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Today we are sharing 10 Mindful Activities to Find Calm! What is a mindfulness activity you ask? They are activities to keep you gracious and at ease. You won't want to miss this one! #mindfulness #mindfulactivities #calm #mentalhealth #howtofindcalm
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Karen Glasser here and welcome to your
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mental health I'm here with my co-host
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and Son Rob Glasser how are you Rob
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I'm doing okay how about you I am doing
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great thanks
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um we talk about the topics that shape
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mental health today we teach the
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importance of inclusion and we share why
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we should be kind so whether you're here
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live or on replay we love you make sure
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you let us know where you're tuning in
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from so today we are going back to a
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topic that we love and that is
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mindfulness and we are going to be
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talking about 10 mindful activities to
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find calm so Rob what did you find out
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there
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all right so thanks to
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blog.homeedics.com they wrote down uh 10
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easy uh exercise to perform at home
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however most things you can do out as
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well if you need a quick pick me up too
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first off they write they say practicing
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mindfulness is a great way to take some
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time to focus on yourself pay attention
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to your feelings and identify the things
1:00
that cause you stress so on mindfulness
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exercise is basically something to keep
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you uh for all intent purposes here calm
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and stress-free uh many mindfulness
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activities they continue exist to help
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you become more comfortable with the
1:15
practice and hold on to a mindful
1:17
attitude throughout your day so number
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one of their exercises is simply being
1:24
present and it all goes back to our mind
1:27
our um importance of now uh the basic
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point of this one is to just be
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um sit stand look do whatever adjective
1:40
verbs I know grammar whatever verbs you
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want to use
1:45
um just be there
1:46
um most of the time they say close your
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eyes but to be honest with you sometimes
1:49
I enjoy just looking out the window or
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looking at my dogs or looking at my wife
1:54
and just kind of just just sitting
1:57
um but being present is something you
1:59
can do for free no need to have any
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accessories
2:02
um and it takes very little time to do
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you can do it for short as five minutes
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or as long as an hour or more depending
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on uh the time of or what kind of yeah I
2:13
guess or your schedule I should say yeah
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um all right so that's the first one the
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second one here we talked about before
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as well uh deep breathing
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um taking multiple deep breaths in and
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out and
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you're done that's really it
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um deep breathing not only helps you
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actually increase your ability to
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breathe in and out it actually does help
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your lung function we're not interesting
2:38
enough but it also helps you remove any
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I guess stressful negativity I don't
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know if there's other kind of negativity
2:46
but any negativity that might be uh
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happening at the moment
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um and again it's also it it the
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physicality of it actually makes me feel
2:55
better and more commonly mental part of
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it because when I do get a big deep
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breath of air in my lungs and I exhale
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my body just whoo I just feel great and
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I also think it's the correct I think
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the breathing also it's since it's
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physical it's distracting it just it
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destroy it distracts you from the stress
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that you're feeling in that moment
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because you're taking that big huge
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breath and that's why I think physical
