This has been another big year for MINDFULNESS.ORG.AU, and we would like to say a big thank you to all our participants and resource users for your support - our practical and evidence based mindfulness approach could not have been possible without you!

2017 in review:

All our resources are supported by the success of our training courses. Based on your feedback in 2017, we have restructured our general public courses from 4 weeks to 6 weeks in duration. The feedback has been phenomenal and we even had multiple people re-attending the courses of the same level! Your thoughts and experiences will go on to shape how we can improve the lives of others through our resources and training.

With so much happening, what do we have planned for 2018?

Another big thank you for all of you, and we wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Please:

Have a blast!Remember that everything’s more when fun done mindfully and in moderation - eating, drinking , sunbathing etcPractice regularly during the break by remembering to make adjustments for changes in your routines - it will help you survive the holiday season for sure.Make a regular mindfulness practice a new years resolution!

We don’t know how we missed this in October, where ministers and politicians from 15 countries meditated together in the UK House of Commons to explore the benefits of mindfulness on national and international politics and policies!*

The focus of the meeting was on self awareness, increase compassion, resilience, clear mindedness and dealing with reactivity, which 2020 US presidential hopeful Tim Ryan said helps him in dealing with Donald Trump.

Ryan summarised: “Mindful meditation allows me to take a timeout, step back and see issues as interconnected. That kind of big-picture problem-solving is desperately lacking in both US political parties today, and has in many cases been replaced with an almost hyper-partisan kind of hate...I try not to be a part of that. If you hate, you’re just adding hate. Whether you’re hating from the left or from the right, it’s still hate, and it is undermining our ability to come together as a nation to solve big problems.”

The UK is very much ahead of the curve with incorporating mindfulness into the political sphere, with 145 UK parliamentarians undertaking an 8 week mindfulness course since 2013. This movement was shared by MPs from Sweden, Netherland, Ireland and Italy.

Maybe we will see this happening more with our local politicians to help them deal with the stress and complexity of modern day politics. In turn, we hope they can make the best decisions for us and those around the world.

We can all contribute to this process by bringing mindful awareness to our political views and interactions whether it be at the micro level of the politics of our families and local communities or the grand level of global politics.

*Original article can be found here.

Just in case you are not convinced that mindfulness and meditation is good for you, such as mental resilience, stress management…. (find more benefits here), we came across another reason published by the American Heart Association (AHA) a few days ago.

In a Scientific Statement1 published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA), the AHA has recommended meditation as a risk reduction strategy for cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks, which remain as one of our society’s biggest killers and cost to our quality of lives.

This is a systematic review or meta analysis (a way to rigorously and scientifically review all the available literature on a subject with the quality of those studies being taken into consideration) conducted by AHA to review the data on the potential impact of meditation on cardiovascular risk. It is based on the numerous studies reporting neurophysiological and neuroanatomical (how the brain/ mind impacts the physical body) demonstrating the benefit of mindfulness on various physiology or how our body functions normally.

Some of those functions included, “physiological response to stress, smoking cessation, blood pressure reduction, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, endothelial function, inducible myocardial ischemia, and primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease”1.

The meta analysis found an overall possible benefit of meditation on cardiovascular risk, especially taken into consideration of its low cost and risks compared to traditional therapies such as stenting and surgery (mindfulness can also have side effects as we have discussed previously and you can find out more about it as well as how to manage it here).

AHA recommends meditation be used in conjunction with other therapies as well as other lifestyle modifications, e.g. diet and physical exercise. So in essence we are adding mental exercises (mindfulness and meditation) to physical exercises as our arsenal of tools to combat this disease which remains as a leading cause of death and disability!

So please get started with the following tips:

Happy practising and you can read the original publication here, where you will find all the detailed data such as the changes in blood pressure, atherosclerotic risk changes, metabolism and insulin secretion, inflammation and secondary CVD prevention risks.

Reference:

Levine, G N et al, Meditation and Cardiovascular Risk Reduction: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association, Journal of the American Heart Association, 2017;6:e002218.

We encourage regularly meditation and if you are busy, Mindfulness in Action or suit you. However, it’s important to note it can’t replace sitting meditation. They are both are necessary!

It is true that some people find still meditation too hard at first and we I really like the idea of the mindful spot, as one of the ways of encouraging people to think about ways of making a conducive spot for their sitting practice.

Check out this one - thank you for sharing your mindful sport and photo Student G!

We recently had the pleasure of been interviewed by the well known blogger Dr Martina Feyzrakhmanova from Thinking Clearly on “The darker side of mindfulness: being overwhelmed, side effects and the difficulty of finding a good teacher”.

WHY DO THE INTERVIEW

It was a fascinating discussion as both Dr. Feyzrakhmanova and Dr. Walsh are experienced healthcare professionals and mindfulness practitioners. While sharing our enthusiasm for view that the current mindfulness boom has resulted in a greater awareness of the practice, both Dr. Feyzrakhmanova and Dr. Walsh agreed that this boom also has resulted in a rise in “McMindfulness” and the dissemination of a number of unhelpful mindfulness myths. Left unaddressed these are will likely to negatively impact the public’s well-being. As a result, Dr. Feyzrakhmanova chatted extensively with Dr. Walsh on his view and experience of some of the shadow side of mindfulness. This is very important information so that members f the general public can protect themselves and make informed decisions about getting competent and safe mindfulness training.

This has inspired us to clarify some of the points made in the interview.

CHASING PLEASANT EXPERIENCES UNDERMINES MINDFULNESS PRACTICE AND CAPACITY TO COPE

People think mindfulness is a relaxation technique. This is a tricky issue to address. Mindfulness does help us to relax, but that’s not the main game. It’s about training awareness.

When mindfulness doesn’t relax us, we might think it’s not working and give up. Then we miss out on an opportunity to train the mind. This is a great loss.

As we practice more, we develop the capacity to hold feelings without being overwhelmed and without becoming reactive. We become more resilient and we have more choice in our responses to whatever the world throws at us. We develop a deeper sense of calm that goes beyond mere relaxation. This is sometimes referred to as equanimity.

Sometimes we can have quite ecstatic experiences when practicing mindfulness.

I met a man in a drug rehabilitation service, who had had a serious relapse into heroin use after five years of abstinence. He had achieved this abstinence by meditating. However he was meditating eight hours a day and really did not have time for much of a life otherwise. When I asked him about his practice he described a single pointed concentration on the breath. In this state he felt ecstatic but there was no room for normal pain or pleasure. Eventually this man got a job and was only able to meditate one hour per day. Relapse inevitably followed within two months. This man’s meditation was very like his heroin use. He was using it to avoid facing up to the normal ups and downs of everyday life. It really fitted into the stereotype that so many Westerners used to have of meditation as self-indulgent navel gazing.

Similarly I have heard of some people in the corporate sector complaining that some of their employees are using mindfulness to zone out. Zoning out can be a way of keeping stress at bay and the corporates certainly need to consider that. Nonetheless zoning out is actually mindlessness rather than mindfulness. It is another way of avoiding being present and doesn’t help us to become wiser or more skilful.

MINDFULNESS CAN ELICIT NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

The first thing is to have a good teacher because it can be hard to know when to lean into the negative emotion and when to stand back from it. It’s a delicate balance. Some people are very vulnerable to having very unpleasant feelings evoked. Some people have simply developed the habit of keeping busy as a way of avoiding unpleasant feelings. When they sit still and stop distracting themselves with activity, they inevitably feel agitated. They usually just need encouragement and support with a few containing techniques to get over the initial difficulties with sitting still. Moving mindfulness practices are often helpful in this regard.

However people who have a history of serious trauma such as domestic violence, natural disasters and wars have a more serious problem. An unskilled teacher can lead a student to become retraumatised without resources to contain it or to deal with it. The student can get so distressed that they feel as if they are going crazy. Paradoxically, if they have a good mindfulness teacher who understands trauma, these people can benefit immensely from mindfulness practice. With bad teachers they can be further traumatized and harmed.

The basic principle when dealing with negative emotions in mindfulness practice is that it is ok to feel challenged, but it’s not okay to feel overwhelmed.

With any kind of learning, including learning to be mindful, it is normal to oscillate between feeling comfortable and feeling challenged. If you’re never challenged, especially with something experiential like mindfulness or a sport, the learning isn’t in its optimal state. Getting overwhelmed in mindfulness is the equivalent of getting injured when training, and this sets back the progress.

Here are some tips for decreasing the risk of being overwhelmed

Find your safe places in your body awareness practices

The feeling of being overwhelmed is most likely to occur when focusing on the chest and abdomen as this is where we tend to feel anxiety. I encourage people to find “safe places” where they are less likely to feel this anxiety: such as the resting one’s attention on the sensation of the breath in the nose.

Awareness of sounds can also help, as the attention is then focused on something outside the body.

Practice mindful movement

Sometimes it is okay to let one’s mind wander off. The important thing is to eventually bring the attention back to the focus ( eg the breath) because this way you can learn what has changed. This is very empowering: we don’t always have to do something to change things. They change by themselves.

Finding a good mindfulness teacher – This is your best protection

MINDFULNESS AND PSYCHOSIS

Badly practiced mindfulness can worsen or elicit psychotic symptoms. However, we can have many weird experiences that are quite harmless. As we learn to observe the play of our mind we can often go into dream like states where the thinking becomes disjointed and strange images can appear. Very controlling and anxious people can become quite disconcerted by this but it is usually not a problem. It is just normally unconscious mental processes becoming more visible. Opening up in this way can actually enhance creativity, including creative problem solving.

