Week 2: Observing the Mind-Body Connection

Exploring the Impact of Work on Your Body

Your body is sensitive to even the tiniest hint of emotions. Working under pressure can lead your body into a high state of alert. Your body doesn’t differentiate between a life-and-death threat and a stroppy boss or overdemanding client. It treats them in the same way. It prepares itself to fight or run away fast. In this aroused state, the body can lock in tension and hold onto it for very long periods of time.

In the next few pages, you will find a number of examples of how your body and emotions have a greater impact on your work than you might imagine.

Working as a board member

When Alvin was first introduced to the WorkplaceMT programme, he was a senior board member who was experiencing some problems working due to board room politics. At times, his frustration with board room game playing would spill over, and he would have an angry outburst. He realised that not only was this response unhelpful, but it was also limiting his career.

To have emotions is to be human. For the most part, emotions serve you well – faithfully working in the background to help you respond appropriately to both the joys and challenges of everyday life. Emotions are psychological events, and as such, with practice, you can raise your awareness of their presence and impact. This awareness will help you take steps to manage them when needed.

As a young man, Alvin had enjoyed a successful career in the United States as an athlete. Being in his mid-50s, he retained a powerful and striking physique. In Week 2 of his mindfulness training, he practiced the body scan exercise. Reflecting on the experience afterwards, he said it was hard and he disliked it. Upon further reflection, he realised that as an athlete, he had trained his brain to tune out the messages that his body sent him. If he felt pain or discomfort, he ignored it, focusing instead on his end goal.

During the next week of his mindfulness training, he injured his leg. His mind-body disconnect was so great that during his spinning fitness class he had pedalled so hard that he physically sheared off one of the pedals and injured his leg in the process, leading to missed meetings and time off work.

Over the weeks as his WorkplaceMT training progressed, Alvin learned how to use his body as an early warning system. By learning how to tune back into the messages his body was sending him, he was better able to manage himself. He started to notice the sensations in his body that indicated his emotions were rising and was able to take the necessary steps to calm himself. By avoiding an emotional outburst, he was able to steer work meetings back to a more productive direction.

Of course not all emotions need to be managed. It’s critical for modern leaders to show their authentic human side – that you care, that you are happy, excited, or sad – but to do so wisely in a way that supports respectful communication. This is a valuable lesson that Alvin took on board.

If you do start experiencing very strong emotions that persist and you can’t shake off, consider talking to your doctor.

Working in IT

When Lin started WorkplaceMT training, she worked as a senior programming analyst for a well-known software company. She had seven years of technical experience in the design, development and deployment of complex business applications. She was responsible for engineering and developing highly complex projects as well as maintaining and supporting existing software applications. Some of her time was taken up with translating business requirements into effective and efficient IT systems. She spent many hours of her day designing coding, undertaking system testing, and documenting software applications. She also managed a team of five programmers and provided training on the software applications she developed.

Lin’s company provided an excellent working environment. An amazing subsidized restaurant served a wide range of food, from super healthy vitamin-packed salads to comfort food. Sweets, drinks and snacks were freely available for staff to dip into when the need or urge arose. The staff restrooms were luxurious, with expensive soaps and lotions, fluffy towels and powerful showers. Employees had access to a lounge area full of comfortable colourful chairs, bean bags and stools, with free Wi-Fi and access to gaming systems. All human needs were catered for, and there was little need to leave the building. Some staff enjoyed the working environment so much that they sometimes felt no need to go home and would end up working day and night for several days before leaving the building for a short break. Lin loved working for her company and felt highly privileged to be there.

The nature of Lin’s job meant that she spent many hours in front of a computer screen. She was often so absorbed by her work that she could go from breakfast (eaten in the staff restaurant) to a late lunch without moving from her desk. Lin complained that at times she felt like ‘a brain on a stick’. Her body was simply there to transport her brain from job to job.

