And good evening to you all, and we're just about a minute early, so we'll just give people a little bit of time to come in and Dawn and I were just saying that it seems incredible that it's. Sort of December already, well, nearly December, isn't it? I think it's the 30th tomorrow and, and then we launch into the mad month that is.
Always feels like a bit of a crazy month, December, you know, some people stop working at about the 3rd of December, and others like me and, and, and you guys, I guess, and everyone at Webinar that carry on until probably, Christmas Eve and. Then we get a bit of a break, so it, it, it is a really interesting time. .
And we got One meditation for you tonight, and the second one, and, and, but what we're gonna do first is I was just going to remind people about pivoting, just so that we had a bit of an idea of, the process of pivoting, which I have talked about before, but not spent an awful lot of time and there's lots of different times in the day when, when we have opportunities to pivot, and so. Our first, our first bit of mindful work today is going to actually be just having a bit of an explore of this practise of pivoting or mindful pivoting. And so as you see on the slide, the idea of mindful pivoting is that if we bring just a movement of any sort, really, and we add movement of any sort into our.
Mindful practise. Sometimes it's one of those things that we can do right in the middle of the day, so. As people just begin to come into tonight's webinar, just to share with them all really that pivoting comes from, the first time I sort of started to explore this, this.
Approach that we call pivoting. Was when I read. Steve Hayes new book, which called A Liberated Mind, which I found to be quite a brilliant book, but in there he talks a lot about the importance of making mindfulness immediately useful in.
Everyday situations and something that I found really helpful for myself and a lot of the people I work for is beginning to use this idea of pivoting. So a really obvious pivot can be that if you find yourself, with a, oh, if you find yourself with a difficult client in your list, and I know that this happens to me sometimes, I'll look at my diary of people that I'm seeing for therapy. In the morning, and I'll see that it's sort of like 4 o'clock, there's somebody coming that, you know, it's really quite difficult or there's somebody coming that.
Hasn't been doing any any sort of home practise in between and you know, we, we do need to confront that and I'm not the, I'll be honest, I'm not the greatest at confronting things. And so what I might find myself doing is. Way, way ahead.
So I've moved out of this present moment and into sort of 55 o'clock in the evening when I'm due to see this particular client, and it occupies my headspace and it occupies my mind and it kind of sometimes brings me a feeling of stress about 6 hours before I need it, and. I also find myself pivoting or getting stuck then with a sense of sort of a bit of negativity as well. So if you can imagine yourselves as vets working in a vet practise, and I don't know if this is something that you like me, find yourselves doing, or it might even be that you have a meeting.
Meetings when I worked with the NHS full time, used to be something that I would sometimes dread a bit. And we know we've got a meeting coming later. And although we're trying to be in the moment there for the client that's with us in this moment.
Because we've connected with a future thought and maybe because we've connected with a past meeting that went terribly, we find ourselves vacillating between the past and the present and the future, and sometimes the present gets lost. And so the person that we're actually with doesn't really get the input that they deserve or the input that we would wish to give them, which is present moment aware. So if you can imagine that for a moment and imagine just catching yourself in the day, realising with a lovely non-judgmental smile, cause remember with mindfulness, there is no judgement, there is only what is.
And we find the what is and the what is is, oh my goodness me, Mike Scanlon, what are you doing? You're connected to something that won't be an issue for you. And might not be an issue at all because who knows what will happen before then.
And you're already allowing it to impact on your body, on your mind, your shoulders are tightening. You can feel a slight discomfort in your tummy, and you smile at yourself and you say, OK, so where have I gone? And what you do at that moment there is perhaps we could try it now, is if you're sitting.
Listening to our session today participating with me is if we very slowly just. Get your head so it's absolutely centre and the centre right there is present moment and if we're worrying about something. This afternoon, when it's only the morning, what we do is we move from the centre and we turn our head to the right, and we turn it and we turn it.
And we turn our head until we reach that point where we're comfortable that we've turned our head enough and there's a little bit of a stretch on the neck, and we say, OK, now this is where I will be. This is 5 o'clock this afternoon, and this is not present mind. If I'm here, my mind is way, way ahead of myself, and actually I can feel some tension in my neck because I've turned.
