Rambling Yogi

Tag: mindfulness

  • Are you spending your time measuring or mattering?

    Are you spending your time measuring or mattering?

    I’m not sure who wrote this but it was shared with me at my teacher training in Bali by the beautiful Angelic.

    Coming home from teacher training has been seriously hard, there have been many tears and moments of doubt but  I’ve found great comfort in reading this to myself and reminding myself what matters.

     

    Are you spending your time measuring or mattering?

    Author Unknown

    Happiness is not a goal. It’s a dividend. It’s the incidental consequence of the intentional commitment to fulfill your whole capacity for living. And when you focus your energy on that first, it just shows up. Because happiness isn’t the target – happiness is what you get for hitting the target. What will make you happy that has nothing to do with ego or image or status?

    Purpose is not a task. It’s the way you choose to live your life. It’s the amalgamation of everything you do and say, each day, which validates your existence as a human being. And if you’re not sure what your purpose is, no problem: Finding your purpose can become your purpose until you find your purpose. Get to work. What three things are you doing regularly that don’t serve or support your vision, calling or purpose?

    Love is not a combination lock. There’s no how-to book. There’s no formula. If you want to make love stay, it’s simple but not easy: Never get lazy with people. Make love the question you answer with your life, every day, until it’s over. Because in the end, your life is measured by how well you love, not how far you get. What are you trying to figure out that can’t be figured out?

    I’LL SAY IT AGAIN: What can’t be measured, matters.

    After all, when it’s your heart, you don’t have to convince people that you can’t live without it.

    Are you spending your time measuring or mattering?

     

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  • Meditation – Mental Exercise

    Meditation – Mental Exercise

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    Just like lifting weights makes your muscles stronger, practising meditation grows your ability to cultivate peace in your mind.

    How many times have you heard someone say, I’m feeling so unfit, I really need to do some exercise? Majority of people readily identify with the connection between good physical health and physical exercise.

    Now how many times have you heard someone say, I’m feeling so emotionally unsettled, I really need to meditate … any takers? Not so common.

    Why is this so? I think it stems back to the fact that we teach Physical Education in our schools but not Mental Education.  A lot of people,  have heard of meditation but not experienced it. It’s a foreign concept for many but once you start (just like regular physical exercise), regular mental exercise will have you in your best mental state.

    In a world that is becoming so over stimulated by technology, it is more important than ever to slow down and take some time to sit with yourself and just be.

    There are so many benefits to meditation some of which include, but are not limited to increased immunity, boosted memory, emotional balance, reduction in stress, improvement in sleep, increased compassion, lowering of blood pressure and enhancement of the way you experience your life.

    So how do you start? How do you easily get your regular dose of mental exercise? I recommend either starting with a guided meditation app so that you can slowly build up mastering your mind, or going to a guided mediation class.

    If you’re looking for an app, here’s the top three apps that I’ve tired

    Calm

    This is probably my favourite app. You choose your preferred background image and sound, selecting from options such as a beach with the sound of rolling waves or a forest with the sound of rustling trees, and then you can choose to listen to their seven steps to clam, which is a great guide for beginners. You can also choose to do a guided body scan meditation or timed meditation. For those who are strapped for time, you can select bite sized meditations that last for two to five minutes, which are ideal if you just need a mid-afternoon tune in and if you feel as though you want to get more connected with yourself, there are 60 minute sessions available. The best part about this app is that it’s completely free

     

    1 Giant Mind 

    Completely free again, 1 Giant Mind teaches you to meditate in three different levels. Meditations can last anywhere from 10 to30 minutes depending on how much meditation goodness you feel like you need. Whenever you begin a meditation, you will be asked how you are feeling (both emotionally and your actual feelings towards meditation) and then after the meditation, you will be asked how you are feeling and given a space to comment on the meditation. This will form an online meditation journal, where you can track your progress.

     

    Headspace 

    Headspace is the creation of the amazing Andy Puddicombe (if you haven’t watched his TED talk on mindfulness, do yourself a favour).Not only do you get a good variety of content to listen to, but the app is filled with fun features including being able to follow friends and receiving awards for meditating for a certain number of days in a row. When you first download the app, you get 10 free 10 minute sessions, along with some animations that introduce you to the basics of meditation. Once you’ve completed your 10 sessions, you can subscribe for unlimited access to guided meditations and mindfulness talks. Subscriptions cost $12.95 per month with no lock in or $7.99 per month with a one year sign up. For every subscription paid, Headspace will donate a subscription to someone in need

    Like any form of exercise regular practice is the key to experiencing real benefits.

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  • Mindful May – Being the observer

    Mindful May – Being the observer

    It is often said that in order to be mindful, we must begin to observe our mind. Observing our minds can be quite a challenge as most of us are conditioned to our minds driving our behaviour and emotions. In the lead up to Mindful May, I had taken a slightly different approach and chosen to start observing of my behaviour.