Do you sometimes feel like ‘a brain on a stick’? Sitting for long periods can cause back pain, negatively influence circulation, and increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. Intensive use of the keyboard and mouse can lead to stiffening of the muscles in your hands, arms, and neck, as well as inflammation and injuries. Staring at a bright screen for too long can cause dry eyes and headaches. As if that weren’t enough, computer work can be stressful, isolating, and lead to depression and anxiety. Working on the computer can be seriously unhealthy.

When Lin arrived home (often late), she liked to watch TV on her iPad in bed. Just before switching off to sleep, she would have one last scan of her emails, answering any that she saw as urgent. Some nights she went to sleep and dreamt about work, her mind rehearsing the next day or taking up the sword on epic quests to find solutions to technical issues in a matrixlike world.

Does this sound familiar? It’s all too common. And instead of being efficient, as many people think it is, it’s bad for your productivity. A recent study published in the journal of Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes involved 82 senior managers. Researchers found that smartphone use after 9 p.m. was associated with decreased sleep quantity at night. That decreased sleep quantity was associated with morning depletion the next day, and morning depletion was associated with decreased work engagement for that day.

Lin was working on a project for a demanding US client. She found herself endlessly on Skype calls at all hours of the day and night. One morning, a member of her team came to her desk to ask her opinion on a technical workaround, and she ended up yelling at him aggressively.

Lin’s company decided to offer staff access to mindfulness training during work time. Although it was advertised as an employee benefit, it was also offered because the company was experiencing a drop in productivity and an increase in burnout. Lin decided to attend training because she had heard that mindfulness could help with sleep problems and help her to manage strong emotions better.

Lin started to recognise that she was not a brain on a stick and realised the extent to which she had been ignoring and mistreating her body. She started making time for a 15-minute walk at lunch time and a weekly Pilates session. She managed her iPad habit more wisely, using it after supper and leaving it on the kitchen table when she went to bed rather than on her bedside table. She started to regain a sense of control and perspective, and she started to sleep better.

Exploring Mind-Body Science

Your body communicates with your brain every second of every day – both when you’re awake and when you’re asleep. If your body senses that anything is wrong, it messages the brain to alert it. For example, did you know that your stomach is controlled by a network of neurons that line your stomach and your gut? This network, sometimes called ‘the little brain’, contains 100 million neurons – as many as there are in the head of a cat. The neurons of the little brain keep in close contact with the brain via the vagus nerves, which influence your emotional state.

When your body is tense or uncomfortable, it sends alert messages to the brain. It tells your brain that something isn’t right and you need to prepare for action. In this state, the body can activate a default operating system that puts you into safety mode. When operating in safety mode, your choices are restricted, and you’ll tend to opt for safe, tried and tested solutions rather than seek out new, creative or innovative ways of working. In addition, your ability to effectively engage and influence others is diminished.

The cumulative impact of a day of emails, phone calls, meetings, deadlines, and computer-based work result in a roller coaster of emotions, triggering reactions in the body, which send signals to the brain to watch out for danger or impending harm. Similarly, hours spent huddled over a computer can lead to stiffness due to lack of movement, which also signals to the brain that a problem needs to be addressed and to operate in safety mode until things are rectified.

In the next few pages, we explore how your mind and body connections interact, learning how your posture and body tissue can influence your decisions and judgments, actions and confidence.

Influencing your decisions and judgment

Did you know that feeling hungry or tired impacts your decision-making? A University of Amsterdam study in 2007 concluded that feeling tired, hungry or thirsty can lead to you choosing much higher-risk strategies. Conversely, when your body is out of this ‘state of urgency’, you’re more likely to make a more balanced and reasoned decision.

In another experiment conducted by Mirjam Tuk, of the University of Twente in the Netherlands, participants were asked to either drink five cups of water (about 750 millilitres) or take small sips of water from five separate cups. After about 40 minutes, the researchers assessed participants’ self-control (they waited 40 minutes because that’s about how long it takes for water to reach the bladder). Participants were asked to make eight choices; each was between receiving a small but immediate reward or a larger but delayed reward.

The researchers found that the people with full bladders were better at holding out for the larger reward later. They concluded that having a full bladder and resisting the urge to go to the toilet is an act of self-control. And while having to control themselves physically, people are more likely to choose low-risk options and to avoid impulse decisions.