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activity and breathing
3:21
it it works because it it distracts you
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yeah I was just surprised to know that
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it actually made me feel good physically
3:28
along with actually bringing me back to
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right you know to the moment
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um all right so so far so good number
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three body scanning
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um excuse me so to start your body skin
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they say sit or lie on your back on a
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carpet which is your mat or bed you can
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also sit in a chair and relax with a
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good posture once you've found that
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posture you stay still you take some
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deep breaths you pay attention to your
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breathing and then you start into the
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skin and you're basically just feeling
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out what's uh going on and to be honest
4:01
with you I cannot tell you the science
4:02
behind it I don't understand it however
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from a point of view of strictly just
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enjoying the moment it is nice to just
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kind of wiggle your toes wiggle your
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fingers feel your neck and your head and
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just kind of go through all the organs
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and all the parts right and just kind of
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let it go and I think that's the
4:22
important part I don't think you need to
4:23
necessarily know what's going on I think
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just being in the thing and enjoying
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your body is the important part and
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that's what I do I enjoy the body and I
4:32
sit in and yeah and I do that too but I
4:35
actually add another component because I
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was taught this years and years ago that
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you when you're scanning your body you
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pretend like that particular part of
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your body is wound up really really
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tight and you're feeling it like a
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rubber band and then it releases and so
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you do that with every part of your body
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I think it has something to do with
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hypnosis if I recall that it's literally
4:57
self-hypnosis you can do that but it's
5:00
again it's appreciating every part of
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your body and it takes you out of your
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head no no pun intended yeah I can't do
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that when you did I've tried it before
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and it actually physically hurt too much
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to do so I went back to just the regular
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um
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metaphorically feeling your body all
5:18
right number four and this is also a
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very simple one that we've talked about
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and this is the one I do mostly it's the
5:24
seated meditation and it's literally
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just that in a seated position where you
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are comfortable you sit
5:32
and you enjoy it you think you watch uh
5:36
you can do what uh you do and listen to
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some music you can do what we do maybe
5:40
watch a video or you can just sit and do
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absolutely nothing for 15 minutes and
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just look around close your eyes do
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whatever you want to this is probably
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the easiest thing to do considering most
5:53
of the day right or sitting so why not
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turn off the TV for a minute shut off
5:59
your phone for a second and just give
6:01
yourself five right again all these
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things there's no time limit to do if
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you only have a few use the few if you
6:09
have a long time go for it I'm the one
6:12
that you know when I do my exercise in
6:14
the morning because it's early I do like
6:15
an eight to ten minute exercise so why
6:17
not do the same thing for my meditation
6:19
to keep my focus I don't want to sit
6:22
there for 32 an hour and lose focus so
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I'm gonna find a video or a whatever
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that's maybe five maybe ten minutes if
6:30
I'm feeling in the mood but seating is
6:32
definitely the easiest one I think
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because
6:35
you're doing it now the funny thing is
6:37
because you know people say sitting too
6:39
much is bad however this is kind of a
6:41
different way of doing it and you can
6:42
also move to a different area so let's
6:44
say you have like a bean bag like we do
6:46
all right a squishy chair something that
6:49
you can sink into so I would advise if
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you want to do something of one of these
6:53
try the seated it's probably the easiest
6:56
and you can do the be present while
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you're seated right you know right and