And I can get the sense that I've moved out of the present moment and towards this future moment that may not even come. And at that point we smile. And we just turn our heads back.
And we're moving back, and we're moving back, and we're moving back, and when we get to the centre. We breathe, oh, right, back in the present moment, and this is where I need to be. Similarly, if we find ourselves in a place where, let's say we're seeing somebody, and the last time we saw them, it was a very difficult exchange, and we find ourselves thinking overmuch about that again we smile.
And we say to ourselves, OK. Nice and comfortable. No pressure at present moment.
Self in actual self. So what's happening now? Am I safe?
Absolutely. Is life OK at this moment? Absolutely.
OK. And let's pivot to the left or back. So we just start to turn and turn and turn and turn and turn, and we find the memory that we've got a bit stuck with.
And as we reach the sort of edge as you might call it where we can't comfortably turn to the left any more without racking our neck or Over over stretching, we smile and we say, OK, so this is. History. This is where I've been before.
This is me stuck in the past, and it's uncomfortable, and there's no need to be there because that has been. And gone it is now history. And we start to turn back.
We turn, we turn, we turn, we turn, we turn, and we're back. And when we get back to the present moment once again we take a lovely deep breath right the way into the tummy. And we look around us and the present is actually I'm safe.
I'm OK. I'm in work, it's a Monday morning and everything is OK. Right, and this is where I need to be.
And we smile and we get on with our day. Now we can use this pivoting. From and to and to and from for a whole range of different ideas sometimes, for instance, if we find ourselves fused with a thought, a really difficult thought that we've become over stuck to, sometimes we can actually use our body and twist at our trunk and take ourselves all the way round until we feel that sense of discomfort and then.
Connect with the thought. And hold it And recognise it and meet it with some curiosity, and then as we gently twist our trunk back to centre, we can quietly say to ourselves, I'm just letting. Go And it was something that bothered me and now it's just a thought.
So we can use that to help us diffuse from thoughts as well. So what I've done is created a short film of this mindful pivoting process, and the wonderful Dawn, as always, has already super efficient, has taken the YouTube link that it refers to and has put it up into the chat. So if people feel that that might be useful for them, then, have another look at the film, and it will take you through that process.
So meditation tonight is, it's actually called cultivating joy. And it kind of felt to me that we could all do with something that we can again in the spirit of Steve Hayes, do at any time during the day. So the meditation we're going to do is the full meditation.
But what I love about this one is, it's an eight breath practise. So, if you're in the middle of your day and you're having a really. You know, the, the weather is like, I don't know what the weather's like with you guys, but we, we, we've just had mist and fog all day, and it's been a bit sort of dank and a bit of a miserable day.
And even on my walk with Billy the Mindful dog this morning, there wasn't much birdsong and there wasn't much colour. What there was, if I went, when I was mindful enough to appreciate it was the interesting squelch of mud and . You know, the the same nature's beauty as there always is, I suppose.
But this would be a really good one to do on those days. And so you just literally can use this meditation, and just take 8 breaths. And in the first breath, you take a breath in and as you breathe out, you connect with I'm breathing.
The second breath you connect with your body and say, my body's OK. The 3rd breath allows us to just connect with our ability to let go and release. The 4th breath reminds us of the importance of just love in our lives.
The 5th breath thinks about anything that we're craving that we desperately feel we want and we haven't had now, and we just connect with that, that sense of craving. The, the, the next breath. The 6th breath is again slightly different, but it's another form of letting go.
Then we have a connection with the 7th breath, which is just the beauty of actually being alive, and the final breath just puts us in touch with our appreciation of beauty. So we can actually just take 8 breaths and link it to the meditation I'm going to share with you today, but it becomes a lot easier after we've done today's meditation. So if I can ask you all to get yourselves into that wonderful position where you're.
Concentrating. Enough where you're comfortable but not too comfortable and that if you were looking in a mirror, my go to phrase is just making sure that if you were sitting in a mirror looking at a full mirror in front of you, you would smile to yourself and say, oh yes, I look very dignified, and I do at this moment. I've got myself into a position where I'm quite comfortable that I actually look dignified.