Mindfulness practiced well can even help people who suffer from schizophrenia to see their hallucinations and delusions for what they are. It helps them to remain saner.

Mindfulness can go wrong when people do sitting practice for extended periods of time especially if they are chasing blissful states or so called “spiritual experiences”. A patient of mine who suffered schizophrenia was having a Kundalini experience, where energy was going up and down his spine when he meditated. They talk about this experience in the Hindu tradition. He would go through this experience for many hours a day and it made him more delusional and psychotic. It was very hard to persuade him to do less meditation! It is good to remember that chasing blissful states or spiritual experiences is actually not mindfulness, as the awareness is no longer open and non judgemental.

I have also heard of people with no past psychotic history going into psychotic states on prolonged silent retreats, especially if they do not have a preexisting meditation practice. Generally people recover from these states quickly if they leave the retreat with the support of a psychologically trained person, get some exercise and eat some high protein junk food like a hamburger.

In summary to protect yourself

Don’t panic about weird experiences appearing in your mindfulness practiceDon’t chase blissful experiences or spiritual experiences in you practice

FURTHER DISCUSSIONS

In the article Feyzrakhmanova and Dr. Walsh also explore the following themes:

Techniques to deal with feeling overwhelmed during meditative practiceNegative side effects of mindfulnessThe role of mindfulness appsTranscendental MeditationLearning from Eastern Buddhist Psychology beyond simple mindfulness

* The full article could be find here.

In pursuit of our mission to provide you with the latest and best in class mindfulness and training, we are constantly updating our site and adding new free resources such as soundtracksfor you to enjoy. We hope you have found them useful!

Based on participant feedback and latest evidence, we are also improving our courses by making the following changes which we would like to share with you:

The change: Dr. Walsh's existing 4-level training course with a duration of 4 weeks will change to a 3-levels training with a duration of 6 weeks each. The content of each weekly class will also be improved and changed, meaning this will be more than just a re-clustering of weekly classes.

Why: the course was initially designed to facilitate the ease of participation for everyone and evidence at the time. The latest research indicates that significant gains consolidate at the sixth week of training. This also reflects the feedback and requests from our students. We have restructured our course accordingly.

What will remain: the evidence based, practical and structured focus of the training will not change. Online media, written and non-written pre-course and course resources will remain, as well as online tutorial/guidance from Dr. Walsh outside of the class.

When: the change will happen for any courses beginning after the end of July. Our website will be updated to reflect changes during the weekend of 20th of May 2017.

The costs: the cost of the courses with a doctor referral will be $460 for the whole 6 weeks or $208.30 out of pocket after Medicare rebate ($34.7 per week). The price will be $350 out of pocket with no referral ($58.3 per week with no initial assessment being provided by Dr. Walsh). The courses' proceeds will go towards supporting the public Resourcesavailable at mindfulness.org.au and our awareness raising efforts.

What next for those who had already done a level of training with us:

We hope this change will improve everyone's experience and their mindfulness outcome. If you have any questions or feedback on this change or anything that we do, either our website, social media or newsletter, please reach out by .

This case study is based on a real story from Dr. Walsh’s recent shoulder surgery. It is designed to raise awareness for the practical application of mindfulness in real life, so you can also use it to help you.

The obstacle

An agonising moment at the gym several months before had initiated a chain of events leading to me having surgery on my left shoulder. A bench-press had gone terribly wrong, and two tendons had been ripped off the shoulder capsule. They had to be reattached. I had rather stupidly waited quite a long time between the gym incident and seeing the doctor. This meant the operation was going to be somewhat more difficult. The surgeon was not overly optimistic but encouraged me to have the operation, as otherwise I was doomed to chronic osteoarthritis in my shoulder.

The meditation session before surgery

With this in mind, I sat down to my last formal meditation session on the morning of my surgery. As I have been meditating for years, it was not difficult for my mind to find its usual focus. I must admit I gave a lot more attention than usual to my left shoulder. I thought it deserved some tender affection, given that it was about to be assaulted by scalpels and other sharp instruments. I felt my breath moving up into the area where my torn muscles were, and I paid exquisite attention to all the subtle sensations I could feel there - the niggles, the pain and the tingles. I was as ready as I could be for surgery.

I was well looked after in hospital. The staff were very warm and attentive. However, it was still very strange waking up after two hours of surgery, not feeling the passage of time like you do after a normal sleep. Amazingly, the surgeon had been able to rejoin everything. However, it was all very delicate and tenuous. I was going to have to be very careful with the use of my arm over the following months, so as not to rupture the muscles again. Amongst other things, this meant I was not going to be able to drive a car for six weeks. There were going to be some major lifestyle adaptations - not something I was looking forward to!

Meditation after surgery 1: finding it challenging

When I arrived home from surgery the next day, my brain was still befuddled by a cocktail of anaesthetic and analgesia. Nonetheless, I attempted a meditation in the afternoon. While sitting on my meditation cushion, I found myself falling forward about to go to sleep, at least a dozen times in the 45 minutes I was meditating. I noticed by mind going off into a dreamy state. I think there were times when I actually went to sleep. I certainly wasn’t able to notice any subtle sensations in my body. It was quite different to the meditation the day before.

That night I needed some rather strong opioid pain killers. Consequently the next morning I was constipated. Then when I sat down to meditate, the most predominant sensations were a pain in my shoulder and a pain in my anus. Not very dignified! These are moments when non-judgemental open-hearted curiosity is extremely difficult! I noticed that I was suffering, I observed my suffering and had a little giggle at my own indignity all at the same time. Obviously, my clarity of mind was back, even though what I was observing was not all that pleasant.

Meditation after surgery 2: finding my way back

The next day my meditation was more of the usual clear focus for a while and then wandering and then coming back. As there was nothing dramatic, I was able to pay attention to subtlety again.

Meanwhile, I have plenty of challenges with mindfulness in action. I notice the irritations I feel when I can’t do simple activities such as tying my shoelaces. I notice the tightening in my chest when I resist asking to help.

And I notice the opening in my chest when I allow the help in. I am a doctor and a helper, and it isn’t always easy for me to allow others to help me. So I have begun a practice of allowing myself to breathe in others’ good wishes and help with an attitude of gratitude. Perhaps this is the biggest gift of all that my injured shoulder can give me.

Case studies are based on real stories from Dr. Walsh’s students and patients. It is designed to raise awareness for the practical application of mindfulness in real life, so you can also use it to help you. Names have been changed for privacy purposes.

The obstacle

Sally had one hell of the day! Sally is a nurse and her patients were in and out of crisis all day at the hospital. It was a 40° day scorcher. When she got home to her apartment she found hot water system had blown up, with water everywhere and her downstairs neighbours were blaming her for the water coming through their roof into their house. Her fuses had blown and the electricity had been cut off. The food in her fridge was off and she had no food. When she went to the supermarket to replenish food supplies another car ran into the back of hers. The driver of a car tried to drive away without exchanging details for insurance purposes.

After such a horrendous day, it would have been so easy for anyone to be very razzled, breakdown or simply freeze in the car while the culprit drive drove away.

The solution

However, Sally was pleasantly surprised to discover that she had the presence of mind to calmly get out of her car pull out her phone and very obviously take a photo of a fleeing car’s number plate. The guilty driver consequently got out of the car and complained about her photo taking. Sally calmly explained that as he was fleeing, she needed it to notify her insurance company and the police. He then submitted to appropriate exchange of details.

This calmness and capability in the face of high levels of stress was very new for Sally. So in spite of her horrible day, she was delighted. In the past, she would have been much more likely to break down in tears and been unable to communicate effectively.

How to achieve this

Sally had started learning mindfulness six months previously to minimise the risk of relapsing into depression. After this incident, she realised upon reflection that she had been getting compliments from the other nurses at work about her ability to stay calm in crisis over the previous two weeks. She noticed she seemed to have extra time between a nasty experience, such as the driver driving into the back of her, and her response. She was then more able to choose an effective response. It was clear to her that this newfound ability was a direct result of her regular mindfulness practice.

Happy New Year everyone! And we simply cannot welcome you back without a thorough discussion around New Year’s resolutions and goals! So what are yours?

This one by Huffington Post* has a great focus on health and wellness, and we are surprised (well, not really actually) at how many of them can be better achieved with a bit of mindfulness. Last time we counted, there were 33 that mindfulness can help. We have also included our tips and useful resources below.

If the list is too long or you simply can’t decide which ones to do, just do one – mindfulness! It will set you up well for so many of the others. So get started and we are here to help with all our free Resourcesand those provided by others (we also provide a link in our Resources section), soundtracks, apps, online and physical courses etc.

So here they are:

1. Sleep more.

Try a minimum of 7-8 hours. We all know stress and poor routines just before bedtime can severely impact your sleep quality and duration. Why not build a mindfulness meditation routine just before sleep to achieve relaxation, come to the present (of ready to sleep) and not worry about a horrible moment that just happened today or the long to do list for tomorrow? Mindfulness improves mental health and so does a good night sleep. It’s a win-win!

2. Cut back on sugar and 3. Limit sodium intake. *mindful eating using urge surfing (mindfulness.org.au/urge-surfing).

This is hard because we love food and there has not been any other time in our history where more delicious, diverse and better quality food had been made available to us. So how can we help us better stick to the dietary guidelines of low sodium (2,300 milligrams per day) and sugar intake?