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again you know some some teachers will
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have you sit cross-legged some some
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teachers will have you sit with your
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feet on the ground so that you are
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grounded I tend to sit cross-legged
7:13
um it just it's actually funny you just
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said that because I'm reading through it
7:15
it's talking about from Hindu and
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Buddhist Traditions you do the Lotus
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position which is the cross-legged thing
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so it's actually funny that you just
7:23
brought that up right and and I and so I
7:25
that's all I knew I didn't I thought
7:27
that's how I'm supposed to do it and so
7:29
that's how I did it now I can't even do
7:31
it the other way when I try to like put
7:33
my feet on the ground I get very
7:34
uncomfortable because it it shifts my
7:37
entire body and what they said here is
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they said you don't have to do it that
7:40
way you can just do it whatever way you
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feel like doing it so in your case that
7:44
is your way other people might do I do
7:46
my feet on the floor I do the cross leg
7:48
it depends on how I'm feeling that day I
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just kind of you know mix it up
7:52
um oh there you go so Chris yeah there
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you go so she she and I do the
7:55
cross-legged together
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um it is it is fairly more comfy
7:59
especially when you're not you know
8:00
you're just in your socks and you're
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just sitting there uh maybe you're still
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in your pajamas you're kind of in comfy
8:05
clothes it's a lot you guys have a
8:07
special place you do this like I do this
8:08
on my my living room couch not right now
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however yeah we did have a room we went
8:13
to but really anywhere that we have the
8:15
TV that we can do because you can you
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can basically download the app on any TV
8:19
as long as we have a couch or a chair we
8:22
can do it pretty much anywhere
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right we feel like doing it but we'll
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probably go back to finding a room it
8:29
just once we do that now number five
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actually my therapist brought up to me
8:33
once before the walking meditation and I
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think you've kind of done that before
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you brought that up and really what
8:38
you're doing now be careful you don't
8:39
want to close your eyes what are you
8:40
doing this that's not a good idea but
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what you're doing here is you're really
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enjoying the outdoors or if you're doing
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it inside you're enjoying the vicinity
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so they recommend three things to do
8:50
while doing so uh pay attention to your
8:52
breathing
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don't focus on it don't change it just
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notice number two try to walk with a
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rhythm
9:00
um I tend to stride so I have like 50
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steps for one normal person in my one
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stride however when I do focus on trying
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to walk normally I will
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um try to get myself in a regular
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walking Rhythm and that's also more so
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you know if I'm playing a game if I'm
9:16
actually looking for something I do try
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to make myself slow down to actually see
9:21
what I can see number three pay
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attention to your surroundings
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especially crossing your streets walking
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Outdoors you don't want to walk
9:28
somewhere you're not supposed to but
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really walking meditation is I I think
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it's a misnomer I think it's more of a
9:35
take a walk I think it's more of an
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exercise in
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um
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scenery but you're enjoying the scenery
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while you're going to me I don't like
9:44
the meditation next to it it kind of it
9:46
sounds weird but I get what the what the
9:48
yeah
9:49
I totally do that I do a walk I do it
9:52
with my dog I mean that when I walk my
9:53
Christopher my little doggie I I am
9:55
doing a walking meditation and I find
9:57
myself because have you ever noticed
9:59
dogs are very inquisitive they smell
10:01
everything they want to look at
10:03
everything right and I find myself now
10:06
wanting to get curious with him to see
10:09
what is it that is
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no I'm not gonna sit but you get the
10:14
idea I'm literally so I am appreciating
10:16
the outdoors and seeing things that I
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probably wouldn't see or even look at if
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I didn't have the dog so I look at the
10:23
trees I look at the sun I feel it I walk
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I feel it if it's cold if it's hot so a
10:29
walking meditation might just do the
10:31
trick for you guys yeah I mean if you
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enjoy walking generally uh it's super
10:37
