SELF-DIRECTED NEUROPLASTICITY: Its a term used by neuropsychologist Rick Hanson to explain how our mind has the power to change our brain. Hanson, like me, is deeply involved in mindfulness and meditation research and he offers this following exercise that contains many of the key elements in NeuroWisdom 101. Youll see that one can continually create innovative variations of simple affirmations and meditations, and by just spending a few minutes every day, lower stress and increase empathy toward others and yourself. Heres Rick...enjoy: To begin, bring your awareness to the sensations of breathing. If theres anything about paying attention to your breathing that makes you uncomfortable, which is the case for some people with a history of trauma, rest your attention instead on something you find mildly pleasant or simply neutral, such as the sensations in your feet or a phrase such as “May I be happy” or “May my family be well.” Now, set an intention to stay with the object of your attention for the next few minutes while doing this practice. Whether it’s your breath or a phrase or anything else, set the intention in your mind to stay present with that object of attention. You could either set this intention top down by using words such as “I’m going to stay attentive here” or set your intention from the bottom up by getting a felt sense inside yourself of mindfulness. The second step or suggestion is to relax. Take some long exhalations, longer than your inhalations, and take care to relax your tongue. The third suggestion is to feel as safe as you reasonably can. Sometimes this can be a challenge because it can make us nervous to lower our guard, and if so, take a moment to recognize that wherever you are is probably a protected and comfortable place. Get a sense of the good people who support you in your life, as well as a sense of your own strengths that enable you to deal with whatever life brings. With this basis, explore lowering your guard and being less braced against life. Moving on to the fourth suggestion, open to feelings of simple well-being. Without straining or forcing anything, encourage gentle feelings of happiness and gratitude. For example, forests make me happy, and I am grateful for the smell of oranges. Whatever works for you, allow a sense of positive emotion to fill you. There may well be other feelings, even negative feelings; dont resist them. Let them come and let them go, as you keep bringing your attention back to feeling as good as you can in the moment. The fifth suggestion is to get a sense of your awareness being like boundless space. Notice that awareness has no edges, no bounds. In a sense, it is infinite, like the sky or space. In that vast space, different experiences come and go, and you now have a panoramic sense of experiences arising and passing in the vast space of your awareness. You have a kind of bird’s-eye view of thoughts, sensations, sounds, feelings, desires, memories, whatever, coming and going in boundless, open space. Feel free to enjoy whatever is worthwhile in whatever you’re feeling.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 19:14:19 +0000
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