Hello.

My name is Pam Strand.

I'm your podcast host, and I'd like
to welcome you to the Longevity Gym.

This podcast is for those
who want to learn how to live

longer, stronger, and better.

Today's topic is mindfulness.

As you will hear, I think it's a
great tool for reaching the goal of

living longer, stronger, and better.

I want to start us off with a quote.

Mindfulness is cultivated by paying
close attention to your moment to moment

experience while, as best as you can,
not getting caught up in your ideas

and opinions and likes or dislikes.

This quote comes from the
book Full Catastrophe Living.

The book was written by John Kabat Zinn,
who in 1979 created the Mindfulness

Based Stress Reduction Program.

It's nickname is MBSR.

You may have heard about it.

So Jon Kabat Zinn created this program
when he saw what an obstacle stress was

to the healing process for his patients.

It's now a program that
is taught worldwide.

I took it in 2020 during the
pandemic to help me manage the

stress that came from that,

Jon Kabat Zinn is also a pioneer
of the mindfulness movement

here in the United States.

For some people, Mindfulness is a trait.

Some people are just naturally
predisposed to being mindful in

their activities and in their life.

Mindfulness is also a skill,
and that's important to know,

because a skill can be learned.

The skill of mindfulness
involves three parts.

Learning, turn your attention by choice.

It's something that's unfolding
in front of you at that particular

moment or something that you're
experiencing in that particular moment.

Whether that's something in everyday
life, an emotion that you're

experiencing, or if you're practicing
in a mindfulness session, it's

learning to turn your attention to
the focal point of that session.

The second component of the skill is
learning to notice when your mind wanders

away from that experience, and it will,
and then three, learning to bring it back.

to the experience and without placing
any judgment on the fact that your mind

wandered or your mind got caught up
with your ideas, dislikes, opinions,

ideas about whatever was happening
to you at that particular moment.

Mindfulness is also a practice where
you take time each day to develop and

practice the skill of mindfulness.

There are many benefits of practicing
mindfulness on a consistent basis.

Research and science are reporting
many, many benefits, and I'm going

to share nine of them with you.

Yes, nine.

And there are a lot more, but here
are the nine, what I think are the

nine most important things to know.

So when you practice mindfulness
on a consistent basis, you have

improved cardiovascular health
through reduced blood pressure.

You have enhanced brain health, and
you may experience enhanced brain

functions, especially those related to
self awareness, learning, memory, and

emotional regulation and resilience.

When you practice mindfulness,
Your immune system gets a boost.

It gets better at protecting
you from disease and illness.

A regular practice also increases
cognitive performance in the areas of

attention span, focus, and concentration.

I think as we get older,
we realize how important.

Making those, sustaining those become.

Number five.

When we practice consistently, we get
more creative and we get better at

solving problems and we sleep better.

We also become less stressed and when we
are stressed, we bounce back more quickly.

Last two.

Number eight.

Mindfulness has also been shown
to help promote mental health,

particularly for those people who
experience anxiety and depression.

And finally, a consistent
practice also fosters greater

empathy, patience, and kindness to
ourselves and to those around us.

That leads to better relationships
and better social connections,

which are vital components of
living longer, stronger, and better.

Can you guess what the biggest
obstacle is to practicing mindfulness?

I'll give you a couple
minutes to think about that.

It's the belief that one's
mind is too busy to meditate.

I would be a rich person if I had a
dollar for every time someone said,

Pam, I can't practice mindfulness.

I can't meditate.

My mind, I can't get my mind quiet.

Well, guess what?

That's the point of practicing
mindfulness, learning the

skill and putting it to use.

Science suggests that
mindfulness does quiet the mind.

It does give us the skill to keep our
mind focused, to keep our mind quiet,

and a quiet mind is a strong mind.

So if you're one that suffers from
a busy mind and find that their mind

gets easily distracted and pulled in
many different You don't want it to be?

That's a situation that can
be remedied with a practice.

Another obstacle or another concern
about mindfulness that prevents people

from, from starting a practice is that
mindfulness or maybe meditation in general

they believe is a spiritual practice.

