5 Steps To A More Mindful Day

mindfulness-hypnotherapy


Mindfulness is evermore accepted in the mainstream as an effective way to balance the mind and body. More and more organisations and businesses are recognising the benefits of training their employees in the art of mindful living. This acceptance isn't altogether altruistic because it has significant benefits for the organisation by making the employee more productive and efficient.

Here at The Cumbria hypnosis hypnotherapy and mindfulness clinic our entire philosophy when it comes to treating any kind of psychological imbalance is teaching our clients how to be mindful whether dealing with negative behaviours, feelings or emotions.

Learning to become more mindful at work especially in the office can create a more effortless experience of the working day.

When you learn to stop and become more mindful in all of your working activity you can step off the hamster wheel, create some space and allow your natural mental processes to flow rather than to come to a grinding halt, which is often associated with frustration and a growing sense of stress.

Step one - Learn to pause at work. Make this pause as purposeful as you possibly can. Before even coming to work choose to start the day in the right way by learning to breathe before even getting out of bed. Frame a purposeful and productive day simply by imagining it being the way you want it to be.

Step two - Make your daily commute to work one which is free from distraction. If you tend to listen to the radio or are constantly aware of your phone then switch both off and instead concentrate on mindful breathing so that you can arrive at your destination feeling clearer and more engaged. Learn more about exercising mindful driving here

Step three - if you tend to walk between meetings, once again switch off your phone so you are not distracted by emails or text messages. Get used to feeling your feet on the floor and the air entering your lungs. Take the opportunity to acknowledge colleagues as you pass them and smile.

Step four - As you find yourself sitting at your desk staring at your computer screen, turn your gaze away from your screen for a moment and focus on something else on your desk maybe even bring in an object which is symbolically significant to you and makes you smile. Now study this object without any great thought. As you stare allow your breathing to become more regulated and rhythmic. If you want to close your eyes just for a few moments then go ahead and do that. Try to recreate the object in your minds eye or in your imagination. Amplify it's quality by changing its brightness and clarity. Play a piece of music in your mind that you associate with this particular object and note is the effect it has on your body and mind. Now bring your awareness back into the moment open your eyes and continue doing whatever you were doing.

Step five - Use any break time during your day to get away from the office. If the weather is kind to you go outside sit on a bench and observe your environment. In effect give yourself a chance to switch off the background stress which naturally builds up without us even being aware. See background stress like the apps on your smartphone. After a while we forget to switch off numerous apps but they are still running in the background draining the battery. Mindfulness teaches you how to switch off the 'apps' and restore full power to the system.

If you find you cannot incorporate all five steps at once, then build up gradually by practising one skill each day until you master it.

Here is what Simon from Kendal said about his experience with his mindfulness training.

"I have a highly pressured role, I had heard about mindfulness on the radio but had never quite understood what it meant. As far as I was concerned it was some new-age fad which only hippies would pursue. I couldn't be more wrong. Thanks to the training David taught me I was able to establish a framework which has allowed me to feel far more in control, happier and balanced."

Please take a look at other blog posts under this particular category for more information.

Be mindful and have a peaceful day.

David Faratian




Exercising Mindfulness While Driving

driving-mindfulness-cumbria

So why would you choose to practice mindfulness while driving?

There are numerous reasons why being mindful while driving can be incredibly beneficial to a daily commuter. First of all through being more 'present' while driving and not having your mind elsewhere you can better learn to enhance your focus rather than reduce it. Many road accidents tend to result from people driving without due care and attention because, for one reason or another, their minds are more focused on the day ahead rather than the road ahead. Apart from making driving safer, mindful driving can also ease the stress associated with commuting so that you can arrive at your destination more energised, refreshed and focused, rather than frustrated, irritable and unproductive.

Let's try a short exercise. Next time you are driving try switching off your phone, or at least make sure its silent or placed where it can't distract you. Avoid eating and just for this exercise, as a kind of experiment, switch off any background music or radio so that you can give your full attention to the exercise. Now as a first step, give your full attention to what's going on around you. Notice everything from the cars, trucks, bikes in front to any you can see with the use of your side and rear view mirrors. Notice your speed, if you know intuitively that you are going faster than the limit try slowing down. Remember this is just an experiment to teach your subconscious more mindful living. With me still? Great let's continue….