And if I'm honest, I think that's the first time today that I've actually. Truly felt and looked dignified and it's not a bad way to feel actually, in fact, I'm gonna have a bit of a shuffle and find that. Just grow a little bit in my spine and as if I can't really enjoy feeling dignified for the next period of time for this meditation.
So if we can get ourselves into that. Position. And let's just think as we Become comfortable that.
The cultivation of joy is a really important part of mindful practise. And let's just allow ourselves to sit with This truth, I think that joy helps us to be more fully present. To life.
And joy gives us the motivation sometimes we need to embrace and maybe even transform. The difficult times that we're having. In this moment.
And this practise helps us to Develop a strategy for cultivating joy, and we can use this anytime, anywhere. If we want to, we could do the entire practise in just 8 breaths. But tonight we're going to.
Just spend a bit of time exploring all eight breaths. So as we sit, we allow our eyes just to close. Or to half close.
We just check in and we. Make sure that we're comfortable. And ready And I'm just gonna ask you all please to take one.
Deliberate breath in. And as you do, just bring your awareness to the sensation of your breathing and out. Let's repeat step one again and as we take that mindful breath in place real close attention to any sensations.
Of your breath as it moves in and out. So this first step is just following your breath as it comes in. And it comes out and as we do it.
As we're breathing Just allow in our mind's eye to connect with the word breath. Let's do it again. Taking a gentle breath in.
And as we breathe out just quietly in our mind's eye connecting with the word breath. There we go. And in a moment with the 2nd breath The second deliberate breath.
I'm gonna be asking you to actually pay attention to all of the sensations in your entire body. And allow your awareness to fill your body and notice what you find. Both pleasant, unpleasant, some neutral.
And we are asking you to try and find this stuff. Without trying to change them at all or judge them at all. So let's have a go at that.
So as we take the next deliberate gentle, slow breath in. Connecting with our physicality as we breathe out very quietly in our mind's eyes saying to ourselves body. So we've connected with our breath.
And our body And in a moment I shall ask you to connect and Engage with the 3rd breath. And with this 3rd breath we're going to actively try and release any tension or heaviness or agitation that you found. With breath too I want you to imagine as we breathe out in a moment that any tension, any heaviness is being washed out with the out breath.
And the word for this breath is release. So as we take that gentle breath in. All the way in and as we breathe out just letting go and quietly saying in our mind's eye.
Release. Release. So we've connected with our breath.
We've allowed ourselves to connect with our body. And we've allowed ourselves to release any difficulty and tension. And with the 4th breath, the 4th breath concerns ourselves with.
May I have ease and lightness of body and mind. Let's just run that phrase. May I have ease and lightness of body and mind.
And in a moment we're gonna ask you just to say that to yourself on the out breath, may I have ease and lightness of body and mind. And this is bringing ourselves closer to our heart filled with love and generosity for ourselves essentially you're wishing yourself well. And the word for this breath is love.
So let's take a gentle breath in. May you have ease and lightness of body and mind as we breathe out. And we realise that We've now connected with the breath.
And we've connected with our bodies. And we've connected with our ability to just release. And now we found love for self.
And As we go into this 5th breath, just notice if there are any cravings or aversions that you're holding at the moment. Is there any part of you that wants this reality in this moment now? To be different than it is right now.
And just check in the You're not accepting or fighting against things as they are. And As we breathe in and let go, we quietly just connect with this sense of Aversion and cravings and The lack of workability of staying with this stuff and the word we find and we attach to as we breathe out is cravings. So let's take that breath in.
Let's be aware of anything we're holding on to too tightly, and as we breathe out, let's let go. Of any cravings. That we may be holding on to.
Too tightly. Because in every moment of life. There are infinite reasons to suffer.
And infinite reasons to be happy. And what matters is where we're taking. Our attention So let's just Do a mindful checking with our progress so far.
We've connected with our breath. And our body We've connected with our ability to just release. We've connected with the need for love of self.
We've connected with the need to be aware of and to let go of cravings. And we've connected with that sense of choice about. It's our choice where we take our attention.
And with the 6th breath I just ask you to become aware before we go into it. That may be. That everything you need to be truly happy in this earth.
In this world in this life is already present in this moment. All the conditions that are needed for peace and joy and freedom are already here. In every moment of life.
