Category: Somatic Therapy

Why Clearing Your Mind In Meditation Is Not Possible (And What To Do Instead)

When I teach people to practice mindfulness, the first hurdle I have to overcome is the common misconception that you have to empty your mind to meditate.

Despite me teaching that thoughts will come and just to let them be, the empty your mind belief can be very pervasive.

Emptying Your Mind Is Not How You Meditate

Frequently I will teach someone a simple mindfulness technique and the next time I see them they say they are struggling to empty their mind.

That is not how mindfulness meditation works.

Striving To Empty Your Mind Leads to Feeling a Failure When You Are Not

It is impossible to empty your mind and the effort to do that and the feeling of failure when that doesn’t happen is unhelpful.

In mindfulness, you focus on something and just allow other thoughts to be there without engaging with them.

The Waiting Room Analogy

I often describe it as sitting in a waiting room. Someone else walks in and you see them but you don’t talk to them. It is this way with thoughts. You see the thought is there and you even name it. But you don’t engage with it.

An example of this would be that you are practising focusing on your breath. Suddenly the thought that you need to buy milk pops into your mind. You could engage with that thought and think about when you can do that, where you will buy it from, how you will get to the shop to buy it, how you will fit that in with other things you need to do, and then start worrying that the milk you want to buy may not be at the shop you have selected, so where would be a better place to buy it from?

Sound familiar?

Don’t Engage With The Milk, Try This Instead

An alternative is to notice that the thought of buying milk has popped into your consciousness but that you will worry about that when you are finished with your mindfulness practice. Then you go back to focusing on your breath.

That is how you practice not engaging with the thought.

A Good Way To Get Started

One usual way to start learning mindfulness is to focus on your breath. Just pay attention to the breath in and then the breath out.

If you are breathing in and out and paying attention to that breathing you may find your mind wanders to another thought. When that happens, don’t chastise yourself. Don’t be angry. Just gently and kindly acknowledge the thought and put it to one side. Then bring your attention back to your breathing.

How Often Should I Practice and For How Long?

Just practice this mindfulness technique for about 5 minutes every day. Focus on your in breath and out breath.

It can be helpful to say to yourself “I am breathing in” and “I am breathing out”.

Once you have said I am breathing in/out a few times you can breathe in “peace” and “breathe” out tension.

You can quickly scan your body for any areas of tension and breathe peace into them, and breathe the tension out.

How do you time your five minutes?

You can use the timer on your phone, a kitchen timer or you can use an app such as “Insight Timer” that allows you to set a 5 minute meditation that will make a sound at the end.

The Benefits of Mindfulness

Learning mindfulness is a great way to learn to understand what you are feeling. So many people arrive at adulthood unsure of what they are feeling. Childhood is often a time when children are taught by adults to override their feelings and children can grow mistrustful of what they are feeling.

In the rush of life it is easy to get in the habit of pushing feelings and body sensations aside. Then it becomes hard to identify what you are feeling. Mindfulness is an important way to reconnect with your feelings.

Mindfulness Helps You Understand What You Are Feeling

When you are struggling with challenges in life it can be hard understanding what you are feeling or even if you are feeling anything at all.

This is where mindfulness is helpful.

I find that teaching the people who come to see me how to be mindful is a great step to unravelling those difficulties in life that have brought them to see me.

Can I Help?

If you would like to talk to me about how I can help you with learning mindfulness and learning to understand your feelings and body sensations, please contact me on 0409396608 or nan@plentifullifecounselling.com.au

If you would like to learn more, I write a regular newsletter with helpful information, tips, information on courses, and the occasional freebie. At the moment I have a free mindfulness meditation for anyone who signs up to my newsletter. This meditation offers a way to safely explore your feelings and learn to be okay with them. If you would like to subscribe please click on the link here: http://eepurl.com/g8Jpiz

Why Is Your Body So Important In Trauma Treatment?

For many years, it has been known amongst Trauma Practitioners that the body plays an important role in trauma.

For decades, the mind and emotions were focused on as the areas where trauma impacted. But research over the past decades has changed that.

Somatic Therapy

Somatic Therapy, as practiced by therapists such as Pat Ogden is one area of work in the way we hold our bodies as having an impact on our mood as well as holding uncompleted defensive actions from our past.

Peter Levine, with his breakthrough book “Waking the Tiger” works to release trauma from the body where it is trapped in incomplete movements.

Bessel van der Kolk, with his book “The Body Keeps the Score” is another who has presented the evidence that trauma is stored in the body.

The Impact Of Your Body Posture On Your Mood.

More recent research has shown that your posture and the way you hold your body has a major impact on how you feel and how shifts in posture can release stress.

Big expansive poses such as the so-called power poses are empowering and stress relieving. Power poses include standing with your arms outstretched or on your hips, or sitting with your arms outstretched and leaning back.

The opposite of these poses, ones that trap stress hormones in the body include any posture where you hold yourself as small as possible. These include hunching forward and crossing your arms and legs slumping with your shoulders hunched forward and your head hanging down.

Body Poses That Empower

Poses that open up your vulnerable front, such as the power poses empower you whereas poses that close up your vulnerable front, disempower you.

Bessel van der Kolk often mentions in his lectures the impact of taking a person who is sitting slumped in front of him and directing them to sit up and pull their shoulders back. He reports that the person’s mood immediately lifts.

It is worth remembering the importance of posture when you are feeling stressed, or nervous about meeting certain people. Stand up, pull your shoulders back, gaze ahead, don’t look down. You will find your ability to remain calm will increase and your mood will improve.

Trauma Stuck In The Body Needs To Be Released

As for trauma stored in your body. That trauma needs to be released. I mentioned earlier how Pat Ogden and Peter Levine work with completing uncompleted defensive actions from the past. This is very helpful. I use this approach often when working with people. Being able to complete defensive actions that were not able to be used when the original trauma happened is very powerful.

It is also helpful to adopt practices to help you release the trauma. There are many different practices, although the one most often used is Yoga, which is a particularly well-known approach and there are Yoga practitioners who work with releasing trauma. Movement therapy can also be helpful.

Mindfulness can be used to feel into parts of the body and work with the movements those parts need to complete as well as the trauma those parts need to release.

Can I Help?

If you would like to talk to me about how I can help you with releasing trauma from your body, please contact me on 0409396608 or nan@plentifullifecounselling.com.au

If you would like to learn more, I write a regular newsletter with helpful information, tips, information on courses, and the occasional freebie. At the moment I have a free mindfulness meditation for anyone who signs up to my newsletter. This meditation offers a way to safely explore your feelings and learn to be okay with them. If you would like to subscribe please click on the link here: https://eepurl.com/g8Jpiz