You can read the packing, record your intake or use an app. You can also add in mindful eating, where you actually try to taste the food. Break the taste down! This way you can enjoy it more and be more aware of how sweet or salty that meal really is.

3. Start meditating. Practicing mindfulness

Need we say more? If in doubt, check out our section on the benefits of mindfulness or our news publications in our Blog section. Additionally, get started with Mindfulness Basics (mindfulness.org.au/mindfulness-basics for) and ourfree soundtracks (mindfulness.org.au/multimedia-resources for soundtracks

4. Pick up crafting.

Direct quote from the article: "Experts say activities like knitting can ease anxiety and put you in a meditative state. And you get a scarf in the process? Score." And winter will be here sooner than we think.

5. Spend time alone.

Spend some time by yourself, observe your own feelings and emotions, be aware of your own thoughts, recharge, build some more brain cell connections and be mindful.

Get started with our free Sitting With Emotionsarticle or our free soundtracks of the same title.

6. Plan a trip.

Direct quote again, "You’ll boost your mood instantly. Research suggests planning a vacation can increase happiness ― and just think, you’ll have an adventurous city or a white sand beach to look forward to after you book it." Don’t forget your mindfulness routine while you are on holidays!

7. Keep a journal.

Direct quote, "This could be a book that gives you prompts or just an empty place to scribble out your frustrations. Studies show journaling can be cathartic for your mental health." But please DO NOT just MINDLESSLY write a journal entry! Be mindful about it and as you write it, have a think about how those words makes you feel and how you are reacting to them.

8. Go for strolls more often.

Hit the road everyone. If you are a busy individual (which is almost everyone today) and often complain that you don’t have time to meditate AND exercise, bring mindfulness to your strolls or walks. Check out our blog about Mindful Walking and listen to our soundtrack by the same title under our Multimedia resourcessection.

9. Cut back on complaining.

Negative thought patterns can increase stress levels. Try a mindful experiment where when you catch yourself complaining ― or thinking negatively. You counteract it with something positive. Here’s a little inspiration to get started.

10. Give up diet soda.

Take a moment, even just 30 seconds to drink a cup of green tea instead.

11. Compliment someone once a day.

Pay it forward and try to be more aware of those around you. Train your mind to be in the present of someone and what they do, how they look or feel. This will help you with your friendship, relationships and even work.

12. Practice gratitude.

Start with the compliments, practice mindfulness and you will start becoming more empathetic.

Direct quote: "Studies suggest that gratitude can improve overall well-being and may even boost physical health. Try keeping score of what you appreciate every day. Need some ideas to get started? Here are 100."

13. Go to therapy.

Seek help from professionals when you need it. But start by taking breaks to reassess if you need some assistance. And if you want to find a practitioner that is not a McMindfulness teacher, see our article on How to Assess A Mindfulness Teacher (mindfulness.org.au/assessing-mindfulness-teacher).

14. Volunteer regularly.

Direct quote: "Donating your time to people or an organization in need can do a world of good. And if you needed more reason: Research shows volunteering can improve your health. It may also increase your happiness levels thanks to a circular effect. Kindness makes you happy, and happiness makes you kind."

Also if you know someone who is sacrificing themselves as a carer for another person, please forward this to them – Caring for Carers (mindfulness.org.au/caring-for-the-carers).

15. Drink more water.

We all know water is good for you (see above about diet soft drinks). But have you ever really tried to taste it? I love the taste of Melbourne and I’m not afraid to say it. New York local government did with their tap work in a huge campaign by in 2010, which was just as good if not better than the ones ran by soft drink companies.

16. Cook at home more frequently.

Direct quote: "You’ll end up getting healthier in the process. Research says homemade meals can help you skip out on excess calories."

If you are too busy and tempted to give up meditation time to cook, then practice Mindfulness In Action when you cook. Learn how here (mindfulness.org.au/mindfulness-in-action).

17. Commit to a strength-training routine.

Direct quote: "Building muscle can help protect you against injury and even sharpen your cognitive skills. Start small ― even just using your body weight ― and increase as you get stronger."

Also start strengthening your mental muscles, aka neuronal connections with mindfulness.

18. Talk to more strangers.

Also see comment above on Compliments. Direct quote: "It pays to make a little eye contact. Research shows smiling at someone you don’t know could help increase feelings of social connection."

19. Say "no" more often.

Direct quote: "Burnout is real and it can happen in a blink of an eye. Make sure you’re prioritizing yourself and not saying "yes" to everything because it feels like an obligation. Self care isn’t selfish."

20. Handwrite letters instead of emailing people.

Direct quote: "Make an effort to communicate via snail mail this year. Handwritten correspondence is a lost art form ― but there are real benefits to putting pen to paper, from better creativity to a smaller risk of multitasking." Mutlitasking! It is the death of productivity. Be in the present and do one thing at a time please.

21. Schedule walking meetings once a week.

Direct quote: "You’ll get far more out of it than if you were holed up in the office. And that added physical activity may just get your creativity flowing." Or simply just go for a Mindful Walking if you can (soundtrack here).

22. Use all of your vacation days.

Use it well for any of the above or below activities, from planning a trip to going on a trip, exercise more, be with yourself and of course, take a moment to meditate.

Some disappointing data: "A recent survey found that 32 percent of people used zero of their allocated days last year. But taking a break is super important for your well-being. Don’t feel like taking a vacation? Try a mental health day, instead."

23. Call your family more often.

Direct quote: "Chances are they’d love to hear from you and you can benefit from it, too. Research shows calling loved ones like your mom can ease stress." Please take the time to talk and listen to them. Don’t multitask and talk to them, it’s not really talking.

24. Cut back on material spending.

Exercise the mind and your body, not your ability to swipe your plastic and then regretting it afterwards.

25. Try team sports.

Good for your physical and mental health. You can also join a mindfulness or yoga class.

26. Learn a language.

Direct quote: Say "hola" [,你好] or "bonjour" to a new life skill. Research even supports the theory that it’ll boost your brain.

27. Forgive someone.

Anger and resentment is like holding onto internal poison and can even harm your physical health. Life’s too short to not move on.

28. Make regular doctors’ appointments.

Direct quote: "Research shows that ― for the most part ― it’s okay to forgo annual physicals if you’re generally healthy individual. But that doesn’t mean throw caution to the wind and ignore your body. If you’re sick or something is off, see a doctor. That includes specialists like dermatologists and dentists."

Don’t forget to make it for those who need it but don’t admit it yet, e.g. our male friends. See our an example of how to convince one to do mindfulness here(mindfulness.org.au/mindfulness-for-men).

30. Donate to an important cause.

Direct quote: "That same kindness feedback loop that happens when you volunteer may also apply in this case as well. Here’s a list of organizations that may need your help right now, in particular." #kindness

31. Read one book a month.

Direct quote: "Research shows reading can boost empathy and emotional intelligence. If you’re committed to diving into multiple novels this year, check out this list of tips and benefits that will help keep you motivated."

We have a recommendation coming your way too!

32. Bring your lunch to work every day.

Direct quote: "Trust us, your wallet will thank you. Take a look at this breakdown to see just how much you’ll save." It will also save you the trip the store too. May be bank that time for a short meditation session?

33. Practice self-acceptance.

It’s actually a key to a happier life but it’s a habit people rarely practice. Make your internal dialogue as kind as it would be if you were talking to your best friend.

34. Say a mantra every day.

Direct quote: "Mantras can keep you grounded in the moment, allowing you to reap the rewards of mindfulness, and they could help you actually believe what you’re saying after a while. (Yes, you are beautiful. And yes, you should repeat that to yourself every day if that’s what you need.)"

We have a free tool to help you get started, see our Pleasant Moments Calendar (mindfulness.org.au/pleasant-moments-calendar), which is covered in Level 1 of our course.

35. Wear sunscreen.

Slip, slop and slap! But if you do get burnt and the pain is ongoing, mindfulness can also help with pain.

36. Eat more (good!) carbohydrates.

Direct quote: "Psst, the healthiest people in the world actually consume a lot of carbs. (Yep, you read that correctly.) Check out how to incorporate more of these important nutrients into your diet."

37. Cut back on alcohol.

Appreciate the drink and really tasted by being in the present and being mindful about it all (this is covered in our Level 1 course if you are not sure how to approach it). You will drink less and enjoy it much more!

38. Go outside more often.

This may be a repeat...

39. Give up the snooze button.

We can always try ... Dr. Walsh’s strategy is making mindfulness meditation the first thing in the morning. Because he loves it, he’s looking forward to it and bypassing the snooze button.

40. Floss regularly.

Direct quote: "There’s a reason your dentist nags you about that tiny string. Clearing your gums of bacteria is necessary for oral health, so do what you can to make sure they’re in good condition."

Add a bit of Mindfulness In Action (mindfulness.org.au/mindfulness-in-action) to make it even healthier for the mind, not just your teeth.

41. Make your bed every day.

Direct quote: "No act of organization is too small. And it may make you happier."

42. Don’t use your smartphone before bed.

See point 1 and direct quote: "The type of light that’s emitted from screens can disrupt your sleep and keep you awake longer. Try ditching your device at least

30 minutes before you shut your eyes."

43. Do an activity outside of your comfort zone.

Direct quote: "There’s a whole life to discover on the other side of your routine. Not to mention the fact that doing something different may boost creativity."