fun and honestly what I you know I like
10:39
I like the outdoors so when I can go
10:41
when I hike again somewhere that's what
10:43
I would do I would watch the scenery
10:45
watch the birds watch the mountains if
10:48
I'm lucky enough to be out there early
10:49
enough to see like the other day I woke
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up so early I got to see the sun coming
10:52
up from the window that was pretty cool
10:54
so you know you look at the things that
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you can see that you might not see
10:58
regularly and you know you enjoy it
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number six here goes to you because I
11:04
know you one I'm sorry it goes to me you
11:06
don't like these ones as much but it's
11:08
the guided uh guided is usually the
11:10
voice that says you know all right right
11:12
now take two deep breaths right now
11:14
close your eyes when I open your eyes
11:15
and it's great though honestly and I'm
11:17
taking a page from you I know
11:20
um once in a while I do enjoy the
11:21
waterfall scenes I do enjoy the island
11:23
scenes where all it is is just the
11:25
nature
11:26
um I don't know why I just sometimes I
11:28
there's countdown timers I don't know if
11:30
you've ever seen those before but it's
11:31
basically they're used for classrooms
11:33
but you can watch them on YouTube and
11:35
it's a 5 10 or more minute and all it is
11:38
is a really nice scenery for five
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minutes and I love that but for a while
11:43
I was doing guided and I go back uh
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there's good full I like them uh there's
11:48
uh what oh we brought up one the other
11:50
day I think it was um I use calm for
11:52
that
11:53
um there's the inside time or all that
11:55
stuff it's good it it is one for those
11:58
who are used to doing it more so
12:00
otherwise
12:02
go into it later you know it might not
12:04
be the off the bat for personally do it
12:08
after you've done something else and
12:09
then see if you like it if you hate
12:10
hearing somebody's voice then just stick
12:13
to the ones where it's visual or music
12:15
or that's the thing I think that for
12:18
beginners guided meditation actually
12:20
helps because you don't know what you're
12:21
doing and if somebody helps you oh okay
12:23
there's a bigger point though at a
12:26
certain point if the guys or the gal is
12:28
talking too much and is taking you out
12:31
of that meditative piece then you start
12:33
doing what I do and then you start
12:35
listening to music and I since I've
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learned the skills from the teachers
12:38
because they're amazing I ca I know what
12:41
I have to do to meditate so I think I
12:44
think guided is a great way to start if
12:45
you're tuning in right now let us know
12:47
what you think about any of these um
12:50
different ways to be mindful
12:53
all right number seven your morning wake
12:57
up or your morning wake-up call
12:59
um morning meditation can be refreshing
13:01
refreshing way to start each day they
13:03
begin by paying close attention to how
13:05
your body feels after you wake up you
13:07
can take better stock of your status
13:08
before diving into your responsibilities
13:13
I'm going to tweak this a little bit
13:14
because number eight actually goes into
13:16
what we do in the morning but morning
13:18
wake up I would say is
13:20
uh take a few minutes to kind of conform
13:24
to what you're doing and figure out what
13:25
you want to do
13:27
um we do you know we exercise we do our
13:29
meditation stuff like that but even
13:30
before you get out maybe while you're
13:32
brushing your teeth maybe while you're
13:34
getting dressed whatever it is just kind
13:36
of take stock of what it is you're going
13:37
to do what you've got to do what you
13:39
don't have to do all that stuff and
13:41
that's your morning wake-up call that's
13:43
your you know okay what am I doing how
13:45
am I feeling what do I want to do what
13:47
do I want to relax on what do I want to
13:49
do and that's your your wake up
13:52
think of it as the hotel wake up it's
13:54
like they call you in the morning and go
13:56
hey this is your wake-up call right
13:57
that's when you begin the day so think
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of it as the guy or girl on the phone
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who you know calls you and says hey it's
14:04
time to wake up it's 7 A.M so that's
14:07
that one but I want to move into eight
14:08
because eight is something that we that
14:10
I feel you know fully is a is a big
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thing
14:14
um
14:16
yeah okay yeah I can see that yeah okay
14:19
I can see that too as well so number
14:21
eight here mindful exercise and workout
14:23
so I always always look for the physical
14:25
over the mental to make sure that my
14:27
body is low because if your body is not
14:29
well the rest of you can't be so
14:30
obviously you want your heart your lungs
14:32
your body your brain your head
14:34
everything would be good so mindful
14:35
exercising is just like regular
14:37
exercising right but 99 of people will
14:40
tell you if they're a runner if they're
14:42
a biker if they do cardio if they do
14:44
weight lifting all of that is mindful
14:47
why because they're focusing on the task
14:50
at hand so a lot of Runners will tell
14:52
you and I've actually seen this on
14:53
YouTube that they run for the betterment
14:56
of themselves for no other reason they
14:59
don't necessarily run much for the
15:00
physical anymore I mean that's obviously
15:02
the bonus because you're keeping it
15:03
you're right but they run because it
15:06
just makes them feel good
15:08
I'm sorry I heard a scream
15:10
um so
15:13
um mindful exercise whether it's at home
15:15
whether it's out whatever is very
15:17
important and you know me I'm big on it
15:19
like I do it every morning I do in the
15:21
afternoon exercise needs to be part of
15:24
your routine right why not make it more
15:26
enjoyable by actually doing something
15:28
fun hey you know for those who might be
15:30
Runners for those who might be weight
15:31
lifters if you know anybody watch the
15:33
Olympics people who were doing gym that
15:35
they've been doing that for so long it
15:37
becomes a part of them that it's not
15:38
really a job anymore it's actually
15:42
yeah it's something fun so I would
15:45
recommend just getting the blood flowing
15:47
do all that number nine is mindful yoga
15:49
which kind of seems like a redundancy
15:51
here however
15:54
um I guess you know if you do it right
15:56
you are being mindful as well I would
