I wish them the best in their teaching careers and look forward to hearing about how their journeys continue.

Research has shown that the areas of our brains that are affected when an event happens to us are also affected by our own thoughts, feelings and self-talk. For example, a scary movie might increase your heart rate or make you feel nervous and on edge. But visualising identical scenes yourself can also have the same effect on the same areas of your brain, your heart rate, hormones and body. Going on holidays can be a time of ease, stress relief, joy and indulgence. But visualising, thinking about and immersing yourself in the idea of an upcoming holiday can have the same effect on our mind, emotion and body. In fact, the same areas of the brain show this activity. This is one of the most important points to note for self-compassion, because when you realise that the thoughts and feelings you generate (either idly or with intention) have a profound effect on your mind and body, you can begin to see why it’s worth applying yourself to this skill which serves us so well. By regularly immersing yourself in this state you can change your brain, body and by extension, experience the benefits in your life and relationships. For over twenty years now I’ve included this form of self-development in my work with people when it seems helpful. I have seen the transformation take place in people in my private practice as well as over multiple retreats. Ultimately, compassion creates emotions, motivations and abilities to be supportive, kind, understanding and helpful to ourselves and others.

References:

– Antoine Lutz1*, Julie Brefczynski-Lewis2, Tom Johnstone3, Richard J. Davidson1* “Regulation of the Neural Circuitry of Emotion by Compassion Meditation: Effects of Meditative Expertise”,1 University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America, 2 West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America, 3 University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom

– Lucre1, Katherine M. Cortenz, Naomi. (2012) “An exploration of group compassion-focused therapy for personality disorder Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice”(2012) C 2012 The British Psychological Society49- Gilbert, Paul (2014)“The origins and nature of compassion focused therapy” British Journal of Clinical Psychology (2014), 53, 6–41 © 2014 The British Psychological Society

– Goleman, D. “Destructive emotions: how can we overcome them?: a scientific dialogue with the Dalai Lama”. New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books; 2003

Please be mindful not to overextend or push yourself. Do these gently and if you have any issues please check in with a sports therapist, osteopath, doctor, physio or whoever you use. I always recommend Cian Flynn (086-8594818), as he is excellent with physical issues. Office hours only.

In this video I am teaching a small group so when I say “right leg” I’m using my left leg as I am mirroring the group.

Congratulations to the latest graduates, all of whom are now officially recognised yoga teachers. Whatever path you choose from here – whether in Galway, Ireland or beyond – may you find that what you’ve learned is beneficial to your lives as well as your work.

Mingyur Rinpoche suffered from anxiety as a child. He asked his parents for permission to join a monastery for two years and it was here that he learned how to overcome fear by using awareness and sensation.

Awareness

Awareness is like space and it’s nature can never change. It’s behind all thought, emotion, perception, feeling (eg panic). These happenings like panic are like snow storms. Welcome the happenings, even if it’s panic. After time, you will become friends. It will be your teacher, friend and support your meditation. This is life changing once you commit.

You have awareness all the time. But meditation is about gaining awareness. So why meditate if we always have it? Well, we have awareness but we don’t recognize our unawareness. We don’t know our “space” and we are lost with the clouds. So we have to learn to recognize awareness so we don’t lose it. So we must learn to recognize awareness and more importantly “maintain the awareness”. That’s it. You will have a lot of discoveries within yourself.

An Exercise

How do you this? We can’t connect with ‘big’ awareness straight away. We have to connect with a piece of awareness. This is well demonstrated in the video below but here’s a summary you can try:

Sit comfortably but keep your spine straight. Raise one hand and become aware of sensation. Maybe you feel no sensation, but that’s okay, just be aware of the absence of sensation because that’s awareness too. Put your hands together and notice any new sensation. You are using your awareness to do this. Can you be aware of your awareness? Rub your hands together, keeping your awareness on any new sensation. Now put a hand on your forehead, then remove it and notice sensation in your forehead alone. From your forehead, continue to note sensations on your face, head, neck, shoulders, arms, torso, legs, feet. Be aware of the awareness you are using to notice these sensations (or absence of sensation).

Awareness eases tension

If you know (i.e. are aware that) you are not relaxed, that means you are actually relaxing. Rest your mind in awareness and continue observing. This purifies negative emotion, clearing it to uncover our basic goodness and compassion.

The connection between awareness and happiness

What is the connection between awareness and happiness? “I want to be happy but you teach (me to) watching the breath – it’s boring!”. Well, when you see the river it means you are out of the river. If you fall into the river, carried by the river, you cannot see the river. When you see the panic, you’re not under control. But panic might still be there. When you see the river you don’t have to block the river. Let it continue. Calm or turbulent, doesn’t matter. But if you fall in the river, a calm river is better!

Normally negative emotions have influence on us. Positive emotions are better. Don’t get lost in the river and don’t meet the waterfall.

We don’t have to meditate

We don’t have to meditate. Just recognize awareness and maintain that recognition (using an object initially such as sensation). Sound is a valid alternative to sensation. You can focus on what you hear instead of what you feel in your body.

Dealing with obstacles

Don’t force anything. It doesn’t work. “Don’t judge, don’t think … I must connect with heart, 1, 2, 3 (go!)”. There is no need because everything is allowed in awareness including any obstacles you experience. This is real non-judgement. If you like the idea of meditation but don’t like the practice, change technique. Switch to sound, for example. Listen mindfully and for children use hand to track volume by starting high with the hand and lowering it gradually as the volume decreases, for example.

Without awareness of sensation you cannot practice emotion meditation. So emotion meditation is a later stage.

Video

The above are just notes. If they appeal to you, consider putting aside the hours and watching this in full. It’s fundamental knowledge, taught well with lovely Tibetan humor throughout.

Trauma applies to anyone suffering as a result of their past and there are two human truths that I feel are both deeply true as well as healing when realized;

The first is that when we are young, consistent physical and emotional security with our carer(s) give us the best chance to blossom.

The second is that although that ideal is less and less likely in today’s society, trauma and pain don’t ultimately rob us of our true selves; we’re still in there behind the pain. We just need to make contact with it in the right way so we can recover ourselves.

Gabor Maté’s books can be beneficial to anyone trying to understand how trauma happens and the damage it can do that we don’t recognize as a society. He also shares insight into how we can change this. All kinds of symptoms such as anxiety, depression, fatigue but also physical manifestations like ALS, MS and cancer (“including anything chronic”) have research supporting the possibility that childhood development and emotional stresses can be bigger predictors of their onset than genetics or diet. Professionals may or may not already know a lot of the information he talks about, but for me personally, it’s the amount of research and the gestalt of his presentation that has the most impact.