Try Mindful Walking if you haven't (soundtrack here).

44. Pick a theme for the year.

Direct quote: "If you’re starting to feel like this whole "resolution" thing isn’t for you, try sticking to a theme instead. Instead of picking a goal, pick a word you want to abide by for 2017. It could be "brave" or "confident" or "compassionate." Whatever you want to start doing ― or being ― more of."

Our theme is to continue promoting the understanding of mindfulness, and use evidence based and structured mindfulness resources and training to help people to become more resilient, aware, positive and happier. What is yours?

45. Fix your posture.

Once in a while during your work day, do a Mindful Check-In. Follow the directions here mindfulness.org.au/mindfulness-check-in to feel your posture and adjust accordingly – it takes no time!

46. Sign up for a race.

Direct quote: "There’s something satisfying about crossing a real finish line. Running comes with a lot of physical and mental health perks, from lower risk of disease to improved mood. Why not celebrate a running routine with a tangible medal of your accomplishments?"

47. Marie Kondo your space.

Direct quote: "Marie Kondo, author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, is the champion of the tidying method where you only keep items that bring you joy. Since then, the trend has gained traction and for a good reason. Not only does it keep your home clutter-free, there’s also a psychological health component to focusing on the materials that make you happy."

48. Cut back on social media.

Direct quote: "Research shows that constant scrolling through a newsfeed can lead to social comparison, or the need to stack your life up against someone else’s. This can then lead to depressive symptoms. Take a step back from all of it and live your life based on how you feel ― not on how cool it’s supposed to look with a filter."

Also see point number 1, no social media on tablets before bed.

49. Spend time with people who think differently than you do.

Direct quote: "Empathy, or the ability to walk in another’s shoes, is the foundation for a lot of positive perks. The more you expand yourself and open your eyes to different perspectives, the more open minded you become."

Use mindfulness to build you empathy, awareness and acceptance of others. Be inclusive and you feel the happiness.

50. Love yourself.

Be aware of yourself first and love yourself, “Because you’re all you’ve got ― no matter what.”

*Original article can be found here.

Merry Christmas everyone.

This is the season to be jolly, crazy and stressed... and then collapse in a heap in January! Does this sound familiar to anyone? Well it doesn’t have to be this crazy and it really can be a lot more enjoyable with an ounce of mindfulness thrown into your Christmas pudding.

As we approach Christmas, the silly season can involve lots of office parties and other end of year events, the craziness of trying to tie up loose ends before the holiday season, preparations for family gatherings on Christmas Day and people driving weirdly on the road by either being distracted or aggressive.

This time of the year presents us with many challenges and opportunities for our mindfulness practice:

1. We can benchmark our progress since the same time last year,

2. We can use our mindfulness practice to deal with all the stress of the silly season leading up to Christmas, and

3. We can use the relaxed, quiet time of the January holidays to build our practice.

Benchmarking progress

We can do this by noticing how we are handling crazy traffic, Christmas shopping, the extra demands of tying up loose ends at work and the organisation of family events. We may also notice how much alcohol we are drinking and how much we are eating and whether we are getting enough sleep. With all these things we can notice how reactive we are and how much our ability to stay calm has been affected.

Dealing with the stress of the silly season

Precisely when we need our mindfulness practice the most, it is easy for it to drop away. Everything can feel chaotic and we can feel under intense time pressure. Of course, if we can maintain our practice it helps us to remain calmer and more efficient. Even if at times we have to significantly reduce the duration of our formal practice it is beneficial to do something every day. Even just 30 seconds is enough to sustain the habit. It is also very helpful to remind yourself about meditation in action practices such as focusing on your breathing for a few breaths when waiting for someone to answer the phone or when waiting for a red light change to green. All of this helps us to cope better during this crazy time. It also gives us in a much better position to take advantage of relaxing in January.

Building our practice during the holiday season

After finally getting over the hump of Christmas, it’s time to relax. We generally have more spare time and less hurried than at any other time of the year. This is a wonderful opportunity to establish a mindfulness practice, or strengthen an already existing one. Because things are a bit different this time of year we need to reflect a little on what is a good time and place to do the practice. Once we start doing this are usually does not take long for it to become quite enjoyable.

What a great way to set yourself up for the year!

Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

I recently went to a lecture by Prof Read Montague, a well-respected academic psychiatrist and neuroscientist. There, he reminded the audience of the surprising and yet validated finding that brain science can predict a person’s political ideology, for example if that person is a Progressive or Conservative with an amazingly high degree of accuracy (Ahn, Kishida et al. 2014).

That alone (as well as with the US presidential election full steam ahead) provides significant food for thought. However he went on to say that brain science could predict share market bubbles and crashes as well!

The theory

Prof Montague set up a game which mimicked the market and reliably generated bubbles and crashes. He then arranged for the brain activity to be monitored in the game players using multi-subject functional MRI scans. The shares in this experiment/ game had a “flat” fundamental value. That means their inherent value did not change. However, the market forces of people buying and selling the shares caused the price to go up and down as it would in a normal share market.

What Prof Montague found was the significant implications for practising mindfulness in this environment. He found a predictable pattern in the brains of people who kept gambling on the bubble and ended up in a crash. They had high activation of the Nucleus Accumbens and low activation of the Insula. The people who got out before the crash, in contrast, had much higher activation of the Insula.

The Nuecleus Accumben and “predicting the future”

The Nucleus Accumbens is very interesting in that it becomes very active when we are seeking rewards. It can be overactive in the addictions. Activity in the Nucleus Accumbens of participants peaked just before the bubble burst. In fact, you could predict the imminent bursting of the bubble from the downturn in Nucleus Accumbens activity that just preceded it. Those participants who were able to get out before this happened had a high degree of activity in the Insula. The insular is important for monitoring body sensations and gut feelings. It turns out that people literally do feel it in the gut when something is about to go awry.

The brain science shows that people who are tuned into this have better instincts with the market. It is as if the gut feelings process a lot of information that is impossible for us to access consciously. My personal experience is that these gut feelings are not only useful for predicting the share market, but also for predicting human behaviour in general and even for predicting natural phenomena, such as the behaviour of bushfires.

Using mindfulness to “predict the future”

These findings are important in relation to mindfulness, as we spend a lot of time in our mindfulness practice, and cultivating awareness of our internal body sensations. The body scan practices are one example of this. Even just paying attention to the breath, brings us more in tune with our body sensations. In fact, the research shows that these mindfulness practices activate the Insula in the brain (Hölzel, Lazar et al. 2011). Interestingly, inner body awareness has also been associated with having a greater capacity to regulate your emotions and becoming more empathetic.

So if you want to improve your intuition, your ability to have good hunches and judgment, as well as enhancing your emotional resilience and capacity for empathy, then you might practice mindfulness in the form of body awareness. You can go to our recently updated Mindful Body Scan and Breathing Awareness audio soundtrack at mindfulness.org.au/multimedia-resources.

References:

Ahn, W.-Y., K. T. Kishida, X. Gu, T. Lohrenz, A. Harvey, J. R. Alford, K. B. Smith, G. Yaffe, J. R. Hibbing and P. Dayan (2014). "Nonpolitical images evoke neural predictors of political ideology." Current Biology 24(22): .

Hölzel, B. K., S. W. Lazar, T. Gard, Z. Schuman-Olivier, D. R. Vago and U. Ott (2011). "How does mindfulness meditation work? Proposing mechanisms of action from a conceptual and neural perspective." Perspectives on psychological science 6(6): 537-559.

In this blog, we would like to raise the awareness for pancreatic cancer by sponsoring a very special event: Katrina's Pink Drinks, and the work of Pancreatic Cancer Support Australia (PCSA).

Katrina is a close friend's Chris's beloved sister Maria, who was unfortunately diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. As a strong believer in integrative medicine and how the mind can help cancer suffers, their families and friends, we would like to show our support for for Katrina's Pink Drinks.

This will be a night of cocktails, fun and support for the PCSA. We will be donating a spot in each of our 2017 Level 1 and Level 2 courses as part of the raffled - valued at $580 dollars.

Please come along and share this event with your friends and families, as well as share with them our free resources on how mindfulness can help with pain, depression & anxietyand challenges that carersface.

Details:

Date - Saturday, 26 November 2016 Time 7.30pm – 11.00pm

Venue - Como Melbourne, 630 Chapel Street, South Yarra, 3141

Dress - Cocktail

Contact - events@summersoiree.info

In the event that this is sold out, please head to PCSA for donation and show your support for those impacted by this aggressive illness.

About Katrina: Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July 2014, Katrina made the decision to enjoy every minute of every day and refused to allow others to feel sad. She continued to work and live as she always had, with an unbelievable zest for life despite often being tired. She continued to mentor work colleagues and convince family and friends that all would be okay. Katrina started her career as a nurse, but for over twenty years she has worked tirelessly in oncology clinical research, She focused on enabling oncology research and ... read more here.

Just as I thought that I have become desensitised over articles on how meditation can improve happiness, here’s one that re-ignited my interest.

Have you ever googled “happiness” or “the happiest person”? The original article by Business Insider (found here), suggests that you may find the name Matthieu Ricard popping up. And guess what, he did pop up when I tried to google “happiest person on earth”.