Altering your relationship with your body can have a dramatic impact on your work. According to Antonio Damasio, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Southern California, your body and emotions play a key role in the way you make decisions. In his book Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain (Penguin), he argues that the body is a major contributor to the workings of the mind. He says that ‘the mind is embodied, in the full sense of the term, not just embrained’. He goes on to emphasise ‘the crucial role of feelings in navigating the endless stream of life’s personal decisions… . The intuitive signals that guide us in these moments come in the form of limbic-driven surges from the viscera’ (your gut instinct).

Discovering the link between your tissue and your brain

Fascia tissue is a sheet or band of fibrous connective tissue enveloping, separating, or binding together muscles, organs, and other soft structures of the body. It can contract independently from muscle movement and can relay signals to the brain faster than nerve impulses.

Eighty per cent of back pain can’t be explained by damage to bones or cartilage, and it’s now thought that much of the back pain people experience may be due to matted fascia. Stress hormones have a direct impact on fascia. In a laboratory setting, fascia tissue removed from the body contracts when introduced to the stress hormone cortisol. In the body, fascia tissue may become knotted and rigid when exposed to stress. This can lead to back problems and even depression.

Matted tissue is a sign of stress or bodily trauma – it sends signals to your brain that all is not well and to be alert and ready for danger. When primed for danger (fight or flight), creativity diminishes and your choices become restricted. Even when the supply of stress hormone is switched off by the brain, fascia may remain matted and tense for long periods and continue to send signals to the brain that all is not well. Movement and stretching can reduce fascia matting and thus reduce pain. Reduced pain signals to the brain that all is well, enabling you to consider a wider range of options and be more creative in finding solutions.

Mindfulness exercises, such as the body scan, help you to tune back into the messages your body is sending you, enabling you to maintain high performance for longer.

Two-way communication systems link the body with the brain. How your body feels has a direct impact on your work.

Assessing the impact of posture on performance

Your body posture also plays a surprising role in your interactions with others and your creativity. In groups of primates, dominant members strike power poses – making themselves look big and in control. They expand out to take up as much space as possible. Submissive members of the group make themselves look small, adopting a ‘low pose’ by huddling up and tucking in their limbs, averting their gaze downwards. It’s the same in humans. Confident individuals often take up a lot of space, while those lacking in confidence close themselves down in a subconscious effort not to be seen and not enter into unnecessary conflict.

You may be one of the millions of people who have watched Harvard researcher Amy Cuddy’s famous TED Talk on the impact of posture on hormone levels and performance. If you haven’t seen it, it’s well worth a look. In the talk, Amy shares her research findings on the link between posture and performance.

Volunteers were asked to adopt either high-power poses or low-power poses. Without telling them what the poses signified, volunteers were asked to maintain these poses for two minutes and then take part in an unnerving job interview where the interviewer didn’t display any sign of emotion. After this, the volunteers were given a creativity task to complete. When asked who they’d pick, the interviewers all selected volunteers who (unbeknown to them) had been power posing for two minutes before the interview. What’s more, the volunteers who power posed were much more creative in the creativity task than those who had practiced the low poses.

Just two minutes of holding a confident ‘everything’s okay, I’m in control’ pose makes a big difference to both your performance and others’ perceptions of you.

Periodically tuning in to your body posture and correcting it if necessary can have a surprisingly positive impact on your work. Figure 9-1 can help you check your posture and see if it needs adjusting.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 9-1: Check your posture.

Tuning in to Your Body

In Week 1 of your WorkplaceMT training (see Chapter 8), you start to develop focused awareness, placing the spotlight of your attention where you want it to be. You also observe your mind’s tendency to chatter away endlessly. You can’t stop these thoughts from arising – it’s part of being human! What you can do is control what happens next.

The next step in your WorkplaceMT training is to deepen your ability to observe your mind’s reactivity cycles by training your brain to pay mindful attention to the body. The next few pages tell you how and why.

