Modern Day Mindfulness

Controlling Your State Have you ever had times in your life where you’ve felt lost? Uninspired? Out of control? Stressed and anxious? For most of us, we’ve all felt these at one time or another. What if there was a “magic pill” that could rid you of these states for good, would you take it? What if this “pill” was all natural, exceptionally good for you and the benefits could be shown scientifically... You’d take it right? Well the pill is meditation (learning to control your mind) and I want to teach you a little about how adopting meditation can assist you in not only living without stress / anxiety, but how powerful it is as a tool for finding more purpose in your work, enhancing creativity, being resourceful and enhancing your problem solving abilities.  Let me start by explaining a little more about our day to day states (brain wave frequencies) It’s likely that in a movie or television show you have seen a person hooked up to an EEG (Electroencephalograph) machine (little white circles attached to their head with cables running from them). EEG machines measure brain frequency or states. There are 5 key brain wave states that we move in and out of throughout the course of a normal day. These states are measured in hertz Gamma 23 – 100 Hz Beta 13 – 22 Hz Alpha 8 – 12 Hz Theta 4 – 7 Hz Delta 0-3 Hz We fluctuate between these states from our peak activity cycle through to the sleep cycle. Let me explain. Gamma 23 – 100 Hz Gamma is a peak state, not as common, they tend to happen in spurts. Emerging research by John Kounios of Drexel University and Mark Beeman of Northwestern University highlight that gamma waves are evident in epiphany moments, moments of “Aha” and when lucid dreaming. Gamma waves are usually preceded by alpha brain waves (alpha is explained below). Which means that when we are in a relaxed state ie: taking a bath, walking along a beach, meditating we’re more likely to realise the solution to problems and have great ideas. Beta  13 – 22 Hz Beta is an active state. An awake state. A state we are in when we are multitasking. For example when we are working on the computer, we tend to have Facebook open, Twitter open, our email program open, our mobile phone next to us and potentially a host of colleagues around us… Beta is the state that allows us to multitask (well as best as we can). The demands of modern living force us more and more to be in Beta, and for extended periods of time... leading to brain fry or absolute “overwhelm”. Have you ever finished a day in the office and just had to dive into a bottle of red (or Jack Daniels depending how bad your day was), because your head was burnt out? The reality is that we are not effective multi taskers! Women are better than men, but if we spend prolonged periods in Beta, we accumulate stress and anxiety, over think circumstances and end up making poor decisions. Beta is a mind dominated state, the state we find ourselves in late at night with our mind racing unable to get to sleep or getting to sleep only to wake in the middle of the night and not be able to get back to sleep. It can be very painful! Alpha 8 – 12 Hz Alpha by contrast is a flow like state, likened to being in the zone. We have a singular focus and can get through vast amounts of work at very high standards. We feel good because Serotonin is released. Have you ever got into the office early (before the distractions of the day start) and accomplished almost a days’ worth of work in a few hours. This is alpha. A very powerful state for creativity, insights, intuition, problem solving, and delivering work at a very high quality. Richard Branson suggests that he gets his best ideas whilst on Necker Island. Why do you think that is? Alpha At theSPACE we teach entrepreneurs how to consciously bring themselves out of Beta and into Alpha by practicing meditation techniques and setting up their day and work place in such a way that they can ride the flow of alpha. Theta  4 – 7 Hz Theta is where purpose is at… It is where deep healing is done (Google “Theta Healing” and 1,380,000+ results come up)… It’s the same for purpose! You can’t think your way to your purpose, you need to let it come to you through inspired thought. From a deeper part of you. In Theta we step outside the conditioning of the mind and we connect to a deeper part of us that reveals new insights, ideas, and revelations. And you feel amazing! Einstein said “We can’t solve the problems of today with the same level of thinking that created them!” I believe learning how to spend time in Theta is where we are going to get massive leaps forward in entrepreneurial thinking and problem solving and move beyond the present challenges on this planet. Delta 0-3 Hz Delta is a deep dreamless sleep. It’s the bottom end of the sleep cycle. We lose all body consciousness and human growth hormone is released. You might have experienced Delta if your alarm has gone off in the morning and when you wake, you don’t know where you are for a moment. That’s Delta So what does this mean for you? Most of us spend all our time in beta, stressed and anxious, with little to no control over our minds. Learning meditation techniques to control our minds opens the door to more consistently be in powerful states like Alpha & Theta and consciously bring ourselves out of Beta (stress, anxiety, overwhelm). Take control of your mind. 2 minute relaxation To give you a taste, I want to show you a simple process which involves 2 core fundamentals of meditation, 1) Releasing tension and 2) Right breathing. Doing the following exercise will allow you to move from the Beta state to the Alpha and Theta states.  I encourage you to become aware of how you feel before doing the exercise and then again after. Here we go. Sitting at your desk, in your car in traffic, on the couch, lying in bed or cross legged on the floor – any of these is fine! Gently close your eyes. Allow yourself to sink into the surface that your body is touching. Consciously let go. Bring your attention to your breath. Breath in, all the way in, deep down to the bottom of your lungs filling all of your lungs, down into your diaphragm and on the outwards breath, become aware of any tension or tightness that you have in your body and ask it to release, relax (feel it, see it releasing). Once again breathing in, breathing all the way in, deep down to the bottom of your lungs filling all of your lungs, on the outwards breath, become aware of any remaining tension or tightness and ask it to release, relax. This time become aware of any tightness that you might feel around your eyes and consciously visualise, see it,  feel it relax... take that relaxation down into your cheeks, your face, head and scalp, down your neck and into your shoulders feeling and seeing the relaxation flow down into your arms and through to your hands. Then back up your arms, down your chest, back of your shoulder blades, low back, stomach, bottom, thighs, calves and down into your feet, feeling and seeing the relaxation sweep through your body into your feet, and toes. Feeling any remaining tension, tightness or anxiety seep into the earth... the earth feeds on this and loves it... One last time, bringing your attention back to your breath, breathing in, all the way in, deep down to the bottom of your lungs filling all of your lungs, down into your diaphragm and on the outward breath, relax, let go even more deeply, enjoying a renewed sense of ease, an allowance of what is and a knowing that whatever is happening now is what is meant to be happening and you are more than capable of responding to it. In your own time open your eyes. Do you feel any different? Lighter? Were you able to for a few moments you were able to take your attention away from the noise the mind was making and direct it to where you wanted it to go. It is when we attempt to focus our attention that we become aware how crazy the mind can be. I recommend practicing a few times a day over the duration of a week, you will find it quicker and easier to release tension. To the point where you can simply bring your attention to the muscles around the eyes and sweep the relaxation down your body (takes seconds). Have fun with it. Note: Focusing your attention initially can be very hard. Some people even say they cannot do it, which is untrue, they’ve just given up. For the most part the mind has been able to run untethered for your whole life and it’s not until we attempt to focus our attention that we see just how much noise (noise meaning thoughts and emotions) the mind is making.  It’s totally normal to struggle with it initially, but there really are no excuses for giving up, everyone who persists can do it. Troy Haines theSPACE