Wellness Mini-Session | Mindfulness for a Busy Mind

Laura:

Welcome, welcome everybody. We appreciate you coming and spending some time with us this morning. Welcome to our wellness mini session on mindfulness for a busy mind.

Just very briefly, this 20-minute session is hosted by the California Stronger Connections Technical Assistance Center. You can learn more about us, but that’s not exactly why we’re here today. Today, we’re going to hear from Angelo with the Mindful Life Project. Angelo is the director of partnerships for the Mindful Life Project. He joined the organization in 2018 as an instructor serving low income youth and providing daily mindfulness programming in schools. Angelo’s a certified yoga instructor and previously worked for the Prison Yoga Project at San Quentin State Prison, introducing yoga and wellness practices to incarcerated individuals. And he’s here with us today to lead us through a practice, learn a little bit about ourselves, and how we can integrate more mindfulness into our daily lives and work with others. And so, we’re very, very grateful to have him here.

And Angelo, I’m going to go ahead and turn the session over to you. Thank you so much.

Angelo Monsalve:

Thank you so much, Lauren. Thank you so much, WestEd, for this wonderful opportunity, and thank you folks for joining us. Let me jump right into our offering about what exactly is mindfulness.

And that was shared in the video, but simply put, friends, mindfulness is paying attention on purpose to the present moment without judgment. Through focus and specific awareness, mindfulness builds skills to navigate all experiences by strategically living in the here and now with compassion.

So friends, I’ll pause there just to allow the opportunity for folks even just to chime in the chat. Is there anything about this definition of mindfulness that stands out to you? Anything that … Any phrases, any parts of the definition that maybe are highlighted or things that you’d like to even focus on, friends, around the definition of mindfulness? I’ll invite this into the chat for just maybe 30 seconds to see if any folks care to comment on this definition.

And as we’re combing through here, friends, I just want to highlight, for example, without judgment. Often we are labeling things as good or bad to our own suffering. We’re getting caught up on our thoughts regarding situations that are around us. Friends, so be able to just have the present moment awareness of what we’re observing is definitely much a skill that we can train and build. The other thing I want to highlight is also focusing on all experiences. Often we think of mindfulness and we’re like, “It’s just about being happy.” And folks, there’s so much more, our experience as human beings is much more textured than just happy. So mindfulness allows us to be able to encounter and to be able to navigate all realities, all experiences, all emotions through this non-judgmental lens, because this is what’s showing up in the present moment.
Mindfulness is the equivalent, I would say, to a mental pushup. The same way that we can take care of our bodies and we recognize that movement and physical health is important to our wellbeing, we recognize that mental health is also very much interconnected to our wellbeing as well. Friends, and the purpose of today that we’re going to be focused on is to be able to train the mind, because all too often we find ourselves caught up in thought. And I know particularly folks that work in education, a good way that was shared upon me or with me was that if you’re in education, you either rehearsing or you’re rehashing. You’re either rehearsing or you’re rehashing.

So you’re rehearsing what happened and the lesson that went … Or you’re planning the lesson between lesson planning or you’re rehashing how that lesson went. So all too often, friends, it robs us of our present moment awareness because we’re either future thinking or past thinking. And it is important to be able to honor both of those places, but both of those take us away from being in the present moment, which is what the skills of mindfulness allow us to do.

So we’re going to be spending some time with two mindful skills. These mindful skills are … Well, these are seven mindful skills that we have, but the two that we’re going to be focusing on are mindful breathing and mindful listening. These two posters are part of our curriculum. On the left side, that’s our curriculum for upper grade. On our right side, that’s our Brainhouse curriculum, which we use for our lower grade students, where we use puppets and characters to be able to reflect either emotions or mindful skills that we have.

So friends, a couple things that I want to invite all of us to keep in mind when we’re practicing mindfulness, as we’re going to get into practice, there are three elements that are connected to be able to highlight for our inner experience.

