March 4, 2018

Mindfulness 101

Mindfulness 101
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Mindfulness 101
Mindfulness 101
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Season 2 Mindfulness & Acceptance Positive Psychology

Mindfulness has become a buzzword these days but how do you sort fact from fiction and where do you start with being more mindful? Cass has been teaching mindfulness meditation for many years and Tiff is just learning to meditate so in this episode, Cass answers all the questions Tiff has about how to deal with her wandering mind, what the proven benefits are of meditation and exactly how to get started with a meditation practice.Connect with Cass:www.crappytohappypod.comhello@crappytohappypod.com 
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Transcript
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A listener production.

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You're listening to Crappy to Happy with Tip and Cass.

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Last episode we're talking about positive thinking and I'm already

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feeling much more positive. I hope you are too. Listener.

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Today we're talking mindfulness one oh one, the benefits of

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mindfulness and meditation, Cass. Mindfulness is such a buzzword, it's

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everywhere now mindfulness diaries mindfulness that mcmindfulness, Yes, mcmindfulness everywhere.

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So can you break down what exactly is mindfulness? Yes?

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The definition that's most commonly used to describe what mindfulness

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is comes from John Kapertsin, who was a guy who

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responds for first bringing mindfulness to the West from Buddhists,

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from its Buddhist origins. He brought it into Western medicine

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back in the late seventies early eighties, and his definition

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was that it is a way of paying attention on

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purpose in the present moment, non judgmentally, so without judgment so,

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which is a very complicated way of saying.

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I think it's.

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Simply being aware of what's happening as it's happening. And

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I always say this is about being aware of what's

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happening around you. And also what is arising within you

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in response to that, your thoughts, your feelings, your body

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sensations without judgment. So in a way, it's really this

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turning off this autopilot and becoming more present. So when

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you're more present to what's happening outside of you and

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what's going on inside of you, you take back the

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power I guess to make a conscious choice about how

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you respond in that moment instead of what we normally do,

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which was we react very habitually emotionally. You know, we

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get caught up in our own bear these stories in

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our mind, and we pretty much live on autopilot. We

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do everything without really thinking. Much of what we do

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is mindless. So mindfulness is just trying to, I guess,

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turn on our attention a little bit so that we

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have more power to choose and to manage our thoughts,

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manage our feelings, manage how we react, be more present,

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be more attentive, etc.

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It seems so simple when you say it, cas what

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mindfulness actually is. So can you take us through what

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are the benefits? Why do this?

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Yeah, so this is the reason why everybody wants to

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be more mindfulness, Because there's loads of stuff out there

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now talking about why it's good for you, and it

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goes beyond just you know, being more present. We all

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know that that's good if you're at work or if

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you with your partner, you know, you should be more present.

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That makes sense.

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But the science now, there's lots of stuff that's come

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out saying that mindfulness and meditation, for example, can reduce

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This is proven actually can reduce your experience of depression, anxiety,

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help you manage stress. There's evidence that it reduces your

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blood pressure, that it boosts your immune functioning, that it

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reduces your experience of pain for people with chronic pain.

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So physiologically, physically, and mentally, there's a whole lot of

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benefits to mindfulness. So I guess there's all of this

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stuff out there and in the media. You'll read articles

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and in the mainstream media about the benefits of mindfulness,

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and it's almost like it has become this panacea, like

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it is the solution to all of the world's problems,

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that everybody just needs to be more mindful and so

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and everybody in our instant gratification world, everybody wants the

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quick mindfulness. You know, how can I get this mindfulness stuff?

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You know, in you know, less than five minutes.

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Yes.

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And my first when I was first learning from you

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how to do it, I thought you had to be

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sitting down and sort of in a meditative pose, and

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carve out half an hour where you could just sit

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in a room. The space issue, yes, and.

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I thought I haven't got time for that gas No,

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And a lot of people don't have time for that.

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Because I think it's worth pointing out that there is

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a difference between mindfulness and meditation. Meditation is absolutely the

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formal practice of mindfulness.

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It is when you make the deliberate effort to sit.

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It doesn't have to be on the floor, and it

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doesn't have to be cross leg and it can be

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up in your bed, on the sofa, it can be

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in your chair at work anywhere that you can see,

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or it can be standing, or it can be lying down.

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And it is when you deliberately choose to focus your

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attention on, for example, your breath or your body physical sensations.

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You choose an object and you spend a period of time,

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whether it's ten minutes or twenty or thirty minutes or

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even just five minutes, and quiet in your mind and

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deliberately choose an object to focus your attention on. Most

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commonly people use the breath, But if you imagine fundamentally meditation,

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sitting bringing your awareness to the sensation of breathing and

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then just staying with that, and every time your mind wanders,

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you bring it back.

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So that's meditation.

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But there's also informal mindfulness, which is where you just

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take opportunities throughout your day to be more present. If

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you're eating, you can actually focus on the sites and

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the smells and the taste and the texture of coughing exactly.

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Mostly we only taste the first mouthful of food and

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then wear off in our heads and we're not even

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aware that we're eating. When you're driving the car, you

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can actually drive and focus on the feeling of the

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steering wheel in your hand, and what you can see

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around you, and the feel of the air on your skin.

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It's bringing your awareness into the present moment instead of

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those times when when you normally your mind would be

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racing an off and somewhere else. So there's lots of

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ways that you can bring mindfulness into your everyday experiences,

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and we call that everyday mindfulness or informal mindfulness versus

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formal practice.

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Which is this actual meditation can start with the mindfulness.

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That's a great start, isn't it.