Mr Ricard was coined this term following a 12 year brain study on compassion and meditation. In the study, researchers found that Richard’s brain produces a level of gamma waves when he meditates on compassion, which is associated with consciousness, attention, learning and memory, particularly in the left-front part of the brain. Mr Ricard provided 3 tips on how to “produce” those gamma waves and be happier:

1. Stop thinking about “me, me, me”

Try to think less of yourself or how to make yourself better, which may lead to a sense of threat and unhappiness. Instead, focus on becoming more “benevolent”. When you are filled with compassion, solidarity and less of yourself, you will feel better internally and others can also feel it too. But how can one achieve this?

2. Start training your mind, just like you train your body

Like we always say to our course participants or site followers, your mind is just like another muscle in your body. If you want to be better at something, whether it is remembering things better or becoming more benevolent and resilient, you need to train it as you are training for a upcoming marathon or a local football tournament. One way to train your mind is by practising meditation and mindfulness regularly. If you haven’t done it before or need a bit of help, please see our free Resources section for further assistance.

3. Spend 15 minutes per day thinking happy thoughts

Yep, thinking happy thoughts regularly in a focused manner is part of mindfulness practice, and can actually improve your happiness level. When you first start to do this, your mind will often “wonder-off” during the 15 minutes and think about something else. In that case, you should train your mind to come back to those happy thoughts each time. Over time, you will find this “bringing back” part much easier to do, which is a sign of your mind strengthening. If you have done one of beginner courses, you will remember that we recommend a Pleasant Moments Diary for your to complete. This goes by the same principle but also makes it easier for new practitioners as it facilitates the “bringing back” component.

Many years ago I visited family living in South America and discovered that they have a very prominent hugging culture there. Every time you met or said goodbye to someone, a big hug was part of the process. Often you could meet up to ten people at once, and a "hugathon" would ensue. When I returned to Australia, I was left with a lingering longing for those regular hugs from numerous people. I have "self-diagnosed" myself as having "hug deprivation syndrome".

Since that time a lot has been discovered about the hug hormone, oxytocin. This hormone is released when mothers are breastfeeding babies and also when anyone has a prolonged hug. It creates a sense of belonging and well-being.

When Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist monk came from Vietnam to the west, he was coming from a culture where there was hardly any hugging at all. When invited to hug by Westerners, he decided to practice hugging mindfully. He discovered that when he really hugged the person he was holding with full loving awareness that person would be nourished and bloom like a flower.

A fuller description of this practice can be found here.

*A note of caution:

Of course, hugging can have a lot of other connotations for many people. Most typically it can be overlaid with sexual feelings. It is probably because of the need to maintain boundaries in this regard that many cultures do not hug so much.

It has certainly resulted in a dramatic change in counsellor’s and psychotherapist’s behaviours over the last 20 years. Hugging clients to control or validate them used to be common practice. Now it is hardly done at all because of fear of accusations of unprofessional behaviour.

That is a real pity! Perhaps as we become more mindful with our hugs, we will become better able to discern a really healthy hug from an empty hug and from a sleazy unwanted sexual hug.

Today is R U OK Day and we would like to support ruok.org.au's vision of "a world where we're all connected and are protected from suicide."

As a team of health care professionals with a passion for mental health, and in line with ruok.org.au's mission to "inspire and empower everyone to meaningfully connect with people around them and support anyone struggling with life", we would like to say that mindfulness can empower everyone to connect with themselves, as well as helping those affected by mental health and their families and carers.

Please feel free to get involved at www.ruok.org.au/get-involvedas well as direct those affected by suicide and their families and carers to our free Resources section at mindfulness.org.au/resources:

Destructive thoughts, anxiety and depressionCaring for CarersJust worrying techniqueetc.

We all have different neighbours. There are ones we love, ones we run the other way from when we see them, and ones we just want to hug! No matter how you feel about them, they are always in our lives and the noisy ones can be particularly challenging, especially when you are trying to do some well-deserved meditation. Let's get some tips from Dr. Walsh on what to do

"During my meditation this evening, I had just a very inspiring experience. My neighbours are always very noisy and this disturbed me much in my concentration.

But this time, I tried to change my usual attitude of anger, irritation and annoyance. I had the idea of treating the noise as a mindfulness bell, which takes me back to the present moment! This achieve amazing results. I never had such a relaxing and deep meditation before with so much noise around me. Instead of the noise being disturbing, it became a wonderful noise that reminds me to stay where I am and in the present.

Thank you dear neighbours for helping me!"

Is the Olympic Games in Rio motivating you to do more sport? Maybe you are or know someone who is already doing a sport, but want to take it to the next level like the Olympians?

Whatever the case, physical training on its own is no longer suffice. Strengthening you mind to cope with the mental, psychological and emotional pressure of training as well as competitions at the next level.

British diving ace, Tom Daley has been using mindfulness apps since the start of the year. He says, "Every morning I do 10 minutes of mindfulness, where I do meditation and I use that in competition and everyday life. I'm getting better and better in being able to zone in on what I need to focus on."

In 'How Mindfulness Propelled USA Olympic Water Polo Player Merrill Moses To The Olympics', discussed how USA Olympic water polo player Merrill Moses uses mindfulness and meditation to his advantage. He will be competing in his 3rd Olympic games, at the ripe old age of 38 - the majority of his teammates and competitors are in their 20s - impressive stuff!

So start your mental training with your physical one! Our free resources can be found at mindfulness.org.au/resources and don't forget to forward this onto your next-Olympian-friend (he or she may be famous one day)!

Following numerous requests from patients and coinciding with our support for the National Pain Week 2016, we would like to share Dr. Walsh's first publication on pain and how it can be managed by practical mindfulness approaches. The article is written in a real life case study format, which will benefit health care professionals, people suffering from pain and those who care for them.

According to Pain Australia, 1 in 5 Australians, including children and adolescents, and one in three people over 65 are affected by chronic pain*. When left untreated, it can have a devastating impact on all aspects of sufferers’ lives — such as sleep, sex, work, exercise and routine self-care. It can also severely impact personal relationships, social interactions and lifestyles.

Dr. Walsh has been employing mindfulness to help people suffering from chronic pain for decades. This publication gives you a rare glimpse into how Dr. Walsh achieves this via a real-life case study, where he explores how pain is perceived by the sufferer, how to change one's relationship with the pain through mindfulness, and the paradoxical effect of giving up trying to control the pain and having it under control.

Read the full article under our Resources section here.

Mindfulness is not just another analgesic.

The key to mindfulness is that it changes our relationship with pain.

We move from aversion to openhearted curiosity.

This allows the possibility of relating skilfully with pain

So that we can live creatively and joyfully

We all know the benefits of mindfulness. However, all the best intentions and benefits are lost if it is not correctly taught or practiced regularly. As we spend so much our time at work, the key question then is how can we successfully implement a mindfulness program or develop a culture of mindfulness in the workplace? The following step by step guide by The Huffington Post reporter, who implemented a global mindfulness program at SAP* is a good starting point:

"Step #1: Identify a leader that believes in the program and can sell it to the corporate team, and engage employees."

"Step #2: Educate corporate leadership on how mindfulness will help retain quality employees and establish a workplace where they could thrive."

Businesses like to invest in things that work. There are a lot of studies that you can quote to show that mindfulness can benefit employees. One example include, "one study of 102 restaurant servers found improved job performance and engagement after mindfulness training. Another study followed 89 employees of Dow in Midland, Michigan, after a seven-week online mindfulness program. Those who participated demonstrated everything from healthier eating habits to lower burnout at work.

Of course, any program can go off the rails if you’re not careful about how you implement it. Simply adding the word “mindfulness” before a training isn’t going to win over your conservative business types. And it’s not just managers that need to buy in - programs won’t make if a difference if employees aren’t engaged."

"Step #3: Test it out, and share research that demonstrates how this program can improve employee output and satisfaction at your company."

If you have done a course with us, you would know we provide ongoing assessment and questionnaires to help you monitor your progress. So, why not start something similar with the mindfulness initiative at work?

The author's 180 people "pilot program in Germany rated it 6.65 out of 7 - a roaring success. Even better for SAP, employee stress, well being and “change agility” (so critical for any tech company but especially a cloud leader) improved by about 10 percent just four weeks after the program".

"Step #4: Create a thoughtful, fully vetted program that can be adjusted to your specific company needs."

Quoting a Google example, when the program was marketed as a stress-reduction program, no-one signed up. "But when they rewrote the description to focus on interaction and emotional intelligence, they quickly had 140 takers. Creating that buy-in made all the difference."

We hope this guide is a good starting point for you to spread our mission of mindfulness in the work place. Good luck!

Read the full article here.

This year, Diabetes Australia will be highlighting the tragedy of diabetes-related amputations as the main theme for the National Diabetes Week 2016.

Every year, more than 4,400 amputations are carried out as a result of diabetes. We need to do more to reduce the impact of diabetes. Diabetes Victoria's 2016 campaign for National Diabetes Weeks focuses on the message: "Diabetes won't stop me". The Diabetes Victoria team will be out and about across Victoria showcasing the good work they do throughout the week.

We would also like to raise awareness for this campaign and let our community know that Diabetes Australia will be launching their campaign outside Royal Melbourne Hospital on Sunday July 10.

And of-course, we would like to reduce the impact of amputation by encouraging those who are suffering from diabetes and amputations to practise mindfulness. In this setting, evidence based mindfulness practices will help them adapting to this change both physically and emotionally, including anxiety and pain, as well as helping them to enjoy life's pleasures more. Start with our free Resources here.

Diabetes won't stop you from living your life to the fullest, doing mindfulness and strengthening your mind!