Well, that's a myth.

Meditation is a secular practice
that offers a diverse set of

techniques, and mindfulness is one
of them, which accommodate people

of all backgrounds to help with
stress relief and mental well being.

That is a statement or that is a
quote from the School of Positive

Transformation, which has 10,
000 students in various forms of

mindfulness and positive psychology.

That's where I got my teacher training.

To become a mindfulness
and meditation teacher.

The last myth or obstacle towards
practicing mindfulness that I

wanted to talk about is that
people believe it's time consuming.

Well, guess what?

One can experience the benefits
of mindfulness with as least, with

as little as three minutes a day.

It's consistency of practice that is
much more important than the amount

of time you devote to a session.

When you see how mindfulness can change
the direction of a person's life, boy,

you would be convinced it's a good thing.

I've seen it at play in so
many different ways and forms.

One, friends have told me how quickly
they were able to heal from their grief

when they lost close family members.

I taught a, uh, a career transition
or a career search course, um,

based on mindfulness principles
at a career transition center.

And participants told me that after
the course, they felt more engaged,

more focused, more in control and more
positive about the job search process,

which if you've ever gone through that
process, you know, it can be random

and pretty discouraging at times.

One participant even shared with
me or shared with me that she

even felt she got her life back.

I think that's pretty wonderful.

I see it at play in my fitness,
with my fitness clients.

I'm thinking of one right now who had
a situation of chronic pain, and as

she practiced mindfulness, she was
able to manage that situation so that

she could actually do the strength
training that would resolve her issue.

I also think about clients who were
really overcome with negative self

talk and self judgment that was
interfering with, one, getting to the

gym, and two, doing the exercises.

Once we began to, to work with mindfulness
principles during the workouts, boy,

you could see their bodies and their
minds just adapt, adapting so well.

The limitations or the tensions in doing
the exercises went away, their bodies

were more relaxed, their mental state was
more relaxed, and they were able to get

more out of the workouts and occasionally
even have a smile on their face doing it.

I've also seen the benefits
at play in my own life.

It helped me stay focused on what needed
to be done when the pandemic shut down

the world and shut down my business.

It kept me from getting distracted
and lost in all the financial issues

and losses and complaints and not
so fun decisions that needed to be

made as I navigated the challenges.

Most importantly, My mindfulness practice
helped me heal from my own case of COVID,

and for that, I will always be grateful.

So if you're considering starting a
mindfulness practice, it's good to know

it's very simple to get up and going.

It's very accessible, because all you
need is yourself and a place to sit,

stand, or lay down where you can be
comfortable and safe for the amount of

time you've allocated for a session.

Eventually, you may want to designate a
specific place, maybe have your own chair

or cushion or mat for your practice,
but you don't need that to get going.

It's also very simple to, I guess,
negate a concern about, Oh gosh, in

the middle of a session, did I meditate
long enough or did I go too long?

It's really simple.

Just set a timer.

Then you know, when the
bell goes off, you're done.

You don't have to worry about the time.

It's also very simple because
there is no best time to practice,

particularly at the beginning.

In fact, in the beginning, the
best time to practice is when

you have time to practice.

So whenever it is, you can carve out
time on your calendar to set aside three

to five minutes or 10 or 15 minutes,
however long you want to practice and sit.

and practice.

You also want to pick a time that
you're not going to be interrupted.

As you go, you may get a sense on
the best time of the day for you.

It may be morning, it may be lunchtime,
maybe a brain break in the middle of

the day, or practicing before you go to
bed to unwind so that you sleep better.

You could, don't have to just
limit it to one time a day either.

That's kind of the cool thing.

You can spend three to five
minutes various times of the day.

The other thing that makes a mindfulness
practice very simple to get going with

is the fact that you can incorporate
it into activities that you already do.

So, doing the dishes, taking a shower,
brushing your teeth, walking down

the sidewalk, sitting outside, maybe
you're doing a little few stretches,

or even maybe playing a game of golf.

Simply.

Practice turning your attention to
the sensation of the experience..