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I would say that is a great start, and that

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really that's what you want as your goal. But you

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practice meditation to build the skill to be able to

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take that skill throughout your day. When people start talking

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about bringing being more mindful, yeah, great, be more mindful,

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be more aware of and in the present moment, hop

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out of your busy head and bring your focus back

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into just what's.

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In front of you, what you're doing.

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When you start talking about wanting to repull of these benefits,

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and we'll get into I'd love to tell you about

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the benefits that are proven. Then you need to actually

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be spending some time in meditation.

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Like with anything you have, you have to train in

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it a little bit.

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Yeah, it's a training and muscle. It's training going to

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be attentional muscle, and it's training your brain. And you

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can't expect to do that with the shortcuts. And they're great,

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they're helpful. It's like taking the stairs instead of the lift,

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But you want to do more than that if you

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want to get the real benefits from it.

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That makes sense, I guess. So can you talk us

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through some of.

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The benefits recently, some of the prominent researchers in this area.

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You would have heard of Daniel Goleman. He wrote the

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Emotional intelligence books. So he's been a meditator for a

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long long time. He's mates with John Cappertsin and he's

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mates with all of those people who've been in the

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meditation mindfulness arena for the last thirty forty years, probably

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fifty years now. Showing my age, I always think like

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the nineteen eighties is twenty years ago.

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No, yes, it's amazing.

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So and Richie Davidson one of his good mates who

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is a neuroscientist, so he's responsible for a lot of

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the brain imaging studies that are showing the brain benefits

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of mindfulness now. So together the two of them, So

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these guys have been actually doing the research for a

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long long time and they've now come together and they've

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written a book which is where they've gone through and

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actually ripped all of the research apart and really said, well,

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how much of this actually holds up to proper validity,

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proper scientific rigor. So they found that the blood pressure one,

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well actually that's a bit flimsy, yes, And they've found

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that you know, some of the stuff that's been dated

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has perhaps been overstated, Okay, but what they have found so.

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There is still lots of really good stuff.

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So what they have found is that people who meditate

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do definitely recover faster from stress and stressful events. Okay,

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So in terms of stress, are amigdala a fighter flight

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center like goes off.

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People who experience chronic stress, which a lot of people do,

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they do have enlarged a migdala.

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Migdala is actually enlarged, and there is a reduce I'm

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going to get into brain science a bit, but there

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is a reduced connection between the prefrontal cortex. So that's

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the part of your brain behind you in your forehead,

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right behind you up here, that's the part of your

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brain that puts the brakes on the stress response.

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Yes, that's like the one that calms you down.

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And so meditation strengthens the connection between that part of

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the brain and the amygdala, which is the stress part

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of your brain, so you calm down quicker.

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Wow, it's amazing. Yeah, it's amazing.

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So people who are chronically stressed, they have a weakened connection,

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so they tend to be jacked up with the fight

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or flight with a diminished capacity to calm down. So

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meditation strengthens that connection and actually reduces that activity in

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the amygdal which is really really interesting. The thing about

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pain zen meditators they have found have a pain threshold

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that is for heat, for temperature, like when exposed to

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they do they test people's pain thresholds, but bring this

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burning plates on that which doesn't actually burn them, but

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it's designed to monitor the body's pain response. They have

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a pain threshold two degrees centigrade higher. Wow, which doesn't

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sound like much, but it's amazing when it comes to

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pain that two degrees higher. So people's response to pain.

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What it does is they still feel the pain. But

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this is the thing with mindfulness, is the thoughts and

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the feelings, the oh this hurts, I have to get

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out of here, this is awful, which is our normal.

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Thought feeling reaction that calms down.

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So the body they experience the sensory part of the pain,

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but they don't have the same emotional reaction and the

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same automatic phenomenal rejection.

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Yeah.

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So that speaks a lot to just our capacity to

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handle pain and discomfort and stress and all sorts of

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things that we perceive as difficult.

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Yeah, and I've heard I don't know if this is

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a myth or not, that meditation can make your brain bigger.

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Oh yeah, yeah.

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So again this is one that they say, well, let's

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you know, really unpack this and see if this holds up.

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And they did a big meta analysis or metera analysis

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where they get all the studies in and they review everything.

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So famously, this article came out in all the science

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magazines and everywhere saying that mindfulness meditation increases the gray

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matter and your brain thickens the gray matter in your brain,

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and all these different areas to do with different capacities

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and functions, but also that the brains of fifty year

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old meditators were like physically young, so our brains atrify

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they shrink with age, so brains of meditators are larger

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than brains of non meditators. Essentially, like the brains of

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fifty year olds were on average seven and a half

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years younger than what a fifty.

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Year old brain would normally wow look like.

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But that's come under review because they're saying, well, that's

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well and good. But these this meta analysis they threw

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in there all different types of meditation, all different types

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of meditators, like, they couldn't pull apart, well, how long

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had they been meditating? What kind of meditation? For?

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How many hours?

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You know?

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Yes, so it's very hard to narrow that down.

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So yes, there are definitely brain benefits, yes, but we're

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still not really clear about exactly what how long do

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you need to be doing to have those benefits? I

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understand certainly as.

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A general rule, i'd say get meditating, because.

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You get meditating, and you just mentioned there are different

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types of meditation. What are the different types? What sort

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of meditation should people start with?

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Well, I'm trained in mindfulness meditation, which is what I said.

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It's just being aware of what's happening as it's happening.

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So that's otherwise known as insight meditation. For passion and meditation,

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that's all sort of the same tradition. Okay, So zen

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meditation is another kind of meditation.

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I'm not really familiar.

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I know a lot of people who do mindfulness also

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have done zen. It seems to be a lot more hardcore.