15:58
just say do some yoga because yoga keeps
16:01
you in the present
16:03
um
16:04
I'm not too much to say on this one
16:06
because like I told you I don't really
16:08
do it because I don't find a need for
16:11
um I know we both have mats I think
16:13
we've used them all of like three times
16:15
but it's a popular activity to do so if
16:18
you are not somebody who wants to get
16:20
physical or sweaty do yoga it's good for
16:23
the body but it's also good for the mind
16:25
last one they have here this goes right
16:28
to you is the journaling
16:30
and I talked about this morning on my
16:32
session actually how for me my type of
16:35
journaling is what we're doing here it's
16:37
the
16:38
um
16:39
the verbal
16:40
me teaching somebody me sharing
16:43
something allows me to journal my
16:46
thoughts out so for me I don't want to
16:49
write down I don't like writing down
16:50
because I read something out I put it
16:51
away it goes to die in a pile and then I
16:53
see it five years later and go what was
16:55
this so for me my kind of journaling is
16:57
this it's telling you guys things that I
17:00
know and the more I research the more I
17:02
learn I actually know more than I
17:04
realize I knew so it's kind of a fun you
17:06
know thing but for someone like you who
17:08
does Journal it's a great way to put
17:10
your stuff down so whether it's a
17:12
physical journal and we're going to show
17:13
some in a minute or just a piece of
17:15
paper or notepad writing things down is
17:18
a good way to
17:20
you know Let it go so let it go right oh
17:24
no I
17:25
I'm I love journaling I I have more
17:27
journals than than I should but I love
17:30
journaling and and sometimes I Journal
17:32
my thoughts sometimes I Journal a list
17:34
of things that I have to do today
17:35
sometimes I Journal uh my feelings so I
17:39
I use my journal for many many different
17:41
things and I also do something kind of
17:43
cool I do an index so for when you were
17:46
saying I was laughing when you said you
17:47
know you put it in the corner somewhere
17:49
and you forget what you wrote and what
17:50
is that I literally have index pages in
17:53
my journal so if I do something and I
17:55
write something that literally go oh my
17:57
gosh that is I have to remember this
18:00
I'll write down the page number and what
18:02
it was on the in the front of the book
18:04
so that I can quickly go back to it
18:08
um it was a skill somebody taught me
18:09
this and it actually really really works
18:11
it's a great way to to catalog all of
18:13
your thoughts hey guys what do you guys
18:15
think what what how do you uh do mindful
18:18
activities do you Journal do you uh do
18:23
you do mindful you walking what do you
18:26
do what are the things that you do
18:29
yeah I would say my favorites would
18:31
definitely be the physical exercise the
18:33
walking and the uh the nature anything
18:36
that involves looking at you know pretty
18:39
plants or animals I mean hey go to the
18:42
zoo is probably the coolest thing for me
18:44
because not only do I get to be
18:46
surrounded by creatures of all sizes but
18:49
you get to kind of like you know you get
18:51
to pretend you're in the middle of an
18:53
African safari or an Australian desert
18:55
you know so I I love the zoo for that
18:58
um
18:59
you know I know a lot in California you
19:01
got the beaches a lot of people like
19:03
that and they like the scenery not so
19:05
much for me you know I don't like sand
19:06
in my shoes and all over but that's just
19:08
me right
19:10
um yeah so I don't know I mean I'm
19:12
hoping people will get some good ideas
19:13
off of these and I guess let us know
19:15
comment afterwards let us know nature is
19:18
hers and there you go
19:19
so we're going to show you
19:21
um these journals that we created
19:24
um and you can go pick up a copy of your
19:26
own actually I think I'm going to put
19:28
myself on solo for a second okay
19:30
uh how do I do that
19:35
so as you see we have three different
19:37
choices find your passion love yourself
19:39
and the importance and now I have the
19:41
importance of now and I've already
19:43
started putting things in here because I
19:45
like to live in the now we gotta comment
19:47
let me see what we got here
19:49
nature oh I love that Krista nature is
19:52
my zen
19:54
I love that that's really cool let me
19:57
get out of this one
20:00
all right so we really I mean these are
20:03
kind of cool Rob I know you have Krista
20:05
has one I have one here but literally
20:08
it's a it's a dotted journal and what
20:11
that means is that the pages have I
20:13
don't know if you can see this but it
20:15
has little dots on it it's really hard
20:16
to see on the fan yeah and the reason
20:18
why I like it is that
20:20
um I could sketch on it if I want to
20:22
make a picture
20:23
and the lines don't get in the way I can
20:25
write and use the dots as a guide so
20:28
that my lines are straight I can create
20:30
you know all sorts of trackers because
20:32
again it's a grid so that's the kind I
20:35
like but there are all sorts of journals
20:37
out there you can get a journal that
20:39
just has lines in it you can get a
20:40
journal that just has plain paper in it
20:42
so go check it out at let's go put this
20:45
up here go check it out at
20:46
altereduniverse dot live forward slash
20:49
shop and
20:52
but wait there's more we also have a
20:55
free ebook
20:57
um and this is all about finding your
20:59
passion because we always hear I don't
21:01
know what my passion is I don't know how
21:03
I'm supposed to find it if I don't know
21:04
what it is so this is a great book it's
21:07
absolutely complementary it's no cost go
21:10
over there pick it up minding your
21:11
mental health.com
21:14
any last thoughts Rob
21:17
nope I think I shared my piece why you
21:20
did and Rob welcome to your new office
21:22
in your new studio very exciting very
21:25
exciting oh I got another comment hold
21:27
on hold on
21:29
oh hey Cat
21:32
hey Cat I was just on her on her uh
21:34
webinar and and we moved over here
21:37
um we were talking about mindfulness so
21:39
thanks for jumping in here
21:42
as we like to say every single week go
21:44
out give somebody an awesome day
21:47
because we're gonna see you next time on
21:50
the next minding your mental health but
21:52
we're also going to be back on Thursday
21:54
for altered Universe Live and we're
21:56
doing another 10 things uh we got some
21:59
handmade items to make your home your
22:02
home so it's going to be a lot of fun
22:03
make sure you join us there and make
22:05
sure you make comments there and we'll
22:06
come back and respond to you have a
22:08
great day everyone
#Mental Health
#Anxiety & Stress
#Self-Help & Motivational