Loving Kindfulness. firstly to the self is the powerful antidote to modern living!
Mindfulness and kindness are the two wings to help you soar to the dizzy heights of insightful wisdom, unconditional joy, and deep peace.
We believe rather than using the word mindfulness, perhaps Loving-kindfulness is better—it reminds you to be forgiving and friendly as to your practice.
Mindfulness without kindness becomes dry, boring, and cold. Kindness without mindfulness is hard to imagine. How can you be kind if you’re not aware of what you’re being kind to?
Most good meditation encourages a warm, kind, and friendly awareness. We think rather than using the word mindfulness, perhaps kindfulness is better—it reminds you to be forgiving and friendly as you practice.
Can we give you an example? Sure! We often help people deal with modern anxiety problems. , We’ve ensured that the meditations and practises are infused with kindness and compassion, not just mindful awareness.
So let’s consider the following scenario: Imagine you’re feeling stressed right now about a personal family meeting you have later today. How do you meet that with kindfulness?
First stage: Start with mindfulness. How do you know you’re stressed? Is there tightness in your stomach or a tension in your shoulders? Do you have a headache or is your heart racing. That’s the mindfulness bit. You’re getting feedback. Getting feedback is one of the functions of mindfulness.
Next stage—Loving-kindness. Send kindness, warmth, and friendliness to your feelings of stress. Feel the stress like you’d hold a young baby, a delicate flower, or a cuddly bear. Be with the sensations using your heart, not just your head. Try this for a few minutes or so if you can.
Final stage—Kindfulness again. Notice what effect your little efforts had. Did the Kindfulness work? Do you feel better or worse? This way, you discover which attitudes work and which don’t. Either way, you learn something.
Kindfulness is not just for stress. You can also apply Kindfulness to your daily practice.
Begin by noticing the effect of your practice, whatever that is—meditation, yoga, mindful movement, jogging, consciously swimming backwards with one arm.
Whatever your thing is, notice how you feel afterwards.
If you feel warm, fuzzy, relaxed, calm, and generally happy with yourself, you’re probably mixing mindful awareness with compassion. Well done you!
If you feel relieved that you can finally stop meditating or walking mindfully or whatever your thing is, you’re probably trying too hard. And lacking in friendliness.
If that’s you, try these simple steps:
As you’re meditating, place your hand on your heart.
The warmth of your hand encourages a compassion feeling to whatever you’re focusing on.
Smile (please).
This is mindful time for you, not self-torture. And if you can’t smile, use your two fingers to push up the corners of your mouth and hold them there for a while….I’m serious!
Pay attention to whatever your focus is, using your heart, not just your head.
Feel the breath with emotion if you can, rather than noticing the sensation in a cold, non-judgmental way.
Cuddle more.
Cuddle a teddy bear as you meditate. Cuddle your laptop when it stops working. Cuddle yourself whenever you feel a bit down. Cuddling rules.
Soften your self talk.
Say soothing words to yourself. Stuff like “relax,” “take it easy,” “breathe, GATZO….breathe…..” Say GATZO…say whatever your name is…
How do you mix loving with kindfulness? What practices work best for you personally? Please do share your ideas if you have a bit of time.
The Ten Stages is a studied recovery course. It is a source of reconnection a method of unlearning and a reintroduction to our child within which leads us back to our one true intuitive voice.We start to learn and come out of our protective dysfunctional shell and reclaim our lives. #childwithin#10stages
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