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Okay, we'll do.

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Pretty hard Okay.

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Transcendental meditation also has evidence, so that's where you do

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twenty minutes twice a day and you focus on a mantra,

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so whereas mindfulness you focus on your breath or sounds

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or physical sensations. Key to transcendental meditation or TM, which

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easier to say, is the mantra and it's this defined

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twenty minute kind of period.

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And then there's more sort.

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Of spiritual people, you know, do more higher self you know,

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connection type of meditations, spiritual traditions. But so in terms

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of what is really researched in our western science and

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a Western psychology, then mindfulness is.

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Okay, is probably the main one.

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Well, thus where I've started, yeah, with my husband, and

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we've tried really hard since meeting you, and you came

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into our lives with mindfulness meditation and setting aside time

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where we end up sort of doing it together because

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the baby's you know, asleep or you know, it just

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works out that way. So I emailed you a couple

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of weeks ago, Gas, and I said, Gas, we've been

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doing our mindfulness meditation but driving us crazy. We don't

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know if we're getting better at it. We don't know

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if we're improving. We don't know how do we get

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better at this? Like this is me wanting my gold.

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Bettle in Classic Star Driving.

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Yeah, striving and ed and I We're over it. All

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we do is we sit there and we get distracted,

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we bring our thoughts back to our breath. But how

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do we get better? Is it about time like going

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from ten minutes to fifteen minutes? Or is it how

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can we get better? And you wrote back to me,

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and I've got your email here. You said, the important

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part of this TIF is the non judgment tool, part

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of mindfulness. You're judging yourself.

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Yes, I'm not doing it right, I'm not yet good.

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So the very fact that I was asking you how

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to get better is the wrong question. It's like not even.

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But common, right, because that's it. That's the world we

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live in.

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We live in where we're rewarded for effort, and we

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want to see evidence of our progress.

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We want to know we're doing it wrong.

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You just do it, cash, You just do it. You

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don't get better at it. You know you're not bad

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at it. You just have to do it. Is that right? Yeah?

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Pretty much? That? Yeah.

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The striving thing is the trickiest part because I just

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told you some of not even all of, but I

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just told you some of the benefits of mindfulness, meditation.

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So naturally people go, okay, great, well I want some

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of these benefits, so I'm going to go and do

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this thing. So we're doing this thing to get this result.

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And then when you start doing it, the teacher says,

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forget result, just forget reward, just doing the practice, just

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do it for the sake of doing it. And you go, well,

295
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but I go to be but there's got to be a.

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Reason otherwise why would I bother to be doing it? So, yes,

297
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it's kind of paradox.

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I do understand it because in my taekwondo practice in

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martial arts, there's two sides of it. It's a sport

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in the Olympics, and you can do it that side

301
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of it, or it is a practice, and taekwondo means

302
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tay foot kwan foot fist arts taekwondo, and the art

303
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part is the practice. You just do it. There's no

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striving there, you just as part of your day. So

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I was like, oh, it's sort of like taekwondo. It's

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the dough part. But you know, I struggle with that

307
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even in taekwondo more about the sport part. So it's

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been really hard for me to just sit back and

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to just do it. And Ed say, how did you go?

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I don't know, because if you go, I don't know,

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like and we're emailing you saying.

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There's no how did you There's no good or bad meditation.

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That's right, there is no such thing.

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So if your mind wanders, because Ed saying my mind

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keeps wandering, I.

316
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Can't because he's got a normal human mind.

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Yeah, so he's like, I'm failing. I said no. The

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point is that your mind does wander, and you bring

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it back. It's meant to.

320
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That's what your mind does.

321
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Your mind secretes thoughts the way your stomach secretes digestive

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enzymes like that is what your mind's job is to

323
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do is to secrete thoughts. So that's a good way

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of thinking about it. You can't stop that from happening.

325
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So with mindfulness, what you're aiming to do is to

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be able to notice that a thought has come up,

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which it will inevitably no judgment.

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Remember, yes, it's not oh crap, there's another thought. I'm

329
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so bad at this.

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This is the other thing is, so you notice that

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a thought has come and as soon as you notice it,

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let it go.

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Come back to the breath, or whatever it is you're

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focusing on.

335
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And in fact, that's the point where you could congratulate

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yourself if you chose to, for being mindful, because the

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very fact that you've noticed you were thinking is being mindful.

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So the aim is to not to think like you

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shouldn't have just a blank na your mind.

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You'd be dead if you did.

341
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Yeah, like right, yeah, So you're not looking at just

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blank getting rid of thoughts, so you notice them and you.

343
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Can come back.

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You notice, and you come back, and sometimes you have to.

345
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Sometimes you have to come back eight hundred thousand times.

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Like that's what it feels like. It feels like you

347
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barely get too breadth.

348
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One thought can get stuck.

349
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That's okay, one thought, and we know how thoughts work.

350
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One thought leads to another thought, leads to another thought.

351
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Before you know it, you've gone down this whole thought

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path and maybe you've been two minutes off in thinking

353
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before you realize.

354
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But that's okay.

355
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Then you just say, oh, there I go again, and

356
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you just unhook is the word that I like, unhooked

357
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from that thinking, Bring that down and come back to

358
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the breath again.

359
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There'll be other days when maybe you're.

360
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Feeling really calm, and maybe your mind's not as busy

361
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and maybe it is a little bit quieter, but it

362
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doesn't mean to say that that was a good meditation.

363
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And then now the days of bad meditation. It's just

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all meditation, okay.

365
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And so if you're doing it cash and you start

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thinking about things you have to do and you bring

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your mind back, but that thing that you have to

368
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do just won't leave you, and you stop and you

369
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write it down? Is that bad?