Back to driving within the speed limit. Too often we are in a hurry to get somewhere even though it's only an illusion born out of our 'go go go' society. You are more likely to reduce stress by driving slower if you know as a rule you may not always honour the code. Moreover you will also be setting a good example to all drivers. Just making this very small change can help you switch out of the normal habitual state of mind, which for most people is part of the subconscious norm which is responsible for more stress in life than we actually need. Next instead of focusing on your radio or background music which actually can make you more mindless than mindful, focus more on your breathing as you drive. Take a deep breath in through your nose and as you exhale, breathe slowly out through your mouth while paying attention to how calm that out breath makes your entire body feel. Repeat this over and over and as with any new habit you will begin to realise that not only is your mind feeling more clear but you are more readily able to concentrate on your driving almost without effort. Instead of getting lost in trains of thought, you can feel more present and aware. At first your mind may try to wander, so simply keep bringing your attention back to your breathing each and every time this happens until it becomes trained to 'behave'.

While driving and as you keep the majority of your attention on your driving, turn a percentage toward your bodily sensations. Scan for any tension and release that tension if you can. Be aware of any feelings of ligament or muscle tension in your head, shoulders, neck, back, torso, hips, legs, calves and feet and simply choose to let those areas go limp loose and relaxed. If you can't then just be aware of whatever comes and accept that awareness. This is what we refer to as mindfulness. Next you can open your attention to your surroundings again. If you approach a red light, try to slow down and see the red light as an opportunity to pause rather than something you should resist. The red light is there to remind you to pause. While you pause take some more mindful breaths maybe focus on the colour of the sky or shape of the clouds or if you are in the UK more likely listen to sound of the rain. With practice you can end up looking forward to the red light instead of dreading it, seeing it as a chance to breathe and refocus.

Even traffic jams can become a mindful experience. Realising that the traffic is already there you can learn through mindfulness to accept not resist. Fighting the traffic, constantly trying to win the lane battle, ultimately makes no difference. Instead let your mindful attitude encourage smiling and again just focusing on the breaths. Use this time to glance at other drivers and mentally wish them well. This may sound an unsual practice, but as you do this you will notice your attitude automatically becoming more friendly toward other drivers. Even when someone cuts you up while driving use the same technique to wish them well and hope they will be happy. You will find that swearing at people or feeling angry has only one outcome to enhance your overall stress and it's too late anyway so just let it go and return your thoughts to your breathing.

Mindfulness can help the journey be far more enjoyable and can make the entire experience on average sixty to eighty percent safer and more focused. As you drive in this mindful way, feeling more present, value your driving and arrive at your destination in a far more positive and balanced frame of mind.

Here at the Cumbria Hypnosis Mindfulness clinic we teach several strategies as well as mindfulness to anyone wishing to overcome any limiting belief, behaviour or emotion. If you would like to learn more then please click here


Wishing you a balanced and positive day

David Faratian (NLP Practitioner and Clinical Hypnotherapist)


Anger in the workplace

angry-woman

Recently one of my male clients who we will refer to as Graham from Windermere in Cumbria approached the Cumbria hypnosis habit change clinic for help with his anger. Anger management refers to the techniques that people can use to control their feelings of extreme emotion and how they use these techniques to avoid situations which can trigger anger in certain situations and with certain people.

Unfortunately for Graham he was being challenged by his frustration around the behaviour of some of his work colleagues. The problem with anger management in the workplace is that negative behaviours can very quickly threaten not only important relationships but also can threaten the very livelihood of the person suffering with the anger issues. Generally speaking, problems with anger in the workplace are dealt with directly through the employer by sending the individual concerned to an anger management class. Through these classes, and with most anger management therapy, the individual is trained how to identify the triggers, and at the same time given strategies to neutralise the trigger. Indeed hypnotherapy and the coaching that we offer here at the cumbria hypnosis clinic can successfully teach an individual how to deal with these unproductive feelings, and to control the reactions at a subconscious level which can lead to more healthy responses rather than reactions. With the exclusive methods which we teach here at the clinic you are taught to rid yourself of the in a cause of unwanted anger. This method is powerful and the complete system and can be used to get the most successful outcome out of any situation involving anger. Hypnosis and hypnotherapy can give the tools necessary so that you can express your emotions in a healthier and safer way thereby avoiding unnecessary conflict and damaging outcomes whether in personal relationships, in work scenarios, or simply in terms of the self inflicted stress that anger can cause.

Since treatment, Graham has felt empowered so that his anger no longer feels like an automatic response over which he has no control. In his own words;

“At times all I could see was red and from that point onwards anything could happen. It really scared me. David has told me how there is no point resisting the emotion and through his strategies I have learnt to bring the emotion immediately under my control before it has chance to take over. What’s great about this therapy is that I don’t need to really try to calm down now it’s just the way I am. Since seeing David I am sleeping better and feel I have far more energy to channel into my life.”

With our clinic helping people across Cumbria, including Windermere with flexible appointment hours, this service may have and answer to your problem with anger. Follow this link for more information about the service OR click here to request your
free 20 minute consultation.