Tuning in to your early warning system

When your body detects even the slightest emotion, it triggers a chain reaction, which can often make things worse. Your body can respond by acting as an accelerator, generating a reactive spiral of thoughts, emotions, and sensations. This week’s training helps you to stand back and observe what’s going on, observing patterns and trends and surveying your inner landscape.

Gaining a clearer picture of what’s going on enables you to make wiser decisions about what happens next. You can use your body as an early warning system to alert you to the first signs that your thoughts and emotions are starting to spiral so you can decelerate, take stock and regain control.

Pausing to appreciate the moment

As you discover in Chapter 3, an inbuilt evolutionary bias means that people tend to pay more attention to things that are potentially harmful or threatening than to the good things in life.

The good news is that you can correct this bias. Doing so gives you a more balanced perspective. In the Week 2 WorkplaceMT practice section of this chapter, you find a short informal exercise that you can experiment with.

Pausing for just a few seconds to bring conscious awareness to the good things in life when they arise helps you to create new neural pathways in your brain, making pleasant things more noticeable in the future and improving your mood and outlook on life. In addition, it helps you to engage your approach mode of mind circuitry, opening up new creative possibilities. You discover more about approach versus avoidance mode in Week 3 (see Chapter 10).

Observing your reactivity cycles

The simple body scan exercise we invite you to try in this chapter is designed to help you to re-integrate your mind and body back into one powerful whole.

The body scan exercise involves settling yourself into a comfortable position and spending a short period of time focusing on your breath, just as you do in Week 1. Following this, you redirect the spotlight of your attention onto your feet and slowly move up the body, focusing on one body area at a time until you reach the crown of your head. If you practice yoga, you may have encountered a similar exercise aimed at relaxing your body (called yoga Nidra). However, this exercise isn’t about relaxing – it’s about exploring what’s going on in the present moment with openness and curiosity. It’s like going on a safari in your own body – you never know what you’ll find. Simply let the experience unfold moment by moment.

On a safari, you may be rewarded by seeing a magnificent wild animal; in the case of the body scan, your reward may be a strong or noticeable sensation in the body. On safari, you may spend long periods of time observing the landscape, concentrating hard but noticing very little. As you go on more safari expeditions, you start to tune in to the landscape more and notice more and more of what’s happening around you. It’s much the same with this body scan exercise – your time and effort will be rewarded.

As you move through the body, you may encounter boredom or frustration. If you do, just acknowledge them and let them go. Doing so will help you to regain your focus more quickly. You may also find that you mysteriously miss whole areas of your body, or even fall asleep! Try to persist as best as you can, even when you feel tired or in a bad frame of mind – this is often when you need it most.

Scanning Your Body

Consider your time spent on training as an investment in you and your future. In a few weeks’ time (or even immediately), you’ll start to reap the benefits. You may find that things start to become easier both at home and at work as you start the process of dissolving away old habits that are no longer serving you well.

As with all mindfulness practices, be kind to yourself! If you start to beat yourself up because your mind keeps wandering or you fail to detect any sensations in a particular area of your body, all you’re doing is making things more difficult for yourself. Simply accept how things are in this moment and try to focus your attention back on the exercise. The body scan isn’t a competition – there are no rights and wrongs – simply your experience unfolding moment by moment.

It’s recommended that you practice the body scan at least once a day for the next week – more if you can. If you’re feeling pressured for time, remember that your mind may be wandering for a high percentage of the day. Taking just 15 minutes to practice a little mindfulness will improve your focus and attention, saving you time in the long run.

Body scan exercise

This section details the body scan exercise step by step. It’s recommended that you practice the body scan somewhere you won’t be disturbed for around 15 minutes.

Use the MP3 recording track 2A or 2B to guide you through the exercise. We have included two versions of this exercise – use the one that works best for you.

Most people practice at home, so you may like to try this lying on a bed, but beware – doing so may put you to sleep! If it does, no problem – you probably needed the sleep – just try it in a chair the next day.