You can also turn movement or
exercise into a mindfulness practice.

So swimmers, runners, as well as those who
practice yoga, tai chi, qigong, the list

is a little bit endless here, but they
will speak to how they've used a portion

of their workout or their training session
to practice mindfulness, maybe in a

warmup, maybe when things get going tough.

So that makes it easy to.

, beginners, I think this is important
to know and helpful to know, beginners

usually use a guided session or
guided sessions to get started.

The book I mentioned, Full Catastrophe
Living, it has some meditation,

guided meditation sessions in there.

They, I think you can even, even go
to the website and download some.

You could look for a local mindfulness
and meditation teacher who offers classes,

maybe at a yoga studio or neighborhood
fitness center, even a park district.

, you could check out a community
college if you have one in your area.

I know our local community college has
a meditation course on their curriculum.

Also, many, many, many, many free apps
out there that offer guided mindfulness

and meditation sessions, even courses.

There are two that I'm most familiar
with, Insight Timer, which I use for the

timer part of it, as well as occasionally
I will use some of the guided sessions,

and then the other app that I am most
familiar with but have not used is Calm.

So these apps have content
that's available for free, and

they also have content that's
available with a paid subscription.

And speaking of subscription
based apps, I use two of them.

I use Brain.

fm, which is science backed music
that enhances various mental states,

meditation being one of them, or
mindfulness being one of them.

And then I use an app called The Source.

This app started out as a place
for breathwork, which is how I got

involved with it, and has recently
expanded to many areas of well being.

And finally, if you use a fitness
app like MyFitnessPal, Or have a

wearable device like a Fitbit that
has an app that comes with it.

I'm noticing that many of those, and in
fact I know Fitbit does,, many of those

apps have guided mindfulness sessions.

And recently, I believe Noom, the
weight loss app has also added

this to their menu of of services.

So Lots of ways to have access to
guided sessions to get you up and

running with a mindfulness practice.

So I want to close on sharing
some things that are important

to know about mindfulness.

One is that it takes patience with
yourself, with the process, and an

openness to learn and grow as you go.

There is no such thing as a
perfect mindfulness practice.

It's also important to know
that mindfulness or really any

form of meditation takes energy.

So you are alert and your mind
is active during the practice.

It's not a time that you're
going to set aside to snooze.

And when you first start practicing,
it is very easy to get discouraged

once you see how your mind wanders,
because it will, and how active it

is, because that's what minds do.

In fact, there's a piece of
evidence that science produced, has

produced, that suggests the human
mind produces about 60, yes, 6, 0,

0, 0, 0, 60, 000 thoughts a day.

So you need to stick with it, be
diligent in your practice, be patient

with your mind, and eventually
you will develop the skill.

Even the most experienced
students are challenged with

this busyness in their mind.

It's also good to know that mindfulness
can raise or bring up difficult

memories or emotions, especially if
there's been trauma in your background.

So if this is a concern with you,
working with an experienced teacher

is very important, or maybe working
with a mental health professional.

And if you currently do work with a mental
health therapist, you may want to check

in with them before starting to get their
feedback and guidance on how to begin

and how to use a mindfulness practice.

So that's a wrap.

As you can tell, I think mindfulness
and meditation too, , in general are

great skills and practices to have
and to incorporate into your lives.

I think it goes a long way.

I think they go a long way
in helping us live in, live a

longer, stronger, healthier life.

If you find you're
curious about getting up.

and go in with a mindfulness practice
and you have questions, please email me.

I am happy to help you get started.

My email is Pam at strandfitnessonline.

com.

And if you're interested in
knowing about my future mindfulness

offer and you are not on my email
list, I invite you to sign up.

Every two weeks I email a
newsletter that has longevity tips.

And I announce new podcast episodes
and this newsletter is where I announce

new offerings and ways to work with me.

You can use the form in the show notes
below to fill in your name and email

address and I will get you on the list.

With that, I just want to say thank you.

Thank you for the gift of
your time and for tuning in,

and I will see you next time.

I hope the rest of your
day is just wonderful.