370
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Is that bad?

371
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Listen to you with the judgmental language, but like you

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shouldn't stop the meditation to like, shouldn't write something down

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or get it out of your head? Or I would

374
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say what do you look? Some people say, look, I

375
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just have to write it down and then I can

376
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come back.

377
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Yeah, so me.

378
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So what you're observing in that is when I have

379
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a thought, I worry, right, then it creates what a feeling,

380
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and that creates an urge.

381
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This is the loop.

382
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A thought creates a feeling, That feeling prompts an urge

383
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to act, and that's what we do all day long.

384
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So what we're aiming to do with mindfulness as we

385
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sit on that couch is to notice I've had the thought,

386
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notice that I've had a feeling that I'm feeling a

387
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bit anxious. I'm thinking worried, I'm going to forget that thing,

388
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and I have the strong urge to write that down

389
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so that I can get it off my mind, same

390
00:18:55.400 --> 00:18:57.240
as I might have a strong urge to go and

391
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press the start button on that washing machine because I

392
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forgot to do it, or to you know, to turn

393
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my phone on silence because.

394
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I forgot to do that.

395
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We have all of these urges to do things, and

396
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what we want to do with mindfulness is to be

397
00:19:08.839 --> 00:19:11.759
able to notice that urge, but not react to it,

398
00:19:12.119 --> 00:19:15.359
not give in to it, to just stay put. And

399
00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:18.559
it's hard sometimes, but that's the practice. That's what it's

400
00:19:18.599 --> 00:19:20.960
called a practice. You sit and you notice all of

401
00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:23.960
these urges. And I always say to people, what happens

402
00:19:23.960 --> 00:19:26.359
on that meditation cushion If you're sitting on a cushion,

403
00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:27.759
I have a cushion. You might be on the couch.

404
00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:31.400
Other what happens on the meditation cushion is a metaphor

405
00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:36.200
for life, because in your life, all day long, you

406
00:19:36.279 --> 00:19:39.680
are driven by thoughts and feelings and urges to react,

407
00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:43.640
but you're practicing this skill in meditation of noticing that

408
00:19:43.799 --> 00:19:46.039
urge and not having to give in to it comfortable

409
00:19:46.440 --> 00:19:50.160
so uncomfortable, tolerating the discomfort and letting it go and

410
00:19:50.200 --> 00:19:53.119
coming back to the breath again. And it's like you

411
00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:57.200
know from experience, that's hard, that's a skill, but it

412
00:19:57.359 --> 00:19:59.960
is such an important skill. So you go into life

413
00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:02.000
and you notice that you have a thought and you

414
00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:06.160
have a feeling normally what's happening, you're just reacting, reacting, reacting, reacting.

415
00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:09.079
And then it can cycle into if you're just reacting

416
00:20:09.079 --> 00:20:12.759
to those urges during the mindfulness meditation, then in life

417
00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:15.039
you can just be saying yes everything. You're not saying no,

418
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you're not carving out self care.

419
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You wouldn't known any about that, tifoot, you know nothing about.

420
00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:24.000
Because that's what I'm working on with Castan is learning

421
00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:27.359
to say no and trying to manage that urge of

422
00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:30.519
like being there for everyone and giving everything and you know,

423
00:20:30.680 --> 00:20:32.359
actually having to give to yourself too.

424
00:20:32.599 --> 00:20:33.359
Yeah, exactly.

425
00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:36.039
And I just say it's if you can, if you

426
00:20:36.039 --> 00:20:37.880
can manage, and it can. It doesn't have to be

427
00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:40.519
twenty thirty minutes an hour like back in the day

428
00:20:40.839 --> 00:20:42.400
that it used to be that, you know, you'd have

429
00:20:42.440 --> 00:20:44.400
to sit for forty five minutes. These days were saying,

430
00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:46.279
you know, if you can start with five, go to fifteen,

431
00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:47.079
twenty minutes.

432
00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:47.400
Great.

433
00:20:48.279 --> 00:20:51.440
But everything that you notice, you learn a lot about yourself.

434
00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:54.720
You learn a lot about your habitual ways of thinking

435
00:20:54.920 --> 00:20:55.640
and reacting.

436
00:20:56.240 --> 00:20:57.559
And that's in.

437
00:20:57.519 --> 00:20:59.359
Value, the most important work you can do.

438
00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:03.240
Yeah, And the other thing is that you're training your brain.

439
00:21:03.880 --> 00:21:06.359
Your brain is being hijacked. There's parts of your brain

440
00:21:06.359 --> 00:21:08.319
that light up when you have that urge to write

441
00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:09.680
that thing down or to go and do that thing.

442
00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:12.319
Parts of your brain are lighting up, and you're training

443
00:21:12.359 --> 00:21:17.359
it to come back to breathing. And that's rewiring your brain.

444
00:21:17.559 --> 00:21:20.279
So it's not just teaching you the behavioral skill. It's

445
00:21:20.279 --> 00:21:25.440
actually changing you neuro biologically, like it's changing the structure

446
00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:27.880
and the function of your brain. And it's you know,

447
00:21:28.119 --> 00:21:32.720
so over time, over eight weeks, sometimes as little as

448
00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:35.200
ten minutes. Actually, there's some studies that have shown ten

449
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minutes is enough to reduce mind wandering.

450
00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:38.920
And in fact, can I tell you.

451
00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:40.279
This just what I think of it, please?

452
00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:43.559
There was one study where they taught people, high school

453
00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:45.559
students actually ten minutes of meditation.

454
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Slowed down their mind wandering.