One, ingredients for happiness. One is mindfulness. Two is having a reflection or a practice of gratitude. And three is having compassion and empathy for self in all living beings. Particularly, I want to highlight that last one because often we get caught up and it’s a lot easier, especially for folks in education to give empathy and to give love to others, but it’s not always as easy for us to have that same care, that same degree of acceptance to ourselves. So highlighting that and that empathy for ourselves is something I just want to be able to offer us because it is definitely a skillset, particularly during these times, that is important for us to highlight and to focus on.
So let’s talk about the skill of mindful breathing. So friends, mindful breathing simply is paying attention to what the sensation of our breath feels like. Now, we are able to be able to influence our nervous system by being conscious of our breath, specifically when we breathe out on purpose and we exhale, we are activating a part of the brain called the parasympathetic nervous system. That part of the brain signals us to rest and digest. When we’re using the skill of mindful breathing, what allows us to do is allows us to take a break from the anxious mind and the thoughts that are ruminating, or that hamster that’s running so quickly and up there. So when we use the skill of mindful breathing, it allows us to be able to have a short brain break to be able to focus on what the sensation of breathing feels like, and innately allows us to be able to go back into our window of tolerance, which often we get outside of when we’re caught up in thought or we’re in a big emotion that’s visiting us.

We’re going to be using the skill of mindful breathing in just a minute to be able to experience it for ourselves. The second skill that I want to talk about is mindful listening. So sounds are happening all around us all the time. What’s interesting about mindful listening is that mindful listening allows us, especially if we start noticing sounds, allows us to tune into a stream of thought. Often we might hear a sound and we’ll get pulled away by the sound. For example, you might hear the sound of a car outside and you’re like, “Okay, I wonder what kind of car that is.” Or, “Why is that car so loud?” Or you start labeling the sounds. So for us, we can use sound to keep us in the present moment by just noticing the sound and naming the sound for ourself. This skill allows us, again, to be able to take a break from our thoughts and to be able to notice where our thoughts are going, allowing us to be able to be aware that our mind is shifted somewhere else and to use sounds to stay in the present moment. We can use very obvious sounds, and we’ll be using subtle sounds to be able to focus our minds on the present moment and what’s happening in the here and now.

A couple last tips before we get into our actual practice itself, I want to invite all of you to pause for self-awareness, just noticing what you’re feeling right here, right now in the moment. I want to invite you to just try to let go any judgment. There’s no wrong and right in what we’re doing here, friends. You are just practicing, which is half the battle. I want to invite you to notice what is present, particularly in your environment, and also what is showing up for you internally. We also want to invite you to accept whatever’s arising, not wondering why you feel this way or what is showing up for you, but this is just what is, recognizing that none of it lasts.

And I want to invite you lastly to train your mind, or to try to, to redirect it to the here and now using either breathing or sound and just notice if your thoughts are wandering, because that’s what the mind does. It wanders, it thinks, it’s an idea factory. But you don’t have to think all your thoughts. You can have agency over your mind, which is what the skill of mindfulness allows us to do, is to be able to notice and to be able to direct our thoughts rather than our thoughts directing us. There’s no wrong here. Let’s enjoy our time together, friends, as we begin our practice.

So friends, I want to invite you to come to a comfortable seated position if you’re not one in already. I want to invite you to plant your feet in the ground, imagining your growing roots from your feet into the soil, like a tree. I want to invite you to roll your shoulders back so they’re in line with your hips, and I want to invite you to bring your ears in line with your shoulders. You’re going to feel a gentle stretch through the back of your neck. You should feel maybe your sternum broadening a bit. And I want to invite you to imagine as if you have a little string at the top of your head and someone’s just extending that, so you feel yourself, your back coming into alignment. And I want to invite you to either look to the ground or close your eyes. Whatever feels safest for you to do right now.

And I want to invite you just to notice. We’re going to notice our bodies before we get into our skills. I want to invite you to notice your feet, notice your ankles, notice your knees, notice your hands, notice your elbows, notice your shoulders, notice your jaw. Often we clench our jaws, not even realizing that we are. So I want to invite you to allow a space in between your upper and lower mandible. Allow your tongue to feel heavy. And I want to invite you to relax your brow. Often we are furring our brow when we’re concentrating. So I want to invite you just to relax your brow and just to notice.

