Elizabeth Deboo At Live Well 50, we believe in healthy living through Lifestyle Medicine. The 4 pillars of lifestyle medicine revolve around nutrition, exercises, restorative sleep, and stress reduction. Prescription medications are used as needed after we have first optimized our lifestyle.
Mindful Awareness…Applying It To Structure, Function, and Health…Circumventing The Stress Response
Often I speak and teach on this fundamental information so I decided to curate this knowledge into 3 parts so it is easy to digest, comprehend, and accessible to come back to reference.
- How we apply Mindful Awareness to structure, function, and health.
- How meditation changes the brain
- The benefits of meditation
- Highlight the physiology & anatomy of a stress response,
- Give a solution to the stress response and
- Teach you how to meditate and shift your nervous system out of a stress response.
“One of the most revolutionary of human gifts is our capacity to see clearly
To be present, interested, and connected to our own lives in a
Wise and compassionate way”
~ Jack Kornfield
Part 1. The WHY, WHAT & HOW of Mindful Awareness?
Here is the thing…
Ancient Wisdom & Modern Science Agree that the capacity for presence, Awareness & mindfulness can be developed!
Even better news…
Research has been very clear and shows that the practice of Mindfulness…
- Is Profoundly healing
- Allows us to tend wisely to the body
- Listen carefully to the heart
- Brings a compassionate understanding to our mind
- Brings a compassionate understanding to our fellow humans
- Brings a compassionate understanding of the world
What is Mindfulness…
The HOW of Mindful Awareness and a form of meditation.
The classic definition of Mindfulness: “Paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally”
Mindfulness is the HOW we will become aware.
Awareness is WHAT we will become aware of.
Awareness is the ability to know and directly perceive, feel, or be cognizant of events or happenings. More broadly, awareness is simply a state of being. Awareness is being conscious of something.
Present Moment Awareness…is more specific. It is an awareness of the present moment. The WHAT…the sounds, smells, physical sensations, tastes, emotions, memories, stories, all the things happening in a moment that we are aware of.
IMO…Breath is the key!
- The fastest way to become present->breath
- The fastest way to shift the nervous system->breath
We are going to anchor in the BREATH to be certain we are in the present moment while we observe all the things occurring at that moment.
I suggest frequent, informal Mindful Moments throughout your day to keep you centered, focus your attention, recharge your system, and shift your nervous system towards a calm or at least a calmer state.
Stop drop & breathe…
STOP: Observing your breath
DROP: Into your bodily sensations
BREATHE: 5 breath cycles
Try this now… join me on the meditation https://www.expandingpathways.com/meditations/for a Stop, Drop, and Breathe Meditation. Choose a quickie. I am sure you will be able to replicate and implement this in your life without any guidance whatsoever! You can always go back to the meditation page.. they are FREE and there is a bunch to choose from.
So why is breath the fastest, most effective, most practical way to come into the present moment?
- We are always breathing
- It is a rhythmical, predictable, always present target
- It is always with us
- It is in the present moment
- It helps us to feel safe
- Indicates we are ok…we are alive!
- Calms the nervous system
- Brings us out of the future
- Brings us out of the past
- Brings us into the NOW
The present moment is so very important because all NON LIFE-THREATENING stress comes from
Either….the Anticipation of the future OR regrets of the past. It really is that simple, patterned, and universal…believe it or not!
Mindful Awareness Meditation actually cultivates the state of present moment awareness. When we pay attention to our breath it is a Present moment experience!
To be clear…
With Mindful Awareness
- we are NOT changing the chaos and frenetic nature of the world
- We are shifting our internal landscape-> NOW
- We are controlling what we can “control”
- We are observing, acknowledging, & responding
Get into your NOW…with Breath!
- Practice
- Observe & recognize
- Be aware of your thoughts, sensations, & emotions
- Breathe….Be in the NOW…
- Breathing in the now, uni-tasking
- It allows us to recognize the monkey mind
Until next time, if nothing else….remember, peace in your internal world largely and profoundly if not miraculously, transfers over to peace in the external world.
