let's use it again.
And gentle myself back in. To my safe sweet spot. And we get a sense of how we can use this meditation.
Practise 2 Curiously. Work With emotion and thoughts and feeling. And future anxiety.
From a place of safety. So if we find ourselves leaning forward. Out of our sphere of competence in the here and now.
Wobbbling feeling uncertain. We know we can combine our sweet spot. With this practise of Letting go And making choices.
And as we sit and come towards the end of tonight's meditation. Just consider How it might be. If you catch yourself worrying about that which hasn't happened yet.
And instead of worrying ineffectually. You use your mindfulness. And your sweet spot.
To make safe To let go And to make better choices. Getting a sense of how our life might be. If we did that just a little bit more.
Well done, everybody. And when you're ready, very gently. Come back to the room.
Thank you so much guys, I hope you found that. Useful and interesting. I think that it becomes such a, powerful thing to do if we start practising the tenants within them, and we don't actually have to be in a full meditative state to do that.
We can go and find our sweet spot. We can Let go Meditate, find. The forthcoming event.
We can let go of any feelings and thoughts which allows us to get in and make choices. And because so much of people's anxiety is anticipatory, my hope is that you'll find what we've done tonight to be useful, interesting, and rewarding. And perhaps even liberating, I think that's the word that somebody used about.
And practising the skill we shared tonight. So thank you all so much. I know virtual Congress is coming up with a webinar that.
And, in case you're interested, I've just done 3 films for the virtual congress, but we really thought hard about them, and I think they're really good films. So those of you, planning to, utilise the virtual Congress, I hope, I hope you have a, a really useful time. And thank you for taking part tonight.
Thank you all so much and . Yeah. How quickly will this be available as for some reason I had trouble accessing the evening, .
I think it's usually available the next day, Hillary, but . I, I would guess the next day, it nearly always is with the webinar that they're very good like that. So, my hope is you should be able to access that one tomorrow.
So look forward to seeing you all again. In March, and, yeah, look after yourselves. And be safe.
Goodbye everybody.