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I’ve recently found a new friend on my wellbeing journey, he goes by the name of Dr Russ Harris. The good doc often chats to me in bed at night, and while this sounds like something that could make my boyfriend jealous, I’ve occasionally brought Dr Harris along when the boy has stayed over and he has been more than accommodating of his presence. 😉
Before anyone gets too carried away, I am of course I’m talking about a CD!
Dr Harris has put together his Mindfulness Skills (Volume 1!) CD and it’s the perfect accompaniment for anyone who leads a busy or stressful life. That’s most of us right?
So what exactly is mindfulness and why should you be interested in it when there’s a million other things on your plate?
Dr Harris defines it in the following way:
“Consciously bringing awareness to your here-and-now experience, with openness, interest and receptiveness.”
At the outset he makes an interesting point that relaxation is not the aim of listening to the CD, although it often is a by product of working towards mindfulness… tricky tricky.
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So why do I love this…?
♥ There are 4 different tracks that you can listen to depending on how you’re feeling and what you’d like to cultivate.
♥ Mindfulness of Breathing: As the name suggests, this track focuses on getting you to be mindful of your breathing through a variety of exercises.
♥ Mindfulness of Emotions: Ever get anxious about being anxious? I do. This track helps you to see and accept your emotions as they are, that even though they may be uncomfortable, they are just emotions and will pass. This is perfect to listen to when you feel overwhelmed by any particular negative feelings.
♥ Leaves on a Stream: My favourite track and the one I find myself listening to the most. Place any thought, feeling, sound, or vision that comes into your mind onto a leaf and let it float away down a calm river, even if that thought is “this activity is ridiculous!”, you can place it on the leaf and send it away. I love this so much, my river has a lot of leaves 😉
♥ The Observing Self: Probably the trickiest mindfulness exercise on the CD, this one requires you to notice that you’re noticing something. A really useful exercise that is mostly too brain-bending for me at night, so I recommend working on this during the day when you have some time out.
♥ I feel peaceful afterwards. Despite being told not to expect relaxation, it often shows up and I’m happy to let it snuggle right next to me as I drift off to sleep.
Could you do with some mindfulness in your life? Ever tried it? If you have any tips or questions I’d love to hear them!
Mindfulness Skills Volume 1 by Dr Russ Harris is available for purchase through Exisle Publishing for $24.99 – a bargain price for the benefits that it delivers.
Be well,
Annette
xoxo
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