    The other morning as I was driving to my usual 6am yoga class, I began to search through my Mary Poppins style bag for my phone, after two minutes of searching madly with one hand while stopped at the traffic lights, I tried to recall if I actually grabbed my phone as I raced out the door. I had absolutely no memory of grabbing it, so in a fluster I drove back home and madly searched my room to no avail.

    I went back to my car to have a decent look through my bag and guess what … my phone had been there the whole time. As I got back on track, I began to reflect on what had just transpired. I began to ask myself

    how often do we miss things in life because we haven’t bothered to look properly?

    how often do we double back in life looking for something that we already have?

    how often do we have no recollection of what we’ve just done because we have gone onto autopilot?

    I’m sure most of us have experienced these moments in life — you walk into a room and can’t remember what you’re doing there, you can’t find something that’s in front of your face or you go back to somewhere looking for something you don’t realise you already have. Quite often when we ask ourselves why this happens, the answer stems back to our mad monkey minds. Like a mad monkey jumping from tree to tree, our mind races between thoughts. So caught up in our heads that we are not actually present in anything we are doing.

    Becoming aware of these moments in our lives and observing them without judgement can be very empowering. Recognising times where our behaviour is mindless can be a building block to being more focused in the future.

    Use the awareness to set little goals for yourself. If you find that you are in auto pilot every morning – never really even knowing how you even got from home to work – set yourself a goal to be present in one small part of your morning routine, it might be eating your breakfast or brushing your teeth. Really focus on what you are doing and every time you notice your thoughts drift off bring them back to the activity.

    This May, be curious like a child, observe the everyday and ask yourself questions and set little goals.

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  • Mindful May –Mindful Makeover

    Mindful May –Mindful Makeover

    I’ve always loved a challenge, there’s something about asking myself to find my edge that I find addictive. This May I’m going to undertake a Mindful Makeover Challenge, not because I’m feeling scattered or am displeased with myself in anyway but just because I love discovering new things about myself.

    Below are the key things I’ve chosen to focus on for my Mindful Makeover Challenge.

    Daily Meditation

    Meditation helps you to find calm in your mind. It is often said that the meditative mind observes thoughts, while the ordinary mind reacts to thoughts. To keep me on track and give me direction I’ve sign up for the Mindful in May daily meditation challenge.

    Daily Yoga

    Yoga helps you to be more present. It brings about self awareness and gets you out of your head and onto your mat. To keep me on track and give me direction I’ve sign up for the Kula 30 day Yoga and Mindfulness Challenge.

    Remove clutter

    Clutter in your life equals clutter in your head. A good clean out can be super therapeutic and satisfying. The tip with this one is to have a plan. I’ve set aside specific times to clean out my room (it’s a little more than a 1 day job) and to tidy up my desk at work.

    Gratitude Calendar

    Stopping to acknowledge what you are grateful for is not only important for your happiness but is also grounding. I have put a calendar next to my bed and each morning I am going to write one thing I am grateful for that day.

    No more dining with technology

    I’m often guilty of eating my breakfast in front of the television, eat my lunch at my computer or checking my phone a million times while out for dinner. Mindfully eating begins with eating slowly without distraction. For me this is going to be the hardest one to do. I’m going to rely on friends and family to keep me in check with this one.

     

    The great thing about a challenge that requires you to do something daily is that it not only deepens your understanding of yourself and promotes personal growth but it has the potential to build new healthy habits that carry on well after the challenge is finished.eckhart

     

  • Mindful May

    Mindful May

    There is no doubt that technology has changed the world. Modern life is fast paced and we are more connected than ever before. Connected through email, text, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the list goes on. Connected and yet disconnected. Our attention is constantly being caught by notifications encouraging us to check into the virtual world and lose sight of the here and now. It is not uncommon to see a group of friends out for dinner all focused on their smart phones, none of them truly engaging with each other, none of them truly present. I am certainly guilty of this myself.

    We’re so caught up in this complex world that we often do not recognise just how disengaged we are. This May, I am taking part in a one month guided mindfulness meditation challenge. Mediation allows us to pause and connect with our true self, to silence our mind and develop mindfulness.
    Mindful in May is for both beginners and experienced meditators and is set up to be win-win for yourself and the global community.

    In the developed world, a great deal of suffering comes from the mind. The amount of people affected by depression, anxiety and stress is growing daily. When I talk about those affected, I talk not only of the individuals at war with their own mind but also of the family and friends supporting these people day in and day out.

    In the developing world, a great deal of suffering comes from contaminated water. For the developing world, contaminated water is still one of the leading causes of disease and death.

    Mindful in May addresses both of these issues by providing an online space for people to clear their mind for 10 minutes a day, whilst helping to improve the lives of thousands of people living without access to safe drinking water. It is $25 to register and this will give you access to a one month meditation course. The funds raised during this campaign, will be donated to Charity Water, a not-for-profit organisation that builds clean water wells in developing countries.

    I would absolutely love to see people give this challenge a go and join me in making a difference for yourself and the world.

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    Visit my page to sponsor me or get involved yourself.