If at any point during the exercise you feel any discomfort, treat it as an opportunity to explore what’s going on. What is your reaction to the discomfort? What stories do you tell yourself about the discomfort? Approach the discomfort with kindness and curiosity. What does it feel like? What sensations arise? What thoughts enter your mind? What emotions are you experiencing? Then try letting go of the discomfort as you breathe out.

Sit on a comfortable chair with your feet firmly on the floor.

Sit with your back upright, your knees slightly lower than your hips, and your arms supported and resting comfortably. Make sure your whole body feels balanced and supported. Close your eyes, and try to remain aware of your posture throughout the exercise, and realign yourself if you notice that you’re slouching.
Focus your attention on your breath.

Feel the sensations of your breath coming in and your breath going out. Do so for approximately ten breaths.
Focus your attention on your toes.

Start with your right foot, and identify whether you can feel any sensations in your toes, such as hot, cold or tingling. See whether you can feel your toes in contact with your socks or shoes. Spend a few moments exploring your toes, and then repeat the process with your left foot. Don’t try to create any sensations or make it be any different from how it is; just notice what is there in that moment. If you can’t feel any sensation at all, just notice the lack of sensation – that’s absolutely fine.

Compare your right and left toes. Do they feel any different?
Focus your attention on the soles of your feet.

Start with your right sole, and identify what you feel. Repeat the process with your left sole, and then compare the sensations you experienced with your right and left soles.
Focus on your lower legs.

Spend time exploring the right lower leg then the left, and then compare the two.
Focus on your knees.

Examine the sensations in your right knee then your left knee, and then compare the two.
Focus on your thighs and bottom.

Explore how they feel when in contact with the chair.
Explore the sensations in your internal organs.

Focus on your liver, kidneys, stomach, lungs and heart. You may not notice any sensation at all, and that’s okay – just see what you can notice.
Focus on your spine.

Move up your spine slowly, focusing briefly on one vertebrae at a time, noticing any or no sensations.
Focus on your arms.

Identify the sensations in your right arm then your left arm, and then compare the two.
Focus on your neck and shoulders.

If you experience any tension or discomfort, try letting it go as you breathe out.
Focus on your head

Notice any feelings and sensations in your jaw and facial muscles. Notice how your nose feels? How your eyes feel? How your scalp feels?
Expand your attention to gain a sense of how your whole body feels at this moment in time.
Open your eyes and return to your day.

Body scan – the science

People commonly carry around pain or tension in their body for long periods. Your body’s fascia tissue is like a 3-D woolly jumper covering your muscles and bones. Fascia tissue tenses independently of muscle movement when introduced to the stress hormone cortisol and can hold onto this tension for long periods of time. This tension is quickly communicated to the brain, which registers that something is amiss or needs attention. The body scan achieves three things:

It helps you to tune in to and directly explore how your body is feeling in this moment in time.
It helps you to further embed and develop the skill of directing attention to where you want it to be, notice when the mind wanders, and gently direct it back
It cultivates an open approach mode of mind, which can increase your parasympathetic nervous system activation, resulting in a greater sense of relaxation and mindful awareness.

Awareness of tension, sensations, or other bodily needs enables you to take steps to address them, resulting in an enhanced ability to maintain focus and productivity for longer. This is often as simple as taking a stretch, letting go of tension, or stopping for a drink.

Reflecting on the body scan

Reflect on your learning from the body scan by answering the following questions.

What did you notice (try to be as specific as possible)?
Did you manage to keep your attention focused throughout, or did your mind wander?
Did you find this exercise harder or easier than the mindful breathing exercise in Week 1?
Did you notice any marked differences between sensations in different parts of your body or on different sides of your body?
Did you encounter any discomfort in your body? If you did, what was the impact of approaching the discomfort, examining it with openness and letting go of it?
Can you make any other observations about this experience?

Managing Expectations

On Week 2 of WorkplaceMT courses, we frequently hear comments like these:

‘I was expecting to feel more calm and relaxed by now, but instead all I’m noticing is how much my mind wanders’.
‘I had thought after practicing for seven days my mind would be a little clearer and I would be sleeping better’.
‘I found the body scan so relaxing that I kept on falling asleep. I just could not stay awake!’