Conversation is one of the defining things that makes human special. And a good conversation can make our day or even weeks. But how does one lead or guide a good conversation? What can we do to improve our conversational skills to be better at it? This TED talk* explains how (see how much mindfulness can help):

Number 1. "Don't multitask. And I don't mean just set down your cell phone or your tablet or your car keys or whatever is in your hand. I mean, be present. Be in that moment. Don't think about your argument you had with your boss. Don't think about what you're going to have for dinner. If you want to get out of the conversation, get out of the conversation, but don't be half in it and half out of it.

If you would like to start training your mind to do this, begin with a daily dose of Mindfulness Check-In. This exercise trains your mind to come back to the present and topic at hand.

Number 2: "Don't pontificate. If you want to state your opinion without any opportunity for response or argument or pushback or growth, write a blog.

Everybody is an expert in something. Be curious. Better yet, use mindfulness to train your open hearted curiosity to yourself and others!

Number 3: In order to satisfy your curiosity, "use open-ended questions... Start your questions with who, what, when, where, why or how. If you put in a complicated question, you're going to get a simple answer out. If I ask you, "Were you terrified?" you're going to respond to the most powerful word in that sentence, which is "terrified," and the answer is "Yes, I was" or "No, I wasn't."

Number 4: "Go with the flow. That means thoughts will come into your mind and you need to let them go out of your mind. We've heard interviews often in which a guest is talking for several minutes and then the host comes back in and asks a question which seems like it comes out of nowhere, or it's already been answered." Focus on the present!

Number 5: "If you don't know, say that you don't know... Talk should not be cheap."

Number 6: Don't equate your experience with theirs. If they're talking about having lost a family member, don't start talking about the time you lost a family member. If they're talking about the trouble they're having at work, don't tell them about how much you hate your job. It's not the same. It is never the same. All experiences are individual. And, more importantly, it is not about you.

Number 7: "Try not to repeat yourself. It's condescending, and it's really boring, and we tend to do it a lot. Especially in work conversations or in conversations with our kids, we have a point to make, so we just keep rephrasing it over and over. Don't do that."

Number 8: "Stay out of the weeds. Frankly, people don't care about the years, the names, the dates, all those details that you're struggling to come up with in your mind. They don't care. What they care about is you. They care about what you're like, what you have in common. So forget the details. Leave them out."

People often do Step 7 and 8 on auto-pilot. Start your journey of turning that off by practicing mindfulness regularly.

Number 9: "This is ...the most important one. Listen. I cannot tell you how many really important people have said that listening is perhaps the most, the number one most important skill"that you could develop. Buddha said, and I'm paraphrasing, "If your mouth is open, you're not learning."And Calvin Coolidge said, "No man ever listened his way out of a job."

And what do we know, mindfulness trains ones listening skills!

Number 10, "and it's this one: Be brief. A good conversation is like a miniskirt; short enough to retain interest, but long enough to cover the subject. -- [presenter's] Sister"

In summary, build a good mindfulness foundation for yourself and try the 10 tips!

* See the original TED presentation here.

The Oxford Centre for Mindfulness recently reviewed the safety of mindfulness (yes, there are risks)! They compared it to assess the safety of physical exercise.*

Mostly, it is quite safe as long as it is not done in excessive amounts and as long as the meditator/ exerciser doesn't have a significant pre-existing vulnerability or illness. In those cases, the participant needs an experienced coach you can assess and develop a tailored training program whether it be physical exercise or mindfulness training.

In the case of mindfulness, it is important to recognise that most trainers do not have significant training in mental health issues. Participants who are particularly vulnerable are those with mental health conditions such as severe anxiety, depression, personality disorders or a history of psychosis as well as people with a past history of trauma who can also have unexpected reactions.

Moreover intensive trainings, such as retreats, can stress anyone. In these intensive trainings, it is important that the trainer is teaching an evidence based approach and that they have the training and /or the back up to deal with whatever arises.

If you would like to know more about how to find a good mindfulness teacher click here, and an excerpt is outlined below:

ASSESSING TEACHER'S ATTITUDE AND UNDERSTANDING

Does the practitioner promote an attitude of compassion and understanding of all or do they denigrate certain groups?

For example, males or females, perpetrators or victims, various religious or political groupings. Beware of liking a teacher just because their prejudices align with your own.

Does the teacher focus mostly on relaxation or awareness?

Even though relaxation is part of mindfulness, it is not the main game. The main game is changing the way you relate to your thoughts, feelings and experiences by cultivating non-judgemental awareness. If your teacher is not making that clear then they don’t really understand mindfulness themselves. A good teacher should be able to make it clear as to how you train yourself to change the way you relate to your experiences.

Is the teacher’s main focus on helping you to learn how to be with whatever experience arises rather than trying to control it?

That is the correct focus but many teachers try to teach you to change your experience using visualisations or breath control techniques. This is not mindfulness. There is no evidence that is helps any more than reading an enjoyable book. Visualisations and breathing exercises can be used along with other techniques like exercise or physical yoga to set yourself up to practice. All of these practices can also be done mindfully. That is applied mindfulness. That is quite different and in fact very useful.

However, when these practices are habitually done to avoid unpleasant sensations and maximise pleasant sensations, they are working against the core element of mindfulness, which is here and now non-judgmental awareness or an openhearted curiosity. Avoiding unpleasant sensations and maximising pleasant sensations is still teaching you to run way from yourself. As long as you do that you can never find an authentic deep inner peace and it won’t help you to be more skilful in your day-to-day interactions and activities.

Does the teacher recognise their own limits?

For example, do they acknowledge whether they have mental health training. If not do they refer on to someone who does have that training or do they at least have back up from someone who does?

*See the original article here.

We are very excited to raise awareness for Dr. Walsh’s ongoing support for the Chris Millar Foundation for Integrative Medicine (CMFIM). We hope you can also kindly share CMFIM’s mission and great work with your family and friends.

CMFIM:

The foundation was established in 2015 and aims to preserve and continue the vision of the late Dr. Chris Millar, who was the founder of Menssana Mindbody Medicine, an integrative medical practice in

Ballarat. The organization promotes integrative medicine within the medical profession and the wider community.

Our involvement:

As a close colleague and friend of Dr. Millar, Dr. Walsh has been heavily involved in CMFIM since the very beginning. On the 31 July, Dr. Walsh will be speaking and participating in panel discussion on mindfulness and integrative medicine, followed by a private screening of "True Stories of Recovery". The heart felt documentary explores the director, Shannon Harvey's journey to recovery form debilitating illness by building a strong connection with her mind, as well as many true stories of people adding mind body medicine to their healing toolkit to recover from severe back pain, heart disease, infertility, cancer and multiple sclerosis. The film also features interviews with many world renowned integrative medical professionals, clinicians and researchers.

Screening Details:

Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka (M.A.D.E.)

102 Stawell Street South, Ballarat, Victoria

Sunday, 31 July 2016

2.30pm – 4.30pm Cost: $15

Guest speakers include mindfulness pioneers:

A/Prof Dr Craig Hassed (via Skype) & Dr Chris Walsh

Today is United Nation's World Drug Day: International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, where "on this [day, UN Secretary-General, Ban Hi-moon calls] on countries and communities to continue to improve the lives of everyone blighted by drug abuse by integrating security and public safety with a heightened focus on health, human rights, and sustainable development."*

This year's theme is 'Listen First', which is an initiative to increase support for prevention of drug use that is based on science and starts with listening/ understanding those affected. "It is thus an effective investment in the well-being of children and youth, their families and their communities."*

Mindfulness can help by:

Increase your listening skills to help those affected

Please visit the official World Drug Day: International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking here.

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There is a great deal of evidence that mindfulness is of great benefit to men’s health. There are also some very useful practices men can use to get started (see our latest Blog post here). However, mindfulness can be easily dismissed as a woman’s activity. How can you convince your beloved partner, husband, boyfriend, uncle, father, grandfather, brother … to participate and benefit from mindfulness?

The following points may help:

Great sporting teams use it, such as the Australian cricket team, NBA championship teams the LA Lakers and the ,Chicago Bulls etc.

Mindfulness is part of innate hunting behaviour.

It improves work performance and general health.

It can protect against developing addictions as well as enhancing the ability to handle stress well.

It decreases the risk of getting colds and flu and keeps the blood pressure down.

It can also help you to be a better communicator and a better lover and let’s face it that’s not a bad thing for most blokes!

Click herefor the full article.

This week is Men's Health Week. As some of you may be aware, "the health status of males in most countries, including Australia, is generally poorer than that of females... More males die at every stages through the life course, more males have accidents, more males take their own lives and more males suffer from lifestyle-related health conditions than females at the same age."*

We would like to throw our support behind this great cause by sharing how mindfulness can help with your or your husband/ boyfriend/ partner/ brother/ father/ grand-father...'

1. Physical health

We spend up to 80% of our working hours seated but extended sitting puts you at increased risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. For over ten years, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute's (Baker IDI) Physical Activity laboratory has been researching the effects of sedentary behaviour on health, which have consistently shown the following health effects are associated with excessive sitting: greater risk of premature death greater risk of early death due to a cardiovascular event association with known risk factors of chronic disease.

2. Mental health

Due to various factors such as cultural, genetics and behavioral, mental health has been a difficult arena to combat for males. Beyond Blue estimates "men account for 75 per cent of deaths by suicide" in Australia.

