Default to YES: From Regulation to Reinvention — For Nurses Ready for More

Time for a Mindfulness Break

• Juli Reynolds • Season 1 • Episode 39

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Share Your Tips and Take-aways with me!

A little different this week - let's practice Mindfulness.

Take a deep breath in, exhale slowly, and enjoy your day - as you go out an default to your extraordinary self! 

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Getting started with

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mindfulness, first of all, what is mindfulness? Mindfulness is just the basic human ability

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to be fully

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present, aware of where we are and

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what we're doing,

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and

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not overly reactive or overwhelmed

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by what's going on around us. It's a noticing and

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not judging. While mindfulness

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is something

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that we all naturally

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possess, It's more readily available to us when we practice it on a daily basis. Whenever you bring awareness to

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what you're directly experiencing through

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your senses or,

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when you,

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or your state of mind

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through your thoughts and emotions, you're being mindful.

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When you, when you bite into something, you

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taste it.

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You notice

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the taste when you notice the smells and

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the sights and the

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sounds.

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There's growing research that when you train your brain

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to be mindful that you're actually remodeling the physical structure

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of your brain. The goal of mindfulness is to wake up to the inner workings of

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our mental, emotional, and physical

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processes. When you practice this daily, I think you'll be

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really surprised at

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the things that you

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noticed that maybe didn't, no, you

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didn't notice before. Things that brought

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emotions and

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assumptions along with it that.

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And judgements

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that you can train your

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brain

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to stop judging and just

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notice.

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All right, what is meditation? So mindfulness and meditation are not really the same thing. Meditation is

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a tool

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that you can

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use to become more

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mindful. Meditation is exploring. It's

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not a fixed

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destination. Your head doesn't become a

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vacuum free of

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thought and. Utterly undistracted.

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It's a special place where

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each and

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every

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moment,

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Is noticed

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when we meditate,

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we venture into

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the workings of

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our minds,

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our sensations,

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air

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blowing on, or our skin

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or harsh smell wafting into the room. Our emotions

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love this, hate that, crave

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this, loath that

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and thoughts. Wouldn't it

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be weird to see an elephant playing a

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trumpet?

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Mindfulness meditation asks us to suspend judgment and unleash our natural curiosity about the workings

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of the mind, approaching our experiences with warmth

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and kindness

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to ourselves and others. Self-compassion can never

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be underestimated.

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How do you

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practice

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mindfulness and meditation?

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Mindfulness is

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available to us every moment, whether we're,

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whether through meditations and body

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scans or mindful moment practices like

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taking time to pause

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and breathe when the phone rings instead of rushing

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to answer it,

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or when you are moving

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from one situation to another before

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you

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enter

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a patient's room. These are all times to transition. Pause, take a deep breath

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and just

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center.

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mindfulness

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helps us put some space between and our reactions breaking of our

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conditioned responses how to tune into

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mindfulness throughout

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the day First

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Set aside some time You meditation cushion or a your mindfulness skills you do need to set aside

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some time

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and space

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and then second observe present moment as it

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is The aim of not quieting mind or

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attempting to achieve a state calm

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The

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is

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simple

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We're just pay

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attention to the present moment without judgment

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and that's

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easier than done I

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know

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Third your

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judgements roll by

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When we notice

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judgements

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arise during

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our practice can make a of them and just

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them pass

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And

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then fourth

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return to observing the

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present

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moment As it is

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in

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and

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that's why

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the practice of returning again and the moment And finally kind to your wandering

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mind Don't

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judge yourself for

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up

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Just practice recognizing when your mind wandered off and then gently

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bring it back

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That's practice it's and that easy

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The

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is it

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come.

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righty you to a mindfulness exercise with me. Before we get started, you may just want to, notice on the screen.

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Notice the

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colors and the motion. Imagine

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yourself sitting

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on that beach. Okay. So the,

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this is a

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mindfulness exercise that is designed to help

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you bring awareness to your breath,

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to slow

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down your body and mind I invite you to find a comfortable position,

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relax your body.

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Allow your eyes to gently close and just breathe normally. Notice

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as your body naturally begins to slow down

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in this moment, there is nothing for you to do,

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nowhere for you to

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be. There's only right

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here.

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This moment. Nothing to fix.

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Just breathe.

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Tune into your body and make any minor adjustments that you

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you need in order to feel comfortable. Relax your shoulders. Relax your eyebrows.

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Relax your jaw and just release

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any areas of tension. Relax the palm of your hands. Feel your

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body where it meets the ground beneath you.

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Now bring your awareness

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back to your breath and begin to slow your breathing.

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Take a long,

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deep breath in through your nose. And

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slowly exhale. Feel the coolness of

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air as you inhale and the

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warmth. As you

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exhale, let go

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of any expectations you might have.

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And if your mind wanders, just

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gently bring

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your

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awareness back to your

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breath. Now as you inhale through your nose, bring all that

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air all

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the way down into your belly and gently, slowly exhale.

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inhale, allowing that air to move your

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diaphragm, fill the

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rise of your abdomen, and then

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gently exhale.

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Let's do this a few more times.

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Now you'll begin to breathe even more deeply.

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Inhale through your nose, bringing all that air,

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all the way

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up into

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your chest,

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and then slowly exhale. Again, abdomen rise, chest rise all the way into your

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shoulders, and then

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slowly, gently, exhale. Notice how your body feels.

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Notice how calm, slow,

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and gentle

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your breathing is, how relaxed your

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body is.

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This quiet, this stillness always exists inside of

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you,

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and you can always come back

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this place simply by reconnecting with your breath.

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Now it's time to

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gently reawaken your body and

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mind. Keep

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your attention on your breath. Bring the world around

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you back into your

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awareness. Feel

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the ground beneath you, the air on your

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face. Begin to reconnect

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with your body by slowly

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wiggling

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your fingers

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and

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your toes. Gently shrug your

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shoulders.

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Slowly roll your head from side to side. And when you're

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ready, open your eyes.

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Now take one final

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deep breath in,

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Filling your lungs with that air. Move

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your abdomen,

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your

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chest, all the way

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into your shoulders, and

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exhale with a sigh.

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Okay. You can extend that mindfulness exercise by

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breathing more, more repetitions,

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or you can shorten it by just taking a few deep

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breaths

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and, just reconnecting with your breath even in the moment, you, this could

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take a minute,

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this could take 10 minutes.

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Really,

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it's up

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to

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you. Use it

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in the moments that you need it, however you need to use it. The point is, is to practice mindfulness

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daily to manage that mind so that, you'll begin to notice

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shifts over time in ways

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that

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you probably can't even imagine right now.

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now. All right, one more deep breath in and let it out and enjoy

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your day.