455
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We all know how bad we are with mind wandering

456
00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:54.160
and multitasking, So this is another way that we're training

457
00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:56.680
our brains to sustain attention and focus.

458
00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:58.640
Then what they did with those students is they gave

459
00:21:58.680 --> 00:21:59.200
them ten.

460
00:21:59.079 --> 00:22:01.799
Hours of practice for two weeks, so you know, thirty

461
00:22:01.799 --> 00:22:04.720
minutes a day for example. And they found that not

462
00:22:04.759 --> 00:22:08.440
only did it strengthen their attention and improve their working memory,

463
00:22:08.440 --> 00:22:10.599
which is something they weren't even looking for, and it

464
00:22:10.759 --> 00:22:14.720
increased their GRE scores which is their graduate entry schorores

465
00:22:14.759 --> 00:22:18.559
for university, by thirty percent. Oh, they improved their scores

466
00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:19.920
by thirty percent after two weeks.

467
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:22.640
Phenomenal of learning mindfulness meditation.

468
00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:25.079
See, I wish I had have learned this when I

469
00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:28.680
was doing my VCE and my final year at school.

470
00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:31.480
Even didn't you get like at the top, Yeah, I did,

471
00:22:31.559 --> 00:22:33.720
But imagine imagine what you couldn't.

472
00:22:33.400 --> 00:22:37.400
Imagine what I could have done. But university was very difficult.

473
00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:41.200
It was very hard, and I wish I had known

474
00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:44.279
about me to meditation to get me through my studies

475
00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:45.519
and through my exams.

476
00:22:45.559 --> 00:22:47.720
Me too, I'm just dying to get into my daughter's

477
00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:49.880
high school she's just started high school and teach it

478
00:22:49.960 --> 00:22:50.720
to everybody.

479
00:22:50.839 --> 00:22:53.440
Yeah, for students, it should be something. And I know

480
00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:56.559
with my brother when he recently did his exams, he

481
00:22:56.680 --> 00:22:59.519
was so stressed now and I was saying, try some

482
00:23:00.039 --> 00:23:03.279
mindfulness meditation. He was listening to classical music whilst he's

483
00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:06.200
studying and trying different things, but it was just so

484
00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:08.559
unknown to him. Yeah, so foreign.

485
00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:10.279
Yeah, and it is I think for a lot of

486
00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:13.000
people it is. But so yeah, So that's what we're

487
00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:16.519
doing with the meditation practice, and then of course there's

488
00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:19.559
all of these benefits in that filter out into our lives.

489
00:23:19.559 --> 00:23:21.359
We're going to take a quick break and when we

490
00:23:21.400 --> 00:23:24.480
come back, we'll talk about more benefits for mindfulness meditation

491
00:23:25.079 --> 00:23:31.559
and some easy steps to get started. Welcome back to

492
00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:36.359
Crappy to Happy. We're talking mindfulness and meditation, Cass. I

493
00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:39.359
can't get enough of these benefits. Do you have any others?

494
00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:42.519
There are lots of other benefits to meditation, And one

495
00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:45.279
of the ones that I find so interesting is the

496
00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:50.359
effect on your DNA actually, so it actually can change

497
00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:55.640
the genes in your body. So, for example, one study

498
00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:59.880
founded after three days, people who meditated experienced a decrease

499
00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:03.480
in the molecules associated with inflammation in the body. So

500
00:24:03.559 --> 00:24:06.119
basically it reduces inflammation in the body. If you think

501
00:24:06.119 --> 00:24:09.039
about the role that inflammation has in so many diseases.

502
00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:12.839
Gutszes and everything, weight loss.

503
00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:16.559
And so and after only if with experienced meditators, So

504
00:24:16.599 --> 00:24:19.440
people who had a long term practice, after only one day,

505
00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:21.799
they noticed a down regulation in the genes or so.

506
00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:22.960
One day one day.

507
00:24:23.400 --> 00:24:26.880
Yeah, So the people who have the longest meditation practice,

508
00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:30.279
they tend to when they go into an intense meditation,

509
00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:33.400
it's like their body and their brain just reacts, just

510
00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:36.000
switches on. They just know what's going on, and so

511
00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:41.119
they experience very quick and very profound changes in the

512
00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:44.319
activity in their brain and in the expression of you know,

513
00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:48.319
the genes in their body. So teleomerase is the It's

514
00:24:48.359 --> 00:24:50.480
an enzyme at the end of your DNA strands. Now

515
00:24:50.519 --> 00:24:54.000
I'm no biologists, so just bear with me on this,

516
00:24:54.440 --> 00:24:58.039
But essentially it protects the telomeres, which are the caps

517
00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:00.640
at the end of your DNA strands, and the tello

518
00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:06.000
me is shortened with illness and aging. Okay, so people

519
00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:09.519
who meditate show an increase in the telomerase, so they

520
00:25:10.119 --> 00:25:13.640
tell me, is stay longer for longer. So it actually

521
00:25:13.960 --> 00:25:17.279
essentially it doesn't reverse the aging process, but it definitely

522
00:25:17.319 --> 00:25:19.400
slows down cellular aging.

523
00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:20.079
Wow.

524
00:25:20.680 --> 00:25:25.039
So again you think about the diseases that come with age,

525
00:25:25.480 --> 00:25:28.039
as those tell me is shortened with age and with stress,

526
00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:31.319
and we start experiencing all of these illnesses, we can.

527
00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:32.440
Actually hold that off.

528
00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:36.839
Long term meditation actually can can slow down that process.

529
00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:40.599
That is amazing and that is the most important thing.