How can mindfulness help:

Savouring Walking

Next time when you have spent too much time sitting at work, take a 20-minute walk. But instead of just walking mundanely on autopilot, be deliberately mindful and observe the sights, sounds, and smells you encounter—freshly cut grass, a beautiful building, a stranger’s smile.

Each time you notice something positive, take the time to absorb it and feel it in your body and enjoy it. This savouring involves coming back to the present, coming back to our senses – one of the two essential components of mindfulness. The other component, of course, is open hearted curiosity or non judgmental awareness.

On your subsequent Savouring Walks, strike out in different directions to seek new things to admire. Novelty keeps us engaged so we are less likely to start zoning out and walking on autopilot thinking about other things like work or something in the house that needs fixing.

There are 4 main destructive thought habits that we often experience in our daily lives: catastrophising, focusing on the negative, blaming and worrying. These thoughts can cause clinical anxiety and depression. By taking a mindful approach to those thought behaviours and cultivating the ability to be more aware of these mind traps will help you break free from them and shift your attention to more effective ways of interacting with life.

The mindfulness approach here is discussed in detail under our Resources section for the General Public. Click herefor the full publication.

* See Men's Health Week official site herefor near by events or donation

Much has been written about the benefits of mindfulness for people suffering a whole array of medical and psychiatric conditions. But what about the carers?

Together with our recently support for the National Palliative Care Week 2016, Dr. Walsh published his latest article titled Caring for Carers, which explains the four main types of emotional and psychological challenges faced by carers today, as well as a practical mindfulness practice to help them.

Over many years of practice, Dr. Walsh has found this practice useful and effective. Please feel free to forward this to any family or friends currently devoting their lives helping those they love, who are unfortunately faced with severe illnesses, death or disabled.

In case you have missed out on the stress people face in today's corporate world and how mindfulness plays a role, here is another:

"... Even a quick look at what’s happening in the American workplace shows that it’s a seriously split-screen world. On the one hand, there’s the stressful world of quarterly earnings reports, beating growth expectations, hard-charging CEOs, and focusing on the bottom line — the world that is the usual focus of CNBC and Squawk Box. On the other hand, there’s the world populated by the growing awareness of the costs of stress, not just in the health and well-being of business leaders and employees, but on the bottom line as well.

There is a growing body of scientific evidence that shows that these two worlds are, in fact, very much aligned — or at least that they can, and should, be

...

Making money and doing good in the world are not mutually exclusive!

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One of the best — and cheapest — ways to become healthier and happier is through mindfulness exercises like meditation." The training enhances neuronal connections and acts as a "a kind of mental training."*

The evidence is clear:

Stress reduces happiness which reduces productivityMindfulness acts as an antidote to burnout, reducing percentage of burnout in high pressured professions such as medical doctorsincreasing happiness and reducing burnout increases talent retention and improves company culture.

"One company that “gets it,” and has since its inception, is Google. One of the most popular classes it offers employees is known as S.I.Y., short for “Search Inside Yourself.” It was started by Chade-Meng Tan, engineer, Google employee number 107, and the author of Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace). The course has three parts: attention training, self-knowledge, and building useful mental habits. “I’m definitely much more resilient as a leader,”"*

So, the evidence is clear. Why not start practising today to help yourself and your organisation? Remember to practice regularly and there are a lot of resources to help you along, such as the ones located here. If you need a hand for training, remember to let us know.

*Click herefor the original article.

Despite the increasing prevalence of chronic illnesses and focus on quality of life, the need for high quality, innovative and multidisciplinary (involving all health care professionals including doctors, nurses, allied health etc.) palliative care in Australia is more important than ever.

National Palliative Care Week is an awareness raising week organised by Palliative Care Australia (PCA) supported the Department of Health to raise awareness and understanding about palliative care in the Australian community. We would also like to take this opportunity to offer our support for this cause.

What is palliative care?

For those who doesn't know, PCA defines palliative care as the "care that helps people live their life as fully and as comfortably as possible when living with a life-limiting or terminal illness.

Palliative care identifies and treats symptoms which may be physical, emotional, spiritual or social. Because palliative care is based on individual needs, the services offered will differ but may include:

Relief of pain and other symptoms e.g. vomiting, shortness of breathResources such as equipment needed to aid care at homeAssistance for families to come together to talk about sensitive issuesLinks to other services such as home help and financial supportSupport for people to meet cultural obligationsSupport for emotional, social and spiritual concernsCounselling and grief supportReferrals to respite care services

Palliative care is a family-centred model of care, meaning that family and carers can receive practical and emotional support."

Palliative and Mindfulness

We believe mindfulness has a role to play and can be integrated into palliative care for patients, families and friends. Our Resourcessection contains useful guides and practices to help them, including:

We hope our efforts can make a small difference in palliative care. Please feel free to share this with those you know who may benefit. We know this may just be another thing on their already information overflown mind, but we do believe this can help.

Please contact us if you have any questions about our mindfulness approach or training.

Click hereto find out more about National Palliative Care week including how to promote their campaign.

We all know mindfulness is extremely popular amongst business professionals and executives. However, is what they are practicing mindfulness and is this corporate approach corrupting mindfulness?

Thich Nhat Hanh, the 87-year-old Zen master considered by many to be the father of mindfulness in the west, says as long as business leaders practice "true" mindfulness, it does not matter if the original intention is triggered by wanting to be more effective at work or to make bigger profits. That is because the practice will fundamentally change their perspective on life as it naturally opens hearts to greater compassion and develops the desire to end the suffering of others.

On the other hand, some Buddhist masters disagree and say that if executives are in the practice for selfish reasons, then they are experiencing a mere pale shadow of mindfulness. They say that if you don't feel the energy of brotherhood, of sisterhood, radiating from your work, that is not mindfulness.

The tension occurs in the opposite direction in the business world where some get quite nervous about the association of mindfulness with a practice that may lead people to take issues like ethics and work life balance seriously.*

At mindfulness.org.au, we often think: wouldn’t it be a wonderful world where people could both work more efficiently and also have more ethical, balanced and fulfilling lives!

*To read the full article from The Guardian, click here.

This writing exercise suggested by Business Insider is interesting. It helps you to better cope with your negative emotions by becoming more aware of them (see the video here).

Similarly, the Mindfulness Check In approach can also help you become more aware of your thoughts/ emotions, which allows you to better transition between situation.

Some times mindfulness is made out to be more complicated than it needs to be. If you are overwhelmed, start with the following 5 steps as summarised by the Entrepreneur* and our resourcesto guide you:

1. Focus on your breathing:

Sit in a comfortable chair with your feet flat on the floor, and spend a few minutes doing nothing but breathing slowly in and out. Focus all your attention on your breath. Feel the air travel into your mouth, down your windpipe, and into your lungs. Then feel your body shift as it pushes the air out of your lungs. When thoughts surface that distract you from your breathing, don’t worry. Just let them pass, and shift your attention back to your breathing. After some practice, you should be able to spend a few to several minutes doing nothing but immersing yourself in the act of breathing, at the expense of all the other thoughts.

Be guided by our Multimedia resources here.

2. Go for a walk

You can also meditate just by going for a walk. All you need to do is focus on each step. Feel your legs move and your feet hit the ground. Focus solely on the act of walking and the sensations of your surroundings (the cool breeze, the hot sun, or the dog barking in the distance). When you feel other thoughts creeping into your mind, focus even harder on the sensation of walking. Focusing on something that’s second nature is refreshing because it alters your frame of mind as you turn off the never-ending stream of thoughts that normally dominate your attention. You can do the same thing when you brush your teeth, comb your hair, or eat a meal.

Also see Savouring walking here.

3. Feel your body

You don’t even need to stop doing what you’re doing to practice mindfulness. All you have to do is focus all of your attention on what you’re doing without thinking about why you’re doing it, what you should do next, or what you should be doing. Whether it’s the gentle stroke of your fingers on the keyboard or your posture in your chair, you can direct your attention from your thoughts to your bodily sensations at the spur of the moment.

A simple body scan audio soundtrack can guide you in this.

4. Repeat one positive thing about yourself, over and over. One of the main goals of mindfulness is to stop the steam of thoughts that cycle through your mind over and over again each day. Funnily enough, a great way to do this is to choose a short, positive message about yourself and to repeat it over and over with each breath to keep your mind on track. A great phrase of choice is “I am capable.” The simplicity keeps you grounded in the exercise and keeps other thoughts from taking over. The right phrase also builds a little confidence, which never hurts.

Consider taking a longer term approach to this by using the Pleasant

5. Interrupt the stress cycle.

Any moment when you feel stressed, overwhelmed, or stuck on something is the perfect moment to practice mindfulness. Just stop what you’re doing, let the thoughts go for a moment, and practice your favorite mindfulness technique (breathing, walking, or focusing on body sensations). Even a few minutes of this can make a huge difference in quieting your mind and reducing stress. You’ll be surprised how reasonable things look once you’ve taken a few moments to clear your head.

Be guided by the Mindful Check In technique here.

Bringing it all together and as we always say, practice regularly to harness all the benefits of mindfulness.

*Read the full article here

This month is a busy month for mindfulness. This whole month is Mindful in May, where you can really knuckle down on your regular mindfulness practice (let's start with 10min a day) to raise money for clean water.

This Saturday is also Play Outside Day. May we suggest a mindful meditation outside, may be a mindful walking meditation or simply incorporate a mindful approach to your outdoors activity! Please find your basic mindfulness Resources here, Savouring (mindful) walking here and applying mindfulness to your daily activity here.

