Speaker 1: You're listening to a Mum with mea podcast. Hello, but
Speaker 1: are you happy listeners? And welcome to this extra little
Speaker 1: drop in your feed I'm doctor annisaga Hernas, clinical psychologist,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to jump on and record this for
Speaker 1: you because well, the world can feel very chaotic at times,
Speaker 1: it can feel loud, it can feel noisy, and it
Speaker 1: can feel super overwhelming. So I wanted to bring this
Speaker 1: episode to you like a little chill out session, just
Speaker 1: this moment in your life, in your busy day where
Speaker 1: you can take maybe ten minutes to reset. We're going
Speaker 1: to do a mindfulness exercise and this is a quick, simple,
Speaker 1: easy one that I personally absolutely love. I teach it
Speaker 1: to many of my students and to my clients. But
Speaker 1: before we jump in, I want to clarify something. Mindfulness
Speaker 1: has done the rounds through social media so often people
Speaker 1: have heard of it before and perhaps even tried it.
Speaker 1: But I noticed that there's a few myths about what
Speaker 1: mindfulness is and what it does that kind of float around.
Speaker 1: Mindfulness isn't just about sitting cross legged and breathing. That's
Speaker 1: one way to practice it, but it's certainly not the
Speaker 1: only way. Mindfulness is actually all about being present in
Speaker 1: the current moment in a non judgmental way. It's actually
Speaker 1: not designed to be a relaxation technique as many people
Speaker 1: think it is, but what we often find is that
Speaker 1: we do feel somewhat calmer after doing it. When we
Speaker 1: do mindfulness, we want to focus on paying attention to
Speaker 1: the present moment, and we can do that in two
Speaker 1: kind of broad ways. We can either use an internal
Speaker 1: anchor or an external anchor. So an internal anchor would
Speaker 1: be something like focusing on our breath, our sensations in
Speaker 1: our body, something that exists within us. External anchor would
Speaker 1: be focusing on something like an object in front of us,
Speaker 1: or using our senses to focus on sites, sounds, and
Speaker 1: smells in our environment. So what I find is that
Speaker 1: for people who are new to mindfulness, or perhaps have
Speaker 1: a history of anxiety and don't like focusing on sensations
Speaker 1: inside the body, starting with an external anchor is the
Speaker 1: easiest place to start. So for this mindfulness exercise that
Speaker 1: I'm going to talk you through, it's best if you
Speaker 1: can pick up and hold an object in your hands.
Speaker 1: So listeners, if you're currently driving or otherwise occupied, just
Speaker 1: listen along for now and bookmark this one for later
Speaker 1: to come back to and practice along. So pick up
Speaker 1: anything in front of you. It could be a water bottle,
Speaker 1: a pen, a set of keys, a mug, a coffee cup,
Speaker 1: absolutely anything that you can see and find in front
Speaker 1: of you. Doesn't have to be particularly interesting. In fact,
Speaker 1: the more boring the better for this exercise. So hold
Speaker 1: this object in your hand, and I want you to
Speaker 1: focus all your attention on it. Look at it closely.
Speaker 1: You can move it around in your hand if you like,
Speaker 1: And I want you to just start off by focusing
Speaker 1: on the shape. What's the shape of the object like,
Speaker 1: has it got harsh edges or is it rounded? As
Speaker 1: you look closely at the object in your hands, notice
Speaker 1: the colors. Is it one color or do the colors change?
Speaker 1: Are there different shades of the same color. Notice if
Speaker 1: you can spot any imperfections, perhaps any blemishes, marks, scratches
Speaker 1: that perhaps you hadn't noticed before. Move it around in
Speaker 1: your hands and just look closely at what you can observe.
Speaker 1: Try and hold the object up to the light and
Speaker 1: just notice if you see any changes. Does it change
Speaker 1: color at all? Is there any part of it that's
Speaker 1: perhaps transparent in some way? Bring it back down in
Speaker 1: front of you, and just notice what the texture looks like.
Speaker 1: Can you see sharp, rough edges? Can you see smoothness?
Speaker 1: Can you see pattern? Now I want you to bring
Speaker 1: your attention to what this object feels like in your
Speaker 1: hand as you hold it, notice the weight of the
Speaker 1: object in your hand. Really pay attention to the weight
Speaker 1: of it. Is it heavy or is it light? Notice
Speaker 1: the temperature. Does the object you're holding have a warmth
Speaker 1: to it or is it cool? Cold and crisp. Move
Speaker 1: the object between your fingers and notice what the texture
Speaker 1: feels like. Feel the smoothness or the roughness. As you
Speaker 1: pass your fingers and hands over the object, really tune
Speaker 1: in to the feeling of your fingertips against the object.
Speaker 1: Focus all your attention on the ends of your fingers
Speaker 1: touching the object. And now hold the object and up
Speaker 1: to your ear. If you move it between your fingers
Speaker 1: and pass it from hand to hand, does it make
Speaker 1: any sound? Can you hear your fingers moving over the object?
Speaker 1: Can you tap your nails against it and focus on
Speaker 1: the sound. And when you're ready, just gently place that
Speaker 1: object back in front of you, perhaps where it was
Speaker 1: before you first picked it up. Now, if you've managed
Speaker 1: to stay with us for this long. Congratulations, you just
Speaker 1: completed a mindfulness exercise. In order to reflect on this exercise,
Speaker 1: I want you to just think about what you noticed.
Speaker 1: Did you notice things about the object that maybe you
Speaker 1: hadn't noticed before. Were you able to actually stick with
Speaker 1: the exercise, or was your mind wandering here, there, and everywhere.
Speaker 1: It's very normal and natural for our minds to wander
Speaker 1: and run away from us, but one of the goals
Speaker 1: of a mindfulness exercise like this is to be able
Speaker 1: to notice when our thoughts wander off and bring them
Speaker 1: back to the present moment, reorient our thoughts and our
Speaker 1: focus just on that one object that we're paying attention to.
Speaker 1: So hopefully you found this mindfulness exercise a way to
Speaker 1: focus and tune into some calm feelings. But this is
Speaker 1: just one way to practice mindfulness, So if you'd like,
Speaker 1: we can practice some of those others too, Just let
Speaker 1: us know. Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of the
Speaker 1: land and waters that this podcast is recorded on