530
00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:43.440
Isn't it I want to talk about. Yeah, well it is.

531
00:25:43.799 --> 00:25:44.079
It is.

532
00:25:44.119 --> 00:25:46.119
I mean, there's there's changes to your mood, and there's

533
00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:49.240
changes to your attention and your focus and decision making

534
00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:50.920
and improve the quality of the relationships.

535
00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:54.200
But this is like it's making young in your genes.

536
00:25:53.880 --> 00:25:56.359
In terms of yeah, well not younger as in younger,

537
00:25:56.359 --> 00:25:58.119
but younger as inoclock though.

538
00:25:58.200 --> 00:25:59.160
Yeah. Yeah.

539
00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:02.200
I did read one study and I don't know if

540
00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:03.640
this has ever been published or if it was in

541
00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:06.240
the pre stage of being published, but I heard the

542
00:26:06.279 --> 00:26:10.319
author speak and she was saying that the Loving Kindness meditation,

543
00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:13.759
which is a very particular meditation which focuses on cultivating

544
00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:18.519
love and kindness. Clearly it's a Buddhist practice, that she

545
00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:23.680
found that it actually switched off the genetic expression of

546
00:26:23.880 --> 00:26:26.240
certain diseases. So for example, you can have genes you

547
00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:30.039
can have in your DNA a predisposition to cancer or diabetes.

548
00:26:30.119 --> 00:26:31.079
That's whether they switch on.

549
00:26:31.160 --> 00:26:34.160
So whether they switch on and its environmental facts often

550
00:26:34.200 --> 00:26:38.640
that will switch on the DNA which decides whether you

551
00:26:38.680 --> 00:26:42.240
get the illness or not. And loving kindness meditation was

552
00:26:42.599 --> 00:26:46.920
being shown to switch off to reduce the possibility of

553
00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:49.160
that that disease would be expressed.

554
00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:53.359
It's incredible, it's amazing, so awesome because one of the

555
00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:57.000
things that I think so important from going from crappy

556
00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:00.680
to happy is about you know, looking after your self,

557
00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:03.480
self care and at the end of the day, reversing

558
00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:07.960
your biological age, which is different to your chronological age.

559
00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:10.400
So I'm thirty four years old, but I'm hoping that

560
00:27:10.680 --> 00:27:13.599
due to good lifestyle choices like I don't smoke, I

561
00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:19.039
don't drink, I eat well, I exercise, I meditate, that

562
00:27:19.160 --> 00:27:22.000
it shaves off years off your life. And last time

563
00:27:22.039 --> 00:27:24.240
I did my bioage it was in my twenties, fig,

564
00:27:24.519 --> 00:27:28.079
So you know, that's very important. And I think a

565
00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:32.720
lot of people do address the diet, the exercise, but

566
00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:36.680
a huge hole is looking after your mental health and

567
00:27:37.240 --> 00:27:41.079
meditation to reverse that biological age and your genes.

568
00:27:41.119 --> 00:27:42.119
Meditation and sleep.

569
00:27:42.359 --> 00:27:46.160
Yes, sleep, And that brings me back to something I

570
00:27:46.200 --> 00:27:49.240
was going to say before. With the mindfulness meditation, it

571
00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:50.960
can improve your sleep, can't it?

572
00:27:51.160 --> 00:27:51.400
Yeah?

573
00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:53.839
For sure? Yeah, because that's how I started to do

574
00:27:53.880 --> 00:27:57.720
it because obviously new mum baby baby awake a lot

575
00:27:57.799 --> 00:28:01.240
during the night. When I was when I did have

576
00:28:01.319 --> 00:28:04.640
time to sleep, I wasn't sleeping very well. Yeah, so

577
00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:06.720
I thought, if I can improve the quality of the

578
00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:09.920
little sleep that I do have, that's going to help.

579
00:28:10.039 --> 00:28:13.039
So that's why I really started to focus on.

580
00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:16.920
This meditation, Like right before bed will definitely improve the

581
00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:18.960
quality of your sleep. I know if I meditate right

582
00:28:19.000 --> 00:28:21.880
before bed, I will sleep a whole lot longer and

583
00:28:21.920 --> 00:28:23.279
deeper than I normally would.

584
00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:26.000
But any meditation.

585
00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:28.880
Will help, Okay. And is it the best time to

586
00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:31.799
meditate before sleep? Is that the most look at me

587
00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:34.599
trying to get the tell me the magic formula. Yeah,

588
00:28:34.640 --> 00:28:36.480
the magic formula and the best way to do it

589
00:28:36.519 --> 00:28:37.960
and how to achieve.

590
00:28:37.799 --> 00:28:40.480
I don't know that there actually is a best time.

591
00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:43.720
I think that most people who meditate regularly do it first.

592
00:28:43.480 --> 00:28:44.079
Thing in the morning.

593
00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:47.319
Okay, you first wake up, your mind's usually the most clear,

594
00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:51.200
and if you can wake up and do some meditation

595
00:28:51.279 --> 00:28:52.319
number one, it's out of the way.

596
00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:53.559
It sets you up for the day.

597
00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:59.039
You start already having that more open mind, that you

598
00:28:59.160 --> 00:29:02.359
start to have those benefits about not reacting to every

599
00:29:02.359 --> 00:29:04.839
thought you know immediately hijacked as you normally would be

600
00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:08.480
by your phone. You know all the incoming alerts and messages.

601
00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:10.559
So you just start the day I think on a

602
00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:12.480
better foot. If you do it first thing in the morning,

603
00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:14.920
do you tend to be your mind's more open and receptive?

604
00:29:15.160 --> 00:29:16.599
Okay, And it's it's a good way.