I want to invite you to notice your breath, not changing anything about your breath, but noticing how your breath feels as you breathe in, noticing how your breath feels as you breathe out and notice the sensation of your lungs as they are expanding and contracting with life giving oxygen. Just take three breaths like that on your own. And as you’re breathing like this, I just want you to notice and to ask yourself this simple question. How do you feel and where do you feel it? Take two more breaths like this on your own. Just normally breathing in and out. Not changing anything about your breath yet. Just like that.

Now, notice if your mind has wandered, it does that and it’s okay. I want to invite you to come back to your breath, but this time we’re going to direct our breath. We’re going to use some intentional breathing. So what I mean by that is I want to invite you to breathe as if you’re smelling a candle. I’m sorry, breathe as if you’re smelling a cup of coffee. And I want to invite you to breathe out twice as slow as if you’re blowing out a candle. Breathing in, in, in, and breathing twice as slow out, out, out. Just like that. I want to invite you to take three to five breaths on your own, feeling the slow rise of your body as you inhale and feeling the slow fall as your body exhales.

And with each breath, I want to invite you to notice maybe your belly as it fills with air, and your belly as it contracts, as you allow the air to come out and you push it out from your belly and your diaphragm. Two more breaths like that on your own. Over each breath, just feeling your body rise, over each breath feeling in your body fall. Just like that. Eyes still closed.

I want to invite you to start … We’re going to use the skill of mindful listening, and I want to invite you to notice sounds that are around you. It might be the obvious sound of my voice, but I want to invite you to start hunting for other sounds. Maybe there are obvious sounds that you have happening in your space or your office or wherever you might be right now. Just notice any obvious or gross sounds that are happening around you. I want to invite you to label those sounds in your mind. Sound, sound, sound. Just name it for yourself. Not labeling as good or bad, but just label it as a sound itself. Just like that.
I want to invite you to notice maybe a more subtle sound in your space. What is the quietest sound that you can hear and allow that to be what your mind focuses on for the next 30 seconds.

In a moment, you’re going to hear my bell, or you’re going to hear a bell, and I just want you to focus on the sound of the bell from start to finish. And when you can’t hear the bell anymore, I want to invite you to slowly open up your eyes.

Welcome back. Welcome back, friends. Thank you so much for practicing with us today. I do have a couple questions for you on here with the time that we have left, and I’ll just place that in the chat or allow you to answer in the chat. And if you could just answer one of these questions, that’d be wonderful. In the chat, friends, as we wrap up our time together, I’d love to hear either what was it like for you, what was easier to focus on, breath or sound, and just share anything else in the chat. Any of these questions that resonate for you, that’d be fantastic. We’d love to hear how this experience was for you.

Laura, while they’re doing this, any closing remarks or thoughts that you’d like to share as folks are sharing? I know we’re rubbing up against our time of 10:20.

Laura:

Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Angelo. Okay, wonderful. We really, really appreciate you being here with us and folks can please share in the chat.
As we wrap up, I just want to say, I know that Angelo … If you would like to learn more from Angelo or more about the Mindful Life Project, there are several different ways that you can get in touch with him. The QR code that you see on your screen will get you directly in touch with Angelo, and we also have some links to share in the chat so you can learn more about some of the resources that the Mindful Life Project can offer and how you can be connected with them. As I mentioned, this session today was hosted by our Stronger Connections Technical Assistance Center. You can learn more about other offerings that we have throughout the upcoming remainder of the school year that we’d love to share with you. And just really thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Angelo and Tim from Mindful Life Project for being with us this morning. Thank you to all of you who joined. We really appreciate you spending some time with us and we hope that this kind of helped you enter the rest of your week feeling a little bit calmer, a little bit more grounded, and we just hope you have a wonderful week and weeks ahead. Thank you so much, everyone, and have a great rest of your day.