There are infinite reasons to be happy. And what matters is that we no longer ignore the positivity in our lives. Of course problems exist, but they're not all that exists.
So for this one breath as we breathe in in a moment, we focus on everything that is good in your life. And as we breathe out. We just let go.
Of anything That we don't need and the word for this breath is letting go. So as we breathe in, Let's connect with everything in life that is good for us. And as we breathe out, let's let go of anything that we don't need.
And with the 7th breath Let's all of us just become aware. But we're alive. We're breathing Let's allow our breath to help us connect with the energy of life.
Moving through you. With this breath, let's connect with the miracle of just being here. And with this breath become fully awake to the experience of being alive in this present moment and what a precious thing this is.
And if we just had a few moments to live. It would be so clear that 24 hours of life is incredibly precious. So as we take this first breath in.
Let's just connect with the wonder of just being alive. And as we breathe out, let's just quietly say to ourselves. Alive I went the 8th and.
Final breath. We take the opportunity to bring awareness to all the beauty that is there within us. And around us And as soon as we let go of our desires and wake up to this present moment we see that Reality itself can be indescribably beautiful.
All our senses, our sight, our. Sound You can only remember three of them taste all yeah and touch. And this stuff is just possibly like a real precious gift.
So as we breathe in. Let's engage with the beauty of the world inside and outside of us. And as we breathe out we notice the word for this breath.
Is just beauty. Let's finish the meditation with. The 8 breaths that we can do at any time.
During our day we can stop. We can find a quiet space. And as we breathe in the first one, let's connect with our breath just one breath.
And breathe out breath. Let's connect with our bodies breathing in. Out That's Connect with our ability to just let go of tension.
And release on the 3rd breath. And as we breathe in and out on the 4th, let's connect with love for self. As we take the 5th breath, let us just connect with.
The lack of workability of wanting things to be different. And the word is craving as we breathe out. On the 6th breath, let's just fully connect with everything that we need to be happy as in this moment.
And as we breathe out. Just letting go. And with the 7th breath As we breathe in, we're breathing in an awareness of just the joy and the wonder of even being alive in this present moment.
And as we breathe out we just allow that word alive. And finally We breathe in on the 8th breath and we connect with beauty both inside us. And outside us.
That we can find with all of our senses. And as we breathe out. We exhale.
We just say the word. Beauty And Once we've done that meditation and we've made sense of the eight words, Just labelling each breath, just taking 8 really good mindful breaths and moving from the breath to the body. Letting go of that which we don't need.
Connecting with love. Connecting with craving. Connecting with joy and letting go of stuff that inhibits it.
Connecting with the power and the beauty and the wonder of just being alive. And finally connecting with beauty. And it's astonishing this with this simple 8 breaths, how we can.
Transform a day that's been a bit stuck, a bit negative, a bit. Turge it even. And we can find joy.
In the most difficult. The most Possibly even depressing times. And I think.
Given where we are at the moment with our. Our world, our country, our lives at the moment, it becomes even more important that we deliberately on purpose, turn to joy because it feels like we're being dragged into despair every time we turn on the television, every time we open a newspaper. Sometimes with every conversation we have with a new person.
And so turning to joy becomes incredibly important. So I hope people found that to be a useful. Meditative process, one that perhaps you can use.
In the, in the days to come. And do have a go, have a look at the pivoting film, because this is another way of bringing mindfulness into our everyday practise. And the more I practise mindfulness, the more I start to believe that it's more about mindful living than it is about, hours and hours of sitting and meditating, which is why I'm decided that I'm not going to grow my.
Mindful practise beyond that 20 minutes a day. My intention was to keep growing it, but I just think that 20 minutes a day sits beautifully with me and bringing more opportunities for mindful living into every single day does me more good than extended meditating. And I'll leave you to decide whether you're going to grow your meditative practise to a different place or not.
So I'll just have a quick dive in, cos there's a few, yeah. Yeah, it's nice, thank you all. Yeah.
And just somebody coming in saying, first one for me. Oh, it's lovely to have you on tonight. So thank you.
I'm glad that was useful, everybody. So thank you all so much. Have a, have a really, lovely, thank you, Hillary.
Have a really lovely Sunday evening. . And we'll see you in 2 weeks' time.
Good night, everybody. Bye bye now.