Brain scans taken of people before and during mindfulness practice demonstrate that when practicing mindfulness, people often become more aware rather than less. This awareness can create some tension for learners. It takes a lifetime to create habitual patterns of thought and behaviour, and people still think that they can miraculously change things in one week.

In Week 2, it’s important that you try to let go of expectations and ideas about what success and failure look like. Your newly acquired awareness of thoughts, emotions and sensations may at times be annoying, but awareness gives you choices. Conversely, if you’re unaware that you’re doing something, it’s impossible to change it.

On this basis, you are invited to view the distractions you encounter when practicing the formal elements of your WorkplaceMT training as a good thing. Congratulations! You’re now noticing just how much your mind is wandering. You’re noticing your patterns of worry and rumination. The act of noticing and acknowledging these things means they have less power over you. It’s a bit like having a tug of war with a strapping rugby player – the harder you pull, the harder he pulls. If you just say to yourself, ‘I’m not going to play this game anymore’, and let go of the rope, the rugby player no longer has any power over you in that moment. The simple act of acknowledgment is like letting go of the rope that pulls you, making it easier to refocus your attention.

If you fall asleep during this exercise (as many do), don’t waste time and emotion by getting frustrated – simply accept it. Working long hours or working in a stressful job takes its toll. Maybe you just needed sleep. A 2008 study of 75,000 US adults jointly conducted with the National Centre on Sleep Disorders identified that 37.9 per cent reported unintentionally falling asleep during the day at least once in the preceding month. So if you do fall asleep during body scan, treat it as a power nap, not a failure.

Self-kindness is a key element of WorkplaceMT training. Getting angry or frustrated just makes it even harder to concentrate. Remember: It’s only a tug of war if you continue to hang onto the rope! it’s impossible to fail when practicing mindfulness – every experience is an opportunity for cultivating greater awareness. The simple act of becoming aware of the interplay between your thoughts puts you back in control.

Lin (who we introduced earlier in this chapter in the section ‘Working in IT’) was offered mindfulness training as a personal well-being and productivity tool. She attended a WorkplaceMT60 course (60 minutes a week for 6 weeks). During Week 2’s training session, just after trying out the body scan exercise for the first time, she was given the opportunity to reflect on the exercise with a colleague. Lin confessed that she had found the body scan to be boring. She said, ‘It was too slow. I just could not wait for the teacher to bring it to an end!’

Lin’s response is common. Not so many years ago, the body scan exercise was around 40 minutes long, but even the shortened WorkplaceMT 15-minute version seemed ‘too long’ to Lin. She was unaccustomed to focusing on one thing at a time. She craved constant stimulation and novelty. She was also mildly alarmed at how little she could notice about how her body was feeling, feeling the need to wiggle her toes just to check that they were still there!

In the digital age we live in, many people are constantly bombarded with data all day long. In the not-so-distant past, people were proud to say that they multitasked. It was seen as a sign of personal productivity. Of course, we now know that multitasking makes you less productive than focusing on one task at a time. Some multitasking is unavoidable, of course, but it’s more productive to single task whenever possible. Despite this, some people still wear multitasking as a badge of honour – it’s become a habitual pattern of behaviour. No wonder it can feel difficult when asked to single task when conducing a body scan! What once came naturally now takes time and effort to cultivate.

The more you live your life in your head, the more likely you’ll get a sense of disconnection with your body. This was the case for Lin. Lin was able to notice the main contact points of her body, such as her feet in contact with the ground, her bottom in contact with the seat, and the weight of her hands resting in her lap, but very little more than that.

During the week, Lin made time at home to practice the body scan lying down on her bed. Upon the advice of her trainer, she resisted the urge to wiggle her toes or move her body to trigger a sensation. Instead, she tried really hard to simply focus on one bit of the body at a time to see what she noticed. By the middle of the week, she started to tune in to some sensations she hadn’t noticed in the past. She noticed mild sensations in her ankles, shoulders, and arms. The bit in the middle still evaded her, but she progressively started to notice more. By the end of the week, much to her surprise, she was starting to notice sensations around her mouth and her eyes.