Many of those good things lie just outside our doorstep, and we can practice noticing them by taking a Savouring Walk. You take a 20-minute walk where you are deliberately mindful, observing the sights, sounds, and smells you encounter—freshly cut grass, a beautiful building, a stranger’s smile. Each time you notice something positive, take the time to absorb it and feel it in your body and enjoy it. This savouring involves coming back to the present, coming back to our senses – one of the two essential components of mindfulness. The other component, of course, is open hearted curiosity or non judgmental awareness.

(note, you can listen to our Mindful Walking soundtrack under our Multimedia resourcessection)

On your subsequent Savouring Walks, strike out in different directions to seek new things to admire. Novelty keeps us engaged so we are less likely to start zoning out and walking on autopilot thinking about other things like work or something in the house that needs fixing.

In a study by Fred Bryant of Loyola University Chicago, participants who took Savouring Walks daily for a week reported greater increases in happiness than participants who went for walks as usual. “Making a conscious effort to notice and explicitly acknowledge the various sources of joy around us can make us happier,” write Bryant and Joseph Veroff in the book Savoring.

Simply put, addiction starts with a "reward-based learning process... called positive and negative reinforcement, and basically goes like this - we see some food that looks good, our brain says, "Calories! ... Survival!" We eat the food, we taste it -- it tastes good. And especially with sugar, our bodies send a signal to our brain that says, "Remember what you're eating and where you found it." We lay down this context-dependent memory and learn to repeat the process next time. See food, eat food, feel good, repeat. Trigger, behavior, reward."

Smoking is the same. As Judson Brewer (psychiatrist and addiction expert) puts it: "Maybe in our teenage years, we were a nerd at school, and we see those rebel kids outside smoking and we think, "Hey, I want to be cool." So we start smoking. The Marlboro Man wasn't a dork, and that was no accident. See cool, smoke to be cool, feel good. Repeat. Trigger, behavior, reward.

And each time we do this, we learn to repeat the process and it becomes a habit. So later, feeling stressed out triggers that urge to smoke a cigarette or to eat something sweet.

Now, with these same brain processes, we've gone from learning to survive to literally killing ourselves with these habits. Obesity and smoking are among the leading preventable causes of morbidity and mortality in the world." But mindfulness can help. We can do this by being curious to it. In the study, "we dropped the bit about forcing and instead focused on being curious. In fact, we even told them to smoke. What? Yeah, we said, "Go ahead and smoke, just be really curious about what it's like when you do."

And what did they notice? Well here's an example from one of our smokers. She said, "Mindful smoking: smells like stinky cheese and tastes like chemicals, YUCK!"

Now, she knew, cognitively that smoking was bad for her, that's why she joined our program. What she discovered just by being curiously aware when she smoked was that smoking tastes like shit. Now, she moved from knowledge to wisdom. She moved from knowing in her head that smoking was bad for her to knowing it in her bones, and the spell of smoking was broken. She started to become disenchanted with her behavior."

Listen to the whole TED talk by Dr. Judson Brewer here. and also check out our article on Urge Surfing here. Don't forget to share with your loved ones who may benefit from this.

If we don’t feel happy, it’s tempting to look for things to fix: the job that isn’t prestigious enough, the apartment that’s too cramped, our partner’s annoying habit. But focusing on all the negatives is a guaranteed way to feel even worse. Instead, a simple way to start cultivating happiness is by recognizing the good - good old fashioned counting your blessings!

A pleasant moments calendar is a really good way of doing this. At the end of each day, just spend 5 minutes to remember and jot down 3 pleasant moments you can remember from that day. For example, you might recall a heartfelt thank you from a co-worker, a quiet moment drinking tea, or a child’s infectious laughter. When you notice these moments, breathe them in and mindfully notice the sensations in your body during the pleasant moment. You can do the same when you recall the pleasant moment as you write it down later in the day. As your awareness improves you might even notice your day being full of pleasant moments- moments that previously went under the radar. The effect of this can be wonderful just on its own

In a 2005 study Martin Seligman (Seligman, Steen et al. 2005) invited participants to join in a Three Good Things exercise. After doing this for a week the participants reported feeling happier and less depressed than when they started. In fact, they maintained their happiness boost six months later, illustrating how impactful it can be to focus on the good things in life.

Seligman, M. E., T. A. Steen, N. Park and C. Peterson (2005). "Positive psychology progress: empirical validation of interventions." American psychologist 60(5): 410.

We are very excited to announce that our Level 1 Mindfulness with Dr. Walsh training course for April 20th is fully booked. We are looking forward to starting the mindfulness journey with our new Level 1 participants very soon!

Please contact us by phone or via our contact card to secure your spot in our next upcoming courses:

Level 1: 01 June 2016 for 4 weeksLevel 2: 06 July 2016 for 4 weeks

How?

Many mindfulness courses include an exercise of eating of a raisin. By adding mindfulness to this simple process it can become a full on sensual experience. Mindfulness can enhance any sensory experience in this way, including making love. With regular mindfulness practice there are even more benefits. Mindfulness grows a number of parts of your brain. One part is called the insula. The insula helps you to manage your attention, your body awareness and your emotions.*

This bigger stronger juicer insula allows you to

be more physically presentbe more emotionally presenttake feedback without getting defensivebe more spontaneous be more receptive to genuine connection

All of the above support a much more satisfying sexual connection with your partner.

*Read more at http://goo.gl/Ict3eF

In the spirit of continuously helping today's commoditise McMindfulness society to #demystify #mindfulness, here are 5 things people get wrong about #mindfulness.

Myth 1: Mindfulness fixes something that’s wrong with you

Myth 2: The result of meditation is a boring, bland, cult-like calmness and complacency (see Urge Surfing on how mindfulness can help with addictive behaviours)

Myth 3: Mindfulness is just #Buddhism in disguise

Myth 4: Mindfulness is being used to create perfect killers... and capitalists

Myth 5: Mindfulness is just the next trendy industry (you may like our publication on #McMindfulness and how to find a mindfulness teacher - click here)

'The other morning, I woke up and brewed a cup of Mindful Lotus tea ($6 for 20 bags). On the subway, I loaded the Headspace app on my iPhone and followed a guided mindfulness exercise ($13 a month for premium content). Later in the day, I dropped by Mndfl, a meditation studio in Greenwich Village ($20 for a 45-minute class)

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But with so many cashing in on the meditation craze, it’s hard not to wonder whether something essential is being lost. If mindfulness can be bought as easily as a pair of Lululemon yoga pants, can it truly be a transformative practice that eases the troubled mind? It’s a question as slippery as a Zen koan...'*

#Mindfulness simply can't be #brought and there is no quick fix. To gain its full benefit of enhancing resilience, emotional intelligence, stress management and creativity, you need to #practice regularly and #train your #mind. It's like a #muscle that strengthens with regular #exercise and training. Start the journey via our open #resource at mindfulness.org.au/resources

*read more at http://goo.gl/Qu178I

If you find #mindfulness #courses daunting. Begin with these 5 ways, which will #introduce you the #basic #concept of #mindfulness. Please note though, most of the benefits of #mindfulness are realised with #regular and #evidencebased training. http://goo.gl/NQ4YWv

Happy #Easter everyone. Please remember to take sometime out for #yourself and #mindfulness by following our #soundtracks at http://goo.gl/HJeC8q

There has been a lot of publications on #mindfulness, but it's interesting we don't talk about #mindlessness now days. It seems that they are both easy to achieve. May be #mindfulness is the way to go? Read an interesting and short #comparison here by Harvard Business Reivew #HBR https://goo.gl/UI2G9G

Ten #easy, #free, completely #serious (somewhat) and may be #painful (see #sunburn) ways to practice #mindfulness http://goo.gl/pxvk1n #breathe #solitaire #beach #wormfarm #banjo #definemindfulness

We often hear about the #benefits and theories associated with #mindfulness. For a personal account of #mindfulness in practice for leaders, see case study by #McKinsey http://goo.gl/BHOJN1

#Mindfulness can be incorporated into daily lives via a variety of #techniques. When done #correctly and #consistently, it can enhance #pleasant experiences, such as bringing forgotten #positive experiences back into #awareness. Read more in our latest publication http://goo.gl/Vo0FDu

The Mindful Check in is like a snap shot of your state of mind at any particular moment.

It helps to:

enhance positive experiences

to manage difficult experiences

manage transitions

"The neuroscience of mindfulness techniques is more convincing than ever

...

[However,] there is an increasingly nuanced understanding of the potential benefits and risks of mindfulness strategies (including meditation and yoga) in the workplace

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Workplace mindfulness is coming of age in a sophisticated way. Its success will depend on careful exploration and open discussion of its potential benefits and risks. Business leaders ought to educate themselves about the research that supports mindfulness, while considering best practices for incorporating mindfulness strategies in the workplace so as to avert its potential pitfalls..." read more at http://goo.gl/Kpi8co

Discuss or learn more about mindfulness at the workplace by contacting us about Mindfuless with Dr. Walsh in the coporate setting.

At mindfulness.org.au, we often compare mindfulness to exercise for your brain. Like a gym membership, it builds power, stamina and agility http://goo.gl/LDo9kY

#‎Mindfulness‬ meditation provides opioid-free ‪‎pain‬ relief, study finds http://goo.gl/fEVmys