605
00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:19.559
It sets the intention. I suppose to be more mindful

606
00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:20.319
throughout the day.

607
00:29:20.319 --> 00:29:23.599
Of the day. So if you find that time, you

608
00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:27.119
have found that time, then find someonere comfortable to sit.

609
00:29:27.240 --> 00:29:29.920
Yes, then what's the next dedicated space? I always say,

610
00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:32.839
try to dedicate a space. Okay, what that and a

611
00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:36.279
dedicated time? So you said time, then space, So I

612
00:29:36.279 --> 00:29:38.599
think that that what that does is like we respond

613
00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:40.359
toques and we'll talk and.

614
00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:41.839
Another episode about habits.

615
00:29:41.880 --> 00:29:45.880
Actually, but we our body responds and our brain responds

616
00:29:45.880 --> 00:29:49.200
toques and to habits and to routines So so if

617
00:29:49.240 --> 00:29:53.279
you can allocate a space and allocator time, then as

618
00:29:53.279 --> 00:29:55.920
soon as you go into that space, at that time,

619
00:29:56.680 --> 00:29:59.319
you start to your mind and body starts to respond

620
00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:00.920
like it's oh, meditation time.

621
00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:04.119
Sense. That's like with little babies. Sorry, I'm in the

622
00:30:04.119 --> 00:30:06.720
baby world at the moment. But having those sleep cues.

623
00:30:06.759 --> 00:30:09.519
For example, Arnold sleeps in a little sleeping bag. You may,

624
00:30:09.799 --> 00:30:11.960
you know, give them a dummy as a sleep aide.

625
00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:14.920
You may have the roomly dark, or a sound machine,

626
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:17.319
and all these little sleep cues. The little baby who

627
00:30:17.319 --> 00:30:20.279
knows nothing knows, oh it's time to sleep. Yes, So

628
00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:21.319
it works the same way.

629
00:30:21.279 --> 00:30:23.559
We all do. Yeah, we all do. All of our

630
00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:24.880
life is driven by habit.

631
00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:29.160
So setting up those habits around meditation will help to

632
00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:34.319
make that practice more regular and routine.

633
00:30:34.920 --> 00:30:37.640
Yeah, like anything. Okay, And then I think I always

634
00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:40.680
say to people there's lots and lots of mindfulness apps.

635
00:30:40.680 --> 00:30:42.759
People say, oh, where do I start? What would you recommend?

636
00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:46.720
And there are many. The one that I recommend the

637
00:30:46.799 --> 00:30:50.960
most often is insight Timer, and only because it started

638
00:30:50.960 --> 00:30:52.640
off it was a free app. It still is free.

639
00:30:52.680 --> 00:30:55.720
I think there's a paid version now. It is just

640
00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:59.359
a timer. If you can meditate with no instruction. You

641
00:30:59.359 --> 00:31:01.960
can just set a for however long you want to start,

642
00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:04.000
and you know, start with five minutefits if that's all

643
00:31:04.039 --> 00:31:05.519
you can manage. But I would say try to build

644
00:31:05.599 --> 00:31:07.200
up to fifteen or twenty, okay.

645
00:31:07.400 --> 00:31:09.079
And then it.

646
00:31:09.079 --> 00:31:11.640
Also has a whole lot of guided meditations on it,

647
00:31:11.799 --> 00:31:16.400
so and I mean five thousand different guided meditations, which.

648
00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:17.640
Can be a bit overwhelming for people.

649
00:31:17.640 --> 00:31:19.160
But I say, we'll just go to the top twenty

650
00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:21.400
and just pick a ten minute meditation and just start,

651
00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:23.799
just start somewhere, like, just start.

652
00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:26.319
Just start. The hardest part is always getting started.

653
00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:28.599
Yeah, And a lot of people I find, you know,

654
00:31:28.759 --> 00:31:31.119
I've recommended that in the TIFX so commuting so often

655
00:31:31.480 --> 00:31:33.599
and people will come and say, oh, yeah, I've found

656
00:31:33.640 --> 00:31:36.960
this particular teacher or this particular instructor that I really like.

657
00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:38.480
And somebody else, oh, I know like this one.

658
00:31:38.519 --> 00:31:42.599
So people will respond to a particular style of meditation

659
00:31:42.759 --> 00:31:45.480
or a voice or an accent. And that's the problem

660
00:31:45.559 --> 00:31:47.319
with most of those apps is they tend to just

661
00:31:47.359 --> 00:31:49.799
be the one voice, you know, so if you don't

662
00:31:49.880 --> 00:31:51.960
like it or you get very bored with it. Yeah,

663
00:31:52.200 --> 00:31:55.240
So there's a broad variety there on that app.

664
00:31:55.599 --> 00:31:57.599
That's not the only one, but it's one.

665
00:31:57.640 --> 00:32:00.240
It's so powerful, and I'm looking forward to doing your

666
00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:03.559
eight week mindfulness course online. I'm looking you can do

667
00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:06.759
it online. You know you have to go anywhere. You

668
00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:07.480
can do it online.

669
00:32:07.480 --> 00:32:09.359
It's so easy. Ca. Yeah, I can't wait for you

670
00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:10.200
to do that course to you.

671
00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:11.240
Yeah.

672
00:32:11.279 --> 00:32:14.240
So I created an eight week online meditation course for

673
00:32:14.279 --> 00:32:18.240
this very reason. I've been teaching meditation to people like

674
00:32:18.319 --> 00:32:21.440
individually and in groups, and it's challenging.

675
00:32:21.480 --> 00:32:23.119
To get to an eight week class. You have to

676
00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:25.240
find a venue.