The foundation work of starting to reconnect with your body is built on further in future weeks of WorkplaceMT training, providing you with the tools to progressively help you to reconnect with and work more effectively with your body.

Week 2 WorkplaceMT Practice Exercises

This week’s brain training is designed to help you to tune in to your body and start to hear the messages it’s sending you. Doing this will enable you to look after yourself better and ensure that primitive body-based brain circuitry doesn’t hijack your attention or limit your thinking.

Week 2 formal mindfulness exercise: Body scan

Your formal practice for this week is the body scan (see the earlier section ‘Body scan exercise’). It’s a great way to reconnect with the messages your body is sending you.

Practice at least once a day in a location where you won’t be disturbed. Use MP3 track 2A or 2B to guide you and keep you on track.

Week 2 informal everyday mindfulness

During Week 2, your informal everyday mindfulness practice includes bringing mindfulness to a routine activity, taking a mindful walk, watching the Amy Cuddy TED talk, and appreciating the moment. How to do each of these is detailed in the following pages.

Mindfulness of a routine activity

Try to pay some mindful attention this week to simple activities that you routinely do without notice. Try being fully mindful when exercising, cycling, or even cooking or washing the dishes. Doing so is another opportunity to increase your awareness of bodily sensations, break out of habitual patterns, and improve your ability to focus.

Observe what arises with a sense of gentle playfulness, fun, and curiosity.

Taking a mindful walk

This week, see if it’s possible to do some walking. Walking is great exercise, but it’s also a great opportunity to tune in to bodily sensations. If you have a walk on your way to or from work – however short – see if it’s possible to fully focus on the sensations of walking. Notice the sights, sounds, and smells surrounding you. Do they evoke any memories? If there’s a breeze during your walk, how does it feel against your face? Against your body? If it rains during your walk, focus on how the rain feels as it hits your face and clothes

One mindfulness student tried this on her way back from work each day. She said, ‘I started to notice all sorts of architecture that I hadn’t noticed before – despite walking this route hundreds of times, I noticed all sorts of things. I walk past a war memorial each day. I stopped to look at the names carved into the stone and the faded poppy wreath by its base. I also witnessed a couple of amazing sunsets, with vivid orange and pinks illuminating the sky’. When asked how much longer her walk home had taken, she commented, ‘a few minutes maybe, but it was worth it as I entered the house in a much better mood!’

However desk-bound you may be, at some point in the day, you need to walk somewhere, even if it’s simply to the toilet or to and from work. Use some of these moments as an opportunity for a few minutes of mindfulness practice. When walking, really tune in to the sensations of walking. How does it feel as you lift one leg and place the foot down? How does it feel as your body weight shifts from side to side when you lift the other leg and place the foot down? How does it feel to walk on different surfaces (for example carpet versus tarmac)? Can you feel the sensations of muscles contracting and extending?

Experiment with letting go of ideas of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ and just be fully aware with the present-moment raw sensations of walking.

Watching the Amy Cuddy TED talk

This exercise is optional, but it may help to enhance your understanding of the mind-body connection. Search the Internet for ‘Amy Cuddy TED Talk how your body language shapes who you are’.

Pausing to appreciate the moment

Try this simple technique to correct your inbuilt negativity bias and give you a more balanced perspective.

When you next encounter something you appreciate or find pleasurable or beautiful, purposefully pause to appreciate it. Spend 10 or 20 seconds to notice the impact it has on you. It doesn’t have to be something big; it could be something simple you see every day, such as a beautiful sky, natural landscape or cityscape, or stroking a family pet. It could be pleasant cooking smells, such as baking bread, or someone smiling at you, or a ‘thank you’ from colleagues or clients at work. As you pause to appreciate these things, consider the following questions:

What can you notice about its impact on your body? (Maybe you’re smiling or your body has relaxed?)
What can you notice about its impact on your mood?
Does it trigger any thoughts or memories? Make a mental note of them.