677
00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:29.000
People don't have time to meditate a class.

678
00:32:28.799 --> 00:32:31.640
And then you've got a juggle family commandments, and you've

679
00:32:31.640 --> 00:32:33.839
got to drive and park and all for me as

680
00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:36.240
being instructors for people, but I would have to hire

681
00:32:36.440 --> 00:32:38.799
find a venue. Finding a venue that's available at the

682
00:32:38.799 --> 00:32:41.839
same time every week challenging. So I put it online.

683
00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:45.640
It's an adaptation of the Mindfulness Bace Cognitive Therapy course.

684
00:32:45.799 --> 00:32:49.160
It's all audio so people can just it's called Mindfulness

685
00:32:49.160 --> 00:32:51.680
for Busy People and so it's just you can just

686
00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:54.799
listen to there ten minutes long, the little lessons. It's

687
00:32:54.799 --> 00:32:57.319
got all the meditations there, it's got worksheets that you

688
00:32:57.359 --> 00:32:59.039
can do when we have a little Facebook group.

689
00:32:59.359 --> 00:33:02.160
It's awesome and it's so exciting.

690
00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:05.240
Yeah, it's really it's the first round. We've done one

691
00:33:05.319 --> 00:33:07.640
round on your website. Yeah, I'll put a link in

692
00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:10.400
the description. I've run it through once on one platform

693
00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:12.559
of shifting to a new custom platform, so I'll have

694
00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:16.759
that url ready and I'll put it in there. And yeah,

695
00:33:16.799 --> 00:33:19.599
the first round who went through called it life changing.

696
00:33:19.599 --> 00:33:23.200
They got so much benefit out of it, the improvements.

697
00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:25.880
I know that we're not about striving, but we do

698
00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:26.400
get people.

699
00:33:26.440 --> 00:33:28.039
I do get people to do an assessment at the

700
00:33:28.079 --> 00:33:31.039
beginning and assess a self assessment at the end to

701
00:33:31.160 --> 00:33:34.359
self rate their levels of mindfulness and self compassion. And

702
00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:39.920
people really notice really big improvements and which you know,

703
00:33:39.960 --> 00:33:42.240
the most important thing is that those scores on paper

704
00:33:42.319 --> 00:33:46.599
actually reflect the changes that they feel within themselves. They're

705
00:33:46.680 --> 00:33:51.400
less reactive, they're more positive. You know, they're having better

706
00:33:51.440 --> 00:33:55.119
relationships with their kids and with their partners. They use

707
00:33:55.200 --> 00:33:57.480
this what we call the three minute breathing space. So

708
00:33:57.559 --> 00:34:01.880
that's fundamental to just manage life and manage stresses. And

709
00:34:02.200 --> 00:34:05.519
it's amazing. So I'm really excited about that So TIV,

710
00:34:05.759 --> 00:34:08.320
do you think that that discussion has helped you to

711
00:34:08.360 --> 00:34:12.559
go back to meditation with a different expectation or a

712
00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:14.320
different attitude to make that more.

713
00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:15.239
Yeah.

714
00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:18.119
Absolutely, it's really helped me because now I see that

715
00:34:18.159 --> 00:34:22.320
the meditation is the training and the mindfulness is the practice,

716
00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:25.239
So I can relate to that. And I just have

717
00:34:25.320 --> 00:34:28.960
to take the judgment away because sometimes Ed will be

718
00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:32.159
meditating and he'll open his eyes. I'm staring at him

719
00:34:32.480 --> 00:34:34.400
and he's like, what are you doing? And I'm like,

720
00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:38.119
I just can't get it right. So I'm just going

721
00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:43.199
to lie down and relax and just you know, understand

722
00:34:43.239 --> 00:34:47.039
that the wandering is part more. It's completely normal, and

723
00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:49.400
there's no gold stars, there's no medals.

724
00:34:49.280 --> 00:34:50.159
There's no gold stars.

725
00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:52.320
No the inside time I has a gold star function,

726
00:34:52.400 --> 00:34:54.239
I turned it off because I was becoming too attached

727
00:34:54.280 --> 00:34:54.840
to the stars.

728
00:34:54.920 --> 00:34:57.800
Actually, I don't think I should even be timing myself

729
00:34:57.840 --> 00:34:59.440
because if I get ten minutes today or want to

730
00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:01.480
get twelve minutes tomorrow, I'm just going to take all

731
00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:02.119
pressure off.

732
00:35:02.280 --> 00:35:06.599
So Sharon Solzberg, who is quite a prominent mindfulness meditation

733
00:35:06.719 --> 00:35:11.559
teacher globally, she has a saying that the healing is

734
00:35:11.599 --> 00:35:14.360
in the return, not in the mind, never having wandered,

735
00:35:15.320 --> 00:35:16.519
So that's a great thing to remember.

736
00:35:16.599 --> 00:35:19.519
It's in the return, in the unhooking as you say, yeah,

737
00:35:19.559 --> 00:35:21.800
I love it. Well. We hope that helped you, listener,

738
00:35:21.960 --> 00:35:24.880
it definitely helped me. In the next episode, we're going

739
00:35:24.960 --> 00:35:28.920
to be talking about changing habits and the motivational myth.

740
00:35:29.519 --> 00:35:31.840
We'll speak to you soon. Thanks so much for tuning in.

741
00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:40.519
Crappy to Happy is presented by Cash Dunn, produced by

742
00:35:40.599 --> 00:35:43.440
Davis Lelenski, Audio production by Darcy Thompson.

743
00:35:48.679 --